The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-05-04
GOOD AND BAD ADJUSTMENTS
DR.. TalmagcPuts 0pera-Houses, Skating
Kinks and Bowling Alleys on Trial.
lie Disclaims All Sympathy with Indiscrimi-
nate Condemnation and Pleads Earn
eStly for Healthful Amusements.
pccial to the indianapolis Journa..

DhoohLfN, ~ l., May o.--Dr TalInagf
preached in the Brooklyn Tabernacle this
morning on the subject, "Opera .houses
Theaters, Bowling alleys, Skating -rinks, and
all Styles of Amusement, Good and Bad .,
Trial." The opening hymn was
Awake, my soul, stretch evry nerve
And press with vigor on.
The text was from Judges xvi. Ok. s.A,a :.
came to pass, when their hearts were merry.
that they said Call for Samson, that he NAV
make us sport. And they called for Samsor
out of the prison house, and he made them
| sport Following is the sermon in full:
| There We're three thousand people assembled
in the temple of Dagon. They had come q
make sport of eyeless Samson. They we're MI
ready for the entertainment. They began to
clap and pound, impatient for the amusement to
begin, and they cried: Fetch him QUIT Fetch
him out!' Yonder see the blind old giant COM
ing, led by the hand of a child, into the very
midst of the temple. At his first appearances
there goes up shout of laughter and derision
The blind old giant pretends he is tired and
wants to rest himself against the pillars of the
house; so he says to t6e lad who leads him
| "Show me where 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 forward
until the whole house comes downin thunderous
crash, grinding the audience like grapes in
wine-p press "And SO it came to pass, when their
hearts were merry, that they said: Call flor
Samson that he may make us sport And they
called for Samson out of the prison house, and
he made them sport" In other words there ara
amusements that are destructive, and bring down
disaster and death upon the heads of those who
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
thousands who have been destroyed body, mind
and soul, by bad amusements and by good amuss
,nents carried to excess.
NO SYMPATHY WITH cRANKs
In this course of sermons am now preaching
you must have noticed that have no sympathy
with ecclesiastical strait jackets, or with that
wholesale denunciatioE of amusements to which
many are pledged. believe the Church of God
has made tremendous mistake in trying to sup
press the sportfuness of youth and drive out
from their love of amusement. If God
ever implanted anything in us, He implanted
this desire. But, instead of providing for this
demand of our nature, the church of God has.
for the main part, ignored it. AS in riot the
mayor plants battery at the end of the street,
and has it fired off, so that everything is cut
down that happens to stand in the range, the
good as we'll as the bad, so there are men in the
church who plant their batteries of condemns
ton and fire away indiscriminately Every
thing is condemned. There are great many
who denounce ball-playing they hate puzzles.
IL
say: "Away with all parlor games!" They
talk as if they would like to have our youth
dressed in blue uniform. like the children of an
orphan asylum, and march down the path OF
life to the tune of the Dead March in Saul. They
hate blue SASH or rosebud in the hair, or
tasseled gaiter and think man almost ready
for Sing Sing who utters conundrum. Young
Mems Christian Associations of the country ara
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 sur
roundings, our young men may get physical az
well as spiritual Improvement We are dwin
ding away to narrow-chested. weak armed,
feeble-voiced race, when God calls US to work ,
in which he wants physical as we'll as spirtaa
soon come when in all our colleges and theolog /,
ical seminaries as at Princeton, gymnasium
shall be established We spend seven years Of
hard study in preparation for the ministry and
come out with bronchitis, and dyspepsia, and
liver complaint, and then crawl up into the pull
pit and the people say: Don't he look heaven
ly!' because he looks sickly. Let the church Of
God direct, rather than attempt to suppress thu
desire for amusement. The best men that thu
world ever knew have had their sports. Will
lam Wilberforce trunded hoop with his chill
dren. Martin Luther helped dress the Christma
tree. Ministers have pitched quoits Philan
thropists have gone a-skating. Prime minister
have played ball.
STUMBLING BLOCKS TO THE KINGDOM. >
This church to day is filed with men AMI
sources of sportfulness and frolic. Show met
man who never lights up with sportfulness, amt
has no sympathy with the recreations o.
others, and l will show you mar
who is a stumbling block to the king
dom of God Such men are caricaturei
of religion. They lead young people to think
that man is good in proportion as he groans
and frowns, and looks sallow, and that the
height Of mans Christian stature is in propor
ton to the length of his face. I would trade on
five hundred such men for one brighteyed,
radiant Christian, on whose face are the words,
"Rejoice evermore!" Between here and Fulton
ferry, every morning, by his cheerful face he
breaches fifty sermons. I will go further and
say that I have no confidence in man who
makes religion Of his gloomy looks THAI
kind of man always turns out badly. would
not want him for the treasurer of an orphan asy.
lum. The orphans would suffer. Among forty
people whom received into the church at ona
communion, there was only one applicant Of
whose piety was suspicious. He had the long.
est story To tell. had seen the most visions and