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 BV 4597 .W3 1881 "~~^ ^ 
 Warner, Anna Bartlett, 1824 
 
 1915. 
 Tired church members 
 
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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: 
 ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 
 
 530 Broadway. 
 1881. 
 
Copyright, i88t, 
 By Robert Carter & Brothers. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS 5 
 
 MUSIC 24 
 
 DANCING 38 
 
 THEATRES 5 1 
 
 GAMES 76 
 
 WHAT LEFT? 86 
 
€ixtts ffifjurrij IHem&ers. 
 
 T SUPPOSE one never goes heartily 
 into any bit of Bible study, with- 
 out 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 lit- 
 tle 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. " Recrea- 
 tion"? — nor that either; and "game" 
 is not in all the book, and "rest" is 
 something so wide of the mark (in the 
 
6 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 Bible sense, I mean) that you must 
 leave it out altogether. And ''pas- 
 time " ? ah, the very thought is an 
 alien. 
 
 *' This I say, brethren, that the time 
 is short." ^ 
 
 Redeem it, buy it up, use it while 
 you may, — such is the Bible stand- 
 point. It flies all too quickly with- 
 out your help. 
 
 ''My days are swifter than a weav- 
 er's shuttle.'"^ 
 
 "Pass the time of your sojourning 
 here in fear."' 
 
 Not in frolic. So you can see that 
 I was puzzled. However, by patiently 
 putting words together, noting care- 
 fully the blanks as well, some things 
 become pretty plain; and the vexed 
 question of Christian amusements is 
 
 1 I Cor. vii. 29. 2 Job vii. 6. si Pet. i. 17. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 7 
 
 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 repealed : 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 church- 
 es."^ 
 
 For we call ourselves Christians, — 
 that ''people of laws divers from all 
 other people"; and now we are con- 
 sulting 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. 
 
 1 Rev. iii. 22. 
 
8 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 To begin then where most of all, 
 perhaps, the old and the modern times 
 are like each other, — feasts have al- 
 ways been in vogue and always per- 
 mitted; only for Christians, like all 
 else that concerns them, with a spe- 
 cial set of regulations as to time, man- 
 ner, 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 es- 
 sentials 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 christening feast 
 for Isaac,^ and the wedding feast for 
 
 1 Gen. xxi. S. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 9 
 
 the daughter of Laban/ and the Im- 
 promptu set-out in Sodom wherewith 
 Lot thought to entertain the angels.^ 
 There are the great gatherings of young 
 people over which Job was so anxious;' 
 and the yearly sacrifice at the house 
 of Jesse ''for all the family,"* remind- 
 ing one of our Thanksgiving. 
 
 Then follow state dinners of amity 
 between two contracting powers; as 
 when Isaac feasted Abimelech,® and 
 David feasted Abner? 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 
 
 1 Gen. xxix. 25. 2 Gen. xix. 3. 
 
 3 Job i. 7. 4 I Sam. xx. 6. 
 
 5 Gen. xxvi. 30. 6 II Sam. iii. 20. 
 
10 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 which he kept like a young heir com- 
 ing of age. 
 
 These are all well known to us: and 
 alas, so also are the feasts of social 
 excess, like those of Nabal;^ and the 
 idolatrous feasts of the men of She- 
 chem,^ and of the king of Babylon;' 
 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 op- 
 erations of his hands." "* 
 
 "A feast is made for laughter," — but 
 this laughter is "mad"; utterly inter- 
 dicted to all those who would "live 
 soberly, righteously, and godly" in this 
 
 1 I Sam. XXV. 26. 2 Judges ix. 27. 
 
 3 Dan. V. I. 4 Isa. v. 12. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. il 
 
 world/ Such "revelllngs" are classed 
 among "those works of the flesh which 
 are manifest"; there can be no ques- 
 tion about them: the "revellings, ban- 
 quetings,"^ for which ''the time past of 
 our life may suffice us."' 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,* and it certainly looks ill 
 for a man if his habit is the other way. 
 Yet there are exceptions, there must 
 
 1 Titus ii. 12. 2 Gal. v. 21. 
 
 8 I Pet. iv. 3. 4 Ps. cxix. 63. 
 
12 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 be, — else, says the apostle, **ye must 
 needs go out of the world." ^ 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-"^ 
 
 And then follows the first rule. 
 Whatsoever you can do there Chris- 
 tian-wise; whatsoever you can join in 
 that will not implicate you as a pos- 
 sible worshipper of his idol that bade 
 you — even the god of this world — that 
 do. But otherwise there is the strict- 
 est hands-off! And for two reasons. 
 
