Newspaper Page Text
YOUNG PEOPLE'S AMUSEMENTS.
It is said that in some parts of the world in
olden days there were good people who did not
approve of young people having any amuse
ments. They tried to make them stifT and cir
cumspect and solemn, and to teach them that
life was all seriousness, and that it was a sin
to engage in any form of gaiety or amusement.
All forms of amusements were considered sin
f ill and were to be avoided.
The only people who think that way today
are a few who have grown old in years and
have failed to keep their hearts young, or else
they have a very mistaken idea of the life that
God wants young people to live. Fortunately
for the world the number of those who hold
this view is very limited.
The trouble to-day is that mere amusements
occupy entirely too large a place in the lives of
the young. But it is not t he time and atten
tion given to amusements so much as their
character and the eft'ect they have upon those
who engage in them.
Some forms of amusement arc innocent,
some are distinctly healthful, and some are
harmful. In many communities, and these are
rapidly increasing, t lie harmful kinds arc much
the more popular.
Dancing, card-playing, the theatre and mov
ing picture shows, most of which are only
a modification of the theatre, are far more
popular with most young people than any
other forms of amusements. So general is
their practice that young people who do not
engage in them are often left out of the social
life of their communities. This is very trying
to these young people and to the parents who
are trying to teach what is right and what
is wrong.
It is not our purpose to discuss the merits
and demerits of these practices. It ought to be
sufficient for any Christian to know that every
large church, even the Roman Catholic, has
condemned these amusements in very strong
terms as hurtful to those who indulge in them.
Bold, indeed, is he who will set up his judg
ment against that of the highest courts of all
the churches.
A very important question, and one that de
serves the most careful and prayerful consid
eration, is what kind of amusements can be
substituted for these. They should not only
afford enjoyment while being indulged in, but
should leave no evil in their wake, but should
in most eases be beneficial in some way or oth
er. lie who will solve this problem will be
entitled to the good will and praise of Chris
tian people the world over. If any of our
readers have any suggestions to make on this
subject, we would like for them to express
their opinions.
FULL MEASURE.
God does not deal in a scanty manner with
us. His hand is a royal one. lie expects His
servants to deal with others in the same man
ner. The penurious soul that exacts to the
uttermost farthing all that is his, finds weep
ing and wailing and gnashing of teeth as his
final reward. This is utterly opposed to the
spirit of the gospel. Give is its command, not
hoping to receive again. If compelled to go
one mile, go two is the order of the Saviour.
The utmost discredit is brought on the King
dom of Jesus Christ by many a professed Chris
tian demanding the pound of flesh to the last#
ounce. Many a Church member has injured
the cause of Christ more by demanding all that
is coming to him to the last cent; thereby get
ting the reputation of being "an hard man."
The man may prosper greatly, in the matter
of dollars and cents ? in worldly goods ? but in
the weightier matters of love, mercy and good
ness be alarmingly deficient.
When we come to the matter of Christian
service, this is painfully apparent that many
do not give as the Lord commands, full meas
ure, pressed down and running over.
The service for the good of our fellowman,
the extension of the Kingdom of God, and the
glory of Christ is of the scantiest sort.
When we do not average $2.00 per member
for the extension of God's kingdom in foreign
lands we arc certainly giving God very scant
measure. Millions for self and mites for God.
When we find about one in ten of the pro
fessed Christians doing any Church work, and
/ion languishing as she is, for the attention
of her children, we feel that we are trying
to get into heaven with as little work here
below as we can get along with.
A Sunday-school teacher may imagine he
has done his duty when he glances over the
lesson, asks a few perfunctory questions and
darts out of the room into the open air, as if
he had been in a pest-house. Such service is
not giving full measure* by any means. The
result is not only a failure to interest the class
and instruct them in the way of life and a re
sultant losing the favor of God who will not
honor half-hearted work, but a disintegrating
force in the teacher's life.
Ministers often give this scant service. They
are content to reach their appointment late
Saturday, preach on Sunday and get away
just as soon as possible. The pastoral work is
confined to a visit somewhere on Sunday. Many
of our weak churches are languishing for more
than this kind of service. The salary may be
small, but the minister who wishes to do God's
work in the world must render a full, rich
Christ-like devotion to his work.
