The theaters are fountains of vice!

The theaters are fountains of vice!

(Letters of John Newton)

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“The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, eating of meat and drinking of wine! ‘Let us eat and drink,’ you say, ‘for tomorrow we die!’ The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: ‘Till your dying day, this sin will not be atoned for!’ says the Lord, the Lord Almighty.” Isaiah 22:12-14

My dear Madam,
I am well convinced that if there is any practice in this land which is sinful–attendance on the playhouse is eminently so. The theaters are fountains of vice! I can hardly think there is a Christian upon earth who would dare to be seen there–if the nature and effects of the theater were properly set before him! By its innumerable train of dissipations, the god of this world blinds the eyes of multitudes, lest the light of the glorious gospel should shine in upon them.

I wish you, therefore, to use all your influence to make them shunned as pest-houses, and dangerous nuisances to precious souls! Especially if you know any who you hope, in the main, are seriously disposed, who yet venture into those haunts of Satan–endeavor earnestly and faithfully to undeceive them!

The time is short! Eternity is at the door! Was there no other evil in these vain amusements, than the loss of precious time (but alas! their name is legion)–we have not leisure time to regard them.

And, blessed be God, we have no need for them! The gospel opens a source of purer, sweeter, and more substantial pleasures! We are invited to communion with God! The wonders of redeeming love are laid open to our view. Well then, may we bid adieu to the perishing pleasures of sin!

Well may we pity those who can find pleasure in those places and parties . . .
  where Jesus is shut out;
  where His name is only mentioned to be profaned;
  where His commandments are not only broken, but insulted;
  where sinners proclaim their shame, as in Sodom, and make no attempt to hide it;
  where wickedness is veiled in the disguise of amusement–to make it more insinuating!

“You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God?
 Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.” James 4:4

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