Connecticut western news., 1898-06-23
GOOD AND BAD SPORT.
OR. TACMAGE'S SERMON ABOUT THE ADJUSTMENTS OF THE HOUR.

Called Forth to Amuse the Wicked of
 Gaxa The Christian Who Recreates
 wisely-The Deadly "Good Time"
 Copyright. 1898. by American Press Asso-
 ciation.l
 WASHINGTON, June 19.-From an un- usual standpoint Dr. Talmage i'll this discourse discusses amusements and ap- plies tests by which they may be known as good or bad. The text is Judges xvi, 25, "And it came to pass, when their hearts were merry, that they said, Call for Samson, that he may make us sport. Aad they called for Samson out of the prison house, and he made them sport. y
 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 began to clap and pound, impa- tient for the amusement to begin, and they cried: Fetch him out! Fetch him out" Wonder I 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 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 pill lars and, with the mightiest push that mortal ever made, throws himself for ward until the whole house comes down in thunderous crash, grinding the audi ence like grapes in a wine press. And so 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 are amusements that are destructive and bring down dis aster and death upon the heads of those who practice them. While they laugh and cheer they die. The 5000 who per ished that day in Gaza are nothing com pared with the tens of thousands 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 ecclesias- tical straitjackets, or with that whole sale denunciation of amusements to which many are pledged. believe the church of God has made tremendous mistake in trying to suppress the sport fulness of youth and drive out from men their love of amusement. If God ever implanted anything in us, 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 it fired of, so that everything is cut down that happens to stand in the range, the good as we'll as the bad, so there are men ill the church who plant their batteries of condemnation and fire away indiscrimi- nately. Everything is condemned. They talk as if they would like to have our youth dress in blue uniform, like tho children of an orphan asylum, and march down the path of life to the tune of the dead march in Saul. '' They hate blue sash, or a rosebud in the hair, or a tasseled gaiter, and think 8 man almost ready for the lunatic asy- lum who utters a conundrum.
 Young Mems Christian associations of the country are doing 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 inn provement. We are dwindling away to narrow chested, weak armed, feeble voiced race, when God calls us to a 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 theological seminaries, as at Princeton, gymna- sium shall be established. We spend seven years of hard study in preparation for the ministry and come out with bronchitis and dyspepsia and liver com plaint, and then crawl up into the pull pit, and the people say, Doesn't he look heavenly" because he looks sickly. Let the church of God direct rather than attempt to suppress 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 filled with men and women who have in their souls un- measured resources for sportfulness and frolic Show me a man who never lights up with sportfulness and has no sympathy with the recreations of oth- CTS, and will show you a man who is stumbling block to the kingdom of God. Such men are caricatures of reli- zion. They lead young people to think that a man is good in proportion as he groans and frowns and looks sallow, and that the height of mans Chris tian stature is in proportion to the length of his face. Iwould trade off 800 such men for one bright faced, radiant Christian on whose face are the words, Rejoice evermoreH Every morning by his cheerful face he breaches 90 ser mons 1 will go further and say that have no confidence in man who makes religion of his gloomy looks. That kind of a man always turns out badly. I would not want him for the treasurer of an orphan asylum. The or phans would suffer.
 Among 40 people whom I 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 dis. couraged. 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 religion-wings black, feet black, feathers black? Our religion is bright angel-feet bright. eyes h,;e Hr,r ,rxkk taIr ,1o