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Popular Amusements
BY
REV. J.T. CRANE, D.D.,
_Of the Newark Conference._
With an Introduction,
BY
BISHOP E.S. JANES.
"_For the Commandment is a Lamp; and the Light is Life; and Reproofs of
Instruction are the Way of Life._" PROVERBS VI, 23.
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_CINCINNATI_:
HITCHCOCK AND WALDEN.
_NEW YORK_:
CARLTON AND LANAHAN.
1869.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1869, by
HITCHCOCK & WALDEN,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the
Southern District of Ohio.
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CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
Subject one of Grave Interest--Rule of Discipline--Charles Wesley
and the Ministers--The True Ground--Our Destiny, and on what it
Depends--The Sentiment of the Methodist Episcopal Church--How a
Minister may seek Recreation--How a Layman--Recommendation, Page 9
CHAPTER I.
RECREATION A GOOD THING.
City full of Boys and Girls, playing--Play not wrong--Let the
Children, the Youth, the Mature, and even the Aged have their times
of Rest and Recreation--Laughter as pious as Tears--How shall we
Play?--The World wants to Play with the Church, and lead us in their
Path--Total Separation neither Desirable nor Possible--One or the
other must Yield--The Church can not--Conscience Resists--Principles
are in the way--The World can Yield and Lose Nothing--The World
ought to Yield, 17
CHAPTER II.
TRUE RECREATION.
What is the Aim of Recreation?--RULES THAT GOVERN: 1. Our
Recreations must not be Immoral; 2. Not Damaging to Christian
Reputation; 3. Must not Interfere with Our Duty; 4. Must not Injure
Health; 5. Must not Waste Money; 6. Must not Waste Time; 7. Ought to
Improve the Mind and the Heart; 8. Ought to Impart Pleasure, Page 31
CHAPTER III.
THE THEATER.
Said to be a Good Place to Learn History, etc.--Some Plays "as
Good as Sermons"--Doubts--Theater always a Haunt of Evil--Must be so
or Fail--The Theater that tried to be "Respectable"--Failure, and
the Causes of it--Strategy and Calculation--Who must be Pleased, and
how--Immodest Costume an Indispensable Attraction--Circular, and
Reply of Actress--Birds of Prey--Traps Game for them--The fable of
Satan and the Monk--Theater can not be Reformed--Cage of every
Unclean Bird--"Come out of her, my people," 47
CHAPTER IV.
HORSE-RACING.
Horse a Noble Beast, no doubt--Races prohibited by Civil
Law--Revived under new name--Agricultural Fair, and what may be seen
thereat--Ludicrous side of things--Twenty gawky Boys with their
Colts--Strange Man and Horse--Science--Victory--The Effect on gawky
Boys--Reasons against Horse-racing--Expense--Bets--Fraud--Riot--
Villainy of All Sorts--How the thing is done, and the People
cheated--Quotation from Thomas Hughes, M.P., Page 63
CHAPTER V.
BASE BALL.
The Ancient and Honorable Way--Latter-day Absurdities--"Great
National Game"--Clubs; how formed--Science--Professional Players and
their Salaries--Expenses--The Exotics challenge the Cupids--Game
described--Victory--Supper--Speeches--Glowing Account in
Papers--Pain-killers--Bubble must Burst--Decay--Reasons against the
Game as now conducted--Foolish Exhibition--Bets--Cheating--Waste of
Money--No Good Result of any sort, 77
CHAPTER VI.
DANCING.
"Dances not all alike"--Bad and Worse--"The German"--Mere motion
not wrong--The Old Gentleman and his Exercises--Imaginary Scene in
"Happy Family"--REASONS AGAINST DANCING: 1. Lacks the Elements of
True Recreation; 2. Has a Bad Historic Name; 3. Inconsistent with
Piety; 4. Leads to Undesirable Associations--Evil in many ways, Page
89
CHAPTER VII.
CARDS, CHESS, AND BILLIARDS.
Cards an Old Game--Origin, Asiatic--History--Horne Tooke and
George III--Author confesses his Want of Knowledge--Cards the
Gambler's Tools--Game adds nothing to Mind or Heart--Dangerous to
some--Betting--Reasons against Card-playing--CHESS also
Ancient--Origin--Play a Laborious Nothing--Wastes Time--Wastes
Brain-power--Hinders Mental Culture--BILLIARDS--Big Marbles--How
Played--Women can never become Experts, and Why--Poor Affair
generally, 105
CHAPTER VIII.
