The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1864-12-05
High Comedy and Low Morals.

ment Without pausing TO consider how far the
generality Of people are willing to go to school
where hitherto they have gone merely for plea
sure, or whether tragedy and comedy would take
better with a moral laboriously pinned in the
shape Of foplogues to each, it is safe to argue shat
the community can with benefit dispense with
shat style OF stage-sermon which has prevailed at
the Walnut Street Theatre for the last few Sunday
evenings.
AT this place person calling himself "Rev. S.
NJ lands, NJ. d." has, for the last four weeks,
been preaching q series OF sermons entitled "The
Rock upon which the Church Split" There is
no occasion for any one not knowing who this
person IS His Advertisements state all that he
deems necessary. There can be no doubt about
his being popular and gifted orator, for they
state empheically that he is. From the same
source we are tod that his sermons are great
and suited for Thinking People," The features
which are peculiar 10 the entertainment are that
the admission is five cents, ITO pay expenses"
Of course-that under no circumstances is change
giVen-snd that the public is invited to go early,
70 avoid the crowd at the door.
The visitor who shall go 10 the Walnut Street
Theatre any Sabbath evening, will see the foot
lights shining; drawing room scene set on the
centre of the stage.a small table, on which are
placed a Bible, hymn book atumb!er, and
pitcher Of water; the prosceniuR boxes empty,
the orchestra vacant the rest Of the house from
parquette TO dome crowded to excess, and upon
the stage the popular and gifted orator." who
is TO deliver one of his "great" sermons. He will
discover q crowd lounging around the steps of
the sanctuary, a crowd in the lobbies, crowd
up the starways even unto the third tier, and
crowd in that third tier itself. These are the
'"Thinking People," comesO hear the popular
and gifted orator" deliver one Of his "great"
sermons.
The series of sermons which the popular and
gifted" has chosen to deliver, is entitled "The
Rock upon which the Church Split The
''great" sermon, in this series, last night, was
upon Beauty" and the week previous upon the
"Sunday City Car Question" 1t would be un-
kind, perhaps, to the popular and gifted" to
charge him with logical inconsistency. Ii we
apprehend him Alright, however, one Of the rocks
upon which the Church split was the Sunday
City Car Question, and another was Beauty. We
have not had the advantage Of hearing all the
"great" sermons Of the popular and gifted"
but we have heard these two. After having
heard them, we can, of course, no longer doubt
that two of the rocks on which the Church split
For, to produce conviction, the popular and
gifted" does not apply vulgar reasoning lie
employs the higher principles Of faith, and takes
1t for granted that the public viii take it for
granted that Beauty and the Sunday City Car
Question are two Of the rocks on which the
Church split
His consideration Of the Sunday City Car Ques-
tion was marked by the prcponderance of one idea,
hot tvyou hot nd
guides, who strain at gnat and swallow camel.
Indeed, there were some blind guides said the
s'popular and gifted" who strained at guat and
swallowed fifty camels-pretty big cames, too.
This is a round and musical sentence. 1t winds
up paragraph well, and the popular and gifted"
made use of tive are afraid 10 say how many
times-much as "Mrs. TOodles' reminded "Mr.
Toodles," after her auction experiences in wheel
barrows, we,chbOxes, and brass door-handles! (!
"how handy it will be to have them in the house."
The audience may therefore be excused from con-
meeting the two passages and the galleries, which
always appreciate humor, may be pardoned for
suggesting the connection between the text as
repeated by the popular and gifted" and the
one which is already known to the newspaper
reading world as "He played on a harp of thou
sand strings, spirits of just men made perfect"
In his quotations, also, the "gifCed and popular
was not less happy. The fact that they were
presented to Thinking People" explains the
frantic and often renewed efforts Of the upper
circles to help him out when his powers of
memory proved vain. IL was naturally to bo
expected that the "Ihinking People should feel
anxious to hear him enunciate quotations with
grace, and without the "stick" which Is SO killing
to effect UpOn the stage. The attention and
earnesness with which his audiences hang upon
his words, were last night sufficiently tested. For,
the popular and gifted" happening to refer to
the fact Of It's being as impossible for a rich man
10 enyer the kingdom Of heaven, as for a camel
20 psGs through an eye Of a needle large portion
Of those present Immediately perceived the reta-
tion Of the text TO that Of the previous Sabbath,
and applauded with as great a fTor as if the
gifted and popular had referred to the memorable
words "blind guides who strain at a gnat and
swallow q camel"
His great sermon last night was upon Beauty.
Beauty, said the lecturer was of two kinds,
natural and artificial. Whether the rock on which
the Church split was natural or artificial beauty
Was not explained In the progress Of the dis
coarse much that was true was said. For in
stance, il was said that birds were natural. and
that Adam and Eve were created physically per
kct. 1t was stated that if people would attend
10 the requirements Of their bodies more. that
they would be healthy, and the succeeding gene
ration more beautiful In addition to these
pleasing GactE, the popular and gifted" favored
she audience with aUtobiograpbic passages, which