SERMON ON
CHRISTIAN RECREATION
AND)
U,UNCHRISTIAN AM.USEiMENT.
BY REV. T. L.' CUYLER.
DIELIVEZRD  AT COOPER INSTITCTE, -NEW-YOR:, OCT.  24:, 1858.
NEW-YO RK:
PUBLISHED BY E. D. BARKER, 348 BROADWAY.
November               15th,                    1858.
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND UNCHRISTIAN
AMUSEMENTS.
A Sermon  by the Rev. Theodore L. Cuyler.  Delivered Sunday Even
in?g, October 24th, 1858, at the Cooper Inetitute, New- York.
THE passages of God's word which I bring to you
this evening are as follows:
First, the eighteenth verse of the fifth chapter of
Ecclesiastes
"Behold that which I have seen: it is good and
comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the
good of all his labor that he takethl under the sun all
the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is
his portion.'
Also the third verse of the fourth chapter of first
Peter; and also, finally, the thirteenth verse of the fourteenth chapter of Proverbs; which two passages flow
naturally together:
"For the time past of our life may suffice us to have
wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in
lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, ban quetings, and abominable idolatries;" for "the end of
that mirth is heaviness."
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
I want to discuss before you to-night, my fellowtravellers to eternity, the great subject of Christian
RecreatiorT and Unchristicia Amusement.  I wish to find
out as far as I possibly can, what is healthful, and what
is right; what is hurtful, and what is wrong; what
every Christian may do, and what even a sinner ought
not to do, It is a very delicate and a very difficult
subject to treat; and I trust we may be guided wisely
and safely through it. In order to throw light upon
our theme-light from heaven, the best source of light
-I have grouped before you to-night three appropriate
passages of Scripture. In the first you will observe
the principle that all men have a clear and undoubted
right to every healthful and innocent enjoyment. God
never created you or me to be wretched. Do you
imagine it for a moment?  lie gave us possibilities of
enjoyment, and ten thousand good things to enjoy.
Hie gave me a taste for pleasant food, and pleasant food
and fruit to taste.  Hie gave me a desire for the luscious
grape and sunny peach; and the grape hangs on the
trellis, and the peach ripens for me in the sun-beam.
Hie gave me a thirst for refreshing drinks; and healthful
drinks he gives me with which to refresh myself;
never, however, did he make this world a distillery for
alcoholic poisons.  He gave us a desire to be happy,
and then put within our reach means, abundant means,
for all pure and healtl-ly happiness.   While there is a
time to weep-O mnv friends! these times to weep;
how often they come and how long they last!-there
is also a "time to laugh;" so God tells us in his book.
There is a time to be cheerful, there is a time to be full
of sun-shline, a time to be positively exuberant in the
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UN-CHRISTIAN- AMUSEMENTS.
out-flow of all animal spirits, in the liftings up of high
mental delight, in the out-goings of pure and lofty
spiritual enjoyment. This is right; this is commendable; and we shall probably see in the course of this
discussion that it is necessary for our bodily, mental,
and spiritual health to have just such enjoyments.
The second text brought before you is from Peter's
letter to Christians of his day. He reminds them that
they ought to follow Christ, which is the great idea of
Christianity. HIe wished to remind them that they used
to walk in revellings, banquetings, and excess-these
things were the bitter fruits of their former ungodly
tastes and appetites. They did not know any better.
But now, he says, ye are the baptized ones of Jesus
Christ. Now I warn you, that ye do know better, and
you must put off the evil deeds, and live spiritually
and righteously in this present evil world. You are
no longer heathen but Christians, the pledged, banded
and bonded followers of the holy Saviour, the professors of a pure faith, a "peculiar people," to keep your
garments even unspotted from the world.
The third text is from royal Solomon. Poor old
man! poor man! Hie ought to know (what he had
found out to his sorrow) that revelling is the mother
of all wretchedness, and that the end of mirth is heavi
ness. A heavy head, a heavy heart, a heavy load on
the conscience, a heavy stupified moral sense, a heavy
weight of remorse, a heavy account with God, an oppressive, crushing weight of final and everlasting retribution; these are mirth's bitter catastrophe.
Now these three texts unite in giving us a double truth
for discussion. First, that Christian recreations are right,
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
proper, commendable, and beneficial; but that sinful
pleasures are dangerous to the body and damning to
the soul. Let us enlarge upon this proposition, begcinning with the first truth that Christian recreations are
right the world over. We have already seen that
God's word does not forbid rightful enjoyments. This
book is not a teacher of Popish penances, it was not
written by monks, or to turn the world into a stupendous convent.  The religion of the Bible is radiant with
the light and the joys of heaven; there is a world of
sun-shine in  God's book.   0  troubled heart!  the
spirit that book inspires is never a gloomy one, nor
morose. It is a libel on our holy faith to represent it
as productive in itself of melancholy, or denying men
any really innocent pleasures.  It is not against innocent enjoyments but sinful ones, that God makes his
protest. The libel is an old one. The skeptic who
wants to caricature that book before a young man, and
the frivolous trifler who would turn life into a long
frolic and one unending carouse, repeats the stale scoff
in the face of that young man, in order to seduce him
into profligacy and ruin; but the Gospel is a system
of life, deliverance, hope, joy in the Holy Ghost. It
came to make guilty men happy by making them good,
and by bringing them into peace with their God.
Now, in the very outset, I suppose that this assembly
.gree that we all need-that men and women, old and
young-need recreation.  Not only rest from toil-(and
the people of this country are the most overworking people on earth)-but we need the occasional restorative of
recreation. I use that word in its etymological sense:
to re-create, to make a man over again as good as new.
