A BISHOP ON SUNDAY AMUSEMENT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIX, Issue 202, 17 August 1893, Page 4

A BISHOP ON SUNDAY AMUSEMENT.

♦ Bishop Moofhonse, of Manchester, addressiDg the clergy st A-hton under-Lyne upon the conclusion of his visitation of ttie twenty-four parishes m the rrual deanery, referred to the subject o{ Sabbatn observe ance. While he confessed to holding lenient and liberal views, especially with regard to the opening of museums and libraries on Sunday eveoingg, he aaid he could not help viewiog with de6p anxiety gome of the most recent manifestations of Sabbatical relaxation. The boating and lawn tennis parties of the rich, with their accompanying gay jests and boit-terous mir h, and the late and elaborate dinner with whioh thpy concluded the day, represented a form of Sunday desecratien for whioh no excuse whatever could be made. Tho?e people not only themselves lo3t the benefits of a quiet Sunday, but showed a wanton and insolent contempt for the feelings of their pious neighbors. The roor msn, t.oo, instead of guarding the privilege of his day of rest, was often the very worst offender against the Sabbatical l«w. Those who made the Sunday nothing better than a day of riotous amusement would soon find it a day of work. His Lordship fuither warned the clergy against encouraging the institution known aa "Pleasant Sunday Afternoons," which had also been called "Religions Free-and-Easies." Some churches, he aaid. had already found that these concerts were injuring the Sunday Bchool by tempting the children from theii instruction, bnt, once created, the appetite had to be satisfied under threat of desertion.