 ** Eat not for his sake that shewed it, 
 and for conscience sake."' 
 
 No matter if it be something as sim- 
 ple as eating and drinking. That is 
 
 1 I Cor. V. lo. 2 I Cor. x. 27. « I Cor. x. 28. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 13 
 
 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 every- 
 thing 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." ^ 
 
 Pharisees murmured, but the Lord 
 knew why he went. 
 
 X Luke V. 29. 
 
14 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 *'And Jesus answered them, They 
 that are whole need not a physician; 
 but they that are sick."^ 
 
 If you can go thus, to do your Mas- 
 ter'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 be- 
 lieve not bid you to a feast, and ye be 
 disposed to go," — go! 
 
 But beware of compromises, — that 
 specious temptation not to make re- 
 ligion disagreeable. It can never be 
 really that if it is the true thing, — a 
 burning fire, a shining light, — but some 
 
 1 Luke V. 29. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 15 
 
 one has well said: ** When religion loses 
 its power to repel, it loses also its pow- 
 er to attract." It must be intense, ac- 
 tive, 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" !^ 
 
 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 or- 
 ders. 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,"'' 
 and afterwards reason of "righteous- 
 ness, temperance, and judgment to 
 
 1 Matt X. 25. 3 Eph. V. 4. 
 
1 6 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 col- 
 ours at home, and hide their uniform 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 17 
 
 with a pair of the world's overalls ! 
 Alas ! — **If the trumpet give an un- 
 certain sound, who shall prepare him- 
 self for battle ? " ^ 
 
 Yes, if you can go into mixed so- 
 ciety 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 spike- 
 nard, 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."^ 
 
 1 I Cor. ii. 8. 2 John xii. 1-3. 
 
1 8 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 How exquisite the picture ! how rare 
 the intercourse, how precious the re- 
 sults ! A few of the Lord's own people 
 met together with the Lord himself; 
 the one expensive thing mentioned be- 
 ing 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 de- 
 scription of it in Luke xiv. 13. And 
 so far as I know, this is the only sort 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 19 
 
 of great entertainment that Christians 
 are encouraged to give; ruling out in 
 toto the tit-for-tat customs of modern 
 society. '' For they cannot recom- 
 pense 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 t the great 
 Master of assemblies will count the in- 
 vitations 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."^ 
 What ! — never invite your friends un- 
 less they happen to be poor } O, yes 
 indeed, — invite them, enjoy them, make 
 much of them, precious things as friends 
 are; yet spe?td the most on the por- 
 
 1 Luke xiv. 14. 
 
20 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 tionless 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 res- 
 urrection of the just."^ 
 
 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 glori- 
 fied, 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." ^ 
 
 "The Levite, the stranger, the fa- 
 
 X Luke xiv. 14. a Neh. viii. 10. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 21 
 
 therless, and the widow," ^ — "the poor 
 that are cast out"^ — 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 res- 
 urrection of the just." ' 
 
 The Lord dates the note of payment 
 far ahead, but indeed I think he is bet- 
 ter than his word, and deals out much 
 coin as we go along; it is such won- 
 derful pleasure to fill an empty cup ! 
 
 1 Deut. xiv. 27. 2 Isa. IviiL 7. 3 Luke xiv. 12, 13. 
 
2 2 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 This is "recreation," true and sweet; 
 for of all the refreshments from one's 
 own toil and sorrow, I think minister- 
 ing to other people is about the best. 
 
 I have said nothing — is it needful to 
 say aught ? — of the Bible rules for be- 
 haviour at a feast. One is ready to im- 
 agine that Christians do only that which 
 is ** lovely, and of good report." Yet 
 notice a few things. 
 
 " They love the uppermost rooms at 
 feasts,"^ was spoken of the Pharisees; 
 but to his disciples Christ said: "Who- 
 soever will be chief among you, let 
 him be your servant."'^ 
 
 "When thou art bidden, go and sit 
 down in the lowest room."' 
 
 Other things follow close and easily 
 upon that. 
 
