The New York herald., 1871-01-08
siiiy Sabine.

the beauty of whose life and the loveliness Of
whose nature. so exquisitey pictured by Vic
tor Hugo in the good Bishop of 'Les Miser-
ables, has enshrined his name in the heart Of
good Christians Of every shade Of creed, that
young priest in his diocese having once
refused to read the service over the remains
of dissolute young actress he sent for him
and said, ''Young man, when this girl on the
day of judgment comes up before her God do
you think He will ask to what profession she
belonged, or that He who sees into all hearts
will not judge her with tenderness and mercy
by what she did or strove to do in the path
in which she was placed? Who are you that
you should dare to judge and assume a pre-
rogative which belongs to God alone?" So
spoke Fenelon.
Some weeks since an old artist died in this
city, kindly, gentle, good old man. upon the
mirror of whose life no breath of badness had
ever fallen. How many among us remember
when young to have listened with delighted
smile to the merry mimicry of old George
Holland! How many of us caught the sweet
music of cur children's joyous laughter as
they revelled in innocent delight over his
quirks and jests and patent snufle! And
during the many years in which he played
many parts there is not man within
this city who can point to word which
ever passed his lips which could touch
with the faintest wound the delicate sensibility
Of girl His life was one of manly work
and blameless goodness, and he brought up
numerous family to walk in the ways their
father did. When he died brother artist
called on clergyman-a young priest too
to read over his remains the service of the
dead. One would have thought the discharge
of such a duty over what was left of such
man would have been to Christian clergy
man a labor of love. 1t was not to the Rev.
Mr.. Sabine. His answer was, 81 want to
have nothing to do with an actor. There is
little place round the corner where they do
these things"-that place round the corner
where they do these things of which this min
lister of God speaks with this tone of arrogant
contempt being church dedicated to God and
devoted to the preaching of the creed to which
he himself belonged. A green grocer who
had not the article you required could hardly
direct you to another corner grocery with an
air of more savage sulkiness. This answer is
the broken feather which fixes this man to the
Earth. 1t needs no comment. If it was q
thing sinful to be done why send to another
church of his own creed to do it? Qui factt
per aliuna .facat per Sc. So spoke the Rev. Mr..
Sabine. There was no Fenelon to chide and
to teach here; but the Rev. DR.. Tying chris
tens him ''Si!ly Sabine" AS to ''the little
church round the corner" il has since become
garlanded with roses in the affections of all
charitable souls.
The Rev. Mr.. Sabine, in his Sunday sermon,
seems to think that every man should mind his
own business but this is the business of every
man. If such acts Of brutal bigotry are per-
mtted to be perpetrated in the name of reli-
gion, where are they to stop? Up to this act
of barbarism one would hardly be driven into
believing that at season when the star which
stood over the stable at Bethlehem seems to
shed its gentle radiance around, and the
thoughts and hearts of all men warm up to
gentle and charitable emotions and all dscor-
dant feelings are hushed in the cultivation of
the amenities of life, and the realization for
once of the sense of human brotherhood and
evangelical love, New York would be shocked
and aggrieved at the sight Of a minister Of the
Gospel scorning to perform the rites of the
Church at the funeral of a fellow Christian,
and that fellow Christian man who led not
Int uho
distinguished position in profession which
has been recognized by the Church itself as the
most appropriate medium for symbolzing reli-
gious truth and the history of Christ and His
apostles Long before the days of Mrs. Sid
dons and Talma both of whom nnumerable
dignitaries of the Church recognized as their
equals, or before those of Rachel, who, not
withstanding the fact that she was born out
side the pale of Christianity, was con stantly
received as guest by the Archbishop of Paris,
the stage was regarded not only as the theatre
of histrionic art, but of the Church itself, and
for many centuries since the advent of the
Saviour to the present day theatrical per-
formances were used for the illustration of
religious history. Especially in the South of
Europe has the connection between the stage
and religion continued up to the present day,
where year after year pilgrims from every
part of the world throng Oberamergau, in the
Bavarian Tyrol, to witness the ever-thrling
scenes of the life of Christ, as personated by
artists in whom religious ardor is so much
blended with artistic genius that the audience
is thrilled with evangelical rapture as well as
by sense of admiration for the actors engaged
in this extraordinary annual performance.
One would think, did one of these artists die,
that the whole world would be ransacked in
vain to find clergyman to turn his back upon
his grave save that unfortunate one who pre-
sides over the ill-fated church corner Twenty