The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1915-07-16


work, not amuse-
ment, is the business of life. God has
laid upon every man the necessity of
work, and for this reason has distrib-
uted to every man his work" Is it
not just in this connection that we
may be justified in finding fault with
the professional sport, the man who
gives up his whole life to pleasure?
When the main thing in college and
university life is athletics are we not
purpose is being lost sight of? Play
and amusement is but side issue in
/ life; when it becomes the whole
thing, then it is harmful and SINFUL no
matter whether the amusement in
question be in the forbidden category
or not; then even nnocentRmusement
+ becomes morally bad. Amusement is
! to work what whetting the scythe is to
harvesting; he who never stops to
create an edge tolls hard and cuts but
little, while he who whets the scythe
4 all day cuts none. If the mother en-
i joys amusements more than she does
4 her children, the wife more than her
domestic duties, the husband more
than his home, the man more than his
labor, and the student more than his
books, then amusements are harmful
and wrong.
2. The true Christian will see to it
that his amusements are really recre-
alive, and not dissipative.
A man may lie so long in a bath
that he comes out of it all exhausted,
or he can take a plunge or shower and
come out all the better prepared for
the duties of life. So is it with amuse-
ments; it may be just the opposite.
The amusements of the Christian
should build up lost tissue, rest the
Tired body and rejuvenate the jaded
mind, they must build up the whole
man = physically, mentally, morally
and spiritually.
l. The Christians pleasures will
recreate physically. The body of the
Christian is the temple of the holy
ghost. 1t is incumbent upon him
therefore that he keep his body in as
good clean, pure, and healthy con-
dition as possible. The body needs
relaxation; it needs rest from the
Strain and tension of life; it needs
new blood new nerve tissues; 1t needs
by means of recreation, to be better
fitted for the real tasks that lie with
in its sphere of labor.
The test the Christian must apply to
his pleasures is this: do they recreate
and restore the waste tissues of the
body? Excess in athletics Is not rec.
reation. Young men have died from
over-strain in running; girls have
been ruined for life by excessive rope
jumping. Many pleasures dissipate
the powers of the body instead of re-
creating them. Apply such a test to
certain forms of popular amusements
prevalent today: the theater, the
dance, the card party. Do they recre-
ate, or do they dissipate? Do they
<vfolate the laws of physical health by
their late hours, their impure atmos.
phere, their mode of dress and con-
duct, or are they perfectly consistent
with the observance of the laws of
good health and hygiene? II these
amusements violate the laws of
health, then. until such times as they
can be brought within the realm Of
recreative pleasures, the Christian
must place them on the forbidden list.
q The pleasures of the Christian
should recreate mentally The physi-
cal must not be developed at the ex-
pense of the mental. Giantism must
by no means supplant intellectualism
Mind is greater than body, as, Glad.
stone and Bismarck are greater than
John L. Sullivan or James ]. Jeffries.
The Christian must ask himself, there
fore, What effect do my pleasures
and amusements have upon my mind.
my thought, my thinking? Do they
build up, ennoble, purify, sanctify; or
do they debase, befoul, besmirch. de-
bauch? Is my thinking higher, nobler,
more God-like because of the pleas
ures in which | engage?"
All things are not to be judged by
the eye; the mind discerns also,
Shakespeare speaks of the man "who
hath body filled with vacant mind.
gets him to rest crammed with dis.
tressful bread The Christian is to
judge his amusements by this stand
ard Annly this principle to litera.
ture. What books do we read? II
the Christians master should inquire:
What readest thou?" what would be
our reply? Beware lest our minds be-
come diseased by the reading Of light
and trashy literature.