 " Be courteous." — 
 
 1 Matt, xxiii. 6. 2 Matt. xx. 27. 3 Luke xiy. 10. 
 
TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 23 
 
 "Let your moderation be known un- 
 to 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";^ and the spotless garments 
 will so far outshine the pearls and 
 costly array, that no one will miss 
 them, nor wish them there. ^ 
 
 1 I Pet. V. 5. 
 
 2 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 quar- 
 relling 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 will be drunk, you must be de- 
 bauched 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.' " 
 
Wu0ic. 
 
 ''T'TTHAT 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 what- 
 ever 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 lit- 
 tle book yclept "Rhymes and Jingles." 
 
MUSIC. 25 
 
 A paid choir (no objection to that, if 
 you can buy up their hearts as well) 
 an operatic organist, a silent, criticis- 
 ing congregation. Is there much praise 
 in that ? much worship ? much refresh- 
 ment 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 mu- 
 sic, 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."^ 
 
 ''The singers went before, the players 
 on instruments followed after; among 
 them were the damsels playing with 
 timbrels. Bless ye God in the con- 
 
 1 I Chron. xiiL 8. 
 
26 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 gregations, even the Lord, from the 
 fountain of Israel." ^ 
 
 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 mu- 
 sic, psalteries and harps and cymbals, 
 sounding, by lifting up the voice with 
 
 joy-' 
 
 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 
 
 1 Ps. Ixviii. 25, 26. a I Chron. xv. z6. 
 
MUSIC. . 27 
 
 of deliverance and thanksgiving they 
 had their full share. We people in this 
 Western v/orld 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, say- 
 ing, I will sing unto the Lord, for he 
 hath triumphed gloriously."^ 
 
 That was from the men. And an- 
 swering them came the softer voices 
 of Miriam and ''all the women," cheer- 
 ing them on: 
 
 "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath 
 triumphed gloriously."^ 
 
 1 Ex. XV. I. 2 Ex. XV. 21. 
 
28 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 Is- 
 rael " to meet the army, when David 
 had conquered the Philistine in single- 
 handed fight. 
 
 *' And the women answered one an- 
 other 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 
 
MUSIC. 29 ■ 
 
 city wall ! how they must have be- 
 lieved Ps. 127) the dedication was 
 kept 
 
 ''With gladness, both with thanks- 
 giving, and with singing, with cym- 
 bals, psalteries, and harps." ^ 
 
 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— "^ 
 
 "As the mountains are round about 
 Jerusalem"^ — 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. 
 
 X Neh. xii. 27. 2 Ps. cxxii. i. 8 Ps. cxxv. 2. 
 
30 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 in- 
 strument of ten strings. Sing unto him 
 a new song; play skilfully with a loud 
 noise." ^ 
 
 Are you not glad of that word 
 ^'skilfully " .? You see you may cul- 
 tivate 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."'' 
 
 1 Ps. xxxiil. 2, 3. 2 Ps. xl. 3. 
 
MUSIC. 31 
 
 For as " his mercies are new every 
 morning/ 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, be- 
 cause he hath dealt bountifully with 
 me." =* 
 
 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."' 
 
 1 Lam iii. 23. 2 Ps. xiii. 6. 8 Ps. Ivii. 7. 
 
32 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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."^ 
 
 New, skilful, and then comes in an- 
 other requirement; songs should be 
 sensible. 
 
 *' I will sing with the spirit, and I will 
 sing with the understanding also."^ 
 
 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 non- 
 sense 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 
 
 1 Ps. lix. i6. 2 I Cor. xiv. 15. 
 
MUSIC. 33 
 
 one hears from a pretty mouth and a 
 sweet voice. And in music as else- 
 where, 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." ^ 
 
 How run the directions } 
 
 ** Singing and making melody in your 
 hearts to the Lord." ^ 
 
 Can you do that } If not, music 
 is no true recreation to you. What- 
 ever chills your feeling for eternal 
 things, making them seem dull and 
 far away, is no breath of life-refresh- 
 ment, but comes bearing the fumes 
 of death. 
 
 Do you think you would never sing 
 at all, unless you sometimes forgot 
 
 1 Eccle. vii. 5. 2 Eph. v. 19. 
 
34 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 such solemn thoughts ? Ah there you 
 are mistaken. 
 
 *' Behold, my servants shall sing for 
 joy of heart." ^ 
 
 Not forgetfully, but in full remem- 
 brance. 
 
