shut up to proving that the associations are inseparable from the
amusements. And here is the place to remark that the best amusements are
the ones most likely to be abused--the ones which experience shows _are_
most abused, and about which cluster the most evil associations. The
children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of
light. Men do not care to counterfeit a coin of inferior value; and the
world is very clear-sighted to discern the best and richest sources of
worldly pleasure, and utterly unscrupulous in appropriating them entirely
to itself. The amusements which are most abused, are commonly those which,
from their intrinsic value, call most loudly upon virtue to rescue them
from their abuses.

The above method of reasoning, in short, will not stand the test of plain
common sense. It is trifling, ignoring all distinctions which rest on
principles, and substituting factitious ones; and Christians who assume
this ground, lay themselves open without defense to the logic and ridicule
of any intelligent man of the world who may be disposed to test the
reasons for their scrupulousness. They condemn themselves in those things
which they allow. The amusements they approve cannot, in many cases, be
compared with those which they deprecate, either in elegance, profit, or
the amount of intelligence they require.

What point then shall we take for the consideration of this subject? We
are confined to one--the stand-point of the Bible. As Christian
associations we have but one question to ask: "_What saith the Word_."

In the New Testament we find little said about the _degrees_ of sin. The
thought which it throughout tries to impress is, that sin is everywhere;
and under any form, or in any degree, is a horrible and fatal thing. The
tares are gathered _in bundles_ and burned; no matter if one grows a
little shorter, and another a little longer. The lustful glance is placed
in the same category with the licentious act. The angry thought is of the
same piece with the act of murder. The gospel contemplates the sins of the
race very much as a man looks at an orange: the rind is full of little
protuberances, and a close scrutiny will show that some of these rise
higher than others. But nobody pretends to notice these variations; they
all spring from one spherical surface, and their variation is not such as
to destroy the general effect of roundness. So all these fearful
developments of sin spring fro