NOVELS AND NOVEL-READING.
Definition of a Novel--A Vice of the Age--FOUR MAXIMS: 1. No
Fiction if Little Leisure; 2. Only the Best; 3. Fiction to be but
Small Part; 4. If any Harm results, Stop at Once--SEVEN REASONS
AGAINST COMMON NOVEL-READING: 1. Wastes Time; 2. Injures the
Intellect; 3. Unfits for Real Life; 4. Creates Overgrowth of the
Passions; 5. Produces Mental Intoxication; 6. Lessens the Horror of
Crime and Wrong; 7. Wars with all Piety--Disciplinary Rule, 121
CHAPTER IX.
SOCIAL GATHERINGS.
No List of Recreations Furnished, and Why--One Suggestion,
nevertheless--The Indolent have No Claim--The Busy need
Recreation--The Sedentary need Air and Sunbeams--The Active want
Books--The Solitary require Society--Talk the Universal
Recreation--Social Life--Grand "Party"--More Excellent Way
suggested--What the Fitzshoddies Think--Mrs. F.'s
Disappointment--Mr. F. Doubts--Miss F. Trembles--The Reform
Unpopular--The Author Despondent in regard to it, yet Firm in the
Faith, Page 153
CHAPTER X.
APPEAL TO THE YOUNG MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH.
Word of Exhortation--REASONS WHY WE SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM ALL
QUESTIONABLE DIVERSIONS: 1. Our Church has always Condemned them; 2.
Solemn Vows bind us; 3. Offenses disturb our Pastor and our
Fellow-Christians; 4. Our Errors injure the Unconverted; 5. Error
mars Usefulness; 6. Compromise Positions hard to hold, either in
Argument or Practice--Fight on the Right Line, 169
CHAPTER XI.
APPEAL TO THE CHURCH.
Lafayette's Witty Illustration of Compromises--Mr. Bright's
Description of Fashionable Religion--Compromise bad, even as a
Policy--The World despises a Timid Church--Methodism has
Prospered--Our Laws strict--Folly to Come Down now--How the Worldly
Parson angled for an Accession and caught nothing--What Mr. B.
said--The exact Right is the strong Position--Hold it--Let others
Hive the Drones--Where other Churches Stand--Testimony of the
Presbyterians--The Methodist Episcopal Church South--Young Men's
Christian Association--The Roman Catholic Church--The End. Page 189
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INTRODUCTION.
The subject of which this book treats--"Popular Amusements"--is one of
grave interest to the Church and to society in general. The Discipline
of the Methodist Episcopal Church has always required its members and
probationers, as an evidence of religious earnestness, to refrain from
"such diversions as can not be used in the name of the Lord Jesus," and
also from "singing those songs or reading those books which do not tend
to the knowledge or love of God." In the following passages of Holy
Scripture, worldly amusements or pleasures are denounced by God: "He
that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man." "Therefore hear now this,
thou that art given to pleasure, that dwellest carelessly." The
consequences referred to in this quotation are stated in the following
verses of the chapter. Being "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of
God," is classed by Timothy as one of the worst attributes of wicked
men. How terrible is this statement: "But she that liveth in pleasure is
dead while she liveth!" Consider, also, this Scripture precept: "And
whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus."
In view of these and like Scripture utterances, how is it possible to
believe that exciting, dissipating, worldly amusements are compatible
with spiritual life or devotional enjoyment?
The experience of multitudes corresponds with these teachings of the
Discipline and the Bible. Take this instance. On one occasion Mr.
Charles Wesley was warning the people against so-called "harmless
diversions," and declared that by them he had been kept dead to God,
asleep in the arms of Satan, and secure in a state of damnation for
eighteen years. There were three ministers present besides Mr. Wesley.
Mr. Meriton cried out, "And I for twenty-five!" "And I," exclaimed Mr.
Thompson, "for thirty-five!" "And I," added Mr. Bennett, "for about
seventy!" These cases of Christian ministers suggest how general and how
baleful is the influence of these diversions.
This evil, perhaps, is not peculiar to any clime or age. Diversions,
indeed, change with the times. The fashionable follies of the last
century are now deemed matters of wonder and derision, just as the
follies of our day may be laughed at a hundred years hence. But
worldliness, fashion, and frivolity are always at work inventing
questionable pleasures and ingenious arguments for their defense.
