p. 198 | LOVERS OF PLEASURE

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 2, 1867

LOVERS OF PLEASURE.

One of the marvels of this age of marvels is the rage for pleasure. If a love for pleasure was to be a characteristic of the last days, who cannot see that it is most strikingly exhibited before us? But alas! the rush for carnal gratification is so insane, and so almost all-pervading, that but few minds find opportunity to note this, or any other of the numerous and startling signs of this time. And what is not a little singular is that almost all the devices framed to meet the demands of this pleasure-loving age, make ample provision for eating and drinking. Wherever men or women are, there must be immediate and unceasing provision for them to eat and drink. The demands of a vitiated, perverted and stimulated appetite are imperious, and must everywhere be met. Thus was it in the days of Noah. It was to be so according to the Saviour's words, in the days when the Son of man was about to appear at the end of the world. And it is so at the present day. Surely, no one need go amiss in drawing the conclusion.

We lately saw a notice of a new car just built for the Michigan Central R. R., to be run as an excursion car for pleasure parties, and in the description of its rooms, consisting of parlors magnificently furnished, dressing-room, washing-room, &c., prominent mention was made of the dining-room and cooking arrangements. And the enthusiastic describer dwelt in glowing terms on the convenience of having all the luxuries of the table right at hand, served up in modern style, while the parties could use the parlors for games of cards and other amusements. Thus, even upon the road, the delicate viands, the rich, costly, and unwholesome articles of food and drink must be furnished to a diseased appetite, and pampered stomach.

It is bad enough for the world to follow such a course. It is bad enough for those who make no pretensions to being followers of God, and seekers after a future and higher life, to give themselves wholly up to the flesh, to make provision to fulfill the lusts thereof. But what shall we say when the professed followers of the cross-bearing, self-denying Saviour join in such a course? And do we find them there? Yes; and not only there, but taking the lead, and directing the current in all these things.

And if church members will join in these sensual and worldly scenes, is it not bad enough for them to do it in places where secular amusements are to be expected? What shall we say, then, when they take these things into houses dedicated to the worship of God, and not only so, but build such houses with special reference to these worldly accompaniments? And are they doing this? Look at the following facts.

The Methodists have raised the past year millions of dollars as a centenary fund, to celebrate the one hundredth anniversary of their existence as a denomination, and to provide means to build churches, and further promulgate Methodism in this country. Among other things, they have just built a large church in Chicago, called “The Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church.” A writer in the Chicago Tribune, giving a description of the edifice, states some facts to which we call the reader's special attention. He says:—

“The ground floor is divided into lecture room, library room, hall leading from the vestibule to the lecture room; two parlors, one on each side of this hall, 26x28 each. These open into the lecture room by heavy, folding doors. One parlor is to be used for a Bible-class room, the other for an infant-class room,

“The interior appointments are complete. They equal, if not surpass, anything we have seen in the West. Beneath the vestibule and parlors is a basement, consisting of a large dining hall, furnished with table accommodations for one hundred and fifty persons; a kitchen, with cooking apparatus, sinks, closets, dressing-rooms, &c.”

Speaking of the advantages of these arrangements and appurtenances, which must strike one as somewhat singular to be provided in a church, the writer further says:

“The basement, under the vestibule and parlors, secures some desirable advantages; the social gatherings can be made agreeable and pleasant without introducing the refreshments into the lecture room or parlors.”

This church may be taken as an index, not only of Methodism, but of the popular Christianity of the present day. It has come to this that “refreshments” are as essential to the church as the gospel, and provision must be made even in the house of God by means of cooking apparatus, dining hall, and all other culinary arrangements, that they may feast away the closing hours of time, eat, drink, and be merry, while destruction is coming on the wings of the wind. Reader, how does the idea strike you?