ON AMUSEMENTS.
The human system is formed for alternate labor and rest, and not for
incessant activity; and to provide for this, the night follows the day
and the Sabbath the six days of labor. But not only is rest necessary
after labor, but activity in a different direction. When you are
carrying a burden of any kind, you find relief in a change of position.
A poor boy was employed in turning a wheel, by which he was enabled to
do something for his mother. A lady, observing him steadily employed at
what appeared to be a very laborious occupation, inquired whether he
did not get tired. He replied that he was often very tired. “And what
do you do when you are tired?” she further inquired. “O,” said he, “I
take the other hand.” He had learned that a change of position gave him
rest. Neither the mind nor the body is capable of being incessantly
exerted, in one direction, without injury. Like the bent bow, they will
lose their elasticity. The body, after labor, and the mind, after
study, need unbending, especially in youth, while the muscles of the
body have not acquired maturity or solidity, and the powers of the mind
are yet developing. At this period of life relaxation and amusement are
especially necessary; and those young persons who eschew all play, and
confine themselves to books and labor, must, in the natural course of
things, suffer both in health and spirits. Healthful play is natural
to the young, throughout the whole animal creation. The lamb, that
emblem of innocence; is seen sporting in the fields, blithely bounding
over the hills, as if desirous of expressing a grateful sense of its
Creator’s goodness. There is no more harm in the play of children than
in the skipping of the lambs. It is necessary to restore the bent bow
to its natural elasticity. It is the voice of nature, which cannot be
hushed.
But having said so much, it is necessary to guard against improprieties
and excesses in amusements. And yet, to determine what amusements
are to be allowed, and what condemned, is no easy matter; for, while
some kinds of amusement are evil in their own nature, and necessarily
injurious, others are evil and injurious only on account of their
_excess_, or of the _manner_ in which they are pursued, or of the
evils that are associated with them. My object is, not so much to point
out what amusements are wrong, as to give you some rules by which you
can judge for yourself.
I. Never engage in recreation at an _unsuitable time_.--To neglect
_duty_ for the sake of amusement is not only wrong, but it will exert
a bad influence upon your character. It tends to produce an immoderate
love of amusement, and to break up all orderly and regular habits. Let
your invariable rule be, “BUSINESS FIRST, AND THEN PLEASURE.” Never
suffer any kind of amusement to break in upon the time appropriated to
labor or study.
II. Never do any thing that is _disapproved by your parents_ or
_guardians_.--They desire your happiness, and will not deprive you of
any enjoyment, unless they see good reason for it. They may see evil
where you would not perceive it. They regard your highest welfare. They
look beyond the present, to see what influence these things will have
on your character and happiness hereafter. They are also set over you
of the Lord; and it is your duty not only to submit to their authority,
but to reverence their counsel.
III. Engage in no amusement which is _disapproved by the most devoted
and consistent Christians_ of your acquaintance. I do not mean the few
_cross_ and _austere_ persons, who always wear an aspect of gloom, and
cannot bear to see the countenances of youth lighted up with the smile
of innocent hilarity. But I mean those Christians who wear an aspect
of devout cheerfulness, and maintain a holy and consistent life. Their
judgment is formed under the influence of _devotional feeling_, and
will not be likely to be far from what is just and right.
IV. Do nothing which you would be _afraid God should see_.--There is
no darkness nor secret place, where you can hide yourself from his
all-searching eye. Contemplate the Lord Jesus Christ as walking by
your side, as he truly is in spirit; and do nothing which you would be
unwilling that he should witness, if he were with you in his bodily
presence.
V. Do nothing the preparation for which _unfits you for religious
duty_.--If an amusement in which you are preparing to engage so takes
up your mind as to interfere with your devotional exercises; if your
thoughts run away from the Bible that you are reading to anticipated
pleasures; or if those pleasures occupy your thoughts in prayer; you
may be sure you are going too far.
VI. Engage in nothing _on which you cannot first ask God’s blessing_.
Do you desire to engage in any thing in which you would not wish to be
blessed and prospered? But God only can bless and prosper us in any
undertaking. If, therefore, your feelings would be shocked to think of
asking God’s blessing on any thing in which you would engage, it must
be because your conscience tells you it is wrong.
VII. Engage in no amusement which _unfits you for devotional
exercises_.--If, on returning from a scene of amusement, you feel no
disposition to pray, you may be sure something is wrong. You had better
not repeat the same again.
VIII. Engage in nothing which _tends to dissipate serious
impressions_.--Seriousness, and a sense of eternal things, are
perfectly consistent with serenity and cheerfulness. But thoughtless
mirth, or habitual levity, will drive away such impressions. Whatever
you find has this effect is dangerous to your soul.
IX. Reject such amusements as are generally _associated with evil_.--If
the influences which surround any practice are bad, you may justly
conclude that it is unsafe, without stopping to inquire into the nature
of the practice itself. Games of chance are associated with gambling
and dissipation; therefore, I conclude that they cannot be safely
pursued, even for amusement. Dancing, also, is associated with balls,
with late hours, high and unnatural excitement, and dissipation; it is
therefore unsafe. You may know the character of any amusement by the
company in which it is found.
X. Engage in nothing which necessarily _leads you into temptation_.--You
pray every day, (or ought to,) “lead us not into temptation.” But you
cannot offer up this prayer sincerely, and then run needlessly in the
way of temptation. And if you throw yourself in the way of it, you have
no reason to expect that God will deliver you from it.
