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diff --git a/22422.txt b/22422.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..99cef30 --- /dev/null +++ b/22422.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2157 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Tired Church Members, by Anna Warner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Tired Church Members + +Author: Anna Warner + +Release Date: August 29, 2007 [EBook #22422] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + + + +TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. + +BY + +ANNA WARNER, + + +AUTHOR OF THE "FOURTH WATCH," "THE OTHER SHORE," ETC. + + + + + "So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink + water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned + unto me, saith the Lord."--Amos iv. 8. + + "Choked with cares and riches and pleasures + of this life."--Luke viii. 14. + + + + +NEW YORK + +HURST & COMPANY + +PUBLISHERS + + + + +Copyright, 1889, + +By ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS + +Copyright, 1891, + +By HURST & COMPANY. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS + MUSIC + DANCING + THEATRES + GAMES + WHAT LEFT? + + + + +TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS + + +I suppose one never goes heartily into any bit of Bible study, without +finding more than one counted upon. And so for me, searching out this +subject of Christian amusements some curious things have come to light. +As for instance, how very little the Bible says about them at all. It +was hard to find catchwords under which to look. "Amusement"? there is +no such word among all the many spoken by God to men. "Recreation"?--nor +that either; and "game" is not in all the book, and "rest" is something +so wide of the mark (in the Bible sense, I mean) that you must leave it +out altogether. And "pastime"? ah, the very thought is an alien. + +"This I say, brethren, that the time is short." [1] + +Redeem it, buy it up, use it while you may,--such is the Bible +stand-point. It flies all too quickly without your help. + +"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle." [2] + +"Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." [3] + +Not in frolic. So you can see that I was puzzled. However, by patiently +putting words together, noting carefully the blanks as well, some things +become pretty plain; and the vexed question of Christian amusements is +answered clearly enough for those who are willing to know. But as we go +on searching and comparing, think always of the command once given and +never repealed: + +"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the +churches." [4] + +For we call ourselves Christians,--that "people of laws divers from all +other people"; and now we are consulting our statute book. + +You think, then,--says somebody,--that Christians are to do nothing but +work, work, from morning to night: that the Bible forbids all play and +all pleasure? No, I think nothing of the sort. But let us see what it +really does say. "To the law and to the testimony,"--and abide by them. + +To begin then where most of all, perhaps, the old and the modern times +are like each other,--feasts have always been in vogue and always +permitted; only for Christians, like all else that concerns them, with a +special set of regulations as to time, manner, and behaviour. You do not +think of this when you dress for your dinner party: you did not suppose +the Bible meddled with such things. Nay, it "meddles" (if you call it +so) with the very smallest thing a Christian can do. + +The feasts of old time were in all essentials so like the feasts of +to-day, that not all the changes of race, dress, and viands can much +confuse the likeness. There is the great baby celebration for Isaac,[5] +and the wedding feast for the daughter of Laban,[6] and the impromptu +set-out in Sodom wherewith Lot thought to entertain the angels.[7] There +are the great gatherings of young people over which Job was so +anxious;[8] and the yearly sacrifice at the house of Jesse "for all the +family," [9] reminding one of our Thanksgiving. + +Then follow state dinners of amity between two contracting powers; as +when Isaac feasted Abimelech,[10] and David feasted Abner.[11] Then +court entertainments: the birthday feast of Pharaoh to all his servants, +when he lifted up one and hanged another, and the birthday feast of +Solomon which marked his entrance upon a new life of duty, opportunity, +and promise, and which he kept like a young heir coming of age. + +These are all well known to us: and alas, so also are the feasts of +social excess, like those of Nabal;[12] and the idolatrous feasts of the +men of Shechem,[13] and of the king of Babylon;[14] wherein men praise +only "the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, and of iron, of wood and +of stone." + +"And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their +feasts: but they regard not the work of the Lord, neither consider the +operations of his hands." [15] + +"A feast is made for laughter,"--but this laughter is "mad"; utterly +interdicted to all those who would "live soberly, righteously, and godly" +in this world.[16] Such "revellings" are classed among "those works of +the flesh which are manifest"; there can be no question about them: the +"revellings, banquetings," [17] for which "the time past of our life may +suffice us." [18] That time when we were without God in the world, +walking as other Gentiles walk. With all such "recreations" the true +Israel have absolutely nothing to do. + +Does it follow then that a Christian must stand aloof from all +festivities that are not wholly among Christian people? Not quite that. +"I am a companion of all them that fear thee," said David,[19] and it +certainly looks ill for a man if his habit is the other way. Yet there +are exceptions, there must be,--else, says the apostle, "ye must needs go +out of the world." [20] But like everything else for you and me, it is +all within regulations. First as to the going. + +"If any of them that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed +to go--" [21] + +And then follows the first rule. Whatsoever you can do there +Christian-wise; whatsoever you can join in that will not implicate you as +a possible worshipper of _his_ idol that bade you--even the god of this +world--that do. But otherwise there is the strictest hands-off! And for +two reasons. + +"Eat not for his sake that shewed it, and for conscience sake." [22] + +No matter if it be something as simple as eating and drinking. That is +the instance given by the apostle, the eating of meat which had been +first offered to an idol. And just as once the missionaries in a far off +Eastern island never tasted beef for two whole years, because they could +get none which they were sure had not been so offered; in like manner are +you called upon to absolutely let alone everything which may cast even a +doubt upon your loyalty to your Master. + +Can you go to the entertainment so, keeping your garments spotless? Can +you go as the Lord did? + +"And Levi made him a great feast in his own house; and there was a great +company of publicans and others that sat down with them." [23] + +Pharisees murmured, but the Lord knew why he went. + +"And Jesus answered them, They that are whole need not a physician; but +they that are sick." [24] + +If you can go thus, to do your Master's work; mingling with his enemies +to win them for his friends; seeking their company not for their wealth +and place, but rather because of their deepest need and danger; not for +their gaiety, but for the abounding joy you would fain make known to them +out of your own heart-store: then I should say again: "If any of them +that believe not bid you to a feast, and ye be disposed to go,"--_go_! + +But beware of compromises,--that specious temptation not to make religion +disagreeable. It can never be really that if it is the true thing,--a +burning fire, a shining light,--but some one has well said: "When +religion loses its power to repel, it loses also its power to attract." +It must be intense, active, clear enough to do both. "The disciple is +not above his Master. If they have called the Master of the house +Beelzebub, how much more them of his household"![25] + +And it is only as an uncompromising servant of the Lord Jesus, that you +can ever hope to do anything for him. On all days, in all places, you +must count yourself on duty and under orders. You cannot pledge a man in +the wine cup to-night, and to-morrow plead with him to escape for his +life. You cannot join in the "foolish talking and jesting, which are not +convenient," [26] and afterwards reason of "righteousness, temperance, +and judgment to come": or if you do, people will not listen. You will +find that, like Lot, you have "lost your spiritual credit." "He seemed +as one that mocked, to his sons-in-law." + +"I had dined every week all winter with Dr. ----," said a lady to me, +"and never guessed that he was a clergyman till yesterday!" Johnson said +of Burke, that "you could not stand with him five minutes under a gateway +in a shower of rain, without finding out that he was an extraordinary +man,"--and how long shall it take people to learn that you are a +Christian?--one bought back from slavery, called to be a saint, heir of a +kingdom? Ah, how ready men are to parade their worldly honours; their +orders of merit and badges of bravery; but leave their Christian colours +at home, and hide their uniform with a pair of the world's overalls! +Alas!--"If the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself +for battle?" [27] + +Yes, if you can go into mixed society as the Lord went, then go. But +otherwise, for your own enjoyment, a different model is set. + +"Then Jesus, six days before the passover, came to Bethany, where Lazarus +was which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead. There they made +him a supper; and Martha served; but Lazarus was one of them that sat at +the table with him. Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, +very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her +hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment." [28] + +How exquisite the picture! how rare the intercourse, how precious the +results! A few of the Lord's own people met together with the Lord +himself; the one expensive thing mentioned being bought for him. It was +only "a supper"; and there were sorrows before them, and sorrows behind, +and only the spikenard was "very costly,"--that consecration to God which +gives him all we have: but its fragrance filled the house. And not all +Arabia was ever so perfumed. + +And must Christians give no other feasts but such as that? some one may +ask. There is another sort mentioned, nay even insisted upon; but if the +first looks to you dull, the second will seem--impossible! You will find +a full description of it in Luke xiv. 13. And so far as I know, this is +the only sort of great entertainment that Christians are encouraged to +give; ruling out in toto the tit-for-tat customs of modern society. "For +they cannot recompense thee." But it also spares you the perplexing +question of full returns, for _these_ people have given you nothing. +Only the Lord has given,--and now bids you keep open house for him in his +absence. And do you see? the great Master of assemblies will count the +invitations as given to himself, and will one day make a royal return for +them all when he cometh in his kingdom. "They cannot recompense thee." +[29] What!--never invite your friends unless they happen to be poor? O, +yes indeed,--invite them, enjoy them, make much of them, precious things +as friends are; yet _spend_ the most on the portionless lives that are +all around you. There are fancy fountains in the rich man's grounds, +throwing up jets of water just to catch the sunlight: let your small +rills of refreshment flow silently to places where the tide is out and +the streams run dry. + +"They cannot recompense thee; but thou shalt be recompensed at the +resurrection of the just." [30] + +And as soon as you make ready a blessing--not a compliment--in your hand, +unfashionable dresses will not matter, untutored tongues will sound +sweet; and your feast will be all glorified, for the Lord himself will be +there. + +"Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto +them for whom nothing is prepared." [31] + +"The Levite, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow," [32]--"the +poor that are cast out" [33]--these were Israel's special charge under +the law. But the gospel gives deeper work. + +"When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy +brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also +bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a +feast call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind; and thou shalt be +blessed, for they cannot recompense thee; for thou shalt be recompensed +at the resurrection of the just." [34] + +The Lord dates the note of payment far ahead, but indeed I think he is +better than his word, and deals out much coin as we go along; it is such +wonderful pleasure to fill an empty cup! This is "recreation," true and +sweet; for of all the refreshments from one's own toil and sorrow, I +think ministering to other people is about the best. + +I have said nothing--is it needful to say aught?--of the Bible rules for +_behaviour_ at a feast. One is ready to imagine that _Christians_ do +only that which is "lovely, and of good report." Yet notice a few things. + +"They love the uppermost rooms at feasts," [35] was spoken of the +Pharisees; but to his disciples Christ said: "Whosoever will be chief +among you, let him be your servant." [36] + +"When thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room." [37] + +Other things follow close and easily upon that. + +"Be courteous."-- + +"Let your moderation be known unto all men." + +"Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do it all to the +glory of God." + +And to people with hearts so set, that other vexed question of dress will +be easy; for all will be "clothed with humility";[38] and the spotless +garments will so far outshine the pearls and costly array, that no one +will miss them, nor wish them there.[39] + + + +[1] I Cor. vii. 29. + +[2] Job vii. 6. + +[3] I Pet. i. 17. + +[4] Rev. iii. 22 + +[5] Gen. xxi. 8. + +[6] Gen. xxix 35. + +[7] Gen. xix. 3. + +[8] Job i. 7. + +[9] I Sam. xx. 6. + +[10] Gen. xxvi. 30. + +[11] II Sam. iii. 20 + +[12] I Sam. xxv. 26. + +[13] Judges ix. 27. + +[14] Dan. v. 1. + +[15] Isa. v. 12. + +[16] Titus ii. 12. + +[17] Gal. v. 21. + +[18] I Pet. iv. 3. + +[19] Ps. cxix. 63. + +[20] I Cor. v. 10. + +[21] I Cor. x. 27. + +[22] I Cor. x. 28. + +[23] Luke v. 29. + +[24] Luke v. 29. + +[25] Matt. x. 25. + +[26] Eph. v. 4. + +[27] I Cor. ii. 8. + +[28] John xii. 1-3. + +[29] Luke xiv. 14. + +[30] Luke xiv. 14. + +[31] Neh. viii. 10. + +[32] Deut. xiv. 27. + +[33] Isa. lviii. 7. + +[34] Luke xiv. 12, 13. + +[35] Matt. xxiii. 6. + +[36] Matt. xx. 27. + +[37] Luke xiv. 10. + +[38] I Pet. v. 5. + +[39] Sir Matthew Hale thus charged his grandchildren: "I will not have +you begin or pledge any health; for it is become one of the greatest +artifices of drinking, and occasions of quarrelling in the kingdom. If +you pledge one health, you oblige yourself to pledge another, and a +third, and so onward; and if you pledge as many as wilt be drunk, you +must be debauched and drunk. If they will needs know the reasons of your +refusal, it is a fair answer: 'That your grandfather that brought you up, +from whom, under God, you have the estate you enjoy or expect, left this +in command with you, that you should never begin or pledge a health.'" + + + + +Music + + +"What do you mean by 'the world'?" said a gentleman to me. "I suppose +of course you rule out music and painting." So people judge; taking +for granted that whatever is pleasant, religion makes wrong. Rule out +music?--why it exorcised Saul's evil spirit! Yet even for the +enjoyment of sweet sounds there are laws and limitations. + +It will be a good day when our so-called sacred music (much of it) more +nearly resembles that of old time and has less kinship with the title +of a little book yclept "Rhymes and Jingles." A paid choir (no +objection to that, if you can buy up their hearts as well) an operatic +organist, a silent, criticising congregation. Is there much praise in +that? much worship? much refreshment for a tired heart? Look how it +was when the ark of God, the visible sign of his presence, was brought +home to Jerusalem,--all took part in the music, from the king down; and +did it _unto God_. + +"And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and +with singing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, +and with cymbals, and with trumpets." [1] + +"The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; +among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. Bless ye God in the +congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel." [2] + +Not much like a quartette and its mute audience! Or how does this +compare, with the way we hand over the praise to some who do not even +profess to feel it? + +"And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren +to be singers with instruments of music, psalteries and harps and +cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy." [3] + +There is not much "joy" like that behind most of the choir curtains in +our day; but by such means one would be pretty sure of good music. We +are not told whether the women took part in the ordinary public music +in the temple; but on all special occasions of deliverance and +thanksgiving they had their full share. We people in this Western +world are so silent in our joy as in our grief,--as apt to bow the head +for gladness as for sorrow,--we know nothing like those grand +spontaneous bursts of music that once resounded on the shores of the +Red Sea, or echoed through the hill country round about Jerusalem. + +"Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, +saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." +[4] + +That was from the men. And answering them came the softer voices of +Miriam and "all the women," cheering them on: + +"Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." [5] + +This was no written music they had met to practise; it was fresh out of +their hearts; with all their enemies "dead upon the shore," and Israel +free. + +Or listen to the chorus of women that "came out of all the cities of +Israel" to meet the army, when David had conquered the Philistine in +single-handed fight. + +"And the women answered one another as they played, and said, + +"Saul hath slain his thousands"-- + +"And David his ten thousands"-- + +You perceive that they understood music in those days; every word in +the great swell of song so distinct, that Saul heard every word--and +"was very wroth." + +So "at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem" (think of _dedicating_ +a city wall! how they must have believed Ps. 127) the dedication was +kept + +"With gladness, both with thanksgiving, and with singing, with cymbals, +psalteries, and harps." [6] + +And as the bands of people went up to Jerusalem to the three great +feasts, they sang and chanted from time to time as they marched along, +the Levites at their head beginning the song, and the rest joining in. + +"I was glad when they said unto me--" [7] + +"As the mountains are round about Jerusalem" [8]--and all the rest. Ah +what music! You see the Bible is a great favourer of sweet sounds. + +But all this, you will say, was public and special,--not meant for +recreation. Let us listen to the Bible music which is private and +personal, and you will find it every bit as sweet. + +"Praise the Lord with harps. Sing unto him with the psaltery and an +instrument of ten strings. Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully +with a loud noise." [9] + +Are you not glad of that word "skilfully"? You see you may cultivate +your talent to the last point, and may have any amount of new music. +The Lord's people are not meant to be bunglers, in any line. And yet +some seem to think it is no matter how they sing holy words! This "new +song" may perhaps be what David speaks of in another place: + +"He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God." [10] + +For as "his mercies are new every morning," [11] so should also our +praises be; new, fresh, vigorous; not always the same old words to the +same old tune. "The songs of Zion," so sung, are wondrously sweet; +even the poor captives in Babylon were called upon to sing them for the +pleasure of their heathen captors. + +"The songs of Zion." Many of you imagine they are all pretty much +alike; all solemn and tedious and slow. But listen. + +"I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me." +[12] + +Can anything be gayer than that? Or anything sweeter than this: + +"My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed: I will sing and give +praise." [13] + +Or where will you find richer chords that this: + +"I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing of thy mercy in the +morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my +trouble." [14] + +New, skilful, and then comes in another requirement; songs should be +sensible. + +"I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding +also." [15] + +Know what you sing. Does this keep out all _but_ sacred music? I +should not think that. But it _does_ forbid singing you know not what +in a foreign tongue, or mere dead nonsense in your own. I cannot see, +for my part, why it is much better to sing "idle words" than to say +them. How vapid, how senseless, is many a song one hears from a pretty +mouth and a sweet voice. And in music as elsewhere, there is no middle +ground: whatever does not edify--build up--pulls down. + +"It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear +the song of fools." [16] + +How run the directions? + +"Singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord." [17] + +Can you do that? If not, music is no true recreation to you. Whatever +chills your feeling for eternal things, making them seem dull and far +away, is no breath of life-refreshment, but comes bearing the fumes of +death. + +Do you think you would never sing at all, unless you sometimes forgot +such solemn thoughts? Ah there you are mistaken. + +"Behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart." [18] + +Not forgetfully, but in full remembrance. + +"Is any merry? let him sing psalms." [19] + +"Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage." [20] + +Now somebody will say that I have wandered quite away from recreation, +and gone off to church. But no; I am speaking of heart and home music. +You all know that there is no _recreation_ about most of your music +now-a-days. You bore yourselves and other people with much practising, +and when you have learned, as you think, then you drop it all. Who is +ready with a song for some weary, tuneless life? or who "keeps up her +music" till the tired years of her own? Work for it, pay for it, drop +it,--that is the record. Your music, as it is, is a dead thing; and I +want you to put the principle of life in it. For whatever you begin +for your Master, you will also hold fast for him. + +Read over these words and ponder them well: + +"He that had received the five talents, went and traded with the same, +and made them other five talents." [21] + +Every gift the man had, was used for Christ. + +How precious a gift this musical power is! how usable a gift. + +"A very lovely song of one that hath a pleasant voice, and can play +well on an instrument." [22] + +How much it can do for ourselves, for the world. + +"David took an harp, and played with his hand; so Saul was refreshed, +and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him." [23] + +I have never forgotten how a lady with no great musical skill or +education sang a verse of a hymn for me one night. It was at a little +party, so she could not raise her voice above the softest undertone; +but she sang that verse just to let me hear the tune, which I did not +know. The words were familiar: + +"There is a fountain filled with blood"-- + +I suppose I have often heard them what you call "better sung"; but +never with more lovely effect. Every word, every note, was absolutely +distinct and clear, yet not one rising above that undertone: I doubt if +even the people nearest to us heard; and the most restless nerves, the +weariest head, could have listened and been refreshed. I know my eyes +grew full; and I thought to myself, "Ah, you have practised your voice +by many a sick bed, and trained it for just that work." + +"The evil spirit departed from Saul." But what of music that puts the +evil spirit into men? Of songs, however sweet sounding, that are +written in the service of the devil, and sung at the high court of the +world? For this is your rule: + +"Singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." [24] + +Like your speech, "alway with grace." + + + +[1] I Chron. xiii. 8. + +[2] Ps. lxviii. 25, 26. + +[3] I Chron. xv. 16. + +[4] Ex. xv. 1. + +[5] Ex. xv. 21. + +[6] Neh. xii. 27. + +[7] Ps. cxxii. 1. + +[8] Ps. cxxv. 2. + +[9] Ps. xxxliii. 2, 3. + +[10] Ps. xl. 3. + +[11] Lam. iii. 13. + +[12] Ps. xiii. 6. + +[13] Ps. lvii. 7. + +[14] Ps. lix. 16. + +[15] I Cor. xiv. 15. + +[16] Eccle. vii. 5. + +[17] Eph. v. 19. + +[18] Isa. lxv. 14. + +[19] James v. 13. + +[20] Ps. cxix. 54. + +[21] Matt. xxv. 16. + +[22] Ez. xxxiii. 32. + +[23] I Sam. xvi. 23. + +[24] Col. iii. 16. + + + + +Dancing + + +"To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under +heaven." [1] + +And so it comes among the rest, that there is "a time to dance." [2] +Such being the case, we have only to find out the when and the how; for +of course, for Christians, dancing too must have its rules. In +feasting the word is, "Do all to the glory of God"; and in music, "With +melody in your hearts to the Lord"; and now for dancing the order comes: + +"Let them praise his name in the dance." [3] + +We are to praise the Lord with our whole lives; in our recreation no +less than in our work. You see it is all one: with that proviso you +may do anything. + +"Praise him for his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent +greatness." + +"Praise him with the timbrel and dance." [4] + +I fancy you did not expect this, secretly believing that the Bible was +all against dancing. I fancy most people would start back and say it +cannot be done. _If_ it cannot, or if by _you_ it cannot, then--for +you--the dancing question should be settled once and for all. The Lord +has given you "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness," [5] +and you are not at liberty to lay it off for any dancing gear whatever. + +"Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a +peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath +called you out of darkness into his marvellous light." [6] + +The condition is absolute; and all doubts upon the dancing question are +at an end for you. But for those who like to inquire into +possibilities, let us search a little further. "Praise him in the +dance."--Has it ever been done? Never,--in such dances as you are +accustomed to. But a great while ago, on the shores of the Red Sea, +while the men were chanting the praises of that God who had brought +them safe out of Egypt, the women banded together "with timbrels and +with dances" [7] (no _mixed_ dances, observe), and so, dancing for joy +at the great deliverance, answered the men, chorus like: + +"Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously." [8] + +So after Jephthah's victory,[9] came out his daughter to meet him "with +timbrels and with dances." + +So after the rout of the Philistines, + +"The women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, +to meet king Saul." [10] + +And though praise of the human agents mingled in, yet only Divine power +had won the day, and well they knew it. And again you remember how +when the ark was brought home to Jerusalem, + +"David danced before the Lord with all his might." [11] + +Does it seem very strange to you? So it did to David's wife on that +occasion; for as she had no praise in her heart, no sympathy with the +joy, of course the expression of it tried her patience. Dancing for +joy,--we often use the image, but these people did the thing. It is +hard enough to keep still sometimes, if one is very happy. + +Not like our dancing!--you say. Indeed not much. No special steps, no +intricate figures, no elaborate positions, no dressing for effect. +David even laid his royal robes aside, instead of putting them on; they +were in his way. How could one dance for joy in a state dress? No +need of partners, where every one danced for glad thankfulness of +heart. No "envy, malice, and all uncharitableness" stirred up by +another's dancing or another's dress; no "wall-flowers," no monopoly. +No late hours, leaving mind and body jaded for the next day's work. I +think "dancing before the Lord" must have been very pure refreshment. +And by the way, speaking of dress, I feel, somehow, as if--would people +but choose their ornaments out of that treasure-chest of jewels "a meek +and quiet spirit," ball dresses would lose their charm, and the German +its great attraction. One never likes to go where one's dress is out +of keeping. + +Christian dancing, for Christian joy. There was music and dancing, as +well as feasting, when the prodigal son came home; returned from his +sins, washed from his defilement, clothed at last in "the best robe" a +sinner can wear.