Possibly it is unreasonable to expect but one opinion as to what is
allowable in the way of recreation. As there are various degrees of
knowledge and piety in the Church, and various degrees of
conscientiousness among even those who do not profess religion, there
will be conflicting opinions on the subject, one condemning what another
defends, and each wondering at the scrupulousness or the laxity of his
neighbor. On this, as on all other subjects, Christians should judge
each other charitably, but by the Scripture standard.
This little volume takes what I believe to be the true ground in regard
to the diversions discussed in it--the only ground which is defensible
in theory and safe in practice. The Methodist Episcopal Church is strong
in numbers, in wealth, and in social position. If we maintain the strict
morals and the deep spirituality--and they go together--which have
hitherto been our aim, we shall be in the years to come, in the hands of
God, an instrumentality of unlimited power for good. If, on the other
hand, we become weak in our belief and lax in discipline, the members of
the Church fashionable and frivolous, and the ministers doubtful and
indefinite in doctrine, and feeble in utterance, we shall lose the
position we have held among the Churches of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
God will raise up another people to take our place and our crown. But we
trust in God we shall never, as a Church, be moved from our old
foundation in doctrines or in morals. Though worldliness and unbelief
may continue to assail her, yet the Church is strong in that power which
overcomes the world.
Recently the advocates of popular amusements have been both bold and
insidious. They have used the pulpit, the press, and so-called
"Christian Associations" to propagate their views. In some cases they
recommend what are considered the less objectionable diversions to
prevent indulgence in the more objectionable ones--on the principle "of
two evils choose the less." But in morals the lesser evil always tends
to introduce the greater. The proposition, therefore, is a most
mischievous one. To those individuals among us who have been disturbed
in their religious convictions on this question, by the deceptive pleas
of those who defend or advocate worldly amusements, this book will be
found an effective helper. In it Dr. Crane speaks the sentiments of the
Methodist Church. We believe the position we have hitherto held on this
subject is Scriptural and safe, and that, rigid as the world deems it,
our disciplinary rule is wise and needful.
These fashionable diversions are not necessary for the health of the
body or mind, but are harmful to both. All the recreation that any
pious, sensible person needs is provided in the variety of his duties,
and the many and ample sources of rational enjoyment. Does the studious,
hardworking minister need recreation? Let him find it in turning from
the severe study of theology to biography, or poetry, or rhetoric, or
logic? Does he need a still greater change? Let him take up for the time
being astronomy, or geology, or history. Does he need physical as well
as mental relaxation and change? Certainly he can find them in his
pastoral work--in visiting the sick, in instructing childhood, in
looking after the general interests of the Church, in walking, or
riding, or attending to the interests of his family, or enjoying their
society. Surely, here is a vast realm in which he can find rest and
recreation both for soul and body, and grow wiser and better all the
while. Does the layman of the Church need recreation as a relief from
the monotonous and exhausting labors and cares that come upon him daily?
Let him find it in gardening, in cultivating flowers, in reading, in
music, in Christian activities, in domestic offices and intercourse, in
social visiting, in attending instructive lectures, in attending
devotional meetings. These are rational, spiritual, satisfying
enjoyments. None but the weak, who think more of conformity to the world
than of conformity to Christ, hanker after any other.
Dr. Crane has treated this subject clearly, Methodistically, and
Scripturally. The book is a timely and useful addition to the literature
of the Church. I trust the publishers will put it in an attractive form,
and that it will have an extensive circulation, do good to many souls,
and bring much glory to God.
[4.15] E.S. JANES.
NEW YORK, _June 24, 1869_.
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POPULAR AMUSEMENTS.
CHAPTER I.
RECREATION A GOOD THING.
"_And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls,
playing in the streets thereof._" Zech. viii, 5.
The prophet thus, as with a single stroke of his pencil, paints a
beautiful picture of peace, plenty, and public security. In times of
riot and wild disorder, the children are kept within doors, that they
may be out of the way of harm. In time of war, children may be seen in
the streets of the city; but they are there clinging in terror to the
hands of their parents, and surrounded by the confusion and alarm of a
population flying from the foe. When famine reigns, a few children may
be found in the streets; but they are the wan, emaciated victims of
hunger, who wander from their desolate homes to beg, with tears and
outstretched hands, for bread. If the war or the famine continue its
ravages, the number of children steadily decreases. In seasons of public
calamity, little children die, as the tender blossoms of Spring perish
beneath the volleys of untimely hail. In the prophetic picture,
therefore, the numbers of the children, their merry sports, and the
public places where they are playing, all give token of the safety and
prosperity of a people whom the Lord protects and blesses.