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UNCHRISTIAN AMUSEMIENTS.
You and I work ourselves down. Then we must be
built up again.  We need to unbend.  We should not
keep the bow always strung, else it loses its elasticity.
Men were not created to be always drudges. They
wvere to play once in a while as well as toil.  All work
makes a man a sorry slave. All play makes him a
sorrier fool. The wise person avoids both extremes.
God has not only given all powers of enjoyment, but
recreation is an absolute need. I must have it, so must
you.  The best men have always found it so.  Biographies of the most healthful Christians reveal them as
unbending to an innocent sportiveness. Their grave
faces relax sometimes into what the old Puritan used
to call "the Christian liberty of laughing."  Their
over-active brains are regaled with a healthy holiday.
VWhen at work, they work like men and Christians.
When at play, they unbend and sport like little children.  That is nature; that is wise; that is beautiful.
Martin Luther bends over that German translation.
of the book of God. Martin Luther elaborates his
treatises against the great Romish delusion; and refreshes himself by hearing his beautiful wife, Catherina, sing sweet songs, and by decorating Christmastrees for his children.
Granville Sharp never played more sweetly on human sympathies when he was arousing the world for
the bondman, than when he used to retire from his phil anthropies to play upon his flute in his terrace overhanging the Thames.  Buxton is good at hunting
abuses in Parliament. He is equally good in hunting
with dog and gun over the English heath.
Wilberforce battles all day for God and humanity;
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
labors for Bible circulation; labors for genuine reform;
labors for Christian missions, and for India; and then
goes home to amuse  his children with  delightftil
stories, and trundles a hoop with them all around his
garden at Clapham. HIe is as happy as a swallow.
Blessed, blessed man! he had a right to be happy, for
he suffered like his Master for the suffering.  Who
had a better right than he, to let his soul flow out in
its innocent joy?
Now, then, we come to the practical point of this
discourse: What kind of recreation do men need?
For whatever a man needs, according to his God-given
nature, is right. Fix that first in your minds. Taking
this as a clue in your hands, my young friends, you
will be guided into the path of right and safety.  The
daily laborer who toils twelve out of the twenty-four
hours, probably finds no recreation like simp4e rest.
Lying down upon his bed is recreation.  The Sabbath
comes to him with rest; social joys in his humble
home are a part of his recreation; an occasional hour
in some free library, or listening to discoursings of
truth and music, is healthful recreation. The great
idea with  him  is Rest! Rest!  The student wants
change of occupation - physical exercise. That attenuated form of his, which bends over the book until
his face becomes as bloodless as the page he scans,
should go out into God's free air, and all the better for
him if the hand that is idle should swing the axe, or
pull the oar upon the stream. I never shall forget a
walk with that greatest of modern poets the now departed Wordsworth- over the hills which hlie has
made immortal; and as I saw the hale and healthful
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UN-CIRISTIAN AIMUSEMENTS.
countenance of the great bard, I understood what his
servant meant when lie said: "M iy master's study is
always out of doors."
One of the acutest minds in all England-Carlyle
once vented itself in this way to me: "My greatest
pleasure is to mount my horse and ride out in the
teeth of the wind away from these smoky streets of
London."
Commercial men- and  probably  miost of those
who hear me, are commercial men - have many
methods of recreation open to the most conscientious
and godly-minded.  And first of all, BooKs! books
which lift the soul up to the mountain top; books
which take me to Pisgah's heights, and permit me to
survey the realm of God's.universe; books which enlivec me and lead me to the recesses of the heart;
b)ookls which bring me nearer to God in all his works;
books which I can make fireside companions; each one
of them, as it were a vial, containing the extract and
essence of a great heart.  Books make the first and
purest of our recreations.  But, methinks, some one
starts up in this house and says: "May I read books
of fiction?" Yes, sir, on two conditions only: first,
that you never read any but those which are pure and
soul-elevating; and next that you only read those as
tile occasional recreation of a mind fatigued by severer
duties.  It is as if you ask me, while sitting at a table:
Afay I eat that light syllabub?"  "Yes, when you
have dined on strong meat."  But woe to him who
fecls his body on syllabub alone!  Woe to the young
ern or maidens, who have no good books in their
heeds or hearts!. I believe there is more demoraliza
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CHRISTIAN RECPREATIONS AND
tion of the young, more loss of character and incipient
infamy, resulting from the vile pages of certain pestilential literature, which swarms in this country, than
from any other source which Satan employs to ruin
our youth. But a good book-a good book is one of
God's best gifts to us.
Next to books comes Music; music from the cradlehymn which the sweet-voiced mother sings in our infancy, to the plaintive dirge that floats over the greensward, where we are laid to our rest; music when it
comes in the swelling oratorio, swelling and rolling in
surges on the soul like the sound of many waters on
the beach; or the martial air stirring the soul like the
sound of a trumpet on the tented field; or the delicious
evening hymns sung by our loved ones at the altar of
our homes; or the anthems sung by the great congregations, rolling up to mingle with the oratorios of
heaven, the ceaseless song of the ransomed and redeemed! I care not that Satan has stolen music and
perverted it to sensual and infernal uses. That is no
more reason why I should not make my heart praise
my Maker, than that the vile abuse of any thing is an
argument against its uses, unless as in the case of alcohol, where the use be an abuse of the user The great
dangers connected with the opera do not lie in the
music, but in the usual accessories of the play-house;
a subject of which we shall speak hereafter. Galleries
of art, scientific lectures, are all means of recreation
within the reach of the young; and I do thank those
public benefactors, who are bringing to our shores so
many master-pieces of genius; and were I possessed
of a princely fortune (like him who was the princely
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UNCHRISTIAN AMIUSEMTENTS.
constructor of this edifice,) one of the best gifts I would
give to the young men of New-York would be some
Polytechnic Hall, in which, turning thleir feet from
every wicked place, they might come in and enlighten
their reason and purify their hearts in the long evenings of this season of the year.
