APPEAL TO THE YOUNG MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH. Word of Exhortation--REASONS WHY WE SHOULD ABSTAIN FROM ALL QUESTIONABLE DIVERSIONS: 1. Our Church has always Condemned them; 2. Solemn Vows bind us; 3. Offenses disturb our Pastor and our Fellow-Christians; 4. Our Errors injure the Unconverted; 5. Error mars Usefulness; 6. Compromise Positions hard to hold, either in Argument or Practice--Fight on the Right Line, 169 CHAPTER XI. APPEAL TO THE CHURCH. Lafayette's Witty Illustration of Compromises--Mr. Bright's Description of Fashionable Religion--Compromise bad, even as a Policy--The World despises a Timid Church--Methodism has Prospered--Our Laws strict--Folly to Come Down now--How the Worldly Parson angled for an Accession and caught nothing--What Mr. B. said--The exact Right is the strong Position--Hold it--Let others Hive the Drones--Where other Churches Stand--Testimony of the Presbyterians--The Methodist Episcopal Church South--Young Men's Christian Association--The Roman Catholic Church--The End. Page 189 [Illustration: decorative] [Illustration: decorative] INTRODUCTION. The subject of which this book treats--"Popular Amusements"--is one of grave interest to the Church and to society in general. The Discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church has always required its members and probationers, as an evidence of religious earnestness, to refrain from "such diversions as can not be used in the name of the Lord Jesus," and also from "singing those songs or reading those books which do not tend to the knowledge or love of God." In the following passages of Holy Scripture, worldly amusements or pleasures are denounced by God: "He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man." "Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasure, that dwellest carelessly." The consequences referred to in this quotation are stated in the following verses of the chapter. Being "lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God," is classed by Timothy as one of the worst attributes of wicked men. How terrible is this statement: "But she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth!" Consider, also, this Scripture precept: "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus." In view of these and like Scripture utterances, how is it possible to believe that exciting, dissipating, worldly amusements are compatible with spiritual life or devotional enjoyment?