 '* Is any merry.? let him sing psalms."'^ 
 
 '' Thy statutes have been my songs 
 in the house of my pilgrimage." ' 
 
 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 mu- 
 sic. 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 
 
 X Isa. Ixv. 14. 2 James v. 13. a Ps. cxix. 54. 
 
MUSIC. 35 
 
 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 rec- 
 ord. Your music, as it is, is a dead 
 thing; and I want you to put the prin- 
 ciple 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 tal- 
 ents, went and traded with the same, 
 and made them other five talents." ^ 
 
 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."^ 
 
 1 Matt. XXV. i6. 2 Ez. xxxiii. 32. 
 
^6 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 de- 
 parted from him." ^ 
 
 I have never forgotten how a lady 
 with no great musical skill or educa- 
 tion 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, 
 
 1 I Sam, xvi. 23. 
 
MUSIC. 37 
 
 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 rest- 
 less 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 1 For this 
 is your rule: 
 
 '' Singing with grace in your hearts 
 to the Lord."' 
 
 Like your speech, '' al way with grace." 
 
 1 Col. iii. i6. 
 
lianctns. 
 
 '< '^ I ^O everything there is a season, 
 and a time to every purpose 
 under heaven."^ 
 
 And so it comes among the rest, 
 that there is "a time to dance." ^ 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." ' 
 
 1 Eccle. iii. i. 3 Eccle. iii. 4. 3 Ps. cxlix. 3. 
 
DANCING. 39 
 
 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." ^ 
 
 I fancy you did not expect this, 
 secretly believing that the Bible was 
 all against dancing. I fancy most peo- 
 ple would start back and say it cannot 
 be done. If it cannot, or if hy .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 heav- 
 iness,"^ and you are not at liberty to lay 
 it off for any dancing gear whatever. 
 
 1 Ps. cl. 2, 4. 2 Isa. 1x1. 3. 
 
40 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 ** Ye are a chosen generation, a roy- 
 al priesthood, an holy nation, a pecu- 
 liar people; that ye should shew forth 
 the praises of him who hath called 
 you out of darkness into his marvel- 
 lous light."' 
 
 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 ac- 
 customed 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"^ (no 
 ;;^/;ir^^ dances, observe), and so, dancing 
 
 1 I Pet. ii. 9. 2 Ex. XV. 20. 
 
DANCING. 41 
 
 for joy at the great deliverance, an- 
 swered the men, chorus like: 
 
 "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath 
 triumphed gloriously." ^ 
 
 So after Jephthah's victory,'^ 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."' 
 
 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 remem- 
 ber how when the ark was brought 
 home to Jerusalem, 
 
 "David danced before the Lord with 
 all his might." * 
 
 1 Ex. XV. 20. 2 Judges xi. 3. 
 
 3 I Sam. xviii. 6. 4 II Sam. vi. 14. 
 
42 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 Does it seem very strange to you ? 
 So it did to David's wife on that oc- 
 casion; 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. In- 
 deed 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 an- 
 other's dancing or another's dress; no 
 
DANCING. 43 
 
 "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 or- 
 naments 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 sinn 
 According to the word: 
 
 1 Luke XV. II. 
 
44 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 " Thou hast turned for me my mourn- 
 ing into dancing."^ 
 
 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 wheth- 
 er 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 men- 
 tioned 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 hon- 
 our of that biggest idol, the world; 
 
 1 Ps. XXX. II. 
 
DANCING. 45 
 
 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 peo- 
 ple, you remember, grew tired and rest- 
 less, — in want of recreation, we should 
 call it now, — and then they ''quickly 
 corrupted themselves." Weary of wait- 
 ing, impatient of the monotony of their 
 life, out of their own possessions they 
 made themselves an idol, and then — 
 danced before it ! conducting them- 
 selves 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." ^ 
 
 And you will find this is always just 
 
 1 Ex. xxxii. 5. 
 
46 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 what people do after unhallowed rec- 
 reation: 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 indul- 
 gence. 
 
 **He saw the calf and the dancing, 
 and Moses' anger waxed hot."^ 
 
 You think I am very hard upon dan- 
 cing; 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 
 
 1 Ex. XV. 19. 
 
DANCING. 47 
 
 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, for- 
 gotten promises, a wasted life, — this is 
 what it has all come to. *' Hard upon 
 dancing " } yes, I certainly have rea- 
 son. 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 profes- 
 sion of others } Do not the careless 
 young men in the class boast that 
 they can get the Church members to 
 
48 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 be- 
 fore, entreating to know if you thought 
 them ^^very bad" ? 
 
