CHAPTER X.

OF RECREATION.

"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”—Î COR. x. 31.

"ST. JOHN the Evangelist, as Cassian relates, amusing "himself one day with a tame partridge on his hand,

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was asked by an huntsman, How such a man as he "could spend his time in so unprofitable a manner ? "to whom St. John replied, Why dost thou not carry "thy bow always bent? Because, answered the huntsman, if it were always bent, I fear it would lose its 66 spring, and become useless. Be not surprised then, "replied the Apostle, that I should sometimes remit a "little of my close attention of spirit to enjoy a little "recreation, that I may afterwards employ myself more "fervently in Divine contemplation "."

Some persons might be disposed to think Recreation too light a subject to be treated in a work on Personal Religion. But let it be considered that in the broad sense of the term (in which it embraces every species of refreshment bodily and mental) Recreation must form an integral part of human life. Human life, as a matter of fact, is made up of graver and lighter passages. There is no true portraiture of it which does not present its relief and recreations alongside of its burdensome pressure and cares. Man's mind is so constituted, that even in the most afflictive circumstances it cannot be always on the strain; such a strain would ultimately break the mind. So it seeks

S. François de Sales, Vie Dévote.

and finds a safety-valve in the lighter passages of life, through which its natural elasticity (for it is wonderfully elastic) vents itself.

But then, if this be the mind, and therefore of

constitution of the human human life, which is but the development and expres sion of the human mind, our reliefs, no less than our burdens, must come within the scope of true religion. For there is no truth more certain than this, that religion is designed to leaven our whole life; that no district of life, not a single waking hour, is to be excluded from its sanctifying influences. If Recreation is a constituent part of life, Recreation must be capable of being sanctified.

We do not give Recreation too prominent a place in the religious system, when we say that it is for the mind what sleep is for the body of man. No man's body could long endure the stress and burden of daily life without sleep. And no man's mind could, as I have said, long endure any mental pressure without Recreation. It is wonderful what the body gains in sleep, far more than we are apt to suspect; what gentle healing influences are ministered to the animal functions of this dull and heavy frame by that "soft nurse of nature," as our great poet so beautifully calls it. It is often said of infants and young children, that they grow much faster in an hour of sleep than in several waking hours, the truth being, I suppose, that sleep is an imbibing of energy, and waking existence a waste or expenditure of it. And surely it is no less wonderful how much the mind, I do not say does, but may gain in Recreation,—how rapid a growth in Grace it may achieve when the harness of a regular pursuit is for a while lifted from off its neck, and leisure is given to it to unbend itself at will.

That Recreation is frequently and cruelly abused, and leisure allowed to degenerate into licence, is no argument whatever against its possible utility. Sleep itself is not beneficial, but mischievous, if it be not well regulated. A man may easily have too much of it,more than is good for him; and the excess is not indifferent, it is absolutely prejudicial. Recreation, like sleep, must be carefully regulated with a view to the great end which it is designed to subserve. There must be some amount of forethought as to the conduct of it, and of restriction upon its freaks and licences, if it is to be attended with wholesome effects. Perhaps there are some of my readers who altogether resent the idea of such restriction; who wish altogether to exempt Recreation from the interference of religious principle; who look to the little intervals and interstices of work as so much time which may be freely wasted, trifled away, frittered away, sinned away without compunction, flung recklessly into the great gulf of unredeemed possibilities.

In censuring thoughts of this kind which may arise upon the subject, it is necessary to disentangle what is true and just in them from what is radically false and vicious.

It is absolutely certain, then, that there is no single waking moment of our life which we can afford to lose. Never was truer line written by any poet than that of Young.

the man

Is yet unborn who duly weighs an hour."

Probably there is no such thing as an indifferent moment, a moment in which our characters are not being secretly shaped by the bias of the will, either for

good or evil. It is a great mystery, but so it is, that our Eternity is suspended upon the manner in which we pass through a very short span of time. And, analo gously, this very short span of time takes its complexion from the moments which go to make it up. If life itself be of such tremendous import, its constituent hours and minutes cannot be insignificant. All minutes must be made available; not indeed available in one particular form, not available in the way of work, but all available in the Service of God, to which both work and diversion may contribute.

But it is possible that what is meant by resisting the interference of religious principle with Recreation, may be merely this, that Recreation will cease to be Recreation, if too much seriousness of thought be thrown into it. And there is some amount of truth here, which we shall presently notice. Unbending no doubt must be unbending, if it is to answer its object.

Let us first say something of the principle by which alone any Recreation can be sanctified, and then offer some advice on the forms which Recreation may take.

First, then, Recreation, like work, is to be engaged in with a view to God's glory: we are not to separate it even in idea from Him, but to bring it within the great scope of His service. This principle is distinctly enunciated in the words of the Apostle,-" Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Eating and drinking, the taking of nourishment, is a species of Recreation, when that word is understood in its widest sense. To take nourishment is to refresh the body, even as to take Recreation is to refresh the mind. If then the taking of nourishment may be made conducive to God's Glory, and brought within the scope of His Service, so also,

without doubt, may the taking of Recreation. Let it be well settled in the mind then, as the first step, that our periods of relaxation may have a religious significance and a religious value; may be a means of religious improvement and of progress in the spiritual life, whose law is progress; and this apprehension is of itself a point gained, although it be only an apprehension of the understanding, and not as yet the choice of the will.

The great point, however, is that choice of the will, or intention of the heart;-that we should be able to say mentally and cordially these words, or their equivalent: "I have chosen the Service of Almighty God, in whatever position He pleases to place me, as the one object of my life. To this great object I have determined to devote all my faculties of body and soul. But then neither body nor soul can be sound or healthy without innocent Recreation. Innocent Recreation, therefore, I will have,-I take it as a matter of deliberate choice, not merely because it gratifies me, but chiefly because it is subservient to my end." This is the only principle which can sanctify any action, be it grave or trivial.

As to the different forms of Recreation, the following suggestions may be offered.

1. First, of course, care must be taken that there may be nothing in them contrary to the Will and Word of God,-nothing which His Law condemns. Their being useful (in the ordinary sense of usefulness) is not here the question. It would be absurd to require of every kind of Recreation that it shall do some definite good to the minds and bodies of others. It is quite sufficiently useful, if it refreshes our own minds and bodies, and renders them more efficient instruments of