Without dwelling farther on spe'cific recreations, we
come to this principle:  that whatever makes your
body healthier, your mind happier, and your immortal
soul purer, is Christian recreation. If you never depart from these good sayings, you will never bring
down the maledictions of him, who pronounced such
fearful curses upon the reveller and those who are
given to banquetings and excess.
In treating of recreations, I have gone  upon the
principle that they are sought for useful and lawful
purposes. " Whatsoever ye do, do all for the glory of
God." Every Christian ought to take his religion into
his pleasures just as much as into his counting-room or
his church. No Christian ought ever to spend an
evening in any place, from which he could not return
with the most devout and graceful approach to his
Saviour, as he bends on his knee in his closet to spend
the last hour of the day, as it flies up to God with its
account.
II. Secondly; there is something very different
from a desire for healthful recreation in the minds of
most people, when they seek amusement. In this part
of my discourse, I wish to treat of this different thing.
It is not recreation; it is not for the sake of being
better fitted for life's cares and toils and heroic duties;
but it is pleasure for its own sake and ultimate end;
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
and the gay, frivolous, and pleasure-loving are generally in pursuit of that.  They do not want refreshment; they want stimulant and high excitement. A
wise man, for instance, drinks for refreshment. Of
course he drinks pure water, or something that will
not  stimulate.  On  the other hand,  the sensualist
drinks for stimulation.  He goes to the bottle which
maddens and intoxicates.  The love of excitement is
what fills our dram-shops. The great mass of men go
to vicious places for what? for recreation? Not at all:
but for excitement; and the more fiery, the more
stimulating, the better. Here is the supreme attraction
of the theatre, the gaming-house, the drinking-saloon,
the billiard-room. Wvithlin those brilliantly lighted
apartments, the chief attractions are the high excitements to the nerves of the youth as well as the wornout dclebauchee. The only reasons why young men
seek such places, are the very reasons why they should
not seek them. Instead of rest to the body and delig,htful entertainment to the mind, they are positively
pernicious and poisonous. Such writers as those in
this city who, during the last few months or the last
year, have advocated dramatic entertainments, mistake
the main position, when they confound recreation with
sinful pleasures.  One is right and the other is ruinous.
Every thing that rests my body or mind, improves
my health and elevates my soul, is commendable.  Every
thing that stimulates this nervous system of mine,
until I become a walking maniac; every thing that
debauches my body, weakens my conscience, excites
impure thoughts, and makes my soul a terrible house
of imagery;  every thing that makes me forget God
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UNCIIRISTIAN AMUSEMIENTS.
and eternity; is dangerous, and in the last damnable
To this test we must bring the theatre, the midnight
carouse, and the ball-room. Do they recreate? Does
the drinking-house recreate?  Do  they improve or
profit, or do they demoralize and destroy for time and
eternity?  That is the question.  I do not suppose
any ideal or imaginary theatre, any ideal tipplinghouse.  I am not discussing an imaginary state of the
drama, where the audience are all saints, the actors are
all apostles; where the curtain would rise to the sound
of prayer instead of an overture, and the performance
would close with the Doxology instead of a song sung
by a harlequin; where no possible farce on the stage
could be so ridiculous a farce as the audience.  Such a
state of things is imaginary. Introduce such a thing
into New-York, and it would be deserted in four and
twenty hours.  Introduce  a theater in which such
plays as Hannah More's sacred dramas were to be
performed by conscientious performers, and the whole
class of theatre-goers would desert it in a week. As
the preacher entered at one door, the profligate would
go out of the other. As the deacon entered, the drain drinker would  retire.  As  the matron  came with
her pure daughters, the painted harlot would take
flight to some more congenial atmosphere,   All that
class who are attracted and stimulated by such dramas
as Camille, by the indelicate innuendo, by the ballet dancers, by the wine-saloon, and the stimulants of the
scene, never, depend upon it, would waste a dollar
upon a puritanic theatre.  It would be tasteless, insipid;
it would be deserted in a body; and who would fill
their places?  Would you?  Would I?  Would my
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CIIRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
congregation like to know that I filled one of the
vacant places in that theatre? For myself, I can say
that I have succeeded in obtaining all the recreation I
have felt necessary, and an exuberant flow of spirits,
without ever having entered the theatre, witnessed an
opera, played a game of cards, attended a ball, or indulged in the excitement of the wine-cup; and no
young man here wants one of them. Millions to-night
are empty in purse, character, and godliness, and
empty of hope, from having tried each or all of them
Why, do you not know that the real attraction of such
places is the stimrulant? All that is soul-exciting in
tragedy, mirth-exciting in comedy, is brought into rcquisition. In one thrilling scene, a mother shrieks out
her agony for her lost boy; in another, a betrayed
mistress wreaks revenge on her paramour; and in
another, a ribald scoffer burlesques the most sacred
passages of the blessed book of God.  It feeds the passion; the eye is not forgotten by the scene-painter, nor
by the actor in the dress that captivates and inflames
the lust. Those that can not be drawn by the stage
are drawn by the exciting accessories, by the music,
the wine-saloon, the presence of tempters to midnight
debauchery. "WISE TO DO EVIL," would I write
over the entrance of every theatre that ever stood in
this metropolis.  "HIe that is wise, let him not go in
thereat."  "By their fruits ye shall know them," is
the test the world applies to me and to you, my beloved fellow-professoQr of Christ's gospel. It is a good
test.  I wish Christians would not forget it.  "By
their fruits ye shall know them;" and I in turn say to
the lover of pleasure, Will you let me apply that to
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UNCHRISTIAN AMUSEMENTS
your own pleasure?  By your fruits I would know
you.
