Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-07-13
OF THE DAY
Subject: "Pleasures of Life'-Has No Sym.
pathy With the wholesale Denuncia.
tiOn of iorious Work
of the ", NJ. C. A.

pathy With the Wholesale Denuncia.
tion of iorious Work
of the Y. NJ. c. A.
TEXT: "And it came to pass. when S,ei,
hearts were merry, that they said, Call fol
Samson, that he may make us sport. And
they called for Samson out of the prison,
house and he made them sport. Judges
1925.
There were three thousand people Assem-.
bled in the Temple OF Dagon. They had
come to make sport Of eyeless Samson
They were all ready for the entertainment
They began to clap and pound, impatient
for the amusement to begin, and they
cried, Fetch him outl Fetch him outii
Yonder l see the blind old giant coming
led by the hand of n child into the very
midst OF the temple. At his first appear.
ance 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 portal ever made, throws himself for.
ward until the whole house comes down in
thunderous crash, grinding the audience
like grapes In IA wine-press. "And so 1t
came to pass when their hearts were merry,
that they said, Call for Samson, that he
Samson out of the prison-house and he
made them sport" In otner words there
are amusements 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 three
thousand who perished that day in GAIA
are nothing compared to the tens OF thou
sands who have been destroyed body.
mind and soUl by bad amusements ant
good amusements carried to excess.
In my sermons you must have noti ced
that have no sympathy with eccIesiasti,
cal strait Jackets, or with that wholesale
denunc!dtion OF famusements to which many
are pledged. believe the Church of God
has made II tremendous mistake In irwin @
to suppress the sportfulness of youth and
drive out IRON men their love of amuse.
ment. If God ever implanted anything In
us He i'm planted 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 IA riot the Mayor plants o
battery at the end of the street and has II
fired off, so that everything is cut down
that happens to stand in the range the
good rs well the bad there are men
In the church who plant the batteries oil
condemnation and fire away indiscrimin-
ately. Everything is condemned. They
talk as il they would like to have our youth
dress in blue uniform 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 n blue sash, or a rose
bud in the hair, or tasseled Saiter, and
think man almost ready for a lunatit
asylum who utters n cOnundrum.
Young Mems Christian Associations OF
the country are doing glorious work.
They have fine rcadiL z rooms, and all the
influences are of the best kind, and are
now adding gyinnasiums and bowling al
leys, where, without any evil surroundings,
our young men may get physical as well as
spiritual Improvement. We are dwindling
away to n narrow-chested. weak-armed,
feeble-voiced race, when God calls us to a
work in which he wants physical as well
as spiritual athletes. would to God that
the time might soon come when in all our
colleges and theological seminaries, as at
Princeton. gymnasium shall be estab-
lished. We spend seven years OF hard
study in preparation for the ministry, and
come out with bronchitis and dyspepsia
and liver complaint, and then crawl up into
the pulpit, and the people say, I'D oesn't he
look heavenlyi' because he looks sickly
Let the Church of God direct, rather than
attempt to suppress, the desire for amuse-
ment. The best men that the world ever
knew have had their sports. William Will
berforce trundled hoop with his children,
Martin Luther helped dress the Christmas
tree. Ministers have pitched quoits, phil
anthropists have gone a-skating, prime
ministers have played ball.
Our communities are filed with men and
women who have in their souls unmeaS-
ured resources for sportfulness and frolic.
Show me a man who never lights up with
sportfulness and has no sympathy with the
recreations of others. and l will show You
man who is stumbling block to the
Kingdom of God. Such men are caricatures
OF religion. They lead young people to
think that man Is good in proportion as
be groans and frowns and looks sallow and
that the height OF IL mans Christian stature
l., II
would trade of five hundred such men for
one bright-faced, radiant Christian on
whose face are the words, "Rejoice ever
more" Every morning by his cheerful face
he breaches fifty sermons. / will go further
and say that | have no confidence In a man
who makes n 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.
Among forty people whom 1 received
into the church at one communion, there
was only one applicant of whose piety l
was suspicious. He had the longest story
to tell; had seen the most visions, and gave
an experience so wonderful that all the
other applicants were discouraged. I was
not 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 reigion-wings
liSion is IA bright angel-feet 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 1t
polite to look lugubrious. Go forth, o
people, TO your lawful amusement. God
means you to be happy. But, when there
are many sources OF innocent pleasure.
why tamper with anything that is danger
ous and polluting? Why stop our ears to a
heaven full of songsters to listen to the
the mountain-side all abloom with wild
flowers and adash with the nimble tor
rents, and with blistered feet attempt to
climb the hot sides Of CotopaSi?
Now, all opera houses, theatres, bowling
alleys, skating Kinks and all styles OF
amusements, good and bad, 1 put on trial
to-day and judge OF them by certain car
dinal principles First, YOU Judge of any
amusement by its heathful result or by its
beneficial reaction. There are people who
seem made up of hard facts. They are a
combination OF multiplication tables and
statistics. II YOU show them an exquisite
picture they will begin to discuss the pig
ments involved in the coloring; IL you show
them beautiful rose, they will submit 1t
to botanical analysis, which Is only the
postmortem examination OF flower.
They never do anything more than feebly
surging up from the depth Of their soul in
billow after billow of reverberating laugh
ter. They seem as II nature had built
them by contract and made a bungling job
out of It. But, blessed be God, there are
people In the world who have bright faces
and whose life is song, an anthem, a
pecan OF victory. Even their troubles are
like the vines that crawl up the side of a
great tower on the top of which the sun
light sits and the soft airs Of summer hold
perpetual carnival. They are the people
you like to have come to your house; they
are the people like to have come to my
house. Now, 1t is these exhilarant and
sympathetic and warm hearted people that
are most tempted to pernicious amuse-
ments. In proportion as ship Is swift 1t
w'"ts strong helmsman; In pronortion as
a horse is gay it wants a strong driver; and
these people of exuberant nature will do
we'll to look at the reaction Of all their
amusements. II an amusement sends you
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