The New York herald., 1879-02-03
THE, STAGE.
IT'S MORAL INFLUENCES CONSIDERED BY REV.
r. H. NEWTON

IT'S MORAL INFLUENCES CONSIDERED BY REV.
II. II. NEWTON
The Rev. Reginald Heber Newton delivered last
evening the first of his lectures social forces
treating Of the theatre and its influence society
Rcmarking that the things which interest people
most arc often those of which the pulpit takes least
notice. he declared himself to he neither a fcryd
partisan of the stage nor its sworn foe but had
long been power in the State-a power continually
increasing--which in New York alone was an
nually moulding the character of perhaps 5000
persons, and nobody interested in moral education
could leave 1t out of his reckoning. The dramatic
instinct is an inborn force in human nature, bound
to lind vent From children at play to rtualists in
their postures it ranges unconfncd. To rcprcss it
is to provoke reaction. The English Puritans tried
TO exercise fc devil and il back a the Restora-
ton with seven other spirits evil than itself
/ know. said the preacher, the stock arguments of
the pulpit and have lons condemned them. also
know that natural faculty will not be smothercd.
The stage OF to-day is the expression OF contenpo-
rancous society and IL is tho voice of the people As
the people is. so will its stage be.
irs USE
The most obvious function of the stage is one OF
simple amusement. In our fever heat OF business
in our steam driven cyilization-ho wheels of life
,pust be oiled and the risks of friction diminished
And the drna still holds place among the arts that
are capable of cuivating tastes, purifying our
habits and raising whole being to higher plane
ryrants have dreaded the stage, and every French
revolution has been preceded by incendary play
But in our own times the theatre is ovcrrun with
extravagances. 1t has done much to undermine
that cardinal virtue of reverence in which
democratic America is weak and aristccratic Europe
strong. 1t has become mere matter OF
business of commercial speculation. II has s,f-
ferrd the opera, that divine daughter OF comedy aud
music to be a mere vehicle for bacts introduced to
catch the gross and vulgar. 1t presents the actual
should ip--famliarizing the young with forms of
evil that should be sealed books to them as H. when
there il putrefaction in diseased body, the phys
clan should place 10 beneath the patients nostrils
Ours is all age of macralisn of luxury In dress and
in living, and the whole town is drawn to some
preacher earnestly hat the tide OF hunan progress
is running steadily forward, but In its stream there
are back cddes there pools OF dark and stagnant
corruption: and see with shame that the most pop
ular plays those which make the most uiitlls-
p,ised appeal to the There is no worse cor
puntcr af youth than the dramatic garbage called
opera boufre.
WHAT re DONE?
The church ought to recognize the true VOCATION
OF the stage. Hitherto. far from giving II rccoE-
nition il has ignored or condemned IT, or placed us
members under ecclesiastical ban. But the age OF
prciudcc is passing away, the era OF shallow
i,irotry gone. The dramatic profession should be
held to high responsibility. should learn that their
calliug sacred and has part in the development OF
mankind. And members of u religious community
discriminate between good and bad, and as
freely devote themselves to the former as
they should scdulously avoid the latter. In time
SO sr from true wisdom ours, under government