Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-01-24

cheek OF the night. So the aromauc
faculty ought to be cultivated in every
Law ,ni way. by every staccato passage Oh
literature, by every antithesls, by every
tragic scene in everyday lie. Inc
plainest DAY of the plainest man Is IN
some sense hiStrionic. This iacnlty eA-
istine in almost all in some is exception
ally strong or weak, just rs there may DO
a million appreciatiye OF poetry TO one
poet. To England one Tennyson, to
France one Victor Hugo, to America
one L.onyfellow; as there may be MIL
lion apprPciative Of music TO one musl-
cian-to Norway only one Ole Bull, 10
Germany one Wagner, to the United
States one Morgan. In the scriptures
God has Administered
10 the dramatic faculty. You can hardly
omen your Bible anywhere without your
eve falling upon drama. Here it is IN
hook of ayes. A tir tree, liz tree, an
olive tree, and q bramble.
Will YOU refuse to enthrone music on
the church organ because the art mas
been trampled under foot OF the lasclvl-
ous dance? Is it anything against paint
ing and sculpture that in Corinth and
Herculaneum they became admlnlstra-
tive of vulgarity and turpitude? The
dreadful museum OF Pompeil shall
throw no discredit on Powers "Greek
slave" or Church's "Cotopaxi," or
Reuben's Descent from the Cross" or
Angeles Last Judgment" Because
the drama has been dragged through so
many sewers, is nothing against the
drama, but only reason why we should
snatch it up and start it out on It's right
ful mission.
The drama will never be helped into
its lawful sphere by those who cannot
understand that the drama IS not the
theatre.
The Drama is no More tho Theatre
than A hymn book is church. l am
not.to-day discussing the theatre. The
drama is literature expressive oil a d.
vinely implanted feeling in most oil our
natures. Neither will. the drama be
helped into its proper sphere by whole
sale denunciation OF all dramatlsts.
Who ever dared TO assail the nobility oil
Charlotte Cushman. You asked me did
YOU not on one occasion denounce all
dramatists as villains? Never. That
sermon YOU refer to which was publish
Ell In secular paper, and copied in
many religious papers was written by
man who had never seen me or seen the
BROOKLYN tabernacle and who by in
uuiry OF reporter who had been pres
eat found out what my text was then
wrote it out on his own desk. the whole
thing intended as a characature; among
other things saving that | was opposed
to AL geological gardens and thought 1t
a great sin To go and look at an elephant
or Il crocodile. do not won
der that Mr.. Davenport came out
OH the following week at the
Chestnut street Theatre,
Philadelphia, after the curtain had
dropped, 10 condemn that sermon. He
did not condemn it half SO violently as
| did. Nothing has g; er been or will be
accomplished for good by wholesale
denunciation of the great classes Ofmen
Out yonder the theatre and the church
stand on opposite sides OF the street,
and the church shouts over to the thea
tire "You are all seoundrels," and the
theatre shouts back ".YOu are all hypo-
crits." And they both lie.
Dropping all indiscrimlnate jeremiads
against dramatists and realizing that the
drama is not necessarily connected with
this or that institution, / want to show
YOU this morning and next Sabbath
morning, how it may be hitched last to
the chariot of civilization and Christian
itv. Next Sabbath morning | shall pre-
sent to YOU q unique plan, by which |
think the dramatic element may be
without any damage or with positive
profit on all sides, he made admnistra.
tive TO our amusements and recreations.
But this morning in the few remain
ing moments OF my discourse, l call you
TO force the dramatic element INTO the
Service of Our Holy Religion
You Sabbath school teachers want more
Of it in yonr instructions. BY skilliul
presentation of Scripture scene, by an
ecdote, by descriptive gesture and iln-
persOnatiOn nerve your classes TO right
action. Hunireds OF thousands OF chill
dren in England, Ireland, Scotland and
the United States will this afternoon by
arrangement of the international series
of lessons study the song OF
Mary. They who can most graph
ically present that heroine and her
surroundings will have the strongest
grip upon the attention OF Ike listeners.
What We want in all our Christian work
in schools, and asylums, and peniten-
tiaries. and churches, is less OF the style
didactic, and morr of the style dramatic.
The whole temptation is to drone relig-
ion, and whine religion, ami cant relig-
ion, ard moan religion, and Croak relig-
ion, and sepuecherize religion, when We
should present il as far as possible in
animated, arOusiny, spectacular man
ner. As there are many theological stu
dents in all my audiences, and YOU are
now forming your plans for preaching
the gospel, let me tell you that the men
who have been the
Means ofthe Most Conversions
to God in the different ages, have been
dramatic. Rowland Hill, dramatic;
Thomas Chalmers, dramatic; Thomas
Guthrie, dramatic; George Whiteiield,
dramatic; Christmas Evans, dramatic;
John Knox, dramatic; Richard Hooker,
dramatic. ChrysOstCm, dramatic; Robert
South, dramatic; Addison A:exan Ter,
dramatic; John Mason, dramatic; Eli
phalrt Mott, dramatic; Massilon, dra-
matte: BourlalonG; dramatic; Fenelon.
dramatