Produced by Al Haines
"So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord."—Amos iv. 8.
"Choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life."—Luke viii. 14.
HURST & COMPANY
Copyright, 1889,
By ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS
Copyright, 1891,
By HURST & COMPANY.
I suppose one never goes heartily into any bit of Bible study, withoutfinding more than one counted upon. And so for me, searching out thissubject of Christian amusements some curious things have come to light.As for instance, how very little the Bible says about them at all. Itwas hard to find catchwords under which to look. "Amusement"? there isno such word among all the many spoken by God to men. "Recreation"?—northat either; and "game" is not in all the book, and "rest" is somethingso wide of the mark (in the Bible sense, I mean) that you must leave itout altogether. And "pastime"? ah, the very thought is an alien.
"This I say, brethren, that the time is short." [1]
Redeem it, buy it up, use it while you may,—such is the Biblestand-point. It flies all too quickly without your help.
"My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle." [2]
"Pass the time of your sojourning here in fear." [3]
Not in frolic. So you can see that I was puzzled. However, by patientlyputting words together, noting carefully the blanks as well, some thingsbecome pretty plain; and the vexed question of Christian amusements isanswered clearly enough for those who are willing to know. But as we goon searching and comparing, think always of the command once given andnever repealed:
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto thechurches." [4]
For we call ourselves Christians,—that "people of laws divers from allother people"; and now we are consulting our statute book.
You think, then,—says somebody,—that Christians are to do nothing butwork, work, from morning to night: that the Bible forbids all play andall pleasure? No, I think nothing of the sort. But let us see what itreally does say. "To the law and to the testimony,"—and abide by them.
To begin then where most of all, perhaps, the old and the modern timesare like each other,—feasts have always been in vogue and alwayspermitted; only for Christians, like all else that concerns them, with aspecial set of regulations as to time, manner, and behaviour. You do notthink of this when you dress for your dinner party: you did not supposethe Bible meddled with such things. Nay, it "meddles" (if you call itso) with the very smallest thing a Christian can do.
The feasts of old time were in all essentials so like the feasts ofto-day, that not all the changes of race, dress, and viands can muchconfuse the likeness.