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4 THE PLACE OE AMUSEMENT Sermon Preached by Dr, Len. G. Broughton, Sunday Night, September 9th, in Westminster Chapel, London. ■ ■ A ' J?. S; • - BIA itat • ' '' ' ..a. S . ■ | Westminster Chapel, Dr. Morgan's Church. “I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure, and, behold, this also was vanity.”—Ec cles. 2:1. . ’ ’j n HERE is no more important subject that we can consider than our amuse ments. This is specially true of the church. Sometime ago I was in confer ence with one of the most distinguished and consecrated ministers that I know. He said to me, “I believe that the great est problem ahead of the church is the problem of amusements. How far we — s are able to prohibit especially the young people of our churches from engaging in present-day amuse ments is a great question. It is one that needs to be discussed and carefully solved with much prayer and serious thought.” I agree most heartily with what he said. I have now been in the pastorate for something over twelve years. During all this time it has been my privil ege to minister to large numbers of young people. Perhaps no man in this country has regularly min istered to more young people than I have. I have been forced therefore to study their life and con sider their problems. The church that does not see the weight of the amusement problem is either blind or dead. The history of the race reveals the fact that the human heart naturally longs for amusement, and the attitude that the church of today assumes to this ever-existing problem of pleasure is an important matter. It can have much to do with preventing ex cesses in pleasure-seeking and at the same time not lose its hold upon those who are after it. No Prejudice in Judgment. I know that there are those, good people too, some of them among the very best, who hold that it is a waste of time for the pulpit or the church to consider such questions. They have a monasti cal form of life. They believe that piety consists in what they call self-denial. They would have the church move upon the plane of a graveyard. They think it is a great sin to laugh. I know some good people who actually object to laughing in their homes. I have in mind now a man who will not let his children play anything but church tunes on the piano. The Golden Age for September 13, 1906. Os course there is no use of discussing with such people the best methods of meeting this cry for amusement that is universal in the human heart. The only way they have of meeting it is not to meet it. A woman said to me once, “I cannot stand this laughter in your church.” “Well,” said I, “have you any objection to the preacher who puts people to sleep?” She said, “I never thought about that.” I said, “Don’t you think it is worth thinking about?” The human heart has got to have something to lighten its burdens and brighten its horizon. No prejudice can be tolerated in considering this problem. It is not a question as to how I was reared and educated, nor is it a question as to how I once thought, or somebody else thinks. What we want to get at in this discussion is, the true rela tion of the church to the great question of amuse ments. Amusements Necessary. First, let us understand that amusements are ab solutely necessary. This is true for two reasons: First, they are necessary for young people. We can not make grown folks out of children. We cannot make old people out of young men and women. If any of us are so old as to have forgotten how we felt when we were young, then we are to be pitied. There is no use arguing the case at all. Youth will frolic and play, and I for one like to see it. Some time ago I heard a mother severely criticise her twelve year old boy because he showed signs of loving the girls. I thought to myself when I heard the criticism, My! My I how can the boy help it? I remember when I was a boy of his age it was impossible for me not to love the girls. Sometimes it was mild and sometimes it was turbu lent. It was not very constant nor was it very se lect, but it was love all the same, boyish love. No parent ought to be disturbed about a twelve year old boy’s love. It is a part of his nature. It is a thing to be cultivated. Let the parent take hold of it and feed it in the right direction, for it is the gift of God. Young people must be considered as such and the church that fails to do it will come to naught. Once in London I was passing through a poverty stricken district where there lived hundreds and hundreds of children who had no place to amuse themselves. They could not even use the streets for they were so crowded with vehicles as to make it dangerous. I said to a friend who was with me and who was thoroughly acquainted with the community, “Where are the children of these people?” “Oh,” said he, “we will find them later on!” Sure enough we came to a little park with all sorts of gymnastic arrangements for the sport of children and the young people. There they were by the scores and such a merry time they were hav ing I never saw. “Who furnishes this amusement?” I asked. “Why,” said he, “it is furnished by the church people. Each church has its day to amuse and en tertain the children and young folks out here in the open air.” “Oh,” said I to myself, “I know 7 if the Master were to come to this great city, this is one of the first places that He would visit!” We have got to look after the amusement of our young folks. If we do not, the devil is going to do it for us. The fact is, here is where he is doing some of his best work today. He is persuading the church to believe that it is carnal to laugh, and frolic, and sing, and jump the rope, and skin the cat, and play ball, and run foot races, and the like. He wants to keep the hand of religion from directing and controlling this department of life. And alas, alas, we of the church have been just such stupid idiots as to allow him to do just that thing. Oh, you old devil, I have caught on to your tricks on this line! There was once a time when you came near having me hoodwinked with this conception, but thank God, I now have the light and I am prepared to help drive you out of the Lord’s territory. The Tension of Business. Again, amusements are necessary because of the strain and tension there is in the business affairs of the time. Never has the world been so stren uous in a business way as today. Our old fathers could work half their time, and roam the forests and drink pure air, and live long and be happy, but it is not so with us. Ours is a strenuous life. If you do not believe it, take your stand on some prominent corner in a crowded city at early morn ing and see the crowds as they surge to their places of work. See their quick step. People walk faster today than they ever did. I do not know what is to become of us if we continue in this di rection. We will soon be on a trot, then a run, and then I suppose we shall have to invent wings. Oh, this rush, this mighty mad rush, this high tension life that we live! But it does not seem to be avoid able. It looks as if we have to do it. Amusements are necessary for just such. They furnish relaxation which is very essential. Some kind of relaxation must be had. The high strung nerves of the business world must be relaxed or they will snap. Right and Wrong Amusements. Now since we find amusements and pleasures to be essential to our nature and times, there are dan gers connected with them, and what we want to do is to see where the danger lies. This is a hard ques tion to be answered, but it is one that must be faced. In the first place we need not expect to satisfy ev ery longing of the human heart. That happy condi tion will never be until we get to heaven. I have heard of an old farmer who put up a sign on his farm which read: “This farm will be given to any man who can conscientiously say that he is perfectly satisfied.” One day a man called and claimed the farm. “You are perfectly satisfied?” said the farmer. “I am,” he replied. Then said the farmer, “What in the name of common sense do you want with my farm?” So it is about our pleasures. The church may just as well understand that it is impossible to grat ify every longing of man’s nature. We need not start out on that basis. There are some desires that cannot be gratified. They are wrong, and no wrong desire is to be gratified. But what general principle can we lay down that will help us solve this great pleasure longing desire of the human heart? First, I would exclude everything that involves in itself sin. There are some amusements that involve sin. This, every sane man and woman is bound to admit. Take gambling, the round dance, the low theatre, and the sensuous novel. Such things argue themselves out of place in the list of rightful amuse ments, for sin cannot be tolerated with the least bit of allowance, whether it is in pleasure or elsewhere.. The man who attempts to apologize for sin puts him self out of the pale of moral reasoning. But, again, there are pleasures that must be just as rigidly excluded which in themselves do not have an element of sin, but which point in a sinful direc tion. This is additional ground for the putting out of all cards, all theatres, the dance, the wine cup, and, indeed, everything else that gives its influence in the direction of that which is of the lower and baser nature. Paul laid down this principle when he said, “If eating meat makes my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world stands.” Meat eating to him was not a sin, but under the circumstances it was associated with sinful conception and institu tion. The people to whom he was ministering had been taught to regard meat eating as in itself a sin,