[12] According to the word: + +"Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing." [13] + +Is such glad thankfulness so rare in our days that people have +forgotten how it acts? And would such dancing be possible now? I do +not know. But answer this question, and you settle at once the other +perplexity whether Christians may dance. For there is no other sort of +dancing permitted to them, than this which springs up out of the +mercies of the Lord, and is all consecrated to his praise. + +it is not quite the only sort mentioned in the Bible; but the others do +not look attractive upon paper. One of them indeed comes more properly +under another head, and the rest are all idolatrous; in the service and +honour of that biggest idol, the world; whether any special graven +image was set up or not. Dances indulged in only by heathen, or by +nominal Christians who had swerved from their allegiance. + +When Moses tarried long in the mount, receiving his orders, the people, +you remember, grew tired and restless,--in want of recreation, we +should call it now,--and then they "quickly corrupted themselves." +Weary of waiting, impatient of the monotony of their life, out of their +own possessions they made themselves an idol, and then--danced before +it! conducting themselves as well became those who had chosen a god +that could neither hear nor see. + +"The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play." [14] + +And you will find this is always just what people do after unhallowed +recreation: they _never_ rise up to do good work. Test your amusements +by that. Recreation _should_ be a re-creation to every noble end. + +Neither joy, nor thankfulness, nor the unbending from labour, was there +among those poor Israelites--those people of the Lord in name; but only +lawless mirth and unhallowed indulgence. + +"He saw the calf and the dancing, and Moses' anger waxed hot." [15] + +You think I am very hard upon dancing; and I have reason. "Two years +ago," said a young girl to me, "you told me that if I went on doing +these things I should myself change; that I _could_ not do them, and +keep myself. I was almost angry then, but do you know it has come +true? I _have_ changed. Things that I minded and shrank from then, I +never notice now. I have got used to them, as you said. It frightens +me when I think of it." Poor child!--neither fright nor warning have +stayed her course since then. A ceaseless thirst for excitement, an +endless round of unsatisfying pleasure--so called,--a weary, old, +disappointed look on the young face; broken engagements, forgotten +promises, a wasted life,--this is what it has all come to. "Hard upon +dancing"? yes, I certainly have reason. Do I not find it right in the +way of some of my Bible Class who might else become Christians? do I +not know how it tarnishes the Christian profession of others? Do not +the careless young men in the class boast that they can get the Church +members to go with them anywhere--for a dance? Or how would you like +to have a young girl come to you, frightened at things she had +permitted at a ball the night before, entreating to know if you thought +them "_very_ bad"? + +Examine it, test it for yourself; only be honest. Can you dance "in +armour"? crowned and shielded and shining with "the hope of salvation," +with "righteousness" and "faith"? Are your shoes "peace"? peace of +heart, of conscience. Is your belt the girdle of "truth"? Can you +"shew your colours" in the throng? _Dare_ you? Are they not rather +trailing in the dust, or quietly pocketed, or left at home? Think +honestly, and answer to yourself how it is. As in feasting, so here: +you cannot dance all night with people, and next day warn them against +"the world, and the things of the world," and even hope to be listened +to. "I am as good as most Church members,"--ah how often we teachers +and talkers meet that rebuff! And how well the Lord knew when he said: + +"He that is not with me, is against me." + +"Doth a fountain send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter?" +[16] + +"A time to dance."--Yes: whenever, and wherever, you can do it as the +whole-souled servant of Christ. And how about dancing at home, among +ourselves, as people say?--Without going any further, one thing forbids +it all. If you dance anywhere,--you, a professing Christian,--in the +eyes of the world you dance _everywhere_. The world allows no middle +ground for Christians. "I saw her dancing,"--and nobody stops to +inquire when, or with whom, or how. So that there is nothing for you +but this: + +"Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away." [17] + + + +[1] Eccle. iii. 1. + +[2] Eccle. iii. 4. + +[3] Ps. cxlix. 3. + +[4] Ps. cl. 2, 4. + +[5] Isa. lxi. 3. + +[6] I Pet. ii. 9. + +[7] Ex. xv. 20. + +[8] Ex. xv. 20. + +[9] Judges xi. 3. + +[10] I Sam. xviii. 6 + +[11] II Sam. vi. 14. + +[12] Luke xv. 11. + +[13] Ps. xxx. 11. + +[14] Ex. xxxii. 6 + +[15] Ex. xv. 19. + +[16] James iii. 11. + +[17] Prov. iv. 15. + + + + +Theatres. + + +If I say that it degrades oneself to find pleasure in degrading things +or degraded people, you will perhaps admit the fact but deny that it +has any application to theatre-going. Is it not a fashionable, +intellectual, and what not, amusement? Let us see. + +Many of you who yet are theatre-goers, know well that you would feel +yourselves degraded if even a dear friend went on the stage. + +"She has trailed an honoured name in the dust,"--so have I heard the +comment, from one who was not even a personal friend. "She might at +least have taken another name!"--And the speaker was not brought up +among Puritans, and belonged to a Church which--as a Church--has no +fear of the theatre. I think occasional indulgence was common enough +in the family. And the young actress had done nothing but become an +actress, keeping her own name. Friends are mortified,--and yet friends +go to see, and to help along. + +"But what shall actors do?" you say; "it is their way of getting a +livelihood." No, not if support were given only to _other_ ways. A +man may make a round sum at a rowing match which cripples his strength +for life; or by leaping across Passaic Falls, till he breaks his neck; +he may set up for a wizard or a conjuror or a quack doctor,--he may +pick your pocket or fire your house,--all in the way of business. The +only question is in which way will you help him on. Things must be +judged of quite apart from their money-making results. The old African +maker of "greegrees" (charms) burns them all when she becomes a +Christian; and the young carpenter just converted under Mr. Moody's +preaching, gives up his only job because he can not do it for Christ, +and will not even drive a nail in the scaffolding about a theatre. For +the money that changes hands there, is the price of "the souls of men." + +You do not believe all this: you do not believe that evil can hide +among such fascinations. And for the actors, they are not men and +women! Are they not kings and queens and fairies? The glamour of +their dress, the strangeness of the scenes, the un-everyday tragic or +fantastic air of it all; with sometimes the witchery of music or the +wonders of artistic effect, lay a spell upon your common sense. Do I +not know? Have I not seen young Christian girls from the country a +standing jest with people who knew the world, because--beginning with +what the laughers called "a holy horror" of the theatre--they yielded +and went "just once." Then, "only once more,"--and then presently +would go every night, to see everything! + +When Miriam was six years old, some acquaintances over-persuaded her +father to let them take her to see Cinderella,--Cinderella and some +part of Der Freischutz; and one who was there remembers well how hard +the little hands grasped the edge of the box, and how impossible it was +to win the young eyes round, even by a vision of sugarplums. To the +end of her life, I fancy, she will see now and then a picture out of +that fairyland. Next day Miriam entreated earnestly to have the +pleasure over again; strengthening her plea with this remarkable +promise, that if she might go once more, she would never do anything +wrong again as long as she lived! Her father paced up and down the +room with a grave smile upon his lips, the little suppliant following +with eager feet, ever renewing her request, and he answering little; +for the matter was beyond her ken. But he was a Christian who kept off +the Debatable land; and where his foot might not enter, he would not +send his child. Had he not himself dedicated her to be the Lord's? +She never went again. Never to the theatre; never again to any such +place, until long afterwards; and with that going he had nothing to do. + +Miriam had grown up, had become a Christian and a happy one; and as yet +no "flatterer" had beguiled her off upon the "Enchanted Ground." But +at last the temptation came, in a very specious way. + +There was a new Prima Donna at the opera house that winter; a young, +pretty woman, working hard (it was said) to support her mother; and +Miriam, going daily to see dear friends at the same hotel, often heard +the singing and practising that went on in the Prima Donna's rooms. +And Miriam was very fond of music, and had been able to hear very +little that was really good; and now in a moment one thing took +possession of her; she _must_ go to the opera!--Tickets too costly, and +no one to take her, made the thing look impossible on the one side; and +on the other--there was her Christian name and promise. Of course it +was wrong for Christians to go!--she knew that. Yet for the time, +nothing seemed tangible or real but this; go she _must_! And so from +week to week this fever of desire grew and increased, fed from time to +time by those snatches of song that floated through the great hall of +the hotel. + +At last one day her friends said (knowing nothing of all this), +"Miriam, you must go with us to an undress rehearsal. We have got +tickets, and you must go." Then beginning to answer the objections +they expected--"It is only undress," they said; "the house half +lighted, and the actors not in costume. Anybody might go,--and you +_must_."--"It's a very moral opera," began another. "Of course we +would never take you to see anything else." + +Miriam was too ignorant of the world and its theatres to fairly +understand all these advantages,--indeed I fancy longing made such a +din in her ears that she paid but little attention. For a while she +withstood--then desire rose up like a whirlwind and carried all before +it. They had tickets for that very night,--her friends, said one +morning,--a ticket for her also--and an escort. She yielded and went. +Went first to take tea with her friends, on the way; and I have heard +her speak of the thrilling, pent-up excitement of that hour or two +before it was time to set out:--Excitement that made her as still as a +mouse, and the careless chatter of her friends incomprehensible!