"Well," I said, "I have seen you in the audience every afternoon for
several weeks, and have you heard me say anything against theaters?"
No, she hadn't.
"Well," I said, "what made you bring them up?"
"Why, I supposed you didn't believe in theaters."
"What made you think that?"
"Why," she said, "do you ever go?"
"No."
"Why don't you go?"
"Because I have got something better. I would sooner go out into the
street and eat dirt than do some of the things I used to do before I
became a Christian."
"Why!" she said; "I don't understand."
"Never mind," I said. "When Jesus Christ has the preeminence, you will
understand it all. He didn't come down here and say we shouldn't go
here and we shouldn't go there, and lay down a lot of rules, but He
laid down great principles. Now, He says if you love Him you will take
delight in pleasing Him." And I began to preach Christ to her. The
tears started again. She said:
"I tell you, Mr. Moody, that sermon on the indwelling Christ yesterday
afternoon just broke my heart. I admire Him, and I want to be a
Christian, but I don't want to give up the theaters."
I said, "Please don't mention them again. I don't want to talk about
theaters. I want to talk to you about Christ." So I took my Bible,
and I read to her about Christ.
But she said again, "Mr. Moody, can I go to the theater if I become a
Christian?"
"Yes," I said, "you can go to the theater just as much as you like if
you are a real, true Christian, and can go with His blessing."
"Well," she said, "I am glad you are not so narrow-minded as some."
She felt quite relieved to think that she could go to the theaters and
be a Christian. But I said:
"If you can go to the theater for the glory of God, keep on going;
only be sure that you go for the glory of God. If you are a Christian
you will be glad to do whatever will please Him."
I really think she became a Christian that day. The burden had gone,
there was joy; but just as she was leaving me at the door she said:
"I am not going to give up the theater."
In a few days she came back to me and said: "Mr. Moody, I understand
all about that theater business now. I went the other night. There was
a large party at our house, and my husband wanted us to go, and we
went; but when the curtain lifted everything looked so different. I
said to my husband, 'This is no place for me; this is horrible. I am
not going to stay here, I am going home.' He said, 'Don't make a fool
of yourself. Every one has heard that you have been converted in the
Moody meetings, and if you go out it will be all through fashionable
society. I beg of you don't make a fool of yourself by getting up and
going out.' But I said, 'I have been making a fool of myself all of my
life.'"
Now, the theater hadn't changed, but she had got something better,
and she was going to overcome the world. "They that are after the
flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the
Spirit, the things of the Spirit." When Christ has the first place in
your heart you are going to get victory. Just do whatever you know
will please Him. The great objection I have to these things is that
they get the mastery, and become a hindrance to spiritual growth.