Sharp County record., 1891-04-16
BALEFUL AMUSEMENTS
Sew. 7. CeWtG5 rsllpage Continues
60 AG5ack the Plaques,
osraiciOus and sinful Anlssmsnts trdit-
mi Factor m Lur,ns Young anu
Old rom tho PsGls 0i
BeCdrlde.

Piagues Qi tina GreaJ Cities, was de-
hvered BY Rev T. Dewitt Talmage in
Brooklyn anu New Work city, from the
text.
Les -he Young men now arise and piAg DC.
lOrs us.-II samuel L., Is.
There ara two Armies encamped BY
the pool Of Gibeon. The time hangs
heavily On their hands One army pro-
poses game Of sw0rd- fencing Moth
ing could DO more healthfui and innO-
cent. The other army accepts 5he
challenge. Twelve men against twelve
men, the sport opens, But something
Went adversely. Perhaps one Of the
swordsmen got an unmcky clip. Or IN
some way had his ire aroused, ami that
which opened n sportfuinesS ended N
violence, eacn one taking his eUntes5-
ant by the hair and then with
the sword uhrusting him IN the side,
50 Jhat that which opened IN innO,
cent -un ended n the massacre Ji all
the twenty-tour spOrtsmen. Was there
ever better Illustration Jf what was
TRUE then, and IS true now, that -hat
which IS Innocent may Dc made de-
structlve2 What OF a worldly nature IS
more important and strengthening anu
innocent than amusement, andyet what
has. counted more victims? I have no
sympathy with straight-jaeket rei-
gion. This IS very brief world to ne,
and propose to do all can to make it
bright for others.
L never could keep step TO dead
march. A book years ago issued SAYS
that Christian man has right 10 some
amusements, for instance, # he comes
home at night weary from his work,
and, feeling the need Of recreation, puts
on his slippers ana goes into his garret,
and walks lively round the dOOr several
times, there can De no harm ii it. L.be-
lieVe the church Of God has made q tre-
mendous mistake IN trying to suppress
the sporttuiness OF youth, ana drive out
from men their love Of amusement II
God ever implanted anything n Us He
implanted this desire. But instead Jf
providing for this demand Of our nature
the church Of God has, for the main
part, ignored it, AS in q riot the
mayor plants o battery at the end Of
the street, and has it fred off, SO that
everything IS cut down that happens to
stand N the range, the good as veil as
the bad, 50 there are men in the church
VINO plant their batteries Of cOndemna-
tlon ana ire away indiseriminateiy
Everything is. condemned. But my
Bible commends those who use the
world without abusing Il, and in the
natural world God has done everything
TO please and amuse rs, IN poetic ig.
ure we sometimes think of natural Ob-
jeets Us being IN pain, but it is o mere
fancy. Poets say the clouds weep, but
they never yet shed q tear and that the
ynds ssgl. but tbsy nsyerdid hayeanS,'
trouble; ana that the storm howls, but
it never lost its temper. The world isa
rose, and the universe q garland
And am glad to know that in all our
cities there are plenty Of places where
we may find elevated moral entertain
ment. But all honest men and good
women will agree with me in the state
ment that one OF the worst plaques Of
these cities is eurupt amusement.
Multitudes have gone down under the
blasting influence, never to rise. II we
may Judge of what is going on in many
OF jhe places OF amusement by the
SodOmic pictures On board fences. and
IN many OF the show windows, there IS
not much lower depth Of pruAi9acy
to reach At Naples, Italy, they Keep
such pictures locked up from indis-
criminate inspection. Those pictures
were eXhumed from Pompeii and are
not it for public gaze. II the etfront-
cry Of bad places OF amusement in
hanging out improper advertisement Of
what they are doing night by night
grows worse in the same proportion, in
ifty Years New York and BROOKLYN
viii beat not only Pompeii, but Sodom.
To help stay the plague now raging,
I project certain principles by which
you may Judge IN regard to any amuse-
menJ or recreation, finding out for
yourself whether IL Is right, or whether
1t IS wrong.
remark, in the first place, that you
can Judge OF the moral character OF any
amusement by lbs healthful result. or
by It's baleiul reaction. There are
people vino seem made upol hard facts,
They are combination OF multipiica-
ton tables and statistics. II you show
them m exquisite picture, they will bee
gin 10 diseuss the pigments involved In
the goioring II yuu show them q
beautiful rose they win submit 10 10 u
botanical analysis, which is only the
post mortem examination Of n
flower They have no rebound in
their nature. They never do anything
more than smile, There are no great
tides OF feeling surging up from the
depths OF their soul, In billow after bill.
low Of reyerberating laughter They
seem as Il nature had built them by
contract and made u mingiing job OUT
OF 10. But. blessed be God there are
people in the world who have bright
faces, and whose lie is u song, nm an
them, "A pean OF victory Even their
troubles arv ike the vines that crawl
mp the side of u great tower on the top