The Morning herald., 1878-05-03
ANOTHER GOOD MAN GONE
WRONG.

be an eloquent and scholarly man, has cast
his ballot against the circus and the min
strel troupe. OF course the theatre has
been long since condemned to the bow
vows" by the "Holy Willies OF the
country. Listen to him
"He began by recalling an incident of his
own experience, how upon one occasion he
was tempted to visit minstrel perform
ance, yet felt some hes,taLcy about doing
so, even when he had reached the door of
the theatre, but looking in he espied scme
members of his church in the audience and
the sight decided him at once. He entered,
but he could not enjoy the performance, for
he felt that he had loosened the bonds that
united him to Christ"
Will the reverend gentleman inform us
in what way The had loosened his bonds ?"
Did the sweet soul touching pathos of some
of the plantation melodies sever the liga-
ments of his spiritual loyalty9 Could it
be the mimicry of poor Bones, with his
stale, but at all times moral jokes, that
pierced link in his christian armore Has
it occurred to our pious friend that the
Bible, by strong negative testimony, is on
the side of such amusements as he con.
demns. Zach. VIII, s.: "And the streets
of the city shall be full of boys and girls
playing in the streets thereof" That this
text was in allusion to species of dramatic
performance, I quote the Rev. Joseph
Dixon, D. D., Professor of Sacred scrip-
ture and Hebrew in Maynooth College,
Ireland, the author Of q pre-eminently
able dissertation upon the Scriptures. If
this view is doubted, we refer to St.
Matthew XII, 1917, where our Redeemer
takes comparison from an amusement
practised by boys in the market place
"But whereunto shall esteem this genera
tien to be Hkes It is like to children sit
ting in the market place, who crying to
their companions say: We have piped to
you, and you baye not danced: We have
lamented, and you have not mourned. )"
From these words it would seem that the
amusement consisted in mimicing the scenes
of common life, from which they sometimes
selected gay, and sometimes doleful
subject. The market place then answered
the purpose of theatre. The Great Mass
ter does not intimate even distant reproof
OF such amusement. St. Paul frequently
draws comparisons from the circus and
theatre, and says not word In condemna>
tion, which indicates his opinion thereon.
"The desire of attending places of world
ly amusement is an outgrowth of emptiness
Of heart that wants to be fed with some-
thing that Christ don't supply. Mr.. Halde-
man censured those who, while not daring
to attend the circus themselves, sent their
wives and children thither, and said there
| might be some men whose conscience were
as devoid of sensation as an oyster is sup
posed to bet may be these Christians of
| this bivalve order who would not be injured
by frequenting places of worldly amuse-
ments, but the Christian who lives up y0n-
der with Christ, whose soul goes out in
alteration and communion with God before
the great white throne where the seraphim
wait to crown him, will not want to turn
from thence down to the low buffoonery of
the circus. ring. The speaker remarked ins
cidentally that he had more respect for the
man who trampled Christ under foot and
walked boldly into the circus, than for the
one who peeped from over q balcony or
around corner at the procession and wish
ed that he only dared to 60 and see the per.
formance."
Not bad specimen of pulpit pyrotechnics'
by any means. We take issue with every
word of csnsure in the above paragraph, as
denunciatory Of rational amusements. which
in themselves are not per 80 wrong. All
the gush about white throne, &c., mean
nothing. Unless the simple sports of the
circus are in themselves forbidden by the |
discipline of the church, attendance upon
them 10 non>essential, and is not cause for
censure from the pulpit. If condemned by |
the teaching of particular church, they
bind only its members, and it Is inpertinent
to arraign other Christians with the breach
of the discipline of one particular organiza-
tion. A word of advice, Brother Haldeman,
try your hand upon the frightful mortal
vices, which are eating out the vitals of
both the family, the Church and the Re-
public, and let Barnum's s lions and monkeys
alone. Do not place yourself out of the
pale of civilization by denouncing the sweet
songs of the minstrels. It is charged
against the Churches, that from their sanc>
tuaries, of late days, comes all the thieves
and aefaulters-"d devourers of the Widows
substance and, regrettully, we say it is
true. Thunder away at them, and let John
Merryman joke as he likes. -
A pious bank president, who steals q
million Of dollars belonging to other people,
does more harm in day than all tho shows
Of Christendom would in century.
Go to 81. Paul's Fair to night