And  now I come to the theatre, (saying nothing
about cards, the wine-cup, or the ball-room,) and askDoes it improve the morals of those who deliberately
attend it?  WouLld a sensible merchant take a young
man into his counting-room, make him his bookkeeper, confident, or cashier, on the strength of the
knowledge that that young man regularly attended
the play-house?  The play-house has led more to the
workhouse and to ruin, than probably any other source
of temptation to the young, ever known in the history
of our metropolis.
Secondly: if the theatre is a good school of morals,
why do not the teachers learn and practise their own
lessons? It is a poor gospel that does not convert its
own advocates.  Now, far be it from me  to impugn
the character of all performers; but in the best days
of the dramas, Dr. Johnson used to say, he av9ided
their company, because of their tempting him to licentiousness.  Ought a lady to attend any place where
she will see her own sex unsexed; where woman ap.
pears in the attire of a man? That simple fact, a part
and parcel of theatricals, is one of its most bitter and
burning condemnations.
Again, if the drama is conducive to piety and morality, if it is productive of purity, why does it attract
the dram-shop, the drunkard, and  the profligate?
While I do not say that no man of good morals has
ever attended it, I do say that the bad people of this
city have a most striking passion for theatre-going;
and where the bad ail love to go, the Christian ought
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
never to go.  Would any young lady in this house
like to hear that her pastor had been in the playhouse?  If she saw me preacling Christ after seeing
mne there, would she not probably have a far more
vivid recollection of the play-house than appreciation
of the truth I tried to teach?  But God's test is the
best: "The end of such mirth is heaviness.'@  When
Dr. Harvey heard a lady speak of the pleasures of the
theatre in reply to the question as to what they were:
"First," she said, " the pleasure of anticipation before
I go; secondly, the pleasure of participation while I
am there; and thlirdly, the pleasure of recollection in
recalling the play after I am gone."  "Madami," said
that most perfect Christian gentleman, "madam, you
forget one pleasure."  "What is it, sir?"  "It is the
pleasure of retrospection, when on the dying-bed you
look back on a life immersed in such frivolities as that."
That was her last "pleasure of recollection" of a night in
a theatre.
Do  you say that many  dramatic productions are
master-pieces of intellect? I do not deny it. I do
not deny that Shakspeare's plays are the superbest of
all plays, and yet across that resplendent sun of' his
imperial intellect, how many a dark spot of obscenity
and profanation, almost blasphemy. So much so, that
when a master of the art of reading- a female —undertook to read those plays before a promiscuous audience,
she was obliged to leap from point to point, from passag,e to passage, as one crossing a stream would leap
from stone to stone, in order to keep a dry foot. My
friends, it is not necessary to enter a theatre to receive
intellectual pleasure, from Shakspeare or any  othei
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U-NCIHRISTIAN AMUSEMIENTS.
dramatist.  You can have it by the fireside without
the contaminating  vices of the play-house.  But if
the grandest dramatic pieces that ever leaped fulllgrown from the brains of the great master of English
poetry and philosophy, are only to be learned by my
son and daughter at the expense of their virtue, I
would lay them in their graves, ignorant of the first
line that Shakspeare ever penned. There are higher
walks of knowledge still-walks that I can tread in
company with the angels-walks that I can take with
my Divine Master-walks from mountain-top to mountain-top, out into the great landscape in which I study
God, and see my Father in all his works.
Now look upon this question in whatever light you
choose, these places of stimulation, not recreation, can
not bear scrutiny any more than any of the sinful excitements I have barely alluded to. I have dwelt upon
the theatre as a representative amusement, knowing
that much we have said in regard to it would apply to
kindred places of pernicious excitement.
My last argument against it is, oh! how many a
heart that has been touched by the Holy Ghost during
the last Pentecostal year; how many a young man who
has melted in the prayer-meeting, thrilled under the serilmon, been aroused by the Spirit to the grandeur of a
Christian life and the claims of God and the glory of
heaven; how many such a young man dates his first
relapse, and first steps of apostasy, to one or more of
the ten thousand scenes of fashionable dissipation,
which surround him in Nevw-York! That glorious
man, Baptist Noel, of London, allied by birth to the
nobility of earth-by the new birth to the nobility of
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CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS AND
heaven-says that a youth came to London and gave
himself up to teaching and Sabbath-ministration.  By
and by he missed him from the church-(that is the
first step, my young friends)-then he heard that he
was the inmate of a play-house; from the play-house
he traced him to the dram-shop; from the dram-shop
to the skeptic's club; and then down he went rapidly
with the necessary gravitation of sin to the very
depths of sin and debauchery That young man,
whose mother would not have recognized him had he
been brought to the threshold, in the morning of his
manhood, lay stranded upon life's shore, wrecked in
body and wrecked in character. Mr. Noel was summoned to his dying-.bed, and as he entered the room
he saw that the young man was within a step of eter.
nity. He took him by the hand-(oh! that pastors of
the present day would take young men by the hand!
you, my young friends, want men's hands, but God's
hand most of all)-he took him by the hand and talked
with him of Christ and hope in the dclying, hour. The
young man lay under it all in perfect and terrific despair, as if he had quenched the Spirit forever: the last
light seemed to have gone out. Noel bade him farewell and left him in indescribable agony of soul; but
as he lifted the latch, the young man started up with
a convulsive movement and begged him to return.
