Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-01-31
THE SPECTACULAR" +"
THE ADOPTED NAME OF THE RI
FORMED
Amusement Observation-Disclosures Will
Champion the Cause.-The Dramatic
Element will TrsmpIe Under
Foot All Efforts at
Suppression.
SERMON BY RevI.Dt VIII TAlMAGE.
TEE DRAMATIC ELEMENT

TEE DRAMATIC ELEMEN
In our Natures Must be Cultivated How
shan it be Done Without Harm.
Special Dispatch to the Wheeling Regis ister.
NRw YoRE, January 80.
Brooklyn Tabernacle was filled to
overfiowing this morning, every
one being anxious to hear DIR. Tslmage's
second sermon on the drama.
Opening hymn:
"Glo.y To God on high.
Let heaven and earth reply
DR.. Talmage expounded the text oi
/ Samuel, 18th chapter, containing the
story Of the giant and the STRIPPING.
| Subject:
The Dramatic Element IN our Nature" 4"
The Text Corinthians 7-3l: "They that
use this world a. not abusing II"
That God has implanted a dramatic
element in most Of our natures, and re-
cognized and cultured it in the Scrip
lures, and that this element may be EN-
ployed in positive religious work, |
proved last Sabbath to the satisfaction,
hope, of sll who heard or read me.
This morning want to show you that
the dramatic element may lawfully be
taken into cur recreations. The old
fight between the church and the
theatre still goes on. The guns OF
neither fort have yet been spiked, nor
have either OF the flags struck. The
ministers ON the one side, and the play
actors on the other seem all unhurt.
Neither has gained the complete victory
over the other, but according TO what i
read in all the religious newspapers OF
the day about the falling of of the
churches, and what read in the secular
newspapers OF the large attendance and
financial receipts Of the theatres, the
latter seems so far TO have lost no ground.
/ Into that contest OF centuries / do not
entire to-day, because / have something
better TO do and better TO offer. have
a plan OF my own 10 present, which /
believe will commend itself TO all the
good and respectable. It's not COM
promise, but
A Most Radical Proposition.
All the men OF church and theatre
/ agree that the amusements Of this coun-
try need reformation; that il you take
/ all the places of entertainment Of what
ever name IN any city and place them
side by side you would find that the
majority OF them are deprsving, that
through the gates OF many OF these
places a multitude of young men 20 out
| to make desperate and final plunge
into diSsoluteness. All thinking people,
| Christian and un-Christian, admit this
/ could give you the names Of many
dramatists, who, on the belief that the
| dramatic entertainments OF the day are
not what they ought TO be, are toilipg
for the elevation OF the theatre. Rev.
DR.. Bellows, OF New York, many years
ago, in . very brilliant but much criti-
/ cised sermon, took the position that the
theatre might be renovated and made
auxiliary TO the church. Many Chris
tian people are Of the same opinion. i
DO not agree with them. have no idea
/ that success is in that direction. What
| I have said heretofore on this subject,
far as remember, is my sentiment now.
But to-day take a step in advance OF
| nv theory. Christianity is going to
/ take full possession OF this world and
control its maxims, its laws, its litera-
| ture, its science and its amusemeEts.
/ Shut out from the realm Of Christianity
ANYTHING and you give il up to sin and
death. IL Christianity is mighty enough
to manage anything but the amuse-
ments oi the world then it is very de
fective Christianity. Is it capable Of
keeping account Of the tears o. the
world and incompetent to make record
| of its smilesI Is it good to follow the
/ funeral but be dumb at the worlds play ?
/ Can il control all the other elements OF
our nature but the dramatic element?
Ny idea OF Christianity is that 1t can
and will conquer everything. In
| the good time coming, which the
world calls the golden age and the poet
/ the Elysian age, and the CHRIS ian the
| mellinnium. We have positive an
nouncement that the amusements OF the
world are to be unuer Christian sway.
"Holiness shall be upon the bells OF the
horses" says one prophet, so you SEE,
il will control even the sleigh-riders.
"rhe city shall be full OF boys and glrls
playing in the streets thereof" So you
see. II is TO control the hoop. rolling and
thskite flying and the ball playing Now
what we want is to hasten that time.
| How will il be done? BY the church
going over to the theatre? 1t will not
90. By the theatre coming TO the
| church? 1t will not come. What We
want il A Reform Amusement Associa-
ton in overy city and town in the
limited States. Such announced and
explained and illustrated the Christian
and philanthropic capitalist will come
forward to establish il and, and as last
week one of our cit zens gave S5O,OOO to
the Historical Library of our city there
will be public spirited men everywhere
who will 10 this work for the dramatic
element of our natures. We need new
institution 10 meet and recognize and de-
velope and defend the dramatic element
Of ou, nature. II needs to be distinct
from everything that is or.has been. In
an age which has
Projected . Telephone
and an electric pen and the bicycle and
the telegraph, surely We are not afraid
of A new institution. 1t would be de-
rided at the start as all great movements
are derided at the start, but it would
reyolutionizs society for good.
Wiser men than we are would
baptire il with name, only for the pur.
noses of this sermon | will cal! il "The
Spectaculsr." Iwould have lis board Of
trustees msde up OF the most intelligent
aud most unimpeschsble men and wo-
msn of each community. One half of
them l would have professed and most
pronounced Christians, connected with
the churches. | would have this Re-
formed Amusement Association having
in charge this new institution, the
"Spectacnlar," take possession OF some
hall or academy. 1t might take a
smaller builling at the start, but it
would soon need the largest hall, and
even that would not hold the peopie
for he who opens before the dramatic
element in human nature an opportuni-
ty of qualification without compromise
and without danger, does the mightiest
thing of this century, and the tides OF
such an institution would rise as the
Atlantic rises at Liverpool docks. The
tens of thousands of Christian homes in
this country, where parents are holding
their sons and daughters back from the
/ -. - 81 tka d., L..