--that +made cake into plain bread and butter, and bread and butter +into--chips, for all she knew. Whether the excitement was all pleasure +I doubt if she could tell; yet if you think Miriam knew she was doing +wrong, you would be mistaken. Perhaps it was with her, in the tumult +of longing, as Fenelon says: "O how rare it is to find a soul still +enough to hear God speak!" Or perhaps the Lord, in his wisdom, chose +this time to let her set her own lesson. I can only vouch for the +dream in which she sat at tea, and walked along the street, and entered +the Opera House; glad to get out into the starlight, almost awe-struck +to find herself at last within those walls. + +The rehearsal was very "undress" indeed. The house, not half lighted, +had yet fewer spectators than jets of gas,--a handful of shadowy +figures, hid away by twos and threes in the dim boxes; which were +almost too dark for the reading of libretti. However eyes were young, +and the party put their heads together and began to study out the +coming opera, and so get a taste of the pleasure beforehand. +Until--Well, as I said, Miriam was young and ignorant of the World, but +a woman's instincts (if they have not been tampered with) outgrow her +years and are independent of her experience. And as the girl bent over +the libretto, some of these instincts took fright. She found out +suddenly that those small pages were not just the reading she liked, +with a gentleman looking over her shoulder; and instantly sat back, +leaving the rest to their studies, and read not another word that +night. She kept still, waiting for the music,--and then the music +began. + +You who see such places only with all the conjuring power of light and +dress upon them, have no idea how they look when things are transformed +back again, and Cinderella has lost her glass slippers, and the coach +is a pumpkin, and the coachman is a rat. This night the actors came on +the stage in more--or less--than ordinary dress; as men look when they +have put on their dowdiest, for bad weather or dirty work: and these +men wore their hats. Only the young Prima Donna was bare-headed, and +of course (being a woman) had not made herself a fright. "Can a maid +forget her ornaments?" And this just touched off the effect of all the +rest. But the music!-- + +The many discords and melodies of life since then have at last confused +in Miriam's recollection the sounds she listened to that night; but for +years liter she could hear them almost as distinctly as at first; and +the _picture_ has never faded. The slim, fair girl; the rough, +unwashed, unkempt-looking men; men whom (had she been _your_ sister) +you would not have let touch her--as we say--"with a pair of tongs." + +The play went on. Perhaps the libretto had given an uneasy stir to +Miriam's satisfaction, for as she sat now entranced with the music, +suddenly there came to her the astounding revelation that this young +girl on the stage, was singing those very words which the other young +girl in the boxes had not quite liked to read. Singing them at the top +of her sweet voice,--trying to bring them out distinctly and with full +effect. It was only a queen, to be sure; but somehow (missing the +royal robes) Miriam could see only a woman. Close upon this came +another shock. These dingy, untidy, soiled-looking men were now making +love to the young Prima Donna,--first one and then another; this one in +bass, and that one in baritone, and she answering in her clear soprano. +Answering,--sometimes _responding_. Then they touched her, and handled +her, and drew her about, as the exigencies of the piece demanded. And +there was no glitter of dress to turn the one into a kingly suitor and +the other into a faithful knight; the tarnished men were but men; and +she--poor little uncrowned princess--was but a woman among them all; +rubbing off the bloom and reserve of her woman's nature with every +touch. + +Miriam could never tell how sick hearted she grew as she looked. +_That_ was this girl's livelihood; to go through all sorts of +situations, with all sorts of men, for the amusement of other people. +O yes, it paid well. Had she been a teacher,--had she painted cups or +stitched seams for a living,--her salary, her wages, would have been +brought down to the lowest figure; but on the stage, at _that_ work, +give her what she asks!--or make her so popular that the manager will. +Does she not "amuse" us all? + +If ever anybody was thoroughly cured of theatre going, that was Miriam. +It had been the greatest temptation of her life; but now a great recoil +came over her, so that from that day, the mere thought of the stage +brought only loathing and disgust. And so all women, _as_ women, +should set their faces against it in every shape; even down to the most +"private" of private theatricals. There cannot possibly be a wholesome +imitation of a bad thing. + +I know it is very unfashionable doctrine. I know that even while I +write, the newspapers set forth an advertisement of a play, prepared by +a clergyman, to be acted by Sunday Schools in this sweet Christmas +time. Alas poor Sunday Schools!--in full training for service under +"the world, the flesh, and the devil."--"Feed my lambs," the Lord Jesus +said,--and between meals you give them whiskey and water! Nor is it +the children only who suffer. I could tell of one lady in that very +man's church, who being much delighted with some such performance in +the Sunday School, went off the very next night to a theatre, to see +the same thing _done better_. + +N. B.--She had never been before. + +"I will have dances at home for my children, lest they seek them +elsewhere."-- + +"I will take my boys to the theatre, because I do not want them to go +anywhere without me."-- + +Real sayings, of real mothers, church members both. Which sayings, in +everyday English, read thus, "Since I want my children to keep out of +the world, I will bring the world to them at home."--"Since my boys +will do what I do not approve, I will guard them by doing it too." Far +different from the strong stern-words of Scripture: + +"Come out of her, my people." + +"Touch not the unclean thing." + +And then the wonderful sayings of Psalm i. 1. + +If anybody thinks I have given an unfair instance, or that I +characterize it unfairly, let them take other testimony where no +prejudice can be supposed. Read Mrs. Kemble's "Journal" of her stage +life. Read the opinion she gives of it all in her later +"Recollections." Yet from childhood some of her nearest and dearest +she had known as actors. + +I have spoken first as to people bound by the Golden Rule, and +forbidden therefore to help anybody even to get a living in an evil +way. For the work the theatre does upon yourselves, you know it, if +you will be honest. People answer: "O if it hurt me, of course I would +give it up." Be honest with yourself, and you will come out of that +delusion. You _know_ it does not make love to Christ warmer, or +thoughts of heaven sweeter; or the atmosphere of your everyday life +more wholesome and sound. You know it leaves a restless craving for +excitement,--you know it exalts the world before your eyes; and if you +think a little you will find that, like my poor young friend in her +dancing, you are not edified, not built up, but pulled down. Let me +tell you of one case where the mother was a Church member, and had +prayers regularly every morning with her family, But the command to +_watch_ as well (_i.e._, "keep awake") she had forgotten. And the +desire seized her to see--I will not write the name down here, but it +was one of those foreign importations which have beguiled thousands. +She did not want her son to know of her going, and so went with her +young daughter for escort! But she found her son already there, and +for twenty-eight nights running he was there again. Why not?--if his +mother went once? And as might be expected, the daughter has become +(as people say) "wild for the theatre." + +Among the people who loved Mr. Lincoln best, and could best understand +the semi-official way in which he went to the theatre that fatal night, +there was not one, I fancy, who did not feel an added shock at learning +where he was when the messenger came, and who did not wish that he had +been almost anywhere else. Yet why? If the theatre is a proper place +for Christians to enter, it is as good a place as any other to be + +"Waiting--waiting--when the Lord shall come." + +The only thing I think of mentioned in the Bible that is much like +modern performances on the boards, is the dancing of the daughter of +Herodias before Herod. She worked for hire, she beguiled her audience. +"She pleased the king," and got from him all she asked for. It sounds +very dreadful to you, no doubt, that the prophet's head should have +been danced off by a pair of whirling feet?--but that is a slight +matter. If dancing and theatre going did only take off the heads of +protesting saints, like an old-time persecution, they at least would +but exchange the prison for the palace, and so not lose much. But this +stealing away the heart and service once vowed to Christ, is another +matter. You think it does not do this. You think your eye is as clear +for heaven in the boxes as elsewhere. You think you can dress and go +and look on and listen, keeping close to this command: + +"Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord +Jesus." + +_Do_ you think so? + +"I have never been to hear him," said Dr. Skinner, speaking then, only +of a false prophet in a false Church, "because I could not expect to +meet my Master there; and I will go nowhere for pleasure where he is +not." What about the theatre, tried by that test? + +How surely the world marks every Christian who is seen at such places; +how certainly the children know that the parents have not yet forsaken +all for Christ. And how constantly ungodly men fence off your warning, +with the words: "Look at ---- and ----, I am as good as they. I do +this and that, and they do it too. I don't see the difference." + +But "nobody knows." O yes, everybody knows. No matter if you are +across the sea,--"A bird of the air shall carry the matter." But +especially, the Lord knows. He setteth "a print on the heels of my +feet" [1]--and step you never so lightly, the mark will be there, and +the Lord will know. + +And where your feet go, there others will follow. "Is Miss Hope going +to such and such a performance?" inquired a young man of me. I said +no. He stood gravely thinking, and the talk drifted on. Then suddenly +I heard him say--to himself as it were:--"Then I will not go either!"