The pastor went back to his bed. The young man
mustering all his strength, drew his fice down and
whispered in his ear, "I amn damned! Iaen clamned!"
and then fell back upon his pillow, and in a few moments was with his God! If the play-house and the
skeptic-club bring such retributions as that, what Christ.'
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UNCHRISTIAN AMUSEMIENTS
ian father or mother will ever consent that their loved
ones should tread such fearfully slippery places? I
will now present three or four simple tests, and I shall
have completed this discussion:
I. First, every recreation which makes me stronger
in body, happier in mind, and purer in heart, is beneficial
II. Second, every amusement which is not an excitement, but the means of healthful recreation and
improvement, is allowable for a Christian. I stand
upon my Christian right in reference to them all: a
healthy conscience enlightened of God, is to be the
best judge.
III. Third, no Christian should ever take part in
any entertainments from which he can not conscientiously turn to his Bible and his closet.
IV. Fourth, no Christian should frequent any place
which Jesus Christ would forbid if he were personally
on earth; nor should he be seen in places so question
able that irreligious persons would be startled in finding him there.  "Abstain," my friends, "from all
appearance of evil."
Finally, let me remind you of the best rule of allGod's rule. Hiere it is, "Whether ye eat or drink, or
whatever ye do," in work or pleasure,'' do all to the,
glory of God." Then, when all your activities are in
full play for God, and your whole brain at work in
blessed schemes for studying and honoring him, your
whole hands occupied in leading men in paths of purity
and truth, your whole self happy in your work, your
principles, your recreations-that is life, oh! THAT IS
LIFEt You and I have heard sometimes a military
I
19 
CHRISTIAN RECREATIONS.
band approaching from the distance.  We  first catch
the notes of the horn, then the rich swell of the bugle;
then, as the band comes nearer, the finer, gentler, and
more delicate instruments mingle in with their harmony, until at length they come upon us with full
burst, in the splendid airs of Meyerbeer or Bellini!
The ear feeds on the exquisite accordance as the bee
feeds on the honey of iymettus.  So a man who says,
"Whatever I do, I will do for the glory of God," finds
in one act a beautiful melody; in the next act a sweet
harmony; in the next a delicious joy; and so he goes
on in full play and full work, nobly blending power
with power, affection with affection, and all with God;
and making life a joyous procession to the sound of
horn, timbrel, and trumpet, he sweeps in at last through
the heavenly gates to the raptures of Paradise. 0
blessed Saviour! let thy service be my unending recreation-thy presence my everlasting delightl
20 
THE BEST SYSTEM OF SHORTHAND EVER DEVISED MAY BIE
LEARNED, WITHOUT A TEACHER,.fROM
" GRAHAM'S HAND-BOOK OF STANDARD PHONOG                              RAPHY."
THIS book presents every principle of every style of this useful artcommencing with the analysis of words, and proceeding to the most
rapid reporting style-in such a Form and Mlanner, with such Fullness
of Explanation, and Completeness cf Illustration, and with such other
features as to fully adapt the work to the use of Schlools and to SelfL-[astruction. By ANDREW J. GRAHAM, Conductor of the Phonetic
Academy, New York; and Author of " Brief Longhand; A System of
Long,handcl Contractions and Expedients"-" A System for the Rapid
Expression of Numbers"-etc.  Price-Bound in Muslin, with embossed
side-title, $1 00; post-paid, $1 25.  With splendid gilt side-title and
marbled edges, $1 25; post-paid, $1 50.  For sale by ANDREW  J.
GIRAIIA., (Room 26 Appleton Building) 348 Broadway, New York.
The usefulness of Shorthand is not confined to any particular science or professRon, but is universal."-Di-. Jo7asoel.-" Phonography is a railroad method of
commonicating thought."-Rev. Dr, Ragles. — " Job Orto,., o, honored memory,
in his celebrated Letters, often thanks God for the discovery of'Shortlhand, and we
:t seldom echo the grateful aspiration."-Rer. Dr. Caopbell.-,a In my own experience I have derived far greater advantages from Phonography, i;.n the saving of
time, than I have from the railway and telegraph together."-C. E,ilc tI'ds8 Lester'.
" Phonography should be taught in the common schools, as one o' the best possible aids in obtaining a subsequent education."-Rev. Thlomnas IDill.-" I do not
know of any one branch of knowledge which will so surely lead to immediate, permanent, and respectable employment.  It is to any youth who may possess the art
[Plhonography], a ctlit(il of itself, upon which he may confidently rely for support."-St. Geo. Tlecker Caumpbell.-" I deem Phonography,  when thoroughly
learned an invaluable adjunct to education, and one which, when acquired in youth,
woul' not be parted with in manhood for thousands of dollars."-D-r. Jets. TV. St..Ie.
-  Exceptirg the simple branches of reading, writing, and aritlimetic, there is
notiing taught in our public schools so useful to a business man as Phonography."
