unclean spirit forcibly driven out by the Puritans
returned with seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and the
last state of Stuart England was worst than the first." The history of
that period shows us the mistake religion makes by frowning down all
amusements as sinful. But that some may be so is equally clear. They
are so (_a_) when they are contrary to the express commands of the Word
of God. There are pleasures which are in themselves unlawful, and
which are condemned by the divine law. These, God's children will
shun. They are forms of wickedness which they will ever hold in
abhorrence. "The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride
of life," with all that the words mean, though the world may regard
them as pleasures, and engage in them as amusements, are evil before
God. But not to dwell on this, which is evident, amusements are evil
(_b_) when they unfit for work. "The end of labor," said the Greek
philosopher Aristotle, "is to rest." It is equally true that "the end
of rest is to labor." Pleasures that tempt us from daily duty, that
leave us listless and weary, are pernicious. Outdoor games, for
instance, ought to strengthen the physical frame, they ought to make us
healthy and strong and ready for work. But when carried to excess they
often produce the opposite result, and become positively hurtful. If
the Saturday's play unfit for the worship and rest of the Lord's day;
if an employer, as has been stated, has been obliged to dismiss his
clerks more than once because of their incapacity for work owing to
football matches, cricket matches, and sports generally, it is clear
that these have not been for their good; and the same may be said of
the effect of other forms of amusement, especially when carried to
excess. The amusements that send us back to toil with a lightened
heart and a vigorous mind are those only that we should engage in; all
others are detrimental, and should be shunned. (_c_) It is necessary
to say also that amusement in any form followed as the end of life
becomes specially sinful. Even the heathen moralist, Cicero, could say
"that he is not worthy to be called a man who is willing to spend a
single day wholly in pleasure." How much more truly may a Christian
feel that he "who liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth." A life
that is simply play, that is simply amusement, is no life at all. It
is only a contemptible form of existence. "A soul sodden wit