The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-06-24
GOOD AND BAD SPORT.
DIR. TALNAGE,S SERMON
THE ADJUSTMENTS OF THE HOUR
when the Blind Old Giant sassson
Was Called Forth TO Amuse the Wick.
ed Of Gaza-The Christian Who H.
creates Wiseiy-The Deadly ~Good
Time.o

Time,
fCopyright, 1893, by American Press
Association.)
Washington, June 19.-From an I'M
usual standpoint DR.. Talmage in this
applies 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, hat he
may make us sport. And they called
for Samson out of the prison house
and he made them sport"
There were 1000 people assembled in
the temple Of Dragon. 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 I see the blind old
giant coming, led by the hand of a
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 agains the pill
lars 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
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 mace them sport" In other
words, there are amuSementS that are
destructive and brings down disaster
upon the heads Of those who practice
them. While they laugh and cheer
they die. The 1900 who persisted that
day in GAIA are nothing compared
with the tens of thousands who have
been destroyed, body, mind n soul,
by bad amusements and by good
a~musements carried to excess.
In my sermon you must have nOtic-
ed that I have no sympathy with &C.
clesiastical straitjackets, or with that
wholesale denunciation Of amusements
to which men are pledged. l believe
the church Of God has made a tremen-
dous mistake in trying to suppress the
sportfulness 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 ma
ture the church of God has for the
main part ignored it. AS in a riot the
mayor plants a battery at the end of
the street and has it 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 indiscrim-
inately. Everything is condemned.
They talk as if they woul like to have
our youth dress in blue uniform, like
the children of the orphan asylum, and
march down the path of life to the
tune of the dead march in Saul" They
hate a blue sash, or a rosebud in the
hair, or a tasseled gaiter, and thinks
a man almost ready for the lunatic asy
lum who utters a conundrum.
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 aiding gymnasiums
and bowling alleys, where, without
any evil surroundings, III yOung men
may get physical as we'll as spiritual
Improvement. We are dwindling away
to a narrow chested, weak armed, feeble
voiced race. God calls us to a work in
which he wants physical as we'll as
spiritual athletes. / would to God that
the time might soon come when in all
our colleges and theological seminaries,
as at Princeton, a gymnasium shall be
established. We spend seven years of
ldI SIuuy III III Cpo ollcIl 1ol liz LII
istry and come out with bronchitis and
dyspepsia and liver complaint, and the
people say, Doesn't he look heaven
ly!" because he looks sickly. Let the
church of God direct rather than at
tempt to suppress the desire for amuse-
ment. The best men that the sworld
ever knew they had their sports. Will
liam Wilberforce %trundled hoop with
his children. Martin Luther helped
dress the Christmas tree. Ministers
have pitched quoits, philanthropists
nave gone a-skating, prime ministers
have played ball.
Dur communities are filled with men
and women who have in their souls I'M
measured resources for sportfulness
and frOlic. Show me a man who never
lights up with sportfulness and has no
sympathy with the recreations Of 9TH
ers, n I will show you a man who is
a stumbling block to the kingdom of
God. Such men are caricatures of re-
ligion. They lead young people to
think that a nan is good in proportion
as he groans and frowns and ookss sal
low, and that the height of a man
Christian stature is in proportion to the
length Of his face. I would trade off
300 such men for one bright faced,
radiant Christian on whose face are
the words, Rejoice evermore!" Every
morning by his cheerful face he
breaches SO sermons. 1 will go further
and say that / have no confidence in
a man who makes a religion of his
gloomy looks. That kind of a man al
way turns out badly. 1 would not
want him for the treasurer of an or
phan asylum. The orphans would SUI
fer.
Among 40 people whom I received
into the church at one communion
there was only one applicant of whose
piety I was suspicious. He had the
longest story to tell, had seen the most
visions and ave an experience so Won
derful 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 ban with
which he was connected. Who is this
black angel that you call religion
wings black, feet black, feathers black?
Nnr religion iS a hrinhf anro1 foot