— Geo.'I. Earle, Co,tnselor at Law.-" Such of cur std. tsi",t ha re made Phco
nographic Peporting a profession, have got along in life faster by all odds than
those in any other kind of business, and that without the possession of any special
brilliancy of talents."-Jnlo. S. Hart, Pt'iecipal of the P/tiladelphia High School.
s a
0                 m
I 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY SHELDON, BLAKEMAN & CO.
NOW READY.
THE NE W YO R K P UL P I T,
IN THE REVIVAL OF 1858,
SERMONS PREACHED IN NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN,
By the following Clergymen:
Rev.  Dr. HAGUE.
"   HATFIELD.
';  Hlscox.
1"  HITCHCOCK.
R     HIUTTON.
CR  KENNADY.
"   KREBS.
"   LATHROP.
1s   ]'CLINTOCK.
1 vol., 12mo. Price $1.
The publishers believe this volume will have an immediate and permanent
interest and a large sale throughout the land.
SELECT DISCOURSES.
Translated from the French and German.
Embracing some Twenty-five of the choicest Discourses of Adolphe Monodl,
Krummacher, Tholuck, and Julius Aitller.
With Dr. MIonod's celebrated Lecture on the Delivery of Sermons,
and a fine Steel Portrait of the Author.
By Rev. H. C. FISH, and D. W. POOR, D. D.
1 vol., 12mo, about 400 pages Price $1.
THE LIFE AND MISSION OF WOMEN.
By ADOLPrE MONOD, D.D.
Translated from  the French.   In one handsome volume,  12mo, 82 pagp
With a Portrait from Steel.  Price 50 cents.
We are here presented with the ablest and most practical discussion of this
great subject which it has ever received.  It is a book for the times, and
should be in the hands of every mother and daughter.
?FOURTH SERIES OF SERMONS BY
THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON.
1 vol., 12mo. Price $1.
GLIMPSES OF JESUS, EXALTED IN THEE
AFFECTIONS OF HIS PEOPLE.
By Rev. WV. P. BALFERN, of England.
18mo., 260 pages. Price 60 cents.
This will be an excellent book for young converts and inquiring minds
Rev. Dr. ALEXANDER.
a   ADAMIS.
]   BETHU-\E.
"   B UDINGTON.
"1  BURCHARD.
"   CLARK.
"   CUTLER.
4   CUYLER.
Rev. Dr. PARKER
41 PECK.
is POTTS.
"   SMITer.
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It TItOiPSONm.
"   VERMILYE.
"   WILLIAMS.
v. 
NEW BOOKS PUBLISHED BY SHELDON, BLAKEMAN & CO
NEW BOOKS, JUST PUBLISHIIED.
SERMONS   TO THE CHURCHES.
By FRANcIS WAYLAND,  D.D.   1 vol. 12mo.   Price 85 cts
CONTENTS.
I. The Apostolic Ministry.                        V. Slavery to Public Opinion.
II. The Church, a Society for the Conver-    VI. The  Perils of Riches.
sion of the World.                       VII. Prevalent Prayer.
III. Christian Worship.                         VIII. Responsibility for the  Moral  ConIV. A Consistent Piety, the Demand of the               dition of Others.
Age.
A NEW BOOK BY SPURGEON.
SPURGEON'S GEAEMS.
Consisting of Brilliant Passages from the Published and Unpublished Sermons
and other Writings of the
Rev.  C.  H.  SPURGEON, of London.
1 vol. 12mo. Price $].
From  the..NL7 York  Observer.
"The Publishers of Spurgeon's Sermons-Sheldon, Blakeman & Co.-have in press a
volume of' Brilliant Passages' frorm the discourses of this remarkable preacher. We
have seen the sheets of the new book, and every page is a flame of glowing fire.  The
extracts are brief and characteristic, earnest, bold and strong, full of striking thought,
brilliant imagery and warm appeal We think it will be far more attractive than the
volumes of his Sermons, and they have had an extraordinary circulation in this conntr."
MIEOIR OF DA V[D TAPPAN STODDARD.
Missionary to the Nestorians.
BY JOSEPH P. THOMPSON, D.D.,
Pastor of the Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York.
Illustrated with a beautiful Steel Portrait of Mr. Stoddard, a View of his
Birthplace, and several Scenes in and around Oroomiah.
1 vol. 12mo. Price $1.
Dr. Thompson was a classmate and intimate friend of Mr. Stoddard. The Memoir is
framed almost entirely from material furnished by Mr. Stoddard's correspondenrce. min
which his rare excellence as a Christian was always conspicuous.
The Rev. HI. G. O. Dwight, D.D.. of Constantinople, says of Mr. Stoddaru:
"I can say with truth, that it was never my privilege to contemplate a more perfee.t
and complete character. His talents, natural and acquired, were varied and rire, and
yet his whole deportment was unassuming and modest; and his affectionate earnestness
and glowing piety won all hearts."
Rev. Mr. Rhea, of Oroomiah, says:
"Ilis soul was wrapped up in his work;  A stream of love was continually flowing
through his heart  He had the happy exultant spirit of McCheyne and Summerfield."
Rev. Dr. Goodell, of Constantinople, says:
"He was not only a man to be greatly respected and esteemed, but also to be great!y
loved. His intellectual and moral qualities were of the very highest order."
The Rev. Rufus Anderson, D.D., Secretary of the A. B. C. F. M., remarks;
"He was as near an angel as ever I saw." 
