Tired Church Members

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, without finding more than one counted upon. And so for me, searching out this subject of Christian amusements some curious things have come to light. As for instance, how very little the Bible says about them at all. It was hard to find catchwords under which to look. Amusement ? there is no such word among all the many spoken by God to men. Recreation ?—nor that either; and game is not in all the book, and rest is something so wide of the mark (in the Bible sense, I mean) that you must leave it out altogether. And pastime ? ah, the very thought is an alien.
Redeem it, buy it up, use it while you may,—such is the Bible stand-point. It flies all too quickly without your help.
Not in frolic. So you can see that I was puzzled. However, by patiently putting words together, noting carefully the blanks as well, some things become pretty plain; and the vexed question of Christian amusements is answered clearly enough for those who are willing to know. But as we go on searching and comparing, think always of the command once given and never repealed:
For we call ourselves Christians,—that people of laws divers from all other people ; and now we are consulting our statute book.