 Examine it, test it for yourself; only 
 be honest. Can you dance ** in ar- 
 mour" ? crowned and shielded and shin- 
 ing with ''the hope of salvation," with 
 "righteousness " and ''faith " ? Are your 
 shoes " peace " ? peace of heart, of con- 
 science. Is your belt the girdle of 
 "truth".'' Can you "shew your col- 
 ours " 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 your- 
 self how it is. As in feasting, so here: 
 you cannot dance all night with peo- 
 ple, and next day warn them against 
 
DANCING. 49 
 
 "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 ? "^ 
 
 *' 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 
 
 1 James iii. 11. 
 
50 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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." ^ 
 
 1 Prov. iv. 15. 
 
Efjeatresf. 
 
 TF 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 
 
52 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 indul- 
 gence was common enough in the fam- 
 ily. And the young actress had done 
 nothing but become an actress, keep- 
 ing her own name. Friends are mor- 
 tified, — 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 
 
THEATRES. 53 
 
 fire your house, — all in the way of bus- 
 iness. 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 preach- 
 ing, 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 "i 
 The glamour of their dress, the strange- 
 
54 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 ness of the scenes, the un-everydaj^ 
 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 
 
THEATRES. 55 
 
 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 fairy- 
 land. Next day Miriam entreated ear- 
 nestly to have the pleasure over again; 
 strengthening her plea with this re- 
 markable 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 mat- 
 ter was beyond her ken. But he was 
 a Christian who kept off the Debat- 
 able land; and where his foot might 
 not enter, he would not send his child. 
 Had he not himself dedicated her to 
 
56 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 women, working hard (it was 
 said) to support her mother; and Mir- 
 iam, going daily to see dear friends at 
 the same hotel, often heard the sing- 
 ling and practising that went on in 
 the Prima Donna's rooms. And Mir- 
 iam was very fond of music, and had 
 been able to hear very little that was 
 
THEATRES. 57 
 
 really good; and now in a moment one 
 thing took possession of her; she mtist 
 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), ''Mir- 
 iam, you must go with us to an un- 
 dress rehearsal. We have got tickets, 
 and you m.ust go." Then beginning to 
 answer the objections they expected — 
 
58 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 *'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 un- 
 derstand all these advantages, — in- 
 deed I fancy longing made such a 
 din in her ears that she paid but lit- 
 tle attention. For a while she with- 
 stood — then desire rose up like a whirl- 
 wind 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 thrill- 
 ing, pent-up excitement of that hour 
 
THEATRES. 59 
 
 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 but- 
 ter, and bread and butter into — chips, 
 for all she knew. Whether the ex- 
 citement was all pleasure I doubt if 
 she could tell; yet if you think Mir- 
 iam 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 
 
6o TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 before- 
 hand. Until — Well, as I said, Mir- 
 iam was young .and ignorant of the 
 world, but a woman's instincts (if 
 they have not been tampered with) 
 outgrow her years and are independ- 
 ent of her experience. And as the 
 girl bent over the libretto, some of 
 these instincts took fright. She found 
 
THEATRES. 6 1 
 
 out suddenly that those small pages 
 were not just the reading she liked, with 
 a gentleman looking over her shoul- 
 der; 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 pump- 
 kin, 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-head- 
 
62 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 ed, 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 
 after she could hear them almost as 
 distinctly as at first; and the picUire 
 has never faded. The slim, fair girl; 
 the rough, unwashed, unkempt-look- 
 ing 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 li- 
 bretto had given an uneasy stir to 
 Miriam's satisfaction, for as she sat 
 now entranced with the music, sud- 
 
THEATRES. h^ 
 
 denly there came to her the astound- 
 ing 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 an- 
 other 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 so- 
 prano. Answering, — sometimes re- 
 sponding. Then they touched her, 
 and handled her, and drew her about, 
 as the exigencies of the piece de- 
 
64 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 manded. And there was no glitter 
 of dress to turn the one into a king- 
 ly 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 amuse- 
 ment 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 
 