COOKt,  1EtIIRTliTT &  BtlO\~N,
AND SOLE A GENTS FOR
WINDSOR AND CLIFTON MILLS PAPERS,
XICES' ELASTIC  INESTAND,
GREEN'S INK ERASER AND PENCIL RUBBER;
Strange's Pencil Sharpeners;
& LD,i - $~~'6[g:ELtWHT  HAP-,%OOHE  IPMEgCL%;
Burnef's Patent  Slate Pencil  Sharpener,
&c., &c.
Also, Manufacturers' Agents for the sale of
18 BEEK1IAN  STREET,  near Nassau,
R-  V~R
RICHARD F. BROWN.
~
IDniporters,
AND
GEORGE MIERRITT.
BENJ. F. COOK, 
TIHE LIVES
OF
THE THREE MRS. JUDSONS,
tissianarirs to  urnia.
BY ARABELLA MI. WVILLSON.
NEW AND ENLARGED EDITION.
COMPLETED TO TIHE DEATH OF EMILY C. JUDSON.
W'ith Steel Portraitsm 381 pp., 16mo., lMuslin. Price $1,25.
OPINIONS OF REVIEWERS.
Dr. Judson was not only a celebrated man and missionary, but his
wives have been worthy of him, and, of course, have been celebrated
women.  Many of the details of the missions in which these individuals labored, - and which are given in their separate memoirs, have
been omitted in this work, and the lives and characters of the women
themselves are set before us. The circulation of the volume cannot
but be useful.-Chutrch Herald.
A rapid examination of the book has left the impression on our minds
that the author has performed her task successfully; weaving faithful
and graceful narratives out of materials furnished to her hand by previous biographers.-[acedonian.
It will command a wide circulation among the numerous class in our
community, interested in missionary enterprises. It possesses, also, a
literary value, which commends it to the public attention.-Transcript.
It is one effect of the missionary cause that it has given to the church
and the world some of the finest models of female character. Not a small
number of American ladies who might have spent their lives in circumstances of ease, and in circles of refinement, in their own country, have
cheerfully surrendered everything to the conviction of duty, and have
gone to live and die in heathen lands; and in thus devoting themselves
to the best of causes, they have become examples of glowing and heroic fortitude in honor of Christ, which may be considered as marking
a new epoch in the history of their sex.  Dr. Judson's three wives, of
whom we have an interesting account in this volume, belong to this
favored class of females; and no Christian can read these sketches
without feeling that each of them is deservedly embalmed in the gratit("e of the church.  They differed essentially in some of their natural
qualities, but they were alike in the one grand point, of entire devotion
to the missionary work. There is little danger of multiplying judicious
works of this kind beyond the demand.-Puritan Recorder.
It is a most valuable book to be read by females; a record of noble
deeds, with elevating tendencies to all over whom it is possible to exercise influence. —State Register. 
Published by
C. M. SAXTON, No. 25 PARK ROW, NEW YORK. 
STANFORD AND  DELISSER
HAVE REOENTLY PUBLISHED THE FOLLOWING
NEW WORKS.
I.
LIFE-THOUGHTS " OF GREAT MEN.
SECOND EDITION OF
PEARLS OF THOUGHT: Religious and Philo     sophical, gathered from old authors. 18mo., cloth, antique, red
edges, 50 cents.
UNIFORM[ WiTI  THlE I  W$ORD[D  OF JESUS."
This excellent little volume has been welcomed by the Press universally with the
warmest commendations, and elicited every variety of enthusiastic praise, as a proof
of its intrinsic merit, it may be stated that the New York Independent copied
about S8) passages from it. It comprises the very cream of Qaurl's Inchiridion, and
Warwick's Spare Minutes, with other renowned productions of the 17th century, net
hitherto preseanted to the American public.
A religious and literary treasure."-Boston Post.
"Each selection is a complete gem."- Way of Life.
A very gem of a book.  It is a companion for solitude, a feast for friends in company, a comfort in sadness, and a joy alvays." —.  Y. Observer.
"As useful for quotation, as it is delightful for a thinking man to read."-Com. Ad,&
"It is a volume of rare material; the results of much reading, by a man of taste, refinement, and religious temper.-Yewark Adv.
"A  most recherche collection of gems from Quarls, Collier, Feltham, Warwick,
Fuller, Taylor, Pascal, hIall, and other worthies."-P1tiladelpthia Items.
It contains many gems; the volume should be widely circulated."-Courier and
Inqir'er.
"They are the' Life- Thozughts' of men long since dead, who being dead, yet speak."
-Ind ependelnt.
II.
SECOND EDITION,
THE LITTLE CHURCH LIBRARY,
BY JENNY MAR.SIH PARKER.
Author of the " Boy Missionary," &c. In 6 vols., muslin, gilt. Sold separately or in sets, 25c. each.
Co-., vTS: Around the Manger-The  Light of the World-Seeds for the Springtime-The Soldier of the Cross-Faruk Earnest-What a little Child should know —&c.
"Books which every parent should desire to give to a child.  They are very neatly
printed, and we predict for them a large sale and-great usefulness, for they cannot fail
to leave their imnpress upon the heart."-Rochester Democrat.
"Excellently adapted for Sunday School premiums or family gifts: they are just the
thing for youth."- Witness.
III.
Rf.V. C. B. TAYLER'S
RELIGIOUS TALES AND NOVELS.
New and cheap edition  10 veo. Fancy paper, 50 cents each; cloth, 75 cents.