-- + +Persuasions, entreaties, ridicule, are nothing, _mean_ nothing, if only +you stand firm. And I have known gentlemen spend their strength in +entreaties, and then when the lady held out in her quiet refusal, they +said afterwards to other people that they liked to see any one true to +his principles. + +Staying once with some friends of rather free opinions and practice, +Priscilla was beset to go with them on a certain evening to the +theatre. So eager were the words, so well-loved the friends, that at +last she grew desperate. Turning round upon the head of the house, she +said: "Do you really want me to go?"--He looked at her, sat back in his +chair in silence, then answered soberly: "Well, I guess I'd just as +lieve you didn't!" + +Depend upon it, the very people who press you hardest, professing to +see "no harm," will feel they have lost something if you make them +think the King's Country is just like their own. Whatever has happened +to _your_ moral sense, _they_ know that the theatre is no place for a +true-hearted servant of the Lord Jesus, if the Master is all he is +represented to be. If they met you there unawares, it would be with a +thrill not of pleasure but of pain. + +Let me repeat my question, Is it as a Christian you go to the theatre? +can you go and keep your armour bright? does the helmet of salvation +rest securely on your head? Is the girdle of truth,--truth of life, +purpose, and heart,--fast bound? the breastplate of righteousness +burnished, the shield of faith ready against every dart that may fly in +that great building? Are they the shoes of peace on which you go in? +not pleasure, but _peace_? Is it the sword of the Spirit with which +you meet and parry the thrusts of idleness, folly, mischief? Ah you +know better! When you go to the theatre these defences are left at +home, as not fit for the occasion. The house is built and managed and +filled in the interests of the enemy; and of course your uniform is out +of place. Tired Church members, do you go there for _rest_? + + + +[1] Job xiii. 27. + + + + +Games. + + +Dr. Skinner[1] used to say that all games of chance were unlawful. For +inasmuch as there is no chance in the economy of this world, all use of +dice or lottery in any shape is really an appeal to him of whom it is +said: + +"The lot is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of +the Lord." [2] + +And you will agree with me that this is not a thing to be done lightly. + +In old times the casting of a lot was a solemn religious service: +ushered in even among pagans with prayer and often with fasting; but +what careless, reckless ignoring of God as the Governor among the +nations, is there in all connected with the lot in our days. What foul +associations cloud and wrap up almost every game of chance: how soiled +are the cards, how unhallowed the rattle of the dice. What degrading, +debasing work is done by every species of lottery; what desperate evils +spring up and grow out of "a chance" at a Church fair! Some years ago, +at the time of the great German and French fairs in New York, a lady +thoughtlessly gave her young son leave to buy "a chance" for a gold +watch. Thoughtlessly,--it was just a dollar to the fair and an +amusement to the boy. And before twenty-four hours had passed, she +would have given anything in the world to recall her permission. For +at once the boy's mind became wholly absorbed in his "chance." The +fair went on, the drawing was long delayed; and day after day--hour by +hour, if he could--he went to inquire and to watch; and the mother saw +her child in a true gambling fever, and she obliged to let it run its +course. Mercifully, as she said, the watch fell to another. "If it +had come to George, I don't know what in the world I should have done." + +"We play for sugarplums,"--we "toss up" for nuts; but each time the +evil seeds are planted. The mere habit of _talking_ of "chance," of +"luck," of "fate," as if you believed in them all, tends directly to +weaken your realizing trust in the Great Ruler of the world; who counts +his sparrows, and numbers the hairs of your head. Chance? If the +watchmaker could not control one smallest wheel or point in his watch; +if even a grain of dust got in and defied him; what think you he could +do with mainspring and hands? One unmanageable atom would stop the +whole. + +To quote Dr. Skinner again,--one to whom I think it never occurred to +like anything but what God liked,--in his early life as a young man he +had seen much wild company; and so strong was their association with +evil, that to the end of his life he could never even hear the dice +fall without a shiver. + +"Put it away, my dear," he would say of even the backgammon board. "I +don't like it--I don't like it!" + +For games of chance, as a rule, gather round them a setting of sin and +sorrow which other games do not. I suppose men take in their practical +infidelity, and grow lawless. You do not mean to appeal to God in your +games of "chance,"--but if not to him, then to some other power +supposed to be outside his rule or beyond his notice: "chance," "luck," +or the devil. And it does not much matter which word you use. Yet +"tired" Church members will play euchre and whist, and there are cards +in the table drawer in the parlour, and of course a dingier pack in the +kitchen, in many a so-called Christian house; though the family hide +them or apologize before people who are called "intense." The minister +comes in upon a card party in his parish, and all rise in deprecatory +confusion; and perhaps (ah I know it happened in one case) the minister +waves his hand graciously, with a "Don't let me disturb you,"--and so +passes on. O it hurts one to have a fellow Christian ask in the quiet +evening at her own house, "Would you object to our bringing out the +cards?"--"I could not touch them," was all the answer, and the drawer +stayed shut. But I wish a Nonconformist Church could rise up in these +days. We are so busy calling ourselves Episcopalians, Methodists, +Presbyterians, that we seem to forget the old far-better name which +should include all. In the war it was only loyal or disloyal: and New +York was proud of the Wisconsin boys that were all six feet two; and +Ohio wept for those of Massachusetts who were among the first to shed +their blood. Dear friends, it is war time now: if you could only +realize that, a good many things would be set straight. Not able to +give up doubtful games and questionable dances? Why in '76 the women +fired at their tea kettles!-- + +Nonconformists. But now, "My mother does it,"--"my aunt goes,"--"my +father likes it": so run the excuses which the members of your Bible +Class, children of Church members, fling in your face. + +But what you call "lawful" games, are stupid. Not all of them, +perhaps; but if they were, that would not touch the question. Paul's +"If meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world +standeth," was crippled with no such condition as "If I can get bread." +And when the Lord bade us cut off the offending right hand, no question +of whether we could live without it came in. It is not absolutely +needful that Christ should find all his tired Church members rested and +fresh; but it _is_ necessary that they should be "spotless," +"faithful," "ready," when he comes. + +There are other amusements that might be touched upon just here, but +perhaps they are as well not named. Whatever takes you full into the +ranks of Christ's enemies, not to fight but to follow them; whatever +you cannot do straight through in the name of the Lord Jesus; whatever +turns you away from the shining presence of his face; is unlawful for +you. Once remember that there is no middle ground, and then ask +yourself what standing room there can be for you on a race course, what +seat at a circus. If you are not with Christ, openly, unmistakably, +you are "scattering," even in your games. I asked a friend (a minister +of deep experience) lately, if he had seen much of this private card +playing among Church members? He answered, "Yes, a great deal." Then +I inquired what was the effect, as he had noticed it. And the reply +was instant and emphatic: + +"_Always_ evil!"