p. 213 | Not Consistent

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Apr 2, 1885

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 11, No. 14.

Not Consistent.

WE do not wonder that ungodly persons, who know nothing of the comforts and consolations of religion, seek pleasure in the vain and trifling amusements of the world, and frequent the theater, the dance, the skating-rink, and similar places of amusement. They feel a void within their souls, and are ready to grasp at anything that promises even a momentary gratification. But what can we think of professors of religion, who have professed to renounce the world, the flesh, and the devil, and to seek their chief happiness in God, who are all agog after the pleasures of the world, and who seem to be carried away with its vain amusements? Their profession and their practice, to say the very least, sadly conflict with each other. So far as their conduct is concerned, they appear to be as trifling, and as worldly minded as those who make no pretensions to piety. God requires those who would be recognized as his children, to come out from the world, and be separate from sinners. They must possess a different spirit; they must seek their happiness in different pursuits and enjoyments; and they must show to all around them, that, although in the world, they are not of the world. "If any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Who will pretend to say that the popular amusements of the day are conducted in the spirit of Christ, or that any one possessing his spirit can heartily engage in them and enjoy them?—Methodist Recorder.