# Samuel Miller on the design of recreation



## satz (Aug 28, 2006)

I was recently reading a sermon by Samuel Miller and came across the following interesting quotation on the purpose of recreation of christians.




> The design of recreation,"”I mean the design of it in the view of the Christian, or even of the sober minded votary of mere natural religion, is not to kill time; but to refresh the body and mind, and to prepare them for the more vigorous and comfortable performance of duty. It follows, therefore, that recreations are lawful only so far as they are necessary and suitable for this purpose; of course, when they are either carried to such a length as to consume more time than we need to employ in this manner; or when they are of such a nature as to have no tendency to prepare either the body or the mind for the more easy, comfortable, and perfect discharge of the sober duties of life, but the contrary, they become wholly unjustifiable. They are a criminal waste of time; and to indulge in them is utterly unsuitable to the character of rational and accountable beings



Thoughts? Agree? Disagree?


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## Peter (Aug 29, 2006)

Whether therefore ye eat or drink or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God - 1 Cor 10:31

Do your own business and work with your own hands that ye may have lack of nothing - 1 Thess 4:11, 12

Henry Scudder (The Christian's Daily Walk) has some great rules on recreation that maybe I'll have time to post. Also T. Vincent's exposition of WSC 1 (where I copied the above texts from). Commentaries on WSC 1 and the 8th commandment would have useful info. Basically, we need to remember man has two great vocations in life. Thatof being a Christian and walking with the Lord and secondly his particular calling or employment in the world. Everything ought to be subordinate to these two duties.

[Edited on 8-29-2006 by Peter]


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## satz (Aug 29, 2006)

Thanks Peter.


I think our generation has come to regard entertainment or recreation as far more important than it actually is. Instead of being a reprieve from work, entertainment has become the be all and end all for many people. I say this as someone who has much to change and reform in this area.

In that sense, I think Mr Miller´s statement is in many ways a timely one for our generation. We need to come to see recreation as a break from duty, and not just rush though our duties in order to get to the recreation, which is the way of many today.

I do wonder though at his proposition that all lawful recreations must "˜necessary and suitable´ to prepare us to better perform our duties. The bible is clear that a christian´s duty in this world is work and worship ( to put it that way) and we can thus infer from that that recreation ought to take up only a small portion of our time and energies. That much is true, but the bible does not make the logical leap of saying then that recreation must be "˜for the purpose of making us better at worship and work´ or "˜to revive your body and mind for further labor´. It does not seem to me that the bible makes that logical leap.

If a man finds pleasure in a certain thing I don´t see how the bible would prevent him from engaging in it simply for enjoyment´s sake, as long as he does not compromise his priorites.

The bible does not really address the matter of recreation at all, or its purpose etc. It does focus heavily on man´s duties and work, while barely mentioning recreation at all, which show us that man is to be primarily occupied with his duties and not on playing, but I do not think we can go beyond that.


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## ReadBavinck (Aug 29, 2006)

> _Posted by satz_
> If a man finds pleasure in a certain thing I don´t see how the bible would prevent him from engaging in it simply for enjoyment´s sake, as long as he does not compromise his priorites.



Richard Baxter talks a lot about priorities when he addresses this issue to ministers in The Reformed Pastor. I just read it and am thinking through this issue a lot right now, since I am seeking to be a pastor. I admit it is a difficult one for me.

He answers these objections:


> OBJECTION 4:
> 
> But this course will destroy the health of our bodies, by continual spending
> our spirits, and *allowing us no time for necessary recreations*; and it will
> ...





> OBJECTION 5:
> 
> I do not think that it is required of ministers that they make drudges of
> themselves. If they preach diligently, and visit the sick, and perform other
> ...



His responses are very detailed (long) so I won't post them, but if you're interested you can find them here.


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## satz (Aug 30, 2006)

Thanks Christopher.

Anyone else have any comments?


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## NaphtaliPress (Aug 30, 2006)

Here's a comment or two from William Twisse regarding recreations. From _The Morality of the Fourth Commandment, as Still in Force to Brad Christians _ (London: 1641) 242-244; 184. By William Twisse D. D. From _An Anthology of Presbyterian & Reformed Literature_ 3.3 (1988) 79.


> [pp. 242-244] As for recreations, which are here said to serve lawfully to the refreshing of our spirits; this appellation is very ambiguous, neither do I know any difference between the recreating of our spirits, and the refreshing of our spirits. Yet here the refreshing of our spirits is made the end of recreation. Again it were good to distinguish between recreation of the body, and recreation of the mind. I think the refreshing of spirits pertains to the recreation of the body. Men's spirits are natural and material things, and they are apt to be wasted (1) naturally; for as life consists in _calido,_ in hot matter, so heat is apt to spend and waste the matter wherein it is; and spirits thus wasted are recreated, that is, repaired by eating and drinking. And thus provisions of victuals are commonly called recreates.
> 
> (2.) They are wasted also by labor voluntarily undertaken, and these are repaired, as by the former way, so by rest also. And each way we are allowed to recreate our spirits on the Lord's Day; and as to allow such rest to our servants as a work of mercy, so to our own bodies also. But now a-days many courses are called recreations, wherein there is found little rest; and the natural spirits of man are rather wasted, and his nature tired; far more than the one is repaired, or the other eased. And when all comes to all, I doubt the issue will be, to style the pleasures of our senses by the cleanly name of recreations.
> 
> ...


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## Puritanhead (Aug 30, 2006)

Sound thoughts.


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