But if this be so, it can not be wrong for boys and girls to play. A
doubt upon this point would mar the representation and destroy the force
of the imagery. No, let the children play--not, indeed, without limit;
not to the neglect of study, nor of such useful labor as they ought to
perform; not in modes that transgress Divine law, nor in the company of
those who will teach them corrupt language and evil deeds: still, let
the children play. Let them leap, and laugh, and shout. Let them have
their playthings and their pets. Let them not fear the sun nor the winds
of heaven, though their cheeks ripen like peaches in the light and the
heat, and though faces and garments occasionally show that man still
retains an affinity for the dust whence he was originally taken.
Let the youth have their seasons of recreation. Their amusements,
indeed, ought to be of a higher intellectual type than those of little
children. Nevertheless, amusements are still lawful and expedient. Let
there be times when the student shall lay aside the book, and the clerk,
the apprentice, and the farmer's boys and girls forget their work. Let
the youth, rich or poor, humble or exalted, at home beneath the parental
roof, or in the employ or under the care of strangers, have their
periods of rest and recreation. And if the time and the mode are wisely
chosen, there will be no loss but a real gain to all concerned. The
student will return to the lesson with a better courage and a clearer
brain, and the fingers which are busy with the affairs of the house, the
office, the shop, or the field will ply their task more nimbly.
Let middle life, too, immersed, as it is, in the cares and toils of
this busy existence, have its hours of leisure and freedom. Brain and
muscles both need rest, and the burden will feel the lighter for being
occasionally laid aside. Industry is indeed a virtue. Let every man,
woman, and child have something useful to do, and do it. I would not,
for one moment even, seem to defend idleness, or apologize for the
follies of the aimless devotee of shallow pleasures; yet I am persuaded
that not a few of our most valued workers in fields of lofty usefulness
would find their heads growing gray less rapidly if they could be
induced to take an occasional rest.
And let the aged, also, have their recreations. It is not unbecoming
for them to devote an hour, now and then, to the quiet pleasures which
smooth the brow and wreathe the lip with smiles. In itself it is just as
pious to laugh as to weep, and there are a great many cases where it is
wiser and better to laugh. For the old and the young there are social
enjoyments and recreations which brighten the passing moments and leave
no shadow behind them; which send us back to the graver employments of
life with a lighter heart and stronger frame. Travelers sometimes tell
us that of all the nations of the earth the Americans have the fewest
public holidays. This, if true, is not much to be regretted. A public
holiday is very apt to be a public nuisance, disturbing the peace of
quiet people, and multiplying temptations for the young and the
thoughtless. If there are anniversaries and days of patriotic uproar, to
which gunpowder and alcohol alone can do justice, it must be confessed
that the multiplication of them is not desirable. Moreover, if custom
fails to prescribe times and modes of recreation, it leaves families and
societies the freer to choose for themselves.
But on what principle are we to choose our recreations? Are we at
liberty to follow the multitude, inquiring, not for the best reason, but
the latest fashion? No intelligent Christian will fail to see that he
must be as conscientious in his play as in his work. Ever applicable,
ever authoritative, the divine deposition of the unchanging principles
of justice, safety, and right, the holy law is designed for all hours of
the individual life, even as it is designed for all ages of the world.
The question of amusements for religious people is one of the great
problems of the day. The very successes of the Gospel in our own land
have brought upon the Church perils which were unknown in the ages when
the victories of the truth were less decisive. In the Apostolic age,
when the world was heathen, and God's people a little flock in the midst
of their enemies, every man and woman was either Christian or pagan, one
thing or the other; the Church and the world were separated by a chasm
wide and deep, and the only feelings common to both parties were
distrust and aversion. Again: not very many years ago, in our own
community, there were few young people to be found among the members of
the various Churches. The gay multitude pursued their pleasures with a
reckless extravagance and a giddy disregard of the realities of life
which alarmed the sober-minded, and effectually repelled the
conscientious. The Church marched in order of battle, all eyes looking
for the foe, and all weapons bared for conflict. The world, not always
in the humor for direct attack, went on its own way, strong in the
fancied strength of numbers, and sometimes tried to laugh, and sometimes
affected to sneer at the scruples of the pious. Each was a compact
force, openly wearing its own uniform and arraying itself under its own
banner. The antagonism was universally recognized and felt.
