The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1898-07-01
is 1T GOOD OR EVIL?
Character of Amusements Discussed
by Rev. Dr.. Talmage.
Not All Popular Methods OF Recreation
are Harmful But There Are
Many Dangerous Ones
to bs Avoided.

to bs Avoided.
Rev. T. Dewitt Talmage, in the fol-
lowing sermon, discusses popular
amusements and applies tests by which
their influence for good or evil may be
determined. The text is:
And II came to pass when their hearts we're
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 Judges xvi. Is
There were 5000 persons assembled
in the Temple of Dagon. They had
come to make sport of eyeless Samson.
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 Quit" Yonder L see the blind old
giant coming, led by the hand of
child into the very midst of the temple.
AT his first appearance there goes up a
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: Bring me where the main
pillars are" The lad does SO. Then the
strong man puts his hands on one of
the pillars, and, with the mightiest
push that mortal ever made, throws
himself forward until the whole
house comes down in thunderous crash,
grinding the audience like grapes in a
winepress. And so it came to pass,
when their hearts were merry, that
they said: Call for Sampson, that he
may make sport" And they called for
Samson out of the prison house; and
he made them sport. In other words,
there are amJsements that are destruc-
tive and bring down disaster and death
upon the heads of those who practice
them. While they laugh and cheer
they die. The 5000 who persisted that
day in GAIA are nothing compared
with the tens of thousands who have
been destroyed, body, mind and soul,
by bad amusements and bygoOd aInuse-
mcnts carried to excess
In my sermons you must have no.
ticed that l have no sympathy with
ecclesiastical straight-jacllets, or with
that wholesale denunciation Of alnuse-
mentS to which many are pledged.
believe the church of God has made
tremendous mistake in trying to sup
press the sportfulncSs OF youth and
drive out from men their love of amuse-
ments. II God ever implanted anything
in us, He implanted this d, sire. But !
instead of providing for this demand of !
our nature, the church of God hus foI |
the main part ignored it. As in a riot |
the mayor plants Il battery ut the |
end of the street and has it ii ed |
off so that everything 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 heir |
of condemnation and fire |
away indiscriminatelv. Everything is |
They talk as if they would |
like to have our youth dress in blue !
like the children OF an orphan
asylum and march down the path of |
life TO the tune Of the Dead March in
Saul. They hate IA blue sash, or a rose
bud in the hair, or a tasscled gaitcr,
and think a man almost ready for the |
Iunatic asylum who utters conun-
drum.
Young Mems Christian associations
Of the country are doing a glorious
work. They have fine reading rooms,
and all the influences are of the best
Kind, and are now adding gymnasiums
and bowling alleys, where, without any
evil surroundings, our young men may
get physical as we'll as spiritual im-
We arc dwindling away
o a narrow-chested, wclx-armed, fee
)lc-vO.ced race, when God calls to a
work in which He wants physical as
we'll as spiritual athletes. 1 would to
rod that the time might soon come
when in all our colleges and theo-
Ogical seminaries, rs at Prince
on, a gymnasium shall be estab-
ished. We spend seven years of hard
tudy in preparation for the ministry,
md come out with bronchitis and
dyspepsia and liver complaint, aud
hen crawl up into the pulpit, and the
'eOple say: Don't he look heavenly"
because he looks sickly. Let the
hurch of God direct, rather than at
cmpt to suppress, the desire for
The best men that the
World ever knew have had their sports.
William WiiberfOrce trundled hoop |
With his children. Martin Luther
elped dress the Christmas tree. Min
,ters have pitched quoits, philanthro-
lists have gone a-skating, prime min
Sters have played ball.
Our communities are filled with men {
nd women who have in their souls un. !
leasured resources for sportfulneSs {
nd frolic. Show me man who never 1
gifts up with sportfulness and has no S
with the recreatIOns of 9th
RS, and will show you man who is L
stumbling block to the kingdom of a
cd. Such men are caricatures of re- I
gion. They lead young people to a
mink that a man is good in proper
on as he groans and fro vns and looks S
allow. and that the height of mans q
hristian stature is in proportion to the I
myth of his face. / would trade off II
10 such men for one bright-faced, radi- y
Mt Christian on whose face are the I
ords: Rejoice vvermore!" Every {
corning By his cheerful face he L
so sermons. l will go further L
nd say that l have no confidence in a Il
an who makes a religion of his Il
oOmy looks That kind of a man al v
avs turns out badly. l would not Fl
ant him for the treasurer of an L
'phan asylum The orphans would Ii
lffer. II
Among 40 people whom l received p
Ito the church at one communion, L
lere was only one applicant of whose fl
ETY. l was suspicious. He had the e
INCEST story to tell; had seen the most f;
siOns, and gave an experience so d
that all the other applicants Il
ere discouraged. l was not surprised p
e year after to learn that he had run IL
with the funds of the bank with c.
4, l. A. I