The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-06-20
A BRIGHT RELIGION
REV. Or. TAtMAoe TAKES PLEASURE
FOR HIS THEME.

He Has No sympathy with straivscksts.
Yet Points Out the Dangers Of Unrs-
strained Amussmsnt-Recreati That
Leads to Sin.
copyright. 1895. by American Press Asso-
ciatien.1
WARRINGTON, June 19.-From an un-
usual standpoint Dr.. Talmage in this dis
course discusses amusements and applies
tests by which they may be known as good
or bad. The text Is Judges xvi, eb: "And
merry that they said, Call for Samson,
that he may mako US sport. And they
called for Samson out of the prison house,
and he made them sport"
There were 5000 people assembled In
the Temple Of Dagon. They had come to
make sport Of eyeless Samson. They were
all ready for the entertainment They be-
gan to clap and pound, inpatient for the
amusement to begin, and they cried:
Fetch him outi Fetch him outI' Yon-
der 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 shout Of laughter and de-
rision. The blind old giant pretends he Ii
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 wine press. And so it
came to pass, when their hearts were mer-
ry, that they said, Call for Samson, that
he may make us sport. And they called
for Samson out Of tho prison house, and
he made them sport" In other words,
there are ADJUSTMENTS that are destructive
and bring down disaster and death upon
tho heads Of those who practice them.
While they laugh and cheer they de- The
5000 who persisted that day in GAIA are
nothing compared with tho tens of thou
sands who have been destroyed, body,
mind and soul by bad amusements and
by good amusements carried to excess.
In my sermons you must have noticed
that have no sympathy with ecclesiastical
straitjackots or with that wholesale de-
nunciation Of amusements to which many
are pledged. 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 amuse-
ment. If God ever implanted anything in
u.s. 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
battery at the end Of the street and has
1t fired 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 their batteries Of
condemnation and fire away indiscrimi-
natcly Everything is condemned They
talk as II they would like to have our youth
dress in blue uniform, like the children of
an orphan asylum, and march down the
path of lifo to the tune of the dead march
ii" saul" They hate blue sash, or rose
bud in the hair or tasscled gaiter, and
think man almost ready for the lunatic
asylum who utters Conundrum.
A Glorious Work.
Young Mems Christian associations of
the country are doing glorious work
They have fine reading rooms, and all the
influences are Of tho best kind, and are
now adding gymnasiums and bowling
alleys, where without any evil surround
ings our young men may get physical as
well as spiritual improvement We are
dwindling away to narrow chested,
weak armed, feebled voiced race when
God calls us to work in which he wants
physical as well as spiritual athletes. I
would to God that the time might soon
come when in all our colleges and theo-
logical seminaries, as at Princeton, q gym
nasium shall be established. We spend
for the ministry and come out with bron-
chitis and dyspepsia and liver complaint,
and then crawl up into the pulpit and the
people say, Doesn't he look heavenly!'
because he looks sickly. Let the church Of
God direct rather than attempt to sup
press the desire for amusement. The best
men that the world ever knew have had
their sports. William Wilberforce trundled
hoop with his children; Martin Luther
helped dress the Christmas tree; Ministers
have pitched quoits; philanthropists have
gone a-skating; prime ministers have
played ball.
Our communities are filed with men
and women who have in their souls I'M
measured resources for sportfulness and
frolic. Show me man who never lights
up with sportfulness and has no sympathy
with tho recreations of others, and will
show you n man who is stumbling block
to tho kingdom of God. Such men arc
carlcatures of religion. They lead young
people to think that man is good in pro-
portion as he groans and frowns and looks
salow, and that the height of n man S
Christian stature Is in proportion to tho
length Of his face. l would trade off 500
such men for one bright faced, radiant
Christian on whose face are the words,
"Rcjoico evcrmorep' Every morning by
his cheerful face he breaches so sermons
will 20 further and say that have no
confidence in man who makes a religion
of his gloomy looks. That kind of man
always turns out badly. l would not
want him for the treasurer of an orphan
asylum. The orphans would suffer
Suspicious Piety.
Among 40 people whom received into
the church at one communion, there was
only one applicant of whose pety was
suspicious He had tho longest story to
tell, had seen the most visions and gave
an experience so wonderful that all tho
other applicants wero discouraged. WAS
net surprised the year after to learn that
he had run off with the funds Of the bank
with which he was connected. Who is this
black angel that you call rcligion-wings
black, feet black, feathers blackY Our re-
l!gion is bright ange!-fcct bright, eyes
bright wings bright taking her place in
the soul. She pulls rope that reaches to
the skies and sets all the bells of heaven
a-chiming There are some persons who,
when talking to a minister, always feel it
; polite to look lugubrious Go forth, O
people, to your lawful aAusement. God
means you to be happy. But when there
are so many sources of innocent pleasure
why tamper with anything that is danger.
Gus and pollutingi Why stop our cars to
heaven full of songsters to listen to the
| hiss of a dragon? Why turn back from the
mountain side all a.bloom with wild flow.
ers and a.d;.sh with the nimble torrents,
and with blistercd feet attempt to climb
| the hot sides Of Cotopaxi?
Now, all opera houses, theaters, bowling
alleys, skating Kinks and all styles OF
| ...-0~>.- ---s-a.-s---
amusement, good and bod, put On trial
today and judge Of them by certain car.