The record-union., 1891-07-04

TWO parts, secular and religious. Such
things as buying, selling and getting
gain they include in the former; and such
as reading the Bible, saying their prayers
and going to church in the latter. All
this is essentially unchristian. Accord
ing to the uniform teaching Of the New
Testament, our whole life from beginning
to end belongs to God, and not merely
some broken and scattered fragments of
1t. The duties Of the home the field, the
shop, the counting g-house are just as i'm
perative as those of the sanctuary, and
ought to be performed with as strong a
sense Of religious obligation. ST. Paul
brings out this truth and sets it in the
forefront by means Of two extreme and
vivid statements. The first of the state
ments is: And whatsoever you do in
word or deed, do all in the name
of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to
God and the Father through him., The
second is still more specific and concrete:
! "W hether therefore. ye eat, or drink, or
whatsoever ge do, do all to the glory of
God.Y Now eating and drinking are
among the most commonplace acts Of
which we are capable. They belong al
most exclusively to the lower and sensual
side of our nature. They have reference
not to intellectual or spiritual wants., but
to bodily and fleshly appetites. If, there
fore, even these acts may be redeemed by
religious considerations. from the Level of
cearsesand swinish delights, and lifted up
to the nights Of religion service, is. there
any part of our lives thai may not be
subjected. TO similar. transformation? ]?
What about plowing, sowing, threshing,
trading, teaching, talking, reading and
writing? OF course st. Paul does not
mean to insist that every time we eat a
bite Of food we should stop and say: 81
eat this to the glory of God" The man
who moves on that line will become
either an empty formalist or else can't
ing hypocrite. What the apostle does
mean is that we should be so supremeIy
and unreservedly committed and conse-
Grated to God by our own personal choice
and election that all our thoughts. words,
and works-even the least and most in
significant of them-should naturally,
and, as it were, unconsciously conduce to
his glory.-Nashville Christian Advocate
(Methodist).
The Presbyterian General Assembly
dealt with one question more important,
in some respects, than the Briggs case or
the revision of the creed. II conduct is,
as Matthew Arnold was SO fond of say
| ing, three-fourths of life, any question
that affects the daily conduct Of every
church member must be second to
none in intrinsic Importance. Such a
question is presented by the phrase
worldly amusements," which formed
! the text of discussion and deliyerance
! by the assembly. Three courses are
open to the church with regard to amuse-
ments: l. 1t may forbid all amusements
as injurious to the spiritual life, and pun
lsh dlsobedience by excommunication !;
or, 2. 1t may forbid some -amusements
and permit others; or, 3. 1t may leave
the whole question TO the individual con-
science, throwing the weight of its IN
tiuence against certain amusementS that
are believed to be Of bad or doubtful
character. OF these three possible
courses, the first has practically no living
advocates, though it has found great
favor in the past. Only here and there a
man agrees with the witty Englishman,
who said that ''life would be very toler-
| able If it were not for its amusements.'
Most Of US, whatever diversity of tastes
obtains, like to be amused in some way
at some time. There is no proverb in
which we have more faith than that ''all
work and no play makes Jack a dull
boy" The great questions are, How
and When? and How much2 The Sec
ond course is that hitherto adopted by
| most churches, but it has been ineffective
and even ridiculous. The drawing of the
| line between. things to be allowed and
things to be prohibited has been uncer-
| tain, and the distinctions made have been
1 lacking in wisdom and consistency.
! Thus in many communities to knock
! balls about on the grass with amallet (cro-
quet) is allowable, while to punch them
about on table with a stick billiards. is
deadly sin. To play with pieces of
paSteboard marked in certain way is
estimated innocent by some who are loud
in condemnation if only the markings
are changed little. In one community
all dances are prohibited, in another
square Dances are thought harmless.
| In a certain city known to US no good
church people will go TO a theater, but
/ = how 81,
| hall. 1t absurd to pretend that any real
! principal underlies distinctions like these.
! which vary with the accepted social and
moral code of varying localities. The
! PresbyterianS took the third Of the possi-
| bic courses open TO them. A committee
made report strongly opposing such
amusements as theater-going, card-play-
ing and dancing, not as wrong in them
selves, but as usually wrong in their ac-
cessOries; but the assembly, while adopt
ing so much of the report as expressing
the church, attitude toward these amuse-
ments, struck out the clauses recon-
mending the disciplining of those who
indulge in these things, The churches
have thus indicated their strong disap-
proval of these forms of amusements. and
less than this they could not do without
untaithtulneSS to conviction. But they
do mot hold threat of accommodation
over those who take a different view of
the matter. Ihey recognize the fact that
considerable minority hold other views,
and that the decision of questions of prac-
teal duty must be left in every case to the
( individual conscience. In this whole
question of amusements the day has gone
by for the settlementof conflicting views
by the strong arm of authority. All mat
ters not decided in Scripture, by precept
or precedent, the liberty of each Christian
believer TO decide for himself is unim-
npaph1 blp New York EyaTninar
tist).