Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-05-02
POPULAR
A Synopsis Of the Sunday Evening
Lecture.

The following is a. brief synopsis Of
Rev. j. A. Gray's lecture last Sunday
evening. His thoughts and utterauces
| will be read with interest by those who
desire to learn how popular amuse
ments are regarded by a christian
gentleman:
/ Cor, 1917: If aEy Of them that believe not
BID you to Il 70 at, and ye be disposed 10
60, whatever is set before you eat, asElng
no Questions Tor conscisnco sake.
The question as to what ainuaements
are lawful aud proper, thrust itself
upon the Church al a very early day.
In the Church at Corinth We're many
people allied IN social relations with
idolatOrs. They were invited by them
TO their feasis, or heather parties. They
we're accustomed 10 eat meat offered Ia
idols, saying, ian idol is nothing
Some thought by doing this they II
some sense indorsed idol worship.
They put the question to Paul. who n
his Instructions followed the example
of the Master. He laid down prInci-
pies and left the Application TO iudiyid-
ual conscience. 1t Is hard to r any
line which shall clearly designate the
boundaries OF the improper. Sou-e en-
daavor 10 discard everything that ha,
a dangerous tendency. They "A y
'.DanciHg IN itself is innocent and
pure.' Music is the chime of motion
and motion j. the beat OF muse; but
it leads 10 bad company, late hours
aud dissipation. The same is true of
billiards aud cards. But this rule il
not good AS a criterion, tor what has not
a dangerous tendency or possibili y?
Boating, Lase ball, hunting. fishing,
and even croquet have all developed
the same tendencies of gambling,
drinking and dissipation. What side
of lite is without bad possibilities?
Dress, eating, politics, and even re-
ligion all have sad histories III their
abuses. Abuses OF ainusetnents are for
nobody, tut, Invested OF abuses, every
one must be guided by his " dis
cretlon and Conscience. This is a
Christians freedom. In regard to
whether a Christian may not dance,
when ii is admitted there j. no evil in
the dance itself, it may be said that
there Is IA very general opinion that
dancing Christians are not very good
Christians, and it is "A question for you
TO decide whether you can afford TO
liJuit your TtIuthtlDH as ~ 1BIlStidD
for such a piltry pleasure. You are
to decide the matter yourselves, and il
you ''be di. po>ed To co." go into 1t
it heartily and enjoy yourselves.
But the largest liberty is found in
that elevation of Christian character
that il mot disposed to CO." IL is a
false idea that there Is "A great sacrifice
la ''gl>ing up" the pleasures OF the
world for a Christian life. In the mod
crate uSe of amuseinrnts the Christian
may find such r~ecreations as health
demand, but there are no JOYS like
those that conIe to a soul Which has
caught "A glimpse OF immortality as
revealed in the Gospel. The real evil
is in "aantins to 20" iIto doubtful
courses. The history of Christian tx
perience is a book OF Joy. 1t sings its
songs of rapture in dungeons and
prisons, in torture and in the fire.
Hunted for his life; hiding from the
mob; having been pelted with stones
aud beaten with clubs, liz The night, in
a desered spring house, alter wiping
the blood and dust from his face, and
having found a piece of lead which he
hammered out into a pencil, Charles
Wesley wrote that immortal hymn:
Jesus, lover Of my soal."