Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-05-04
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
ALL STYLES, GOOD AND BAD,
PUT ON TRIAL.

siOns Free from Evils-Straight
Jackets of the Church Declared to be
over Severe.
BROOKLYN, n. Y, May 3.-Dr. Talmage
preached in the Brooklyn Tabernacle ia.
morning on the subject, "Opera Houses,
Theatres, Bowling Alleys, Skating Kinks,
and All Styles of ADJUSTMENTS, Good and
Bad, on Trial" The opening hymn was :;
Awake, my soul, stretch every nerve
And press with vigor on"
The text was from Judges xvi, %:
"And it came to pass, when their hearts
were merry, that they said: call for sam
son, that he may make us sport. And
they called for samson out Of the prison
house. and he made them sport" Follow
ing is the sermon in full:
There were 1900 people assembled in
the temple OF DagOn. They had come to
make sport Of eyeless Samson. They
were all ready for the entertainment.
They began to clap and pound, impatient
for the amusement to begin, and theycried:
Fetch him out! Fetch him Outr' Yon-
der / see the blind old giant coming, led
by the hand Of child into the very midst
of the temple. At his first appearance
there goes up shout of laughter and de-
risiOn. The blind old giant pretends he is
tired and wants to rest himself against
the pillars Of the house; so be says to the
lad that leads him: "ShOw me wnere the
main pillars are" The lad does so. Then
the strong man puts his right hand on one
pillar. and, with the mightiest push that
mortal ever made, throws himself for
ward until the whole house
comes down in thunderOus
crash. grinding the audience like grapes
in a wine press. ''And so it came 10 pass,
when their hearts were merry. that they
make us sport And they called fer Sam
son out Of the prison house and be made
them SPORT In other words, there are
amusements that are destructive and
bring down disaster and death upon the
heads Of those VINO practice them. While
they laugh and cheer, they die. The 5000
who persisted that day in GAIA are as
nothing compared with the tens Of thou
sands who have been destroyed, BODY,
mind and soul, by bad amusements and
by good amusements carried TO excess.
In this course Of sermons l am now
preaching, you must have noticed that |
have no sympathy with ecclesiastical
straight jackets, or with that wholesale
Remuneration OF amusements to which
many are pledged. l believe the church
OF God has made tremendous mistake in
trying 70 suppress the spOrtfulness Of
youth and drive out from men their love
OF amusement. II God ever implanted
ANYTHING in US He implanted this desire.
But instead Of providing Tor this demand
Of our nature, the church Of God has, for
the main part, ignored it. AS in a riot
the Mayor plants a battery at the end of
the street and has il fired of, so that every
thing is cut down that happens TO stand
ia the range, the good as well as the bad.
50 there are men in the church who plant
their batteries of condemnation and fire
away Unfortunately. Everything is
condemned. There are a great
many who denOunce ball-plaVinp.
They hate puzzles. They desDise chara6es.
They abhOr tableauX. They say: away
with all parlOr games" They talk as il
they would like to have our youth dressed
in blue Uniform, like the children of an
orphan asylum and march down the path
of lite 20 the tune Of the "Dead March in
Saul" They hate biue sash or a rose
bud in the hair, tasseled CATER, and think
a man almost ready for Sing-Sing who
utters a cOnundrum. Young mems
christian associations OF the country are
doing glorious work. They have fine
reading rooms, and all the Influences are
of the best kind, and are now adding
gymnasiums and bOwling-alleys, where
without any evil surroundings our young
men may get physical as well as spiritual
improvement. We are dwindling away
70 narrOw-chested, weak-armed,
feeble-vOiced race, when God calls us to
a work in which he wants physical as
well as spiritual athletes. IwOuld TO GOD
that the time might soon come when in
ali our colleges and theological semina-
ries, as at Princeton, a gymnasium shall
be established. We spend seven years of
hard study ia -paratiOn for the minis
try, and come out with bronchitis and
dyspepsia and liver complaint, and then
crawl up into the pulpit, and the people
say: Don't ne look heavenlyw because
he looks slckly. Let the church of God
direct rather than attempt to suppress,
the desire for amusement. The best men
that The world ever knew have had their
sports. William Wilberlorce trundIed
hoop with his children. Martin Luther
helped dress the Christmas tree. Minis
tiers nave pitched quOits. Pnilanthropists
have gone a skating. Prime ministers
have played ball.
This church to-day is filed with men
and women who have in their souls I'M
measured resources Of sportfulness and
frOlic. Show me "A man who never lights
up with sp0rtiulness and has no SYM
patty with the recTeations of others aud
/ Will show you man who is stumb-
ling-block 10 the kingdom of God. Such
men are caricatures OF religion. They
lead young people 10 think that a man Is
good in proportion as he gToans aud
browns and looks sallOw, and that the
proportion 10 the length of his face.
would trade of i've hundred such men
for one brlght-faced, radiant Christian
on whose lace are the words "Reioice,
eyermorel' Between here and Fulton
ferry every morning by his cheerful face
he breaches fifty sermons. / will
90 farther and say that
have no confidence in man
who makes a religion Of his gloomy
looks. That kind Of man always turns
out badly. ! would not want him for the
treasurer Of an orphan asylum. The or
phans would suffer. AmOng forty people
whom / received into the church az one
communion there was only one applicant
OF whose piety | WAS susnieiOus. He had
the longest story TO tell, had seen the most
visions, and gave an experience so rap
turous and profound that all the other
applicants were discouraged. / was not
surprised m a year after TO learn that be
had run of with the funds OF the bank
with which he was connected. Who is
this black angel that you call Religion
wings black, feet black, feathers blackY
Our religion Is "A bright angel-feet bright.
ewes bright, wings bright. Taking her
place in the soul, she pulls a rope that
reaches 10 the skies and sets all the bells
OF heaven a-chimlng. There are some
uereOus who. when talking IN "A fnfniafsr