Dr. Robert Boyd, The World's Hope, or Rock of Ages (1873, 1880 printing): 674-5.
"Whenever I hear professing Christians beginning to inquire what harm there can be in the social dance, or what harm there can be in the theatre, or in games of chance, I always know that it is a sign that the love of Christ is declining in their hearts, if indeed it ever existed at all. It is an attempt to get something to satisfy conscience, and is virtually declaring that the bread of life with which Christ feeds the soul does not satisfy [and only He can meet the needs of your soul! The world can't even come close--that's why sinners are never, ever satisfied. They always have to have more, they are always looking at the greener grass on the other side of the fence. And then they find after they have eaten their fill, that it leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth.], and that therefore they are anxious to find some excuse for getting back to the service of Satan. And, instead of arguing the rightness or the wrongness of those things of which no truly spiritual mind has any doubt, I would say, Take heed, my brother [or sister], to your own heart. Your Lord has warned you, not only against going back, but against even looking back; and you are instructed not to seem to come [up] short. You are to shun the very appearance of evil, and the very fact that you are beginning to glance with approval at the abounding iniquity of the world, shows that your love to the Redeemer is "waxing cold." Take that cold [hard] heart [of yours, back] again to Jesus; and rest not satisfied till it is brimming over with His love, "who was holy, harmless, and separated from sinners."
We've seen it here already.
"Whenever I hear professing Christians beginning to inquire what harm there can be in the social dance, or what harm there can be in the theatre, or in games of chance, I always know that it is a sign that the love of Christ is declining in their hearts, if indeed it ever existed at all. It is an attempt to get something to satisfy conscience, and is virtually declaring that the bread of life with which Christ feeds the soul does not satisfy [and only He can meet the needs of your soul! The world can't even come close--that's why sinners are never, ever satisfied. They always have to have more, they are always looking at the greener grass on the other side of the fence. And then they find after they have eaten their fill, that it leaves a bitter aftertaste in the mouth.], and that therefore they are anxious to find some excuse for getting back to the service of Satan. And, instead of arguing the rightness or the wrongness of those things of which no truly spiritual mind has any doubt, I would say, Take heed, my brother [or sister], to your own heart. Your Lord has warned you, not only against going back, but against even looking back; and you are instructed not to seem to come [up] short. You are to shun the very appearance of evil, and the very fact that you are beginning to glance with approval at the abounding iniquity of the world, shows that your love to the Redeemer is "waxing cold." Take that cold [hard] heart [of yours, back] again to Jesus; and rest not satisfied till it is brimming over with His love, "who was holy, harmless, and separated from sinners."
We've seen it here already.