THEATRES. 65 
 
 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 doc- 
 trine. I know that even while I write, 
 the newspapers set forth an advertise- 
 ment of a play, prepared by a clergy- 
 man, to be acted by Sunday Schools 
 in this sweet Christmas time. Alas 
 poor Sunday Schools ! — in full train- 
 
66 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 ing for service under "the world, the 
 flesh, and the devil." — *' Feed my 
 lambs," the Lord Jesus said, — and 
 between meals you give them whis- 
 key and water ! Nor is it the chil- 
 dren 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 else- 
 where." — 
 
 "I will take my boys to the theatre, 
 because I do not want them to go any- 
 where without me." — 
 
 Real sayings, of real mothers, church 
 members both. Which sayings, in ev- 
 eryday English, read thus, ''Since I 
 
THEATRES. 67 
 
 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 Script- 
 ure: 
 
 "Come out of her, my people." 
 ''Touch not the unclean thing." 
 And then the wonderful sayings of 
 Psalm i. I. 
 
 If anybody thinks I have given an 
 unfair instance, or that I characterize 
 it unfairly, let them take other testi- 
 mony where no prejudice can be sup- 
 posed. Read Mrs. Kemble's "Journal" 
 of her stage life. Read the opinion she 
 gives of it all in her later "Recollec- 
 tions." Yet from childhood some of 
 her nearest and dearest she had known 
 as actors. 
 
68 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 I have spoken first as to people 
 bound by the Golden Rule, and for- 
 bidden therefore to help anybody even 
 to get a living in an evil wa/. For the 
 work the theatre does upon yourselves, 
 you know it, if you will be honest. Peo- 
 ple 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 dan- 
 cing, you are not edified, not built up, 
 but pulled down. Let me tell you of 
 one case where the mother was a 
 
THEATRES. 69 
 
 Church member, and had prayers reg- 
 ularly every morning with her family. 
 But the command to watch as well 
 (/. e.y ''keep awake") she had forgot- 
 ten. And the desire seized her to see 
 — I will not write the name down here, 
 but it was one of those foreign impor- 
 tations 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 daugh- 
 ter has become (as people say) "wild 
 for the theatre." 
 
 Among the people who loved Mr. 
 Lincoln best, and could best under- 
 stand the semi-official way in which 
 he went to the theatre that fatal 
 
70 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 night, there was not one, I fancy, 
 who did not feel an added shock at 
 learning where he was when the mes- 
 senger 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 dan- 
 cing of the daughter of Herodias before 
 Herod. She worked for hire, she be- 
 guiled 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 
 
THEATRES. 7 1 
 
 slight matter. If dancing and thea- 
 tre 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 steal- 
 ing 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 nam^e 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 
 
72 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 un- 
 godly 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, ev- 
 erybody 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"^ — and step you 
 never so lightly, the mark will be there, 
 and the Lord will know. 
 
 1 Job xiii. 27. 
 
THEATRES. 73 
 
 And where your feet go, there others 
 will follow. ''Is Miss Hope going to 
 such and such a performance ? " in- 
 quired 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 gen- 
 tlemen spend their strength in en- 
 treaties, 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 prin- 
 ciples. 
 
 Staying once with some friends of 
 rather free opinions and practice, Pris- 
 cilla was beset to go with them on a 
 certain evening to the theatre. So eag- 
 
74 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 er 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 an- 
 swered 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 some- 
 thing if you make them think the King's 
 Country is just like their own. What- 
 ever has happened to j/ozir mordil sense, 
 i/iej/ know that the theatre is no place 
 for a true-hearted servant of the Lord 
 Jesus, if the Master is all he is repre- 
 sented 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 
 
THEATRES. 75 
 
 a Christian you go to the theatre ? can 
 you go and keep your armour bright ? 
 does the helmet of salvation rest se- 
 curely 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 f 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 oc- 
 casion. The house is built and man- 
 aged 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 restf 
 
©ames. 
 
 T~\R. SKINNERS used to say that 
 all games of chance were un- 
 lawful. 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.'"" 
 