-- + +Carlyle tells of "patriots" in the French Revolution who shaved each +other out of the fragments of bomb shells, and wore ghastly trophies +from the guillotine. But short of a Reign of Terror, making all men +mad, one does not expect such things. Few people (I fancy) if they +knew it, would care to use the glass from which some poor wretch had +drunk his draught of poison; and even to touch the murderer's knife +stored up in a public museum, would turn most hearts sick. But if you +could only see as God sees; if things in society were but labelled and +classed; you would find your cards dark with the soul-life blood of +thousands, and could hear their ruin in every fall of the dice. + +I was much interested in a recent English essay ("On the Criminal Code +of the Jews") to find how the typical Israel regarded games of chance. +As if something of the old blessed "The Lord is our King," staid by +them, even in the days of their downfall. The writer says: + +"All who made money by dice-playing or any games of hazard, by betting +on pigeon matches and similar objectionable practices, were not only +incapable of becoming members of a tribunal, but were not permitted to +give evidence. The Ghemara regards a man who gains money by the +amusements named, as dishonest." + + + +[1] Once pastor of the Mercer Street Church, New York, and Professor in +Union Theological Seminary. + +[2] Prov. xvi. 33. + + + + +What Left? + + +But you will say, I leave nothing for you, then; no amusements, no +recreation. Is that true? Is the narrow way indeed so barren, that we +must step out of it to rest? Has the Lord only food and water for his +flock, and when they need change and refreshment must they leave their +Shepherd, and go over to the wolf for a run upon the hillside? That +sounds hard for weak human nature--and strange, for a Lord of boundless +resources. And somehow the Bible pictures of the flock shew wondrous +contentment. "A stranger will they not follow." [1] + +Then following the Master must be very sweet; for all men like variety, +and the mere fact of a new voice is of itself enough to draw one aside. +Yet "a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him,"--O how +much that tells! And here we touch the very root and spring of true +refreshment, of real recreation. For while good general health is the +best specific against mere bodily fatigue, so against a jaded, +over-wrought state of nerves and energies, there is nothing like a +heart full of joy and a mind at rest. + +"He that believeth on me shall never thirst." [2] + +And if this satisfaction does not underlie all your pastimes, they will +be a failure. No other stream alone can freshen even the small dry +barrens of this earth. + +But besides that, what is there left for Christian people? + +To begin: "Dancing is such good exercise!" people say. Granted. Or at +least it _might_ be. But instead of night hours in a ball room, get on +horseback for two hours in the open day, and then balance the profit +and loss. You don't know how?--then learn. You have no horse? Go to +riding school. An hour in the ring will stir your blood better than +twenty Germans. But you "cannot afford" to take riding lessons.--Well +to say nothing of ball dresses, just throw satin slippers and long +gloves and carriage hire together, and see if you cannot afford it. +Ay, and have a ticket now and then for some one poorer than yourself. + +Then for people who live within reach of the opera, there is generally +much other good music to be had, at far less expense and with none of +the objections. And there again, the money and time spent at the +opera, would train the voices at home into a lovely choir. Voices +which now "have no time," and talents perhaps unknown. + +"Everybody cannot sing."--No. And neither can everybody paint; but it +is a delicious pleasure to those who can. What joy to go sketching! +what delight to work up the sketches at home. What pure, noiseless, +exquisite play it is. And if some of the party care nothing for +pencils, let them lie under a tree with a book, and be part of your +picture. + +"Ah, books!--Of course you disapprove of novels,"--some one exclaims. + +Indeed no. A good novel is very improving as well as refreshing. And +after much study over that word "good" (that is, for us, worth reading) +I can give no better meaning than this. A good book, whether novel or +other, is one which leaves you further on than it took you up. If when +you drop it, it drops you, right down in the same old spot; with no +finer outlook, no cleared vision, no stimulated desires, it is in no +sense a good book for you. As well make fancy loaves of sawdust, and +label them "Good Bread"; and claim that you rise from the banquet +refreshed. + +A novel has special power of its own. It may be deeply historical, +like "Waverly," and "The Tale of Two Cities." It may be a picture of +vivid local colouring, like "Ivanhoe," or "Lorna Doone," or "Dr +Antonio." It may be full of social hints and glimpses, with many a +covert wise suggestion, like Miss Austin's "Emma." It may shew up a +vital truth or a life-long mistake, like Miss Edgeworth's "Helen," or +open out new natural scenes like the "Adventures of a Phaeton"; or life +scenes, like "Oliver Twist"; or be so full of frolic and fun and sharp +common sense, that the mere laughter of it does you good "like a +medicine." Witness "Christie Johnstone," and Miss Carlen's "John." +All such books are utterly helpful, and leave you well in advance of +where they found you. They enlarge your world, they stimulate your +life. Only read none that enlarge it by a peep through the gates of +hell. On _that_ side knowledge is death. + +But how is one to tell? you ask. Books are not labelled "good," "bad," +and "indifferent." No: and when you go to shops and houses you do not +know what air you will find, perhaps not till you open the door. But +you start back from one room, and hold your breath in another, +hastening to get away; not because you have studied chemistry and can +analyze the air, but because your keen physical sense is smitten. Keep +your moral sense as fresh, as keen; and the moment you find foul air in +a book, throw the book in the fire. Do not leave it about to poison +some one else. And if you find no wholesome stir, no real refreshment, +but only a feverish thirst beginning, lay the book down: remember, you +are after _recreation_. + +Re-creation,--the remaking and refitting of ourselves for better work, +the resting for more labour, the learning, that we may grow thereby. +_That_ is what you profess to need, dear fellow Christians. Then seek +it,--and take no makebelieve. + +"Nothing left?"--Why the world is so full of delightful things to do, +that one can but look at a quarter of them. They stand at my elbow ten +deep. Books and music, and painting, and riding, and gardening, with +all sorts of studies of the wonderful works of God. You are not shut +up to novels. Books of art, books of travel, books of poetry, books of +science. O how I have rested in the coolness of Longfellow's +"Cathedral"; and with what delight seen Alpine heights with Ruskin. + +Then there is that wonder of refreshment, the stereoscope. One comes +back from a half hour there in a Swiss valley as into a new world, with +the dust all blown away. A stereoscope costs little, and views are not +expensive,--that is if you are content with one or two at a time, which +is the real way to buy them; choosing, considering, carefully selecting +only those you cannot possibly go home without! I know we began with +six; those six sorted out with jealous care from the contents of many +boxes; and by ones and twos the little collection has grown into +something worth having. And if you turn over every lot of views you +come across, you will often find one rare and fine and cheap, thrown in +among the rubbish. + +Then there is the microscope,--full of rich pleasure and deep study and +wonderful revealings. And here again no great outlay is needed. The +days of only sixty dollar glasses are quite gone by, and for five or +ten dollars--even less--you can get a microscope that will keep ahead +of you for some time to come. + +On the other hand, if one has neither the skill nor the means to +furnish a home-made telescope, there are other ways of studying the +stars, from the days of Ferguson down. You remember he used to measure +the distance from star to star with beads upon a string. I have seen a +man who could neither read nor write, and yet could tell by the stars +the hour at any time of night; and it is a shame that we educated +people who know so much, should also know so little. + +If you are in the country, and fond of "stones," get a geologist's +hammer, and Hugh Miller's books, and give yourself up to happiness. Or +if you like flowers, study _them_; learning to know families and +sub-families through all the floral peerage. + +But perhaps you "do not care for out-door things?" Then get a bit of +wood and a few carving tools, and see what dainty wonders you can make +at home. Or lose your cares in "illuminating"; or bury them fathom +deep in German. From any of these, well begun and carried on, you will +come back re-created for your work: made over "as good as new." Not +poisoned with bad air, nor wearied by late hours; not singed and jaded +with chagrin, vanity, and disappointment. Riding, rowing, archery, +fishing, ought to give Christian people enough exercise, without their +being obliged to frequent ball rooms to find it; and as for the "grace" +people talk of, nothing teaches that like a heart full of +graces--"love, joy, peace," and the rest. Do _they_ flourish at your +doubtful entertainments? do they not rather droop and hang their heads, +like the dear flowers in your bouquet? + +And if people sought their refreshment among all those sweet and +wholesome things, conversation would no longer be the difficult and the +dry thing it is in many a company. There would be something to talk +about worth talking of; and men of sense would venture to talk sense, +even to women; and gossip would go down. How much more interesting is +a butterfly, than the curtains of the house across the way!