The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1875-06-16
rha Church And The Theatcr.

the legitimate drama is not withou
it's friends even in the church, ant
the grand possibilities which thu
stage possesses for doing good and
working instruction, are now ane
then ably indicated by clergymeI
of enlarged views of life. OF this
liberality we have lately had severa
conspicuous instances, on both the
Protestant and the Catholic sides
Some time ago the Rev. DIR. Porte
GUS delivered in New York an ad.
mirable lecture on the ATTITUDE Of
the Church Toward Amusements,' .
in which he took distinct issue with
the spirit of antagonism to amuse-
ments, and sensuous enjoyments.
He considers them not only allow
able, but necessary, and intrinsi
cally he regards the thea.er as
neither wicked, vicious, nor bad.
Acting is an instinct of human
nature. This instinct has gathered
around it literature that is im-
perishable, and its influence has
kept pace with the worlds pro-
gress. It is one of the fine arts. If
it is an achievement to paint ON
canvass representations of the emo
tons, how much better is it when it
takes living forms?' DR.. Porteous
acknowledges that evil mingles with
the good of the stage, but it is the
business of the church not to shun
the good on that account, but to
accept and encourage it, and make
it basis for the eradication of tue
evil. Father Young a Catholic
clergyman of New York, is even in
advance of his protestant brother
as regards his views of the stage.
In the eloquent sermon preached
by him the other day at the funeral
of Dan Bryant, the actor, he de
clared that the Roman Catholic
worship itself was little else than a
grandiose drama. ''The Catholic
Church''-he said-''sees nothing
2 to condemn in the profession of an
actor. His calling is as honorable
as that of the lawyer, the merchant,
the banker, etc. The drama, prop
erly considered. is full of good
teaching: for it generally repre-
sents the triumph of virtue and
the defeat of hypocrisy and vice"
The reverend gentleman, of course,
desires that the drama should re-
spect the church, and tells. the ac-
tors that the i'll will of the clergy
is largely due to the fact of their
having been So often misrepresen-
ted on the stage. But he soon
rises to loftier view of his subject.
'sThe dramatic element he con
tinues sis everywhere Life itself is
a drama, and death is the most
touching drama of all. The mass
which we are celebrating for the
soul of our departed friend is a
drama, too, and the most success
full of any ever performed. It has
been performed for nineteen CEN
turtles; it began with the divine
tragedy on Mount Calvary, and
will continue to the end of time
for it is the great play of Christ's
Passion, the perpetual repetition of
the tragedy which closed with the
salvation of the world
Perhaps the sentiments of DIR.
Porteous and Father Young will
shock some who are rusted into the
ancient, rigid, and restricted
theology, but they will neverthe-
less meet the appreciation of that
greater number who are struggling
to the light and grasping for any
theology that has for its object the
liberalization and elevation of the
human race. The ieud between the
theater and people, who are re-
markable for intensity of religious
or even moral earnestness, is an
old and inveterate quarrel, which
is constantly taking new forms and
breaking out in unexpected places.
Even before the Christian era, the
battle was waged with prejudice
and vigor. There is no room in
our state.' says Plato, ''for these
clever multiform gentlemen, who
can initiate anything" And be
proposes to tell the actor that he is
"a holy and " onderful being ''to
anoint him with myrrh, and set
garland upon his head and then
send him away to another city.
Prynne, the author of the "Histrio
mastics," could not have had a
much lower opinion of the moral
value of the theater than Plato, the
writer of the most poetic and dra.
matte dialogues in the literature of
the world. Nor is it only Greek
philosophers and English Puritans
who have seen in the road to the
theater s'the way to the pit" Pas
cal, who is Plato's rival in the ur
bane wit and easy play of his style,
was at one with him about the evil
of the drama. "Among all tile di
versions that the world has inven-
ted" he says, ''there is none 30
dangerous as comedy" Pascars
objection was to the false sentiment
and tenderness which the contem
plation of fictitious sufferings beget
in the mind.
It is O curious fact that while re-
ligion is invariably at war with the
drama, the drama has in almost
every land had its root in religion.
The choruses of wondering singers,
with which the Greek drama began
were. intent on doing honor to
Dionysius, the peasants favorite
god. Even when it became fully
developed, the Greek tragedy
formed kind of sacred festival,
and exactly the same religious en-
thusiasm produced the medieval
drama. The great sacrifice of the