Milford chronicle., 1891-03-20
PLAQUES OF THE CITIES.
STRONG DISCOURSE PREACHED BY
REV. T. DE WITT TALMAeE.

Baleful Amusements the Subject - A
Great Concourse Present-The Speak
er Specifies Amusements That Are
Harmful and Those That Are Not.
NEW York. March 15.-The series Of ser
/ mons Dr. Talmage is preaching in this city
and Brooklyn on "The Plaques of the
/ Cities" is attracting general attention.
! At the morning service in Brooklyn and
| at the evening services held under the
auspices Of The Christian Herald. in this
1 city, the number Of persons who come TO
/ hear the sermons is far larger than either
| of the buildings can accommodate. The
/ sermon to-day. which is the fourth of the
/ series. is on "Baleful Amusements." The
1 text was II Samuel, H. IA; "Let the young
men now arise and play before us.
There are two armies encamped by the
I poOl of Gibeon The time hangs heavily
! on their hands, One army proposes a game
\ of sword fencing Nothing could be more
healthful and innocent. The other army
accents the challenge. Twelve men against
twelve men, the sport opens But some
thing went adversely. Perhaps one Of the
swordsmen got an unlueky clip, or in some
way had his ire aroused, and that which
opened in sportfulness ended in violence,
/ each one taking his contestant by the hair,
and then with the sword thrusting him in
the side, so that that which opened in in
nocent fun ended in the massacre Of all the
twenty-four sportsmen. Was there ever a
better illustration of what was true then,
and is true now, that that which is nno-
cent may be made destructiye2
What of a worldly nature is more i'm
portant and strengthening and innocent
than amusement, and yet what has count
ed more victims? have no sympathy with
straitiacket religion. This is very
bright world to me, and propose to do all
can to make it bright for Others
YOUTHS sPoRTIvENEss SHOULD NOT BE SUP
PRESSED.
I never could keep step to dead march.
A book years ago issued says that Chris
tian man has a right to some Qmusements.
For instance, if he comes home at night
weary from his work, and feeling IN need
of recreation, puts on his slippers, and
goes into his garnet and walks lively
round the floor several times there can be
no harm in it. 1 believe the church of
God has made tremendous mistake in
trying to 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 for 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 it bred oil so that every
thing is cut down that happens tO'stand in
the range, the good as well as the bad, so
there are men in the church who plant
ruff
away indiscriminately. Everything is con
demned. But my bible commends those
who use the world without abusing it, and
in the natural world God has done every
thing to please and amuse US. In poetic
figure we sometimes speak of natural OBJ
iects as being in pain, but it is a mere
fancy. Poets say the clouds weep, but
they never vet shed a tear; and the winds
sigh, but they never did have any trouble;
and that the storm howls, but it never lost
its temper. The world is a rose, and the
universe u garland.
And am glad to know that in all our
cities there are plenty of places where we
may find elevated. moral entertainment.
But all honest men and good women will
agree with me in the statement that one Of
the worst plaques of these cities is corrupt
amusement. Multitudes have gone down
under the blasting influence never to rise.
If we may judge Of what is going on in
many of the places of amusement by the
Sodomic pictures on board fences and in
many of the show windows there is not
much lower depth of prohgacy to reich.
At Naples, Italy, they keep such pictures
locked up from indiscriminate inspection.
Those pictures were exhumed from Pom
peii and arc not it for public gaze. Ii the
effrontery Of bad places Of amusement in
hanging out improper advertisements Of
what they are doing night by night grows
worse in the same proportion, in fifty years
New York and Brooklyn will beat not only
Pompeii but Sodom.
To help stay the plague now raging
project certain principles by which you
may Judge in regard to any amusement or
recreation, finding out for yourself whether
it is right or whether it is wrong.
BY ITS FRUITS KNOW II.
I remark in the first place that you can
Judge Of the moral character of any amuse-
ment by its healthful result or by its bale
full reaction. There are people who seem
made up of hard facts. They are a com
bination Of multiplication tables and sta
tistics If you show them an exquisite
picture they will begin to discuss the pig
ments involved in the coloring. II you
show them beautiful rose they will sub
nit it toa botanical analysis, which is only
the post-mortem examination Of 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 billow Of reverberating laughter.
They seem as if nature had built them by
contract and made bungling job Of it.
But, blessed be God, there are people in
the world who have bright faces, and
whose life is a song an anthem, paean of
Of victory Even their troubles are like
the vines that crawl up the side of great
tower, on the top of which the sunlight
sits, and the soft airs of summer hold per-
petual carnival. They are the people you
like to have come to your housei they are
the people like TO have come to my house
II you but touch the hem Of their gar
ments you are healed.
Now it is these exhilarant and sympa-
thetic and warm hearted people That are
most tempted to pernicious amusements.
In proportion as a ship is swift it wants
strong helmsman; in proportion as a horse
is CAV, it wants a stout driver; and these
people Of exuberant nature will do well to
look at the reaction Of all their anuse-
ments. If an amusement sends you home
at night nervous so that you cannot sleep,
and you rise up In the morning, not be-
cause you are slept out, but because your
duty drags you from your slumbers, you
have been where you ought not to have
been. There are amusements that send
man next day to his work bloodshot, yawn-
ing, stupid, nauseated; and they are wrong
kinds Of amusement They are entertain
ments that give man disgust with the
drudgery Of life, with tools because they
are not swords, with working aprons be
cause they are not robes, with cattle be-
cause they are not infuriated bulls Of the
arena.
II any amusement sends you home long
ing for a life OF romance and thrilling ad-
venture, love that takes poison aud shoots
itself, moonlight adventures and hair
breadth escapes, you may depend upon it
that you are the sacrificed victim OF un-
sanotified pleasure. Oar recreations are
intended to build up, and if they pull us
down as TO our moral or as to our physical
strength YOU may come to the conclusion
klok fl,nrr "a, 20 Al, lovfond