-- + +The world is full of joys and pleasures and wonders, even yet, outside +of Eden. So full that as I said, you can only begin to taste them all, +in all your life. I think it is stated that no ordinary life-term +would suffice for the thorough study of merely the great family of +orchids. And all these things which I have named (the list is really +much longer), yes, every one of them, rightly used, will ennoble you, +and build you up, and refresh you, with every time of using. Not like +the snail which crawled up three feet every day and fell back two feet +every night: onward and upward shall be your course; with soul and body +and mind re-created, restored by right means, to right ends. Only make +one rule to yourself: where anything is doubtful, let it alone. + +If you tell me I do not know the fascination of these other things, I +tell you that I do; and in one line at least have known it as deeply as +any one could. But I have also known, that with the coming of Christ +into my heart, with the new knowledge of his presence, the old taste +fell dead in a moment, and never arose again. I cannot say it was not +much to give up, for it was _nothing_. The former fascination fell +off, like the dry skin of a chrysalis when the butterfly spreads its +wings. And here we reach the very point of the whole difficulty. For +with all their crosses, privations, and givings-up, the Lord's people +are not meant to dwell in any land of darkness or of drought. Listen +to some of the promises. + +"The righteous shall hold on his way, and he that hath clean hands +shall be stronger and stronger." [3] + +"They go from strength to strength." [4] + +"They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength." [5] + +For why? + +"For the joy of the Lord is your strength." [6] + +I believe the words are true for the body as for the mind. It is +nowhere promised that you shall not be tired; but so waiting, so +living, so abiding by the head waters of all strength, the most lovely, +fresh, ever-renewed life shall be yours. + +"The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree." [7] + +"Their souls shall be as a watered garden." [8] + +It is the man "whose delight is in the law of the Lord" who not only +"bringeth forth his fruit in his season," but also when the time for +freshness and life and growth seems over, + +"They shall still bring forth fruit in old age." [9] + +Not only "created in Christ Jesus unto good works," but perpetually +recreated in him, from hour to hour, from year to year. Has he not +said: "I will be as the dew unto Israel"? [10] No more age for them, +thus dwelling in "the power of an endless life";[11] no empty hands, +for those who "have all things, and abound." [12] No disgust of life +or hopelessness of labour for servants who every now and then--from the +midst of their work--follow the Master (but only him) "apart to rest +awhile," [13] "A stranger will they not follow." You have seen such +people; you may see them every now and then; with smooth brows and +sweet faces and eyes full of the peace of God. + +"And I said, This is the rest, and this is the refreshing." [14] + +I am persuaded, that without this, all forms of recreation that can be +tried will be but as quack medicines, giving a temporary relief, only +to be followed by a sorer need. And while there are a hundred lawful, +sweet, wholesome means of rest at our disposal, I believe that even +they will fail if used alone. And if you throw in all unlawful +pleasures also, the failure will but be the more complete, "All my +springs are in thee," [15] and these other things are but channels +through which may flow the loving kindness of the Lord. From him comes +all your skill to study, your power to sing: the ingenious fancy, the +quick intellect, the deft hand, are all his gift. In this exquisite +world of his wherein you work, his power, his care, his laws are around +you as surely when you play as when you work. So that you can walk +with Christ always, as you are meant to do; looking up to him from +relaxation as from labour, thus missing the intoxication of the one and +forgetting the toil of the other. + +Now whatever lawful things such a disciple may "amuse" himself with, +you can see at once that for even the doubtful he could have no relish; +counting them but as a draught from that "troubled sea whose waters +cast up mire and dirt." [16] Neither would he come to his recreations +tired of life, nor because his daily round had turned to "white of +egg";[17] but with genuine, honest fatigue, taking amusement as he +takes sleep, and going back from it with a joyous rebound to his +special weedy corner in the vineyard. + +"I know I am getting rested," I heard a minister once say in his +vacation, "for I am getting hungry for my work!" + +"My people have forgotten their resting place"--let it not ever be said +of you and me. + +But it is those not merely "planted in the courts of the Lord," but who +"flourish" there, that are the trees whose "leaf shall not wither"; and +in this you have the whole story. A Christian who is _flourishing_ +where he belongs, will never go where he does _not_ belong. And no one +who is dwelling daily in the clear sunshine of Christ's presence, will +need a dance to enliven him, or a horse race--or a walking match--to +keep up his interest in life. There will be "melody in his heart" +without the opera; and life will be full and bright and strong, without +a speck of tinsel pleasure. Work will be sweet, and play will be +joyous; and by one and by the other the man will _grow_-- + +"Grow, like the cedar in Lebanon." + +Now that you may prove all this, that you may begin right, be careful +to take the full good of all the ordered resting times: to wit, the +Sundays. I wish all tired people did but know the infinite rest there +is in fencing off the six days from the seventh. In anchoring the +business ships of your daily life as the Saturday draws to its close, +leaving them to ride peacefully upon the flow or the ebb until Monday +morning comes again. O the delight, the lull, of feeling: "No need to +settle this question--no need to think of this piece of work--for a +whole long, sweet thirty-six hours!" Why do you take Sunday papers, to +keep your nerves astir with business on the Lord's own day of rest? +Why do you add up and consult and consider in the pauses of the sermon, +or make opportunity for a business whisper in the porch, and on the way +home? Why do you let the perplexities of servants, of means, of plans, +ruffle your spirits on the one great day of freedom? Do not you know +that even a debtor may walk abroad on Sunday, with no fear of a prison; +and house doors may stand open, and no sheriff can enter. Shall it be +worse with your mind than with your body? + + "Sleep, sleep to-day, tormenting cares, + Of earth and folly born,"-- + +It is the high court of the Prince of Peace. + +"Rest on Sunday!"--I hear some earnest worker cry. "Why Sunday is the +hardest of all the week!" + +Yes, in a way that is true, for workers in the Lord's work. Yet as far +as possible do not make it so. Do not imagine that you have the whole +world on your shoulders: do not try to have. Do not lift up a burden +you can by no means bear. The messengers came back to the Lord with +their reports,--so you. + +"Lord, they will not hear--" + +"Lord, it is done."-- + +Work with your whole heart and strength; but then take work and class, +and lay them at the Lord's feet; and with them the tired worker too. +So doing your work peacefully. And if Monday morning finds you tired, +it will find you also rested. The air of the world will have cleared +somewhat, giving a nearer view of "the city"; its mountains will have +sunk down well nigh out of sight, before the everlasting hills to which +you may lift up your eyes for help. And labour and care and profit and +loss will cease to be a tangle when stamped with this order: + +"Occupy till I come." + +But for you who are _not_ workers (the why and wherefore are for +yourselves to say) do you too make the Sabbath a day of rest. Yet do +not let your Sunday rest run into Sunday dissipation by trying to hear +all the good sermons at once. Choose (and abide by) some true church +so near that no street car shall be run for you, and yet--if +possible--far enough off to give you a freshening walk as you go and +come. Neither take out your carriage, "that thine ox and thine ass may +rest." [18] Of course I speak only of places where it is possible to +walk to church. + +Get up early enough to have no hurry and no "late." Have a simple +church dress that will need no fussing; have a simple breakfast, +without "hot cakes," and a cold dinner, "that thy man servant and thy +maid servant may rest as well as thou." [19] + +I know it is charged upon the men of the family that they will never +"stand" a cold dinner. But I have catered for just such many times, +and I know they will. Only be you careful on Saturday, to provide a +dainty repast that is _fit_ to eat cold--and then see. You will find +those very grumblers charmed with their dinner, and praising it before +any other in the week. You can always grace your cold dishes with hot +coffee and baked potatoes. + +O the rest, the "recreation" of such a day! With all earth's turmoil +pushed aside, and Christ himself the one invited guest. Unless indeed +some needy friend, who can have no "Sunday" elsewhere. People talk in +these days with horror of the old Puritan sabbath. But even if +everything be true that they tell of it, I would rather spend Sunday +with blinds shut and pictures turned to the wall, than in the full +week-day glare which fills some houses. And if you want refreshment +from your play-times in the week, if you want heart and mind and face +to keep fresh, begin the week with the Lord's day kept wholly to the +Lord. + +"Verily, my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you +throughout your generations." [20] + +A sabbath, a rest. Rest of mind which lingering in bed will not give; +rest of body which feasting could only hinder; a rest of heart by +dwelling all day in the deep shadow of the Lord's presence. So +beginning the week, this promise shall be upon you as each day rolls on, + +"My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest." [21] + +"And in all things that I have said unto you be circumspect; and make +no mention of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out of +thy mouth." [22] + + + +[1] John x. 5. + +[2] John vi. 35. + +[3] Job xvii. 9. + +[4] Ps. lxxxiv. 7. + +[5] Isa. xl. 31. + +[6] Neh. viii. 10. + +[7] Ps. xcii. 12. + +[8] Jer. xxxi. 12. + +[9] Ps. xcii. 14. + +[10] Hosea xiv. 5. + +[11] Heb. vii. 16. + +[12] Phil. iv. 18. + +[13] Mark vi. 31. + +[14] Isa. xxviii. 12. + +[15] Ps. lxxxvii. 7. + +[16] Isa. lvii. 20. + +[17] Job vi. 6. + +[18] Ex. xxii 12. + +[19] Deut. v. 14. + +[20] Ex. xxxi. 13. + +[21] Ex. xiii. 14. + +[22] Ex. xxiii. 13. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Tired Church Members, by Anna Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS *** + +***** This file should be named 22422.txt or 22422.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/4/2/22422/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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