The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-05-13
"PLEASURE And GOD'
Sunday Sermon By the Rev. A. B.
Kinsolving.
Shows Tha, When the Soul Has Pound It's
True Life the Simples; Things VIII Serve
Then q Mans Heart Laughs.

ing said:
This is one OF those biting sentences of
which st. Paul's letters are full 1t occurs
in a hurrying category and arrests our
thoughts at once.
These two things. religion and pleasure,
have always been here on Gods fair earth
They are undoubtedly primal constituents
OF life. and yet 1t has ever been difficult
for men to harmonZe them and keep them
on friendly terms. Religious people have
often committed the blunder OF looking
askance at amusement Indeed, some OF
the best and most earnest among them
have conceived of pety as scarcely less
than a kill-joy. They have represented
God as intensely jealous of life's innocent
as well as its forbidden pleasures, until
their systems have gotten to be so one.
sided and eNtrayagant, and over.wroIght,
and one.ideaed and melancholy as to cast
an awful gloom upon communities for con.
siderable periods. Such men have missed
altogether the cosmic note of gladness
which shimmers in the sunlight, dances in
the laughing waters, which ripplcs and
murmurs in the brooks and streams, which
smiles from the blue dome above and
thrills us in the spring bird notes and the
summer flowers. The material for enjoy
ment," says some one. "is so inwrought
into the worlds constitution that we can
not put a spade into the ground anywhere
without turning it up. BY travel, by stay.
ing at home, by working, by resting, by
strain OF the muscles or strain of the mind; (;
by speech. by silence: by solitude, By 50
ciety; by helping. by being helped; by "a
ceiving. by giying-by all these diiIereiA
roads do men reach jov.'
And yet with our eye upon the history
Of mankind is there not abundant reason
for religions suspicion Of the riot OF pleas
ure? What nation OF antiquity has not
been s.ain by its sensual pleasures; Run
through the list OF them-Babylon. Me.
dea, Persia. the Egyptian monarchy,
Greece, Carthage, Rome-did not the pas
sion for licentious pleasure and the effem.
macy which in consequence came every,
where in the place where manly virtue and
stole self.control and splendid discipline OF
body and mind had been; did not these
undermine the mighty fabric OF Rome ii
self!
Look at the world that Christianity en-.
tered. What made 1t so hostile to Christ
and His religion? What made it cruelty
Him out of its sight and fling His follow
ers to the beasts IN the great amphitheatre
at Rome! Why. more than aught else the
unbridled love of sinful pleasures. With
fierce flashes OF anger these heather liber
ais refused to have their indulgences inter
fered with. They would not suffer a faith
to be taught IN their midst which they
astuteiy saw would have the moral effect
with hellish hate: "The Christians to the
lions" and to the lions they were thrown.
We know from the pages of Grote and
Gibbon something OF the excesses OF the
Greek and Roman national games and fes
tivals. That which began with some show
OF decency degenerated often into the ex
treme OF licentiousness and mnistered to
the basest passions. Frequently for days
and weeks together they absorbed the pub
lie mind, making men oblivious to every
moral obligation and deaf to the claims OF
humanity Gibbon says that Rome had
at one time 5000 female dancers and az
many singers, and that when seasons OF
famine came. while all strangers and even
professors OF the liberal arts were ban.
ished from the city, the dancers were al
lowed to remain. Their performances
were characterized by everything that was
morally degrading and the orgies which
took place around the temples of the God.
dess Flora and Noluptas, the Goddess OF
Pleasure, descended into the depths OF
prohigacv. In the times of Charles VI. OF
France, in the times of the Georges, the
Borgias and the later Louis of France there
was only too much to remind men OF the
blacklist moral chapters in past history.
Men lived in pleasure on the earth and
were wantOn; they nourished their hearts
IN day OF slaughter" No wonder, breth.
rem, with such spectacles before them, that
serious Christian people. realizing the dead
ly peril from this quarter, should in their
moral earnestness often have gone too far
and failed to recognize that the thirst for
pleasure and amusement is a human thirst.
and must be provided for aud guided and
sympathiZed with or else it will become
religions rival and antagonist.
Again, when men have tried to solve the
mystery OF laughter they have advanced
very diverse opinions. Pascal thought that
the passion for amusement was an illus.
tration OF the real unhappiness OF most hu.
man lives. IL Is because they want to get
out OF themselves that they flock so to
spectacles OF every kind, or gather in
crowds 10 laugh and talE-it is diversion
they seek. that is, anything to escape from
Doubtless. his explanation fits many cases,
but 1t hardly covers all. Play and JOYOUS
ness are among the primitive gifts OF hu
man nature. The beginning OF comrade.
ship between the mother and ch.ld is the
hour when. rs she bangles some plavth;ng
before it, the little. solemn face breaks
out into a dimDled smile" Humor is one
OF the closest bonds OF sympathy between
us The oontagion OF hearty, genial merri.
ment IL notorious. and the world has gen.
orally rightly loved the people who made
it laugh.
Mr. James Sullv. an Englishman Of let
tiers, has lust published book which il a
sort OF phllosophic study OF laughter. in
winch he deplores any wane of this great
human resource, and says that "it looks az
II now only the more sordid material inter
ests moved the mind, as If sport had n
have ITS substantial bait in the shape OF
stakes, while comedy must angle for popu.
larity with scenic splendors which are seen
70 cost money" However this may be, il
Is perfectly certain that the pleasure in.
stinct is true note OF our human nature
and that no life is whole without it, 1t is
the lighter torch OF this charming gayety
which gives that large freedom and mobil.
ity to life which It needs for its complete
expression. Amusement, relaxation and
happiness are certainly part Of the cosmic
seheme. IL at any period God should look
down upon His world and see only solemn
races and hear no notes Of rippling laugh,
yer think = would grieve Him Mt His
heart but here they are ever side by
side; life's laughter and tears. and wher.
ever innocent we can only imagine the
great and kind Father looking down beniq.
nantly upon all. Nothing il more conspic.
uous IN the character OF the Lord Jesus.
with all His intense moral earnestness,
than the beautiful simplicity Of His sym.
pathy with what we may call the iovous
background OF life. He begins His won.
der'working al marriage feast al Cana
to which He had been invited as a matter
Of course The prodignl in his story comes
home TO music and dancing. The kingdom
oi heaven ls itself like-not funeral-but
a feast. He was the enemy OF every bur.
den which CALLED the necks Of men and dc.
frauded them OF their rghtful happiness
Iloubtless many an hour in the interyals
of work His soul was soothed by the lyrie
JOY OF natnre-hy the gentle starlight by
the song OF birds, by those Syrian field
carpeted with unriyaled flowers, By the
choral gee OF Young children on the hill.