The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-08
filled the soft airs of Palestine with songs

filled the soft airs Of Palestine with songs
Of gladness. The Iible Is a book Of re-
jolcing, Cheerfulness IL an element Of God
illness. Religion Is not the stern heroism
OF the soul In sackcloth, marching to mar
tyrdom. 1t is rather the perfect harmony
OF all human powers set to the music Of
i Joy and love. by which man marches
heavenward. Pfety. is not a poisonous
plant growing in the dark. but fragrant
making this old earth another Eden.
NOT A SOUR THEOLOGY.
We do. not believe in sour. theology:
The world was evidently made for us and
We are created for a happy, hopeful en-
istence here This earth Is not q dungeon
keep, In which the curbed spirit. like
fawn made captive, pines and chafes for
bra Of beauty and blessedness apart from
the defilements Of sin: and even where
| Sin Is. 1t Is IN the man and not IN the
world. There Is no levity In the waving
stream. The towering mountain lifts its
| head In alteration, not in rebellion. The
songsters or the springtime have no Urea,
son in their melody. All Nature is loyal
rejoicing on the crown lands of her King:
Youth is the most important period OF
our life, because 1t is the formative period.
In youth habits are formed and principles
L
our activity. This mortal body holds an
immortal spirit whose destiny depends
| largely on the drift OF these early years.
Youth must have its recreation, but it has
| ter Is being formed. We may use our OPP
portunities or abuse them, but our own
| growth goes on and Is measured and col
ored by what We do with the things about
| us. For example. little child on a sum-
mer day lies down to rest In the shadow
Of q forest tree. A beautiful bird in the
branches overhead sings the little one to
sleep. but a poisonous serpent steals
through the grass and coils by its side,
| waiting for the first movement to strike
| Its poisoned fangs of death. 1t was the
| same sweet child to both, but one came
with its song, the other with its poison,
because of the nature of bird and snake.
| And so first of all, in this formative pc
riod. the love of Christ must be in the
heart of youth. He must be the hope OF
glory. and there is no hope of life with
out him, every deed goes right into char;
acter. Let these be pure and good and
with threads of gold you weave shining
garment of Righteousness.
| Go with me to the city slums, where
| the air comes fetid with curses and with
oaths; see through the swinging doors the
matted hair and bleared eyes. and distort-
| ed features of men and women reeiing on
the brink of hell. But remember that
there was a time when they were as pure
as the spotless babe that sleeps In It's
mothers arms topight. 1t was by hurtful
| amusements and evil social custom that
they have drifted- from better ways and
become whitening. blighting curse to So
| ciety.
| CHARACTERS FORMED FOR GOOD.
Character formed for good or Ill re-
| mains for US an everlasting possession.
| How important, then. to have proper sur
roundings for our youth. 1T Is then that
the appetites and passions are hardest to
control, for knowledge and experience
come farther on in life, and when we see
how many are swept away, We may Wen
| become alarmed. ....
And now, in our crusade against these
| things, we must state some weil.e3tao-
| lished facts and lay down some rules Tor
our guidance. We all agree that youth
Is to a large degree the season for amuse-
ments and enjoyment through them.
have more enjoyment now in week than
! had in year of my youth. But In youth
| we are without care. We have no burdens,
We are wild and free.
We agree, further, that It is unwise to
deny amusement and pleasure to the
young. II We did as Palmer says, one OF
three results would follow.
By violent reaction restraints would be
| cast aside.
or. If restrained the soul and body
would not grow, and we would have a sui
len, hopeless person instead of a bright.
| joyous one
Or else the energy. pent up for time,
which deform the character and ruin the
| soul.
As may not have time to .lnish this at-
dress, l will now give you some rules to
| help you In this matter.
| |. No amusement IS right that Injuries
physical health-parties with late hours.
low-necked dresses, dra,ighrs and late sup
pers, etc.
9. No amusement Is right which has
| even the suspicion Of indecency
| where virtue Is discounted, God prufancd
and woman dishonored.
| 3. No amusement is right that involves
| expenses more than we can afford.
4. No amusement il right that conflicts
| with conscience or Devotional life.
| We may say further ;hat all those
| amusements are to be avoided which can
| not be converted into the means Of good
| moral education.
Those pleasures are to te chosen which
educate the eye, the ear. the hand. the
body, the mind.
PLEASURES TO BE AVOIDED.
| Those pleasures are to he avoided which
We cannot share with our seniors and
which reuqire entire exemption from re-
| straint to give them 2est.
Let parents and children unite in joyous
amusements and they will Oe blessiJ; to
all.
Again. those PLEASURES are hurtful which
| intoxicate and baw,tch the senses.
Those pleasures are to he forbidden
which interfere with anv known duty or
any truth in the Word Of God.
All those anus ements and social GUS
toms should be ban'anea which are hos
| tile to an early devotion to Christ
| You are as much bound - be Chr's-
| tian at 20 as at 20. dow many lives are
blasted by the false notion that yourt; rco-
pie must sow the.r wild oats. ''Whatso-
ever a man sowath, that shall he also
| reap"
God may forgive tine sinner, but God
Himself Will not unlo the wrong done.
| He will not give back the wasted hours.
| If have lost n a n N ha
debauch, He will not restore It: neither
will He give back the wasted health.
We cannot afford to countenance doubt
full amusement or evil social customs.
| For example, we cannot afford to turn
our churches into theaters. There may be
nothing Objectionable In the plays, but
We are educating our youth in the wrong
direction. Not long ago a congregation
| talent. The play was a very modest af-
fair, the skirts were not to be over four
teen inches from the floor, the dancing
was was to be Of the most approved kind. They
selected six or eight young people from
prominent families In other churches to
take part In the play, but really to be so
many decoy ducks to get all their friends
to the show Two or three ministers OBJ
| jected to their girls dancing in short
| skirts, but they were threatened with ar
rest for interfering and injuring the busi-
ness OF the man who got up the play for
the church. Then Christian association
gets. the school children to dress in fam
tastic forms and give a play in the same
theater. 1t took three weeks practice,
during which time the public schools were
well nigh demoralized, for the pupils We're
wild over the show. Then 1t came off
| II was a nice show. Nothing objectiona-
BILE about 1t. 1t was remarkable how high
the little girls could kick. But that mod
est audience forgot that IL it was proper
for the little girls to kick as high as their
heads, 1t was just as proper for their Chris
tian mothers to do the same thing. Four or
five plays such as these were given by To-
| cal talent by the church. and for these
| five plays five young women left Christian
| homes and went on the stage. One of
| them was seen last winter in low play
house in Philadelphia. This is the price
the Christian community pays for smiling
| on doubtful amusements.
DOES IT CULTIVATE.
Some one says the theater cultivates the