The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1896-04-11
TALMAGE's SERMON.
A Plea for Rational Recreation az
an Aid to Christianity.
The Gymnasium and Outdoor Sports
Commended-Amuse that Are
Beneficial to Both Body
and Soul

Rev. T.Dewitt Talmage took the sub
ject of "Our Social Recreations" In q
recent discourse before his Washing
ton congregation, basing his words on
the texts:
They that use this world IS not abusing it,
I Cor. VII. 81.
And IL came to pass. when the hearts wore
merry. that they said. call for Samson. that he
may make US sport-Judges. xvi. Is
There were 5000 people assembled In
tho Temple Of Dagon. They had come
TO make sport of eyeless Sampson.
They were all ready for the entertain
ment. They began to clap and pound,
impatient for the amusement to begin,
and they cried: "Fetch him out! fetch
him outl" Yonder see the blind old
giant coming, led by the hand Of q
child into the very midst of the tenn
pie. 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!" The
lad does so. Then the strong man
puts his right hand on one pillar and
his left hand on another pillar,
and, with the mightiest push that
marital ever made, throws himself for
ward until the whole house comes
down in thunderous crash, grinding
the guidance like grapes in a wine
press. "And 30 it came to 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"
In other words, there nre amuse-
ments 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 1900 people persisted that day In
GAIA are as nothing compared to the
tens of thousands who have been de-
stoyed by sinful amusements.
But my first text implies that there
Is lawful use of the world, as well as
an unlawful abuse of it, and the diff
ference between the man Christian and
the man un-Christian is, that in the
former case the man masters the
world, while in the latter case the
world masters him. For whom did
God make this grand and beautiful
world? For whom this wonderful ex-
penditure of color, this gracefulness
Of line, this mosaic of the ground,
this fresco of the sky, this glowing
fruitage of orchard and vineyard, this
full orchestra of the tempest, in which
the tree branches flute, and the winds
trumpet, and the thunders drum, and
all the splendors of earth and sky come
clashing their cymbals? For whom did
God spring the arched bridge of colors
resting upon buttresses of broken
storm-cloud? For whom did He gather
the upholstery of fire around the win
dow of the setting sun? For all men;
but more especially for His own, dear
children.
If you build large mansion, and
spread great feast after it to cele-
brate the completion of the structure,
do you allow strangers to come in and
occupy the place, while you thrust
your own children in the kitchen, or
the barn, or the fields? Oh, no! You
say: II am very glad to see strangers
In my mansion, but my own sons and
shall have the first right
there" Now, God has built this grand
mansion of the world, and He has
spread a glorious feast in it, and while
those who are strangers to His grace
may came in, think that God espe-
cially intends to give the advantage
to His own children-those who are
the sons and daughters Of the Lord
Almighty, those who, through grace,
can look up and say: abba,
Father" You can not make me be-
lieve that God gives more advantages
to the world than He gives to the
church bought with His own
blood. If, therefore, people of the
world have looked with dolorous sym
pathy upon those who make profession
of religion, and have said, "Those
new converts are going down into pri-
walton and into hardship; why did
they not tarry little longer in the
world, and have some of its enjoyments
and amusements and recreations?"-I
say to such men of the world, 'You
are greatly mistaken" and when get
through will show that those people
who stay out Of the kingdom of God
have the hardship and self-denials,
while those who come in have the joys
and satisfactions.
In the name of the King of Heaven
and earth, serve writ of ejectment
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 the pure and the true, the
eternal inheritance which God has
given them. Hitherto, Christian phi
lanthropists, clerical and lay, have
busted themselves chiefly In de-
nouncing sinful recreations; but 1
feel we have no right to stand before
men and women in whose hearts there
Is desire for recreation amounting to
positive necessity, denouncing this
and that and the other thing, when
we do not propose to give them some
thing better. God helping me and
with reference to my last account, /