Many a man goes through the world saying
or thinking, the world owes me a living, and
I will collect it with as little return as I pos
si bly can. Is it any wonder God says what
the community thinks, 4 'Why should he cum
ber the ground any longer?"
The opposite of this is expressed by the
words of Paul, "As much as in me lies."
The full measure is the law of divine ser
vice. Christ did not withhold anything when
he gave himself for us. "ITe emptied himself."
He gave full measure.
This full measure is the law of usefulness
to our fellowmen. It is not the possession of
splendid talents that makes men effective, but
the outpouring of a full heart, holding noth
ing in reserve. "I count not my life dear unto
me," says the man who has moved and served
the world as few have.
This is the secret of power. The world will
not let go the man who serves it whole-heart
edly. It lends him all it has. It bows in sub
mission to his will. It unlooses his shoe-latchet.
It is the full secret of love. We cannot love
those who dicker and drive bargains in the
matter of service for us. They may be within
their just rights, but they can never have the
homage of our hearts. But to those who give
up all to our service, however lowly they may
be, we give unstintedly of all that is ours.
A. A. L.
Contributed
THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH.
By Benjamin C. Moomaw.
This subject is involved in some discussion
recently prevailing in these columns, and it
seems to be pertinent to ask what actual, ef
fective influence the Church is now exerting
in the world, not by its formal, ecclesiastical
deliverances, but by its spiritual power, its
character, its invisible, but vital forces, every
where acknowledged, and everywhere just at
1his time, subjected to the keenest scrutiny.
That this influence is very great and that
it permeates the entire social fabric in a thou
sand directions, that it is truly "the salt of
the earth" ? more than the doubter admits,
lest it be where the salt has lost its savor ? is
one of the settled convictions of enlightened
mankind. But the measure and weight of the
Church's influence is a question more perti
nent, at such a time as this, because men are
asking, the world over, why Christendom has
become the arena of the greatest crime of the
ages? They are directing a penetrating in
quiry into this matter of the real influence of
the Church upon the moral quality of that in
definable undcrtide of human thought, feeling,
impulse, which moves irresistibly in the deeps
of the destiny of nations and races.
There was nothing else in the world, no
other organized influence, capable of either
preventing or modifying this world-wide catas
trophe. Only the moral influence of the
Church, which is the one moral organization
in the world, could say with authority to these
warring nations, "Whence come wars and
fightings among you? Come they not hence
even of your lusts that war in your members?
Ye lust and have not; ye kill and desire to
have, and cannot obtain : ye fight and war,
yet ye have not because ye ask not. Ye ask
and receive not because ye ask amiss that ye
may consume it upon your lusts." James
4:1, .3.
Here is a specific definition of war by an
apostle equal in authority to St. Paul, and
since there can be no contradiction in terms
between two foremost apostles it remains that
Paul in Rom. 13:1-7, was setting forth the
functions of the civil authority, the duty of
obedience thereto, and the general mainten
ance of law and order. He was not discussing
war at all. On the contrary James analyzes
war specifically, and denounces it as the re
sult of lust. He makes no distinction between
aggressive and defensive wars, and I am
afraid we will find very little information on
that point in the New Testament.
In the enforcement of law and order Paul
justifies "the power," just as our own courts
have behind them the power of the government
to punish disobedience to the law of the land.
It is conceivable that the legal exercise of this
"power" may in tinusual and widely separated
emergencies grow into the' dimensions of a de
fensive war) but violated law must always
remain the background of justifiable defensive
war; and just now when President Wilson, a
good Presbyterian, is endeavoring to create
sentiment in favor of a stronger international
law designed to Inake future wars impossible,
the General Assembly withdraws into its ven
erable ecclesiastical definitions, and remains
neutral. Doubtless, it would like to see uni
versal peace, but will do nothing to help it
forward. "Peace on earth, good will among
men" is also, doubtless, a '/matter whol'y
extraneous to the recognized mission of the
Church on earth." Tt would be interesting to
know who said so.
The General Assembly might set in motion
several agencies in the line of obedience to
Paul's command, to-wfc : "As we have there,
fore opportunity let us do good unto all men,
especially unto them who are of the house
hold of faith." Gal. 6:10. As we have op