XI. If you engage in any recreation, and return from it with a _wounded
conscience_, set it down as evil.--A clear conscience is too valuable
to be bartered for a few moments of pleasure; and if you find your
conscience accusing you for having engaged in any amusement, never
repeat the experiment.
XII. Practise no amusement which _offends your sense of propriety_.--A
delicate sense of propriety, in regard to outward deportment, is in
manners what conscience is in morals, and taste in language. It is not
any thing that we arrive at by a process of reasoning, but what the
mind as it were instinctively perceives. It resembles the sense of
taste; and by it one will notice any deviation from what is proper,
before he has time to consider wherein the impropriety consists. There
is a beauty and harmony in what is proper and right, which instantly
strikes the mind with pleasure. There is a fitness of things, and an
adaptation of one thing to another, in one’s deportment, that strikes
the beholder with sensations of pleasure, like those experienced on
beholding the harmonious and beautiful blending of the seven colors
of the rainbow. But when _propriety_ is disregarded, the impression
is similar to what we might suppose would be produced, if the colors
of the rainbow crossed each other at irregular angles, now blending
together in one, and now separating entirely, producing irregularity
and confusion. The sensation produced upon the eye would be unpleasant,
if not insufferable. Among the amusements which come under this rule
are the vulgar plays that abound in low company, especially such as
require the payment of forfeits, to be imposed by the victor. In
such cases, you know not to what mortification you may be subjected.
_Frolics_, in general, come under this head, where rude and boisterous
plays are practised, and often to a late hour of the night, when all
sense of propriety and even of courtesy is often forgotten.
XIII. Engage in nothing of _doubtful propriety_.--The apostle Paul
teaches that it is wrong to do any thing the propriety of which we
doubt; because, by doing that which we are not fully persuaded is
right, we violate our conscience. It is always best to keep on the safe
side. If you were walking near the crater of a volcano, you would not
venture on ground where there was any danger of breaking through, and
falling into the burning lake. You would keep on the ground where it
was safe and sure. And so we should do, in regard to all questions of
right and wrong. _Never venture where the ground trembles under your
feet._
XIV. Do nothing which you will _remember with regret on your dying
bed_.--It is well always to keep death in view; it has a good effect
upon our minds. The death-bed always brings with it pains and sorrows
enough. It is a sad thing to make work for repentance at such an hour.
That is an honest hour. Then we shall view things in their true light.
Ask yourself, then, before entering into any scene of amusement, how it
will appear to you when you come to look back upon it from your dying
bed.
XV. Do nothing in the midst of which you would be _afraid to meet
death_.--When preparing for a scene of pleasure, how do you know but
you may be cut down in the midst of it? Sudden death is so common
that it is folly to be in any place or condition in which we are not
prepared to meet it. Many persons have been cut down in the midst of
scenes of gayety, and the same may occur again. A man in Germany was
sitting at the gaming table. His card won a thousand ducats. The dealer
handed over the money, and inquired how he would continue the game. The
man made no reply. He was examined, and found to be a corpse! Similar
scenes have occurred in the ball-room. In the midst of the merry
dance, persons have been called suddenly out of time into eternity.
A gentleman and lady started in a sleigh, to ride some distance to a
ball, in a cold winter’s night. Some time before reaching the place,
the lady was observed to be silent. On driving up, the gentleman called
to her, but no answer was returned. A light was procured, and he
discovered, to his amazement, that he had been riding with a corpse! At
no moment of life are we exempt from sudden death. He who holds us in
his hand has a thousand ways of extinguishing our life in a moment. He
can withhold the breath which he gave; he can stop the vital pulsation
instantly; or he can break one of the thousand parts of the intricate
machinery of which our mortal bodies are composed. No skill can provide
against it. We ought not, therefore, to trust ourselves, for a single
moment, in any place or condition where we are unwilling to meet death.
XVI. Do nothing for which you will be _afraid to answer at the bar of
God_.--There every secret thing will be revealed. What was done in the
darkness will be judged in open day. “Rejoice, O young man, in thy
youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth; and walk
in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know
thou that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.” A
young man, on leaving home to enter the army, was supplied with a small
Bible, which, though a thoughtless youth, he always carried in his
pocket. On one occasion, after a battle, he took out his Bible, and
observed that there was a bullet hole in the cover. His first impulse
was, to turn over the leaves, and read the verse on which the ball
rested. It was the passage just quoted. It brought before his mind all
the scenes of mirth and sinful pleasure in which he had been engaged,
and pressed upon him the fearful truth, that for all of them he was to
be brought into judgment. It was the means of awakening him to a sense
of his condition, and led to a change of heart and life. And why should
not the same solemn impression rest upon your mind, with respect to all
scenes of pleasure, and lead you carefully to avoid whatever you would
not willingly meet at that awful tribunal?
If you apply these tests to the various amusements that are in vogue
among young people, you may readily discern what you can safely pursue,
and what you must sternly reject. It will lead you, especially, to
detect the evils of all theatrical performances, balls, cards, and
dancing parties, country frolics, and all things of a like nature.
But it will not deprive you of one innocent enjoyment. A girl, ten or
twelve years old, made a visit to a companion about her own age. Both
of them were hopefully pious. On returning home, she told her mother
she was sure Jane was a Christian. “Why do you think so, my daughter?”
inquired the mother. “O,” said the daughter, “_she plays like a
Christian_.” In her diversions she carried out Christian principles,
and manifested a Christian temper. This is the true secret of innocent
recreation; and it cuts off all kinds of amusement that cannot be
pursued in a Christian-like manner.