 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 
 
 1 Once pastor of the Mercer Street Church, New York, and 
 Professor in Union Theological Seminary. 
 
 2 Prov. xvi. 33. 
 
GAMES. 77 
 
 often with fasting; but what careless, 
 reckless ignoring of God as the Gov- 
 ernor 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 degrad- 
 ing, 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. Thought- 
 lessly, — 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 
 
78 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 once the boy's mind became wholly ab- 
 sorbed 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 gam- 
 bling 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 
 /^//^2//^ of " chance," of " luck," of " fate," 
 as if you believed in them all, tends di- 
 rectly 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 
 
GAMES. 79 
 
 smallest wheel or point in his watch; 
 if even a grain of dust got in and de- 
 fied him; what think you he could do 
 withi mainspring and hands ? One un- 
 manageable 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. 
 
8o TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 be- 
 yond his notice: *' chance," ''luck," or 
 the devil. And it does not much mat- 
 ter 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 be- 
 fore 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 gracious- 
 ly, with a "Don't let me disturb you," 
 —and so passes on. O it hurts one to 
 
GAMES. 8 1 
 
 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, Presbyte- 
 rians, that we seem to forget the 
 old far-better name which should in- 
 clude 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 
 
82 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 and questionable dances ? Why In '']6 
 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 mem- 
 bers, 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 abso- 
 lutely needful that Christ should find 
 all his tired Church members rested 
 
GAMES. 83 
 
 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 ex- 
 perience) lately, if he had seen much of 
 
84 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 peo- 
 ple (I fancy) if they knew it, would care 
 to use the glass from which some poor 
 wretch had drunk his draught of poi- 
 son; 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 
 
GAMES. 85 
 
 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-play- 
 ing or any games of hazard, by betting 
 on pigeon matches and similar objec- 
 tionable practices, were not only inca- 
 pable of becoming members of a tribu- 
 nal, but were not permitted to give 
 evidence. The Ghemara regards a 
 man who gains money by the amuse- 
 ments named, as dishonest." 
 
;}}at ?Left? 
 
 T)UT 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 re- 
 freshment must they leave their Shep- 
 herd, 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 John X. 5. 
 
WHAT LEFT? 87 
 
 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 fol- 
 low, but will flee from him," — O how 
 much that tells ! And here we touch 
 the very root and spring of true re- 
 freshment, 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 nev- 
 er thirst."^ 
 
 And if this satisfaction does not un- 
 derlie all your pastimes, they will be 
 a failure. No other stream alone can 
 
 1 John vi. 35. 
 
88 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 t 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 noth- 
 ing of ball dresses, just throw satin slip- 
 pers 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 
 
WHAT LEFT? 89 
 
 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, ex- 
 quisite 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 disap- 
 prove of novels," — some one exclaims. 
 
90 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 la- 
 bel 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 viv- 
 id local colouring, like "Ivanhoe," or 
 "Lorna Doone," or "Dr. Antonio." 
 
WHAT LEFT? 9 1 
 
 It may be full of social hints and 
 glimpses, with many a covert wise sug- 
 gestion, like Miss Austin's ''Emma." 
 It may shew up a vital truth or a 
 life-long mistake, like Miss Edge- 
 worth'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 frol- 
 ic and fun and sharp common sense, 
 that the mere laughter of it does 
 you good "like a medicine." Wit- 
 ness "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 stim- 
 ulate your life. Only read none that 
 enlarge it by a peep through the gates 
 of hell. On that side knowledge is 
 death. 
 
92 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 But how is one to tell ? you ask. 
 Books are not labelled "good," "bad," 
 and "indifferent." No: and Avhen 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 stud- 
 ied 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 re- 
 
WHAT LEFT? 93 
 
 fitting 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 paint- 
 ing, 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 sci- 
 ence. 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 refresh- 
 
94 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 ment, 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 lit- 
 tle, 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 possi- 
 bly go home without ! I know we be- 
 gan 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 
 
WHAT LEFT? 95 
 
 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 remem- 
 ber 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 ham- 
 
^6 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 mer, and Hugh Miller's books, and 
 give yourself up to happiness. Or if 
 you like flowers, study them; learn- 
 ing 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 ''illumi- 
 nating"; or bury them fathom deep in 
 German. From any of these, well be- 
 gun 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 
 
WHAT LEFT? 97 
 
 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 refresh- 
 ment among all those sweet and whole- 
 some 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 ven- 
 ture 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 pleas- 
 ures and wonders, even yet, outside of 
 Eden, So full that as I said, you can 
 
98 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 fam- 
 ily 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 any- 
 thing 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 
 
WHAT LEFT? 99 
 
 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 fas- 
 cination 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 prom- 
 ises. 
 
