Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-11-14


there. If, therefore, the actor possesses
n education, sensibility, fine perception
d Of the author, intimate acquaintance
Il with the heart, and, withal, mastery
genius, which moves the sources of feel
ing from rapture to despair, till his aU
Il dience feels s. bswitchiDg rOmanCe
;; thrown around them, as if the indul
5 geBCe ard development or one single
feeling were the secret of happiness anC
is the end of hUman lie; the aim OF his
profession is achieved and he is account
> ed a master at his work. But all tina
maybe done by preacher, and yet his
e task is scarcely began.
The pulpit orator must produce his OWE
compositions, 10 matter whether ne be Q
first, second or thiTdsclsss thinker. He
must originate two sermons a week al
the least AS best he msy, and when his
discOurses have been Ouce delivered he
, must in no wise repeat them to the
same audience. But the actor speak,
neither MS own words nor thoughts He
fudg the play produced ready to his
hands, ard frequently il is work Of the
!. highest possible genius, such as no ORA
matist now living could prepare, as n
/! thu works OF Shakespeare. Such gigan.
|
3 anywhere. Seldom indeed does the au-
thor of q play succeed in enacting ii
well himself if ne makes the attempt,
although as a writer he may possess that
browning gift Of God which We call
genius. He !lsy brand the base or COM
mend the beautiful with q singular in-
spiratiOn, bat his work goes iatO the
hands Of others that its full effect may
be property let. The preacher, how
ever, must both prepare and deliver his
own compositions. Aud not only this,
but he is expected to treat Of q number
less round OF suGjects, covering the en-
tie stretch of religious ruth, critical
: didactic, controversial, historical, emo
tiOnsl and practical. Whatever his tastes
and capacities may be, he is expected to
! be many sided AID 4 man Of all sorts Of
work. He is forbidden by the necessl-
ties Of the case to e0pfne himself to one
hemisphere Of thought or feeling. Blu.
the actor is left TO his own choice in the
selection Of tragedy or comedy, and of
the lighter or weightier order, as he may
judge them best adapted to his tastes
aud capacities. If ne eXcels in that par
ticulsr department most grateful TO
his own preferences snd powers,
no more is demanded at his hands.
Take for example our renowned fellow
citizen, Mr.. Booth. Nobody doubts his
| wonderful attachments in rendering GER
tair Of the great creations of cur immOr-
| tai 7, ct; but all Of Shakespeare is not
! equally acceptable to him. There is in
| HIM certain adaptation of mind, heart,
! person, manner aud voice to great char
! acters, such SIS "Hamlet," but very little
to some of the lighter characters of the
great bard. And yet Mr.. Booth has
found it needful to devote q lifetime of
study and practice to his favOrite char.
acters. In reaching his present great
| proficiency in certain great works, he
has been obliged to seize every facility
within his reach, in the fOIm
OF commentary, note, glossary,
ard the suggestions Of living ex-
ample, so INST his brain and
heart have w0rzsd until in each partic-
ulsr play in which he excels, not only
every word is committed to memory, |
! but every shade of thought aud form Of
expression has received its settled inter-
probation, to a gesture, look, g sylla-
Die, and tone. He has tested scores Of
different accents, intonatiOns, attitudes,
and gesticu!atiOn5 upon every impOr- |
tanC sentence, till the most acceptable |
have been adopted, and the consequences !
is that be can repeat the play, with but |
slight variations, for hundred nights |
cons ecutively, and. So a giant in bis |
calling, delight his audiences to the last. |
Can any preacher living DO anything of |
that sort in his pulpit? How long would |
tie be tolerated in such course, if he did |
choose such g method OF address?
Would it be allowable for him to take
our Lords sermon on the Mount, PauI's
Grafton before Agrippa, the twenty. third
chapter OF job, all these together, Orany
other inimitabie passage from the bible,
spend lifetime upon it, and rely upon
its delivery to effect the purposes of his
ministry? Yet this is an exactly paraI-
lei case, so far as originality in COMPOST
ton is concerned. Or, If he i Obliged
to use some other form of compost
ZION than the bare text of
scripture, can he take a sermon
from Augustine, ChTysostOm, MassillOn,
Jeremy Taylor, or Robert Hall, commit
it to memory, spend years upon the j
study Of its best rendering, as to the
sense, the forces OF gesture, management
Of the voice, the graees of time, etc, I
and then deliver it again and again to {
sny one congregation on earth? What
audience would tolerate such 8 proceed
ure as that IL preacher? But why
not? Simply because every mans con-
seriousness pTOclaims to him that the
bent of true design in the pulpit impa-
riOusly forbid such use of these great :
pulpit masters. Then where is the sense I
OF attempting comparison between the q
pulpit and the stage, as to the relative i
ELECTS which they produce upon audi '
ences gathered in thester ard IN q
church? But this is not all. Every l
pulpit orator does his work unaidad, but '
no actor performs play alone. The {
play itself is made up Of q Thousand /
" riOas shades OF thought and utterance s
the widest possible range is granted TO s
he grave and the gay, the sensitive and j
he stOlid, the graceful and the uucOuth, V
he tender and the stern; there sTe in il f
constant alterations OF sUblimity and b
nonsense, compassion and ridicule, r
attire and wit. But each one L
u these holds an important place, as
prominent member Of plot which is {
Intended throughout to affect the emo q
ions. Now, how many of these various f
'asts OK style can have proper place in i
sermon? Many OF them certainly il
ught not to have any place in such y d
composition. Take, for example, sto- Y
.dlty, UncOuthne5s, nonsense, Snd wit. d
1t any rate, the man who ventured to 1
Introduce them would be scoute d at as a 3
mount enauk, and justly. 1t il one OF e
be commoaest things for those who /,
hink that the pulpit suffers by compari- +
on with the stage TO remind the L
reacher that genuine religion is not 60 a
luch matter OF feeling as Of principle. o
{ begins in right thinking, develops Z
self ia right acting, and ends in a con- Il
ition of love to God and good will to. f,
'aTd man, | cordially aecept this def Ell
ltiOn az correct in the main. Bot even T.
nth such an understanding of the sub II
set as this, the preacher is constaL thy il
ttacked a. "gusbigg orator." SEN CT
atiOnSl preacher" and q minister Of ri
he ''gOspel OF gush," il he ventures too y,
eely to point his appeals to the hearts m
men by the power of love and some nj
LheT of the geDtler peTsussives which 81
rove men II ali other spheres OF action. DE
hen the charge is that such preach III
IS are suaining after effect. gu
he very thing which is adduced "
) proof Ofsuccess on the stage is dis hi
lowed in the pulpit as utterly mex al
lsable, and yet the pulpit is regarded "a
) weak and eIfste if 1t fails to present II
: credentials to the same sort Of sue. ps
ass. Besides this, all the different ii,
yles and grades Of thought in the play in
re sustained by as many different per- Of
ms, each az WnOm il deemed exactly %
ItaDle to the part which he sustains DC
q some plays a small army Of men are &c
acessary to support the chief actor. Oc
ew Of ShakesLesre's can &c enacted at tic
l with less than fifty persons. The an
PERSONA ia the Tempest, MeT- tn
'dnt Of Venice, Merry Wives Of Wlad- tn
=, Romeo and Jltliet, Macbeth and gu
dnatet each require st least that num- OF
T, while Richard III will call for not de
IS than forty. Exsctly what lights and IA
sdows are TO picture these several Al
.it5 are 10 play. Who can wonder, ma
en, that man OF even ordinary sbil. oil
Z, 80 sustained, can produce q marked IL
feet upon the feelings Of an audience? LIZ
ID to this the fact that the whole play re