The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-20
A SERMON ON ADJUSTMENTS.
MANY BRING DISASTER AND DEATH
TO THOSE WHO PRACTICE THEM.


Straight Jackets or with the
Wholesale Denunciation OF
Amuscmcnts INDUCED in by Many
Preachers.
Washington. June 19.-From an unusual
standpoint DR.. Talmage in this discourse
discusses amusements, and applies tests
by which they may be
known as good or bad.
The text is Judges 10; p: And it came 10
pass, when their hearts were merry, that
they said, Cal for Samson, that he may
naks US sport. And they called for Sam
son out of the prisonhouse; and he. made
them sport.
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 entertain
ment They began to clap and pound, im-
patient for the amusement to begin, and
they cried, Fetch him out! Fetch him
outr 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 laugh
ter and derision. The blind old giant pre-
tends he is tired and wants to rest him
self 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
wine press. 'And so 1t came to pass when
their hearts were merry, that they said,
Call for Samson, that he may make us
sport And they called for Sam
son out of the prsonhouse;
and he made them sport" In other 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 persisted that day
in GAIA are nothing compared with the
, tens of thousands who have been destroy
ed body, mind, and soul by bad amuse-
ments and by good amusements carried TO
excess.
In my sermons you must have noticed
that 1 nave no sympathy with ecclesiastical
strait-jackets, or with that wholesale de-
are pledged l believe the Church of God
has made a tremendous mistake in trying
to suppress the sportfulness of youth and
drive out from men their love of amuse-
ulent. If God ever implanted anything
in us he implanted this desire. But in
stead 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 a battery at the end of the
street and has il fired off, so that every
thing is cut down that happens to stand in
the range, the good as well as the bad 50
there are men in the church who plant
their batteries of condemnation and fire
away Unfortunately. Everything IS
condemned. They talk as If they woulo
like to have our youth dress in blue uni
form, like the children of an orphan asy-
lum, 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 CATER, and think man
almost ready for the lunatic asylum VINO
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 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 a 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 theo,
logical seminaries, as at Princeton, q
gymnasium shall be established We
spend seven years of hard study in prepa-
ration for the ministry, and come out with
bronchitis and dyspepsia. and liver com
plant, and then crawl up into the pulpit.
and the people say, Don't he look heav-
enly!' because he looks sckly. 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 Wilber-
force trundled hoop with his children.
Martin Luther helped dress the Christmas
tree. Ministers have pitched quoits, phil
&nthropists have gone a-skating prime
ministers have played BAH
Our 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 spOrtfuness and has no sympathy
with the recreations of others. and l will
show you a man who is a stumbling block
10 the kingdom of God Such men are
caricatures of religion They lead young
people to think that man is good in pro-
portion as he groans and frowns and looks
sallow, and that the hight of mans
Christian stature is in proportion to the
length of his face. l would trade off five
hundred such men for one bright-faced
radiant Christian on whose face are the
words, Rejoice evermorew Every morn
ing by his cheerful face he breaches fifty
sermons. l will go further and say that l
have no confidence in a man who makes a
religion Of his gloomy looks. That kind
of man always turns out badly. I would
not want him for the treasurer of an or
phan asylum The orphans would suf-
fer.
Among forty 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 &c
tell; had seen the most visions. and gave
an experience so wonderful that all the
other applicants were discouraged. 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 relgion-wngs
black, feet black feathers black? our re-
ligion is a bright ange-feet bright, eyes
bright. wings bright taking her place in
the soul She pulls a rope chat reaches tc
the skies and sets all the bells Of HEAVIER
a-chimng. There are some persons who
when talking 10 a minister, always feel il