Sharp County record., 1888-01-12
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
A Sermon Peculiarly Adapted to
the Holiday Season.
Re1Aeations Which May be Indulged in
and Those Which Should be Es-
cbewed as Being Pernicious
in Their Tendencies,

Dewitt Talmage at the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle. The following were his texts:
They that use this world, as not abusing it
I. Corinthians, VII, 81.
And it came pass, when their hearts were
merry, that they said, Call for Samson that
he may make us sport And they called for
Samson out of the prison house; and he made
them sport.-Judges xvi, %,
DR.. Talmags sads We are entering the
gayest season of the year. The winter
opens before us the gates of thousand
amusements, some of them good and some
bad. One of my texts will show you that
amusemonts may be destructive, my other
text will show you that amusementS may
5e under the divine blessing and direction.
There were 30O6 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 they cried:
'Fetch him out; fetch him out !" Yonder
l see the blind old giant coming, led by the
hand of a child into the very midst of the
temple. At his first appearance 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 the lad who
leads him; "Show me where the main
pillars are.n The lad does so. Then the
strong man puts his right hand on one
piilar and his left hand on another pillar,
apd, with the mghtiest push that mortal
ever made, throws himself forward until
the whole house comes down in thunder
Gus crash, grinding the audience like
grapes in wine.press. "And so it came
to pass, when the if hearts were merry,
that they said: Call for 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 are amusements
that are destructive, and bring down dis
aster and death upon the heads of those
who practice them. While they laugh
and cheer, they die. The three thousand
who perished that day in GAIA are as
nothing when compared to the tens of
thousands who have been destroyed by
sinful amusements.
But the other text | have read implies
that there is lawful use of the world as
we'll as an unlawful abuse of it, and the
difference between the man Christian and
the man unchristan is that in the former
case the man masters the world while in
1he latter case the world masters him
For whom did God make this grand and
beautiful world? For whom this wonder
full expenditure of color, this gracefulness
of line, this mosaic of the ground, this
fresco Of the sky, this glowing frutage Of
orchard and vineyard, this full orchestra
of the tempest, in which the tree branches
flute, and the wind trumpet, and the
thunder's drum, and all the splendorS of
earth and sky come cashing their Gym.
halsy For whom did God spring the
arched bridge of colors resting upon but
tresses of broken storm-cIoud! For whom
did He gather the upholstery of fire
around the window of the setting sun?
For all men; but more especially for His
own dear children.
This morning, in the name of the King of
Heaven and Earth, serve writ of eject
ment upon all the sinful and polluted who
have squatted on the domain of earthly
pleasure as though it belonged to them,
while | claim, in behalf of the good, and
tha pure and the true, tho eternal inher-
itance which God has given them.
Hitherto Christian philanthropists, cler-
ical and lay, have blSiel them selves
chiefly in denouncing sinful recreatiouS, but
! feel we have noright to stand before men
and women in whose hearts there is de.
sire for recreation amounting to positive
necessity, denounciny this and that
and tho other thing, when we do
not propose to give them some'
thing better. God helping mo tiis morn
ing, and with reference to my last ac-
count, | shall enter upon sphere not
usual in sermoniaing, but subj 'ct which
think ought to be presented at this
time; | propose now to lay before you
some of the recreations which are not
"nly innocent, but positively helpful and
advantageous.
In the first place, commend, among
indoor recreations, music, vocal and in
s,rumental. Among the first things
created was the bird, so that the earth
might have music at the start. This
world, which began with so Sweet a sere-
made, is finally to be demolished amidst
tho ringing blast of the archangePS
. trumpet, so that as there was music at the
. start, there shall be music at the close.
. While this heavenly art has often been
dragged into the uses of superstition and
dissipation, we all know it may be the
means of high moral culture. Oh, it is
4 grand thing to have our children brought
4 up amidst the sounds of cultured voices
and amidst the melody of musical instru-
ments. There is in this art an indescrib-
able fascination for the household. Let
all those families who have the
means to afford it, have flute or
harp, or pano or organ. AS
soon as the hand is large enough to COM
PASS the keys, teach it how to pick out the
melody. Let all our young men try this
& heavenly art upon their nature. Those
who have gone into it fully have found in
II illimitable recreation and amusement.
Dark days, stormy nights, seasons of sick
ness, business disasters, will do little to-
ward depressing the soul which can gallop
off over musical keys or soar in jubilant
lay. 1t will cure pain. 1t will rest ia
tigue. 1t will quell passion. 1t will re-
vive health. 1t will reclaim dissipa-
ton. 1t will strengthen the i'm
mortal soul. In the battle of Waterloo
Wellington saw that the High!anders were
falling back. He said: "What is the mat
ter there:" He was told that the band of
lrlsic had ceased playing, and he called
I n the 1,inarc aud o-flarad tham To Strika