The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-02-10
PLAY NECESSARY RELIGIOUS GROWTH
)r. Day Says That Jesus Practiced Fundamentals
 of Recreation.

That play is part of the Gospel vas Dr. William Horace Days mess .ge at the United church yesterday norn1ng. Without play there can ,e no complete or perfect life," he aid. without recreation there can ,e no abundant spiritual living. We lave the contrast between the life of he great John the Baptist, the as 'etic, the man who thought to gain nd to give life by banishing play, nd the life of Jesus. John came leither eating nor drinking but wore he camers hair bourneuse of the vanderer of the desert and insisted lpon wild honey and locust diet, He .coepted none of the luxuries of hu~ nan life; he shared in none of its 'onvivtal or social life, On the contrary, Jesus accepted all.
 We think of Jesus the child. We eadily understand how great his eadership must have been when the ,oys gathered to play in the market )lace in Nazareth. Can't you hear i'm shouting out to the boys there Come on, let's play wedding! am ure Jesus the Poet, who could in erpret the beauty of the hills of Gal lee, would be ready with the pipe # the shepherd to play the dance une so familiar at the wedding fes- ival.
 The classical city had it's theater nd stadium, a great public institu ' on, and they were considered as inn ortant, and rightfully, as the market lace and the temple. They tinged heir play with worship and glorified heir worship and made 1t vital by ying it up to play. The knights had hetr tourneys; the guilds or trade ninrs had their pagesnts; the people sd their dancing on the green and in he street the churches had their ra1nas Every institution contributed 0 the play hfe of the community. But urn to the modern city, a place where cen raised to the nth power because dbor has been 50 sub-divided and sep rated chat a man may go on for ; ears do1rag the same labor.
 The saloon has persisted not because aen were devfls---though the devTish 'eople have helped to hang on to it. ut because behind it all, and behind >onnecttcut's disgrace of last week, as been the partly conscious knowl- dge that somehow American life rust keep touch with play, and alas, he only kind of play that a lot of AneE4can people know anything about the play of standing up to a bar and aktng @ drink or two of alcoholics. had kind of play, but the instincts hat flrwF leads & man to those rabbits re not the instincts of the beast but f the angel As usual, it is the per erzion of the angelic that makes the Vorst devil
 Duty of the Church.
 The church has a great duty in this lo% difficult matter. The easiest, nost obvious thing to do Is to take . ohm, the Baptlst's method and say : hen a man sits down to a game of arSs or wants to go to the theater or ance, '~Thou shalt not go." The old ttitude of the church Is we'll illus ated in the 'TAfe and Journal" of a Congregational minister written in boston in 1906: "On Wednesday I reached at a wedding, and had the appiness thereby to be the means of Doluding carnal mirth." If there IS { nything more sharply in contrast with Jesus method, exhibited by a Atnt of the Lord, don't know where ou will find 1t
 We hope to build a new church. In hat church we are considering three reat things: first, worship; second, dSscation; and third and by no means east, as a part of the Christ pro- | ram, this church in it's new plant ught to provide for adequate play.