pel way? Nay, a feast is prepared; a soiree introduced, a fancy fair, a pic-nic, a concert or exhibition of some kind, a donation, tea or strawberry party, a sleigh-ride, oystersupper, a tin or gold wedding, something to inflame the appetite, produce a little fun, or vulgar merriment.

"Where is there a church or society, white or colored, Popish or Protestant, that does not resort to these unholy excitements, these stratagems of Satan to raise funds for some object of benevolence? It is money, money! Money we want, money we will have, Gospel or no Gospel, heaven or no heaven. Gospel and soul-saving are laid aside.

Chil

"The excitement for weeks is more or less dissipating, swallowing up every thought of the soul's welfare. dren and youth are on fire for a spree-and what else are very many of these festivals and pic-nic excursions but sprees or frolics?

"All false religions seek to attract interest by amusements and animal gratifications. The worshipers of the golden calf sat down to eat and drink the oblations to their new god, and then rose up to play. And a bait of sensuality in some form has always been the lure to heathen worship. Popery has always followed in the same line. Even Sabbath worship connects a dance with the mass. And throughout the whole structure of that 'mystery of iniquity,' the sensual and the comic are interwoven with the pomps and ritual of worship. And one of the most common methods by which decay advances upon sound churches is by pleas of amusements to give an attractive and hilarious character to religion-which usually are so many pleas for conformity to the world."

F. "Are we to renounce all mirth, be dull and melancholy, Mr. Lovegood?"

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L. "Seriousness and solid happiness are inseparable." F. "Does not Solomon say: 'To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven?'

L. "Does Solomon tell us there is a time for sin and folly? I am not unaware of the value of a cheerful religion. I respond to the reasonableness of the command to 'rejoice evermore.' And yet we read that the 'joy of the Lord is your strength,' and that our rejoicing must be in God to make it a religious joy. It is not a religious joy, where professedly religious men indulge in gratifications that are worldly, sensual and frivolous.

"There is a path that leads to God;

All others go astray.'

"Mrs. Fickle, you were familiar with the life and writings of that eminently godly minister of Christ, J. W. Alexander ?"

F. "Pastor of the church on Fifth Avenue, corner of Nineteenth Street?"

L. "Precisely-for many years."

F. "Well, what of him ?"

L. "In writing to a friend, he speaks thus: As I grow older as a parent, my views are changing fast as to the degree of conformity to the world which we should allow to our children. I am horror-struck to count up the proffligate children of pious parents, and even ministers. The door at which those influences enter which countervail parental instruction and example, I am persuaded, is yielding to the ways of a pleasure-seeking world-"the lovers of pleasure more than the lovers of God." By dress, books and amusements, an atmosphere is formed which is not that of Christianity. More than ever do I feel that our families

must stand in a kind but determined opposition to the fashions of the day.'"

F. "You give 'pic-nics' a slap-what harm of these, pray?"

L. "Object to amusements for little folks or great folks? When-on what occasion? Sooner hush the tuneful lark, tie the legs of the skipping squirrel, stop the flowers from blooming, or the woods and the fields from growing green, than deprive the buoyant youth of innocent recreation, excursions to the shady grove!

"The twinkling stars, the sun, the moon, all nature pours forth her sweet melodies. The little hills skip like lambs, the mountains break forth into singing, and all the trees of the forest clap their hands joyfully. But when Satan takes the lead, comes in for a large share of the spoils, I say hands off, stop the leakes, put out the fires!

"What are Sunday-schools for? To tickle the fancy? gather in 'little ones' for sport? This blessed institution, intended exclusively for soul-saving, is frequently a Gospelhardening, conscience-searing process. The truths taught here, instead of being a savor of life unto life, are a savor of death unto death! Children grow up infidels, go out into the world infidels, reprobates under the mid-day sunlight. of the Gospel, take seats with the scornful! How seldom do we hear of any special revivals in Sunday-schools at the present day! And when awakenings do occur, alas! how superficial, how short-lived! Like the morning cloud and early dew.' Is there not a cause for this dearth and spiritual death? Is it not this perpetual rush for the visionary? the lack of Gospel teaching? If the salt have lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted?'-Matt. v. 13.

"To make schools, on the Lord's day or any day, scenes of

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hilarity, merriment, fun, frolic, is to defeat the special object in view."

F. "I perceive where you stand, Mr. Lovegood; you contravene even our Sunday-school exhibitions or concerts, the delightful speechifyings of the juveniles!"

L. "The way they are usually conducted, ungospelized, I do. Children are naturally excitable, inclined to pride, folly, and self-complacency. And instead of fostering these reptiles, every possible means should be resorted to, to counteract and exterminate them, and lead them directly to the feet of Jesus. Very many of our common Sunday-school exhibitions tend to puff up or inflate juvenile minds."

F. "Specify the evils if there are any, Mr. Lovegood?" L. "1. They excite envy in the children. Those who are not selected to speak envy those who are.

"2. They encourage pride of spirit and pride of dressthat is, pride of talent in the speakers; and pride of dress, because the girls and young ladies are often dressed as for a show.

"3. They are destructive of spiritual interest in the school, especially in seasons of revival.

"4. They create confusion and disorganization in the school, owing to the attention given to preparation and to efforts to enlist children in the sale of tickets, etc.

"5. They have a reactionary tendency, throwing the school backward for weeks after they are over.

"6. They are mere money-making affairs, and to make them popular with irreligious persons the pieces selected are often irreligious and of evil tendency."

F. "Would you advise parents to withdraw their little ones from these nurseries of piety, Mr. Lovegood?"

L. "If contamination and damnation, instead of salva

tion, assuredly. As I remarked previously, five distinguished Presbyterian elders, of the city of New York, told me, with tears, 'We are compelled to keep our children out of Sunday-school altogether because of the swarms of pious novels which infests the shelves.' The church is helping the world -projecting it into amusements. Novels lay the groundwork for gambling, in the church and out of it. Let me specify more definitely how Satan is gaining the ascendency. The use of wine-not to say strong liquors, at the dinnertable, is not unfrequently in so-called Christian homes. Attendance at the opera or theater is no more classed among interdicted amusements. The sons and daughters of Christian households are trained in dancing-schools, permitted to give juvenile balls, engage in various dissipating amusements that turn away the heart from Christ and from God.

"Opposition to these indulgences is pronounced Puritanism, and Christianity is to be made so tolerant that such time-honored phrases as self-crucifixion, self-denial, keeping the body under, spiritually-minded, and the like, are to be cast out of the Christian vocabulary. Piety is no longer to be armor-clad, armed in the battle-field; but is to be clothed in gay dressing-gowns, slippered, lodged in well-stuffed easychairs. The road to heaven is to be traveled in railwaycars, with ample accommodations for the world, the flesh, and the devil, in suitable portions of the train.

"That this spirit of self-indulgence is cherished and defended in and by numerous Christian families, is undeniable. That it is increasing is equally true, and will become general, if not sternly checked."

F. "Are you not, Mr.-"

L. "Hold! a moment, Mrs. Fickle, I was about to say, during the past summer, I saw ministers in high standing