Year: 1872

Systematically to seek pleasure, is ii


surest way to ruin your own happiness.
| But there is another issue which er


ters so largely into the question {


amusement, as we'll az that of temper


ance and the use of tobacco, that "


wonder that more is not said of il


Health. We wonder that it has been 8


generally disregarded by those who hav


attempted to set Va right in these re


spects.


1t sEo lid be part of every mans reli


gion to have good health. This should b.


added TO our creed as one of the essen


tIal points of orthodoxy A physica


regeneration might not affect the saliva


tion of society, bat it would help won


dcrfully. The 1eprayity of our natur,
is nowhere more painfully apparent thar


in our physical system Ii we would bl
good soldiers in this world, we should
strive to have body aud soul both il
fighting condition, a minister OF
the Gospel writing on this subject, ap
pealing to his brother clergyman, de
clared that it was II shame to see our
adversaries standing six feet strong, with
chest and lungs to match, and nervous
system that insured perpetual good ~.
ture, while the Lords servants were a
nervous, dehiltated, dyspeptic set of in
valids, And that principle is Of upivers
al application. J. cauaot see 50 many
forms of amusement indulged 10 direct
violation of the laws of health. without
feeling that it is shane that Col Is best
gifts should be 50 perverted 1t is a
shame that late hours and the ruin of
sleep should be the bane of So many in
nocent and desirable sources of amuse.
ment That is not recreation which
deprives us OF a nights rest, and such
pleasure adds to the burden of life
and instead Of relief, it taxes our
strength. When man goes from the
place OF amusement to s,eeples bed, 1t
will be found ip the end that he made
poor bargain Amusement of any
kind is out of its place which trespases
upon the hours consecrated to sleep
The sequel to most of our evening en-
tertainments, their fruit as apparent the
next day, utters a most severe sentence
OF judgment against them. When the
hour OF rest comes, we should consider that
we and sleep have an engagement that
is sacred against all the claims of fash
ion and etiquette.


We classify men into rich and poor,
and make that the criterion of fortune
and misfortune, but we would do better
to put the invalids on one side aud the
healthy on the other. He is not the
richest man whose check is worth the
most at the bank, but that man has the
richest earthly treasure, whose physical
system is in the best working order lie
is not the happicst man who lives in the
finest house, but rather he that rises in
the morning from refreshing sleep and
feels his body suffused with glow of
health, and is prepared to enter upon
his labor with strength and vigor. he
has within him an eyerA owing f1untain
of pleasure There are thousands that
might have been saved from a world of
suffering and o wcetched Old age, if in
social enjoyment they had been mindful
of the laws imposed upon our bodies.
Whoever at any price shall sell the
priceless treasure Of health for a few
tleeting hours of pleasure, will surely
repent in sorrow for his folly to the end
of bis days.


But then you ask how about the
different kinds of amusements? ? what is
permitted and what forbidden by true
moral and religious principle ? l can but
be astonished ut the lines that have been
drawn, and in fact at the way in which
this whole amusement question has been
treated. All the real issues as to how
much time we can afford to give to
pleasure and whether our recreations
are healthful. how far they interfere
with and unfit US for the duties of lie,
and whether they arc really a recrca.
tion, have been almost wholly ignored.
Instead of attempting to regulate it by
the rules of common sense, the discus.
sion of it has been confined wholly to
outside issues. The church has wagcd
war, and ministers have INDUCED in
TRADE against this or that specific form
of pleasure as though that compassed
the whole question OF amusement. This
is about as sensible as that other idea
that to speak in meeting is the only
evidence that you have not fallen from
grace. The issue lies deeper, the ques
ton is broader, the subject more ihclu.
i've, and no such superficial view can
determine it for Us, There are s)me, am
sorry to say many, who think they have
settled the matter forever, when as min
oters or churches they can write down
lalf dozen things and say taey are
indulge in them aud you shall
not come to the communion table, re
rain from them and it is impossible that
your pleasure should be sinful. How
young people to have the
question taken entirely out of their