 "The righteous shall hold on his 
 way, and he that hath clean hands 
 shall be stronger and stronger."^ 
 
 1 Job xvii. 9. 
 
lOO TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 "They go from strength to strength." ^ 
 
 ** They that wait on the Lord shall 
 renew their strength.'"^ 
 
 For why ? 
 
 *'For the joy of the Lord is your 
 strength." ^ 
 
 I believe the words are true for the 
 body as for the mind. It is nowhere 
 promised that yqu 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."* 
 
 ''Their souls shall be as a watered 
 garden."^ 
 
 It is the man "whose delight is in 
 the law of the Lord" who not only 
 
 1 Ps. Ixxxiv. 7. 2 Isa. xl. 31. 3 Neh. viii. 10. 
 
 4 Ps. xcii. 12. 5 Jer. xxxi. 12. 
 
IVI/AT LEFT? lOI 
 
 ''bringeth forth his fruit in his sea- 
 son," but also when the time for fresh- 
 ness and Hfe and growth seems over, 
 
 " They shall still bring forth fruit in 
 old age."^ 
 
 Not only "created in Christ Jesus 
 unto good works," but perpetually re- 
 created in him, from hour to hour, from 
 year to year. Has he not said: "I will 
 be as the dew unto Israel"?^ No more 
 age for them, thus dwelling in "the 
 power of an endless life " ; ^ no empty 
 hands, for those who "have all things, 
 and abound."* No disgust of life or 
 hopelessness of labour for servants 
 who every now and then — from the 
 midst of their work — follow the Mas- 
 ter (but only him) "apart to rest 
 awhile,"^ "A stranger will they not 
 
 1 Ps. xcii. 14. 2 Hosea xiv. 5. 3 Heb. vii. 16. 
 
 4 Phil, iv. 18. 6 Mark vi. 31. 
 
102 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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."* 
 
 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 dis- 
 posal, I believe that even they will 
 fail if used alone. And if you throw 
 in all unlawful pleasures also, the fail- 
 ure will but be the more complete, 
 "All my springs are in thee,"^ and 
 these other things are but channels 
 
 1 Isa. xxviii. 12. 2 Ps. Ixxxvii. 7. 
 
WHAT LEFT? 1 03 
 
 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 intoxi- 
 cation 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 
 
104 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 Up mire and dirt."^ Neither would he 
 come to his recreations tired of life, 
 nor because his daily round had turned 
 to ''white of egg"; ^ 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 va- 
 cation, ''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. 
 
 1 Isa. Ivii. 20. 2 Job vi. 6. 
 
WHAT LEFT? 1 05 
 
 A Christian who is flomdshing where 
 he belongs, will never go where he 
 does not belong. And no one who 
 is dwelling daily in the clear sun- 
 shine 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 tin- 
 sel pleasure. Work will be sweet, and 
 play will be joyous; and by one and 
 by the other the man will grozu — 
 ''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 or- 
 dered resting times: to wit, the Sun- 
 days. I wish all tired people did but 
 know the infinite rest there is in fen- 
 
I06 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 cing 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 
 
WHAT LEFT? 1 07 
 
 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 work- 
 ers 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 messen- 
 gers came back to the Lord with their 
 reports, — so you. 
 
I08 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 ''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 everlast- 
 ing 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 your- 
 selves to say) do you too make the 
 
WHAT LEFT? 109 
 
 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."^ Of course I 
 speak only of places where it is pos- 
 sible 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." ^ 
 
 1 Ex. xxiii. 12. 2 Deut. v. 14. 
 
no TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 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 care- 
 ful on Saturday, to provide a dainty 
 repast that is fit to eat cold — and then 
 see. You will find those very grum- 
 blers 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 invi- 
 ted guest. Unless indeed some needy 
 friend, who can have no ''Sunday" else- 
 where. People talk in these days with 
 horror of the old Puritan sabbath. But 
 even if everything be true that they 
 
WHAT LEFT? Ill 
 
 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."^ 
 
 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, 
 
 1 Ex. xxxi. i^. 
 
112 TIRED CHURCH MEMBERS. 
 
 '' My presence shall g-o with thee, 
 and I will give thee rest."^ 
 
 "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."' 
 
 1 Ex. xiii. 14. 2 Ex. xxiii. 13. 
 
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