Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-01-31
A SERMON ron AnT STUDENTS
The Rev. DIR. Bevan Discussing the
Relation of Genuine Art and
True Religion.
At the Brick Church at Fifth

! of the thirty-fifth chapter of Exc
dus. DIR. Bevan said
Just al the present time there is
what we call "rage of art.n II
has become a fashion. The devel.
opment of wealth and the extension
{ of knowledge, together with the APP
plication of scientific skill to certain
, manipulations of art, have COM
bined to scatter the objects of the
t artists efforts among men. Music
is popularized, and even sculpture,
, which has always been regarded as
! the most limited of the arts, by the
increased power Of working in met
ais has been placed in some of its
forms within the narroWeSt means.
!, Hence a demand for objects of art
has sprung up and the supply of
art-workers has increased in re-
Sponse to the demand. Probably at
no period in the worlds history
have there been SO many artists. In
some quarters, particularly where
wealth has much accumulated, this
taste for the productions of art is a
fashion. Some make it a pursuit, a
hobby, but the majority are drawn
into it only as the man in the river,
until our houses come to be almost
like museums, or still more like
curiosity shops, to which gravitate
all objects of human interest, and
where they are heaped without plan
or method or arrangement. 1t is a
4 grotesque, unutterably ludicrous
compound. In some cases indiVid-
ual artists are able to make them
selves of such note as to dominate
/ the rage for a little or at least to
stand out prominent and observed.
They may create school of art and
for a short while impress their man
ner upon the social fashion, but
generally the Democratic tendency
/ of the times is too strong even for
j the greatest genius, and he must
drop into the crowd or wait for that
| patiently which will preserve him
and let the multitude 90 down into
proper and eternal oblivion.
We have schools of criticism, too.
| The exigencies of a reading public
react upon the writers of the day
and the passing publications of the
hour must of course Judge the per-
fbrmances of the artist and direct
the talk of the people. Here and
there a skilful author makes him.
self heard. If an honest and strong
man, he may indeed add to the rock
of human knowledge in the sphere
of criticism, but for the most part
the roar and babblement of the day
are too noisy. Men are too hurried
to care for study. They wantsOme-
thing bright and short and appo-
site, and so the patchwork of our
instruction keeps continually grow
ing. Principles are ignored, the !
great laws OF philosophy are known |
only by the few. Profound investi-
CATION is at a discount, and the |
by the formless void of criticism |
upon them. Then add to all this |
the whims and fancies of the buyers !
and patrons of art. Power to pur- |
chase does not by any means imply |
power to judge. The necessities of |
upholstery will sometimes determ-
inc the formation of gallery of art.
Some men Judge pictures by the
prices they have realized, and it |
needs rare moral heroism for an
artist, or even a whole race of ar
fists, to stand up against the influ-
ence of the picture dealer aud the
picture buyer. Thus the lower be-
comes the higher, and slavery is
introduced as degrading as that |
which belonged to the old days of
the Roman Empire, when often
times the scholars, the teachers and
the artists of the age were beneath
the yoke of servitude in some patri-
clan family. In such a condition
of things it may well seem hopeless
to discover any relation between
religion and art. There is some
thing of tendency in our time to
suppose that art must be freed from
the shackles of religiOn--even from
the restraint of morality. Nay, in
some quarters this is pushed into
the extreme of making art almost a
protest against religion and good
morals. The painter and the poet
must be pagan in that sense of pagan
which is virtually atheistic. They
must be only eXpressers of the sens
ual, insphering the simply material
in the glory and life of music and
color. Against this history is so
directly counter that need hardly
appeal to the principles of philosO-
phys OuL l. dIA OO1ON " NtldO
never was there theory which if
adopted by the artist would prove
more poisonous and deadly than
this. Art would soon become only
the minion of human grossneSs and
shame. Genius would sink into the
mire of sensuality, and the dishOnOr
of the artist would be complete
when his greatest triumphs would
be reserved for the decorations suit
able only to the debauches of har-
lotry, and the strains of heavenly
music would be degraded to the in
coherent utterances of the orgies of
a beast. But art and religion are
never opposed. The ends of each
are one. The ideal OF the former is
sought by genius and is found only
in God. Worship is the expression
of the faith of the latter, and that,
too, seeks for the Eternal One. The
ancient masters were almost priests.
Not without significance did they
prepare themselves for their might
lest endeaVors by the solemuActs of
an earnest devotion. The spirit
which has sought and found its God
in prayer shall not any the less
wOrthily aspire for the ideal of
beauty which nature suggests and
art endeavors to unfold. To believe
in God, to seek him, will at least
forever conserve the soul in the
recognition that there is an ideal,
and he who once forgets that or
ceases to aim at it must take off his
artist dress and fall back upon the
common herd. Schiller sang truly
that for the poet JOve's invitation
was ever greeni
aPoet, wilt thou with me dwell in my
heaven? seHt..
Oft as thou comest open It shall be-"
Silence may well fall upon the
singer if once he hold that there is
no heaven and that there is no God
by whose side he may proudly sit
his dearest earthly son. shall not
here enter into the vexed question
whether the artist must obey any
laws but those that govern his art.
/ will simply affirm my conviction
that true art is self-sufficient, and to
aim at anything else than what art
demands will be to cripple and har-
rass the artist and spoil his work.
But while il is true that the artist