Amusement

Amusement: A Force in Christian Training is a book by the Rev. Marvin R. Vincent, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church, Troy, N.Y. The contents list Religion and Amusement, The True Nonconformist, The Church and the Young Man, and Thoughts for the Clergy on the Amusement Question. The preface says these discourses are not presented as a series, and that with the exception of the last, which was prepared merely for publication, they were delivered at considerable intervals.

The text quotes the view that it is innocent for boys to play marbles but sinful to play dominoes, and asks, Wherein, pray? The text says the gospel principle, the principle which Christ propounded and by which he lived, is that the proper and only way to preserve our pleasures or anything else from abuse is to put Christian leaven into them. The text says an argument, in its character and result, very strongly resembles that which used to be such a favorite with the advocates of slavery.