THE CHURCH AS A CATERER OF AMUSEMENT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 293, 11 December 1899, Page 2

THE CHURCH AS A CATERER OF AMUSEMENT.

Preaching at the Beresford-street Congregational Church on the morning of the 3rd Eev. Jos. Parker spoke on°the attitude of the church towards the propagation of Christianity by associating it with amusements. The preacher took as his text the passage: "And thou his son, 0 Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this." Daniel 5 22. He said: The story of Belshazzar's ■untimely feasting and prodigality and blasphemy is well known to you. Like many another man he seemed to do what he pleased, and there was none to stop him. If there was any supreme authority in morals, he seemed to wink at the wrongdoing of Belshazzar. for the dissipated prince seemed to go from one excess to another ■without check; but now his cup of wickedness is full, and a voice cries stop. Well might the cheek of the king blanch with terror when there appeared the vision of a hand writing on the wall his doom. How that terror increased when the wise men of the kingdom having failed to make known the import of the writing, it was deciphered for the king by the Hebrew, Daniel, we can well imagine. As the interpretation proceeded, the bitterest drop of agony in that cup of doom would be found in the fact that it might have been avoided. There were lighthouses on the cliffs to warn him oft: the rocks; there were wrecks upon the beach to show him where others had come to ruin; there -were warning voices, and hands stretched out to push him off the dangers. His own father's, life was written over with lessons of instruction, but he missed them all, pushed them with the hands of a madman from him, and persisted in that course which could only have one ending. And as he went down to ruin he saw it all as Daniel charged down upon him with these words: "And thou, his son, 0 Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though, thou knewest all this."

This Scripture is not without significance for us. We often concern ourselves about the measure of human responsibility; some are even tempted to believe that men are called upon to suffer for conduct that they did not know how to improve upon. We need to face honestly the general teaching of Scripture on this subject—no man is regarded as guilty before the throne of righteousness when he lived the best life that he knew how; no man is punished for not learning lessons that did not come within his reach; but Jew and Heathen alike are held responsible-for their use or neglect of the gracious interventions which; God makes from time to time to save men from folly, and to warn them of danger, and to make plain <o them the way of life. Belshazzar had no Bible; he had no gospel message preached to him week by week; but he had before him an example in his own father's life of the.terrible folly of the man who bedecks himself with frrogance and sin and sets himself in array against Almighty God. This picture was before his eyes, but he ignored it; he disregarded the warning; he missed the lesson and rushed on his way to similar folly. Similar lessons have Aye. Do we profit by them? Do we miss them? Consider.

The lessons which stand out in the history of the church: Right along the history of the Christian church there stand out this lesson, written as in letters of fire that spiritual effectiveness is only to be obtained by, spirituality of life. We'are grateful for what a higher scholarship has done for us in giving to us an intelligent view of the history of the Bible, of the development of dogma, of the evolution of spiritual belief. We are thankful for what has been done in' the way of obtaining worthy concep-, tions of God and of His relations with men; but ever and anon we find the necessity of harking back to Jesus Christ, God's great gift to men, the central authority of all things pertaining to our spiritual life. Men »re not saved, from a sinful life by teaching; men' are not rescued from a love of evil by putting before them disquisitions on morality. • '

From time to time God lias raised \ip. men to emphasise this truth. In the darkest hour of the church came Luther, and Wycliffe, and ITuss, and La-timer. At a time in England when the clnirch had become the perquisite of hunting1 priest and ale drinking parsons, God raised up the Wesleys and Whitefields, and through them saved England from becoming in all probability what Spain is to-day. Then in these latter days when religion was'fast becoming a thing of respectability only, God raised up General Booth, and through his organisation greater multitudes have been called to (he springs of life than by any other organisation in the same time. Have \ve learned this lesson? We have known that when the church has been faithful to the message of Christ she has been vigorous, aggressive, instinct with a lift that could riot be put ouj: by hunger, cold, or poverty, nor by the sword, or bullet, or flame of the persecutor. Have we missed the lesson of it all? Does it not seem like it Avhen we have to resort to such miserable shifts at times to maintain fairly respectable life as an organisation? A good brother suggested to me during this past week that I should begin and hold lantern services for the people of a Sunday evening, with a view to securing greater success in our work. But is it not about time that we asked ourselves, Have we not gone more than far enough in the way of entertaining people in the direction of salvation? Imagine making an arrangement with skilful singers and lanternists to inn an entertainment to save a number of people who have fallen into the harbour. Is it God's plan that a wrongdoer should be turned

JOS&.

from the error of his ways through the magic of a song? Did God commission His followers to go into all the world and to entertain the people for their salvation? I felt ashamed of my life that I have gone as far as I have in this direction, wiien reading an article written by lan Maclaren on the church as a religious body or a social club. He took for his text the appeal of a V.M.C.A. to its members, which he had before him as follows: "Do not forget the next social; the next candy pull; the next song service; the next gospel meeting; the next meeting of the debating club; the next chicken-pie dinner; the nextdate when you ought to make the secretary happy with your cash." Cornment'ing on this lan Maclaren says: "If it come to be a competition between the amusements of the church (or her feasts) and the amusements of the world (and its feasts) is there any sane person who thinks that the church can win? If the gay, clever world understands anything it is how to amuse: the . power and glory of the church has been to inspire, to comfort, to save. Are there any entertainments, with few exceptions, either more frivolous and silly, or more dreary and wearisome, than the social efforts of the average congregation? Like Caesar, the world offers her .magnificent shows. The church, like Christ, ought to present the victorious cross. Why should the church leave her high place and come down into the arena, where she will lose her strength and be put to shame? Do men come to church for petty pleasures fit only for children, or for the satisfaction of their soul and the confirmation of ! their faith?" . . .

"The church triumphed by her .faith, her holiness, her sympathy, her courag-e, and by these high virtues she must Stand in this age also. Sbe^ is the. witness to immortality, the spiritual home of souls, the servant of the poor, the protector of the friendless, but if she sinks into a place of se-cond-rate entertainments or a cheap business concern, then it were better that her history should close, for without her spiritual visions and austere ideals the church were not worth preserving." This is the lesson of the hour for us in this city—are we prepared to learn it? Shall we miss the lesson' and go on our way to an .unenviable mediocrity and ultimate ' silence, or shall we betake ourselves with fresh hunger to the Cross of Christ? Are we "willing to become as giants refreshed by spending much time with the eternal? Are we prepared to spend as much time in prayer in making the church a spiritually aggressive force that we now spend in entertainments. If not the day will come when some Daniel shall'say: "And thou hast not humbled thine heart though thou knewest all.this." . .