But in our own times, and in most sections of our land, the truth has
conquered. The world no longer carries on a fierce and open war against
the religion of the Bible. The Church possesses so much worth,
intelligence, wealth, and social power, that the worldly part of the
community feel that it would not be wise for them to try to keep aloof
from the pious and set up for themselves. On the contrary, the world
deems it policy to nestle close up to the Church, and in many cases it
conducts itself so respectably, and is so correct in outward seeming,
that it takes a sharp eye to distinguish the one from the other. Not
setting itself in array against the truth, but rather avowing a sort of
theoretic belief of it, the world, after all, is unchanged. Its eyes are
blind, its heart is hard, and its aims and motives are "of the earth
earthy." It wishes to walk by the side of the Church, and hand in hand
with it, but with steady pressure it draws in the direction of lax
morality. Not having received the heavenly anointing, it fails to see
how "exceeding broad" the Divine Law is. It is constantly pleading for a
larger license, a wider range of sensuous enjoyments than is consistent
with the true piety which transforms and saves. Thus it clings to the
Church, arguing, inviting, urging; and wherever to its own dull vision
the path ceases to be clear, it sweeps off swiftly and invariably into
the realms of darkness and danger.
And the Church, too, is not in haste to separate itself wholly from
the large class found just outside the line of strict religious
profession. We admire their intelligence and amiability, their many
worthy traits of character and conduct. Their companionship is pleasant,
and we would like to retain it, and, therefore, we are strongly tempted,
for the sake of it, to make concessions on the various moral questions
in debate between us and them. Another influence is silently and yet
powerfully at work. Unless we consent that they shall marry in the
Chinese style--without having previously exchanged a word or even seen
each other's faces--our young people must have opportunities to get
acquainted and form attachments. In making their selections they like to
take a wide range of observation. A deal of skirmishing generally
precedes the final conquest. The young Church-member does not feel
inclined to refuse the acquaintance of moral, intelligent, agreeable
young people simply on the ground that they are not professors of
religion. The young people of the world see that if they do not keep
near the Church they cut themselves off from the best portions of
society. Without violence no rigid lines of social separation can be
drawn between the Church and the general community. The two parties hold
to each other, each inviting, pleading, trying to draw the other in its
own direction, in the path of its own principles and tendencies. The one
is ready to yield all that can be conceded without an abandonment of
truth and duty; the other, like Herod under the influence of John's
preaching, fears, and listens, and does "many things."
Nor is it clear that utter separation is desirable. We can be
instrumental in saving only those who are within our reach. How shall we
bring others within the range of our influence, and at the same time
keep wholly beyond the range of theirs? How shall we lift up others and
yet not feel their weight? If we drive from us all who have failed thus
far to come up to our standard, we lessen the area of our usefulness--we
throw away precious opportunities to do good. The Church, if faithful,
is not imperiled by this antagonism of moral forces. It must show itself
the more powerful of the two, and "overcome the world." Surely, if truth
is strong, if fixed principles of action furnish a solid fulcrum on
which to place our levers, we ought to move the world, and not the world
us.
It follows, therefore, that if the young members of the Church, and the
young people just outside the line of religious profession, are to unite
in social gatherings and recreations, duty demands that we stand firm,
while courtesy and reason, to say nothing of still higher motives,
require that others yield. No labored argument is needed to show this.
The lover of frivolous pleasures can not plead that religious
convictions impel him to his follies. When youthful Christians fear and
resist, saying, "Conscience forbids," he can not reply, "_My_ conscience
commands." When the Christian remonstrates, saying, "To do this might
imperil my soul," the other can not answer, "_Not_ to do it would
imperil mine." The worldly can only plead that they see no evil where
others see it, and that they are ready to venture where others fear to
go. Thus they virtually confess that they are dull in vision and hard in
heart.
And so we can not come down to the level to which they would invite us.
If they desire us to meet on common ground, we must be permitted to
select the place. If we yield to them, we sacrifice our principles and
our peace. If they yield to us, they lose, at the utmost, only a little
temporary pleasure. Let the worldly and the gay, therefore, say no more
about our Puritanic notions. They see, and ought to confess, that almost
of necessity they tend to place the standard of morals too low, and that
when the Church and the world differ in regard to what is allowable and
right, there are a thousand chances to one that the Church is right and
the world is wrong. If the religion of Christ laid no restrictions on us
which the trifling mind and the unrenewed heart felt to be unwelcome, or
even burdensome, we might well suspect that it was the invention of men.
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