CONTExrTS: Legends and Records —Margaret-Truth-Thaakfulness-Earnestness —
Good Man's Life-Mark Wilton-Angel's Song-Facts in a Clergyman's Life-Lady
Mary-&c.
"They combine, in an eminent degree, religious teaching with intellectual entertainsent, and should be in the hands of every Protestant family of the land.',-Boeton
P Ptf. 
NOW   IRIMA DI,
I'he S —abbath Hym n-Book,
FOR THE SERVICE OF SONG IN THE HOUSE OF THE LORD.
- EDWARDS. PARK, D.D., AUSTIN PHELPS, D.D., and LOWELL MASON, Doe. of Muisic.
957 pages, 16mo. Price, $1.
RELYIXG upon the opinions of a number'of eminent clergymen, and others, who have had op.unity to examine the proof-sheets of this new Hymn.Book, the publishers feel sure that it is a
,I advance in its department.  Several points in respect to it, to which they invite attention, are:
1. The leading principle in the selection of the Hymns has been that they should be of a truly
'otional character.
2. That they should be truly lyrical.
3. That they should be peculiarly adapted to the worship of the Most High, in his sanctuary.
4. The book is rich in metrical versions of passages from the Bible.
5. Many ancient Ilymns which have been used by the Church in the periods of her most earnest
I progressive religious life, are revived in its pages-a number having been translated expressly for
s purpose.
6. Tie ripest fruits of modern Hymnology have been carefully culled. Many new hymns never
-ore published are presented, and a still larger number which are now first introduced into a'Hymn
ok.
7. Much labor has been spent upon the relative proportion of the Hymns, the best places being
en to the best themes, and an especial fullness being given to those topics to which a healthy
.istian mind turns most frequently and with the most earnest affection.
$. Much thought has been given to the arrangement of the Hymns, that it may be at least so far
ical as to exhibit, in some measure, the mutual relation of the themes, and facilitate reference to
-- particular subject.
9. in respect to alteration in Hymns, strong conservative ground Is taken, a partiality being
)wn to original readings, which, indeed, are generally best. The alterations adopted to this book,
n-, are few, and only such as seemed to be called fbr by imperative reasons.
10. The Indexes are very copious, and have been prepared with an amount of care and research
ich have indeed occasioned much of the considerable delay in the publication of the book beyond
time for which it was announced.
11. The type used is large and clear, and it is designed that the manufacture of the book shall'
.ays be unexceptionable. Thie SABBATH HYMN-BOOK will be followed, as soon as practica, by the SABBATH  HYMN AND TUNE-BOOK, in which all the Hymns are set to appropriate
nes, the words and music being on the same page; and by the SABBATH  TUNE-BOOK, con.ing the Tunes alone.
A cheaper edition of the SABBATH HYMN-BOOK, yet in fair type, is in press.
Clergymen will be furnished single copies of the SABBATH  HYMN-BOOK for examination, for
',-price. Sent by mail, post-paid, on receipt of the amount
Published by
MASON BROTHERS,
108 and 110 Duane Street, New-York.
J. E. TILTON & CO.,
161 Washington Street, Boston.
N. B.-Au edition of the above books adapted to the use of Baptist Churches, by Rev. Dr.
ayland, will be publibhl:d by SHELDON, BLAKEMAN  & CO., Ne*-York.
0, 
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Friendships of the.:mo.  Price 55 cents.
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Chart of Life.   By Rev.'.;.:D.   12mo.   Price 60 cents.
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special subject of the work, can not fail to yield his sympathies to the genial comn
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indicate the "dangers and securities connected with the voyage to immortali
|Jottrna oft Conmmerce.
Coles' Concordance.   24mo.   Price $1 00.
This, to say the least that can be said, is, in almost every respect, the very best 
cordance extant  It is really an improvement on all the older works, being both n
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Bridal Greetings.   A  Marriage Gift.   By Rev. D. Wise, D.D. 
lin, gilt edges, 30 cents.   Silk, 45 cents.
Words that Shook the World.  By Rev. Charles Adams, A.M.  16
Price 75 cents.
This work is just out.  It is an'excellent book, embracing the best sayings and do
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Hibbard on the Psalms.   8vo.  Price $2  00.
This book occupies an important place in Biblical interpretation, and is a valu
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from the religious and secular press.
Young  MIan's Counselor.   By Rev. D. Wise, D.D.   12mo.   55) ce
Among the mntude of books specially adapted to young men, we know none w
combines more,'od qualities than the "Yoiu,g Mdan's Counselor."  Dr. Wise's styv
graphic and agreeable and his various reading and observation furnishl him with a
dant illustratio(,. —jIetlodist Qziarterly Review.
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The style of the "Youpg Lady's Counselor" is flowing, like the limpid, transp
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SIxTY-FOUR'TUOSAAND copies of these two works have been sold, and new edi
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Lady  Huntingdo:-lPortrayed.  New.   16mo.   Price 75 cents
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SUNDAY-SCHOOL BOOKS.
The list embraces about TWELVE nHUNDRED VOLUMES of the most thrilling and u
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inations, and are commanding an unprecedented sale.  Please examine them.
Anniversar  Dia-loguand other Pieces.
Thirty Dilgues -n,.'
I Thirty Dialoguesiiaone paekag~;     ets; if sent by mail, 41 cents.
These Dialogues and pieea on liMsaeets, and are intended for Sabbath-s
exhibitions and anniversaries, embrai a copy of the Dialogues for each speake
new work.'.
John A.;tray, Printer an d 8tereotyper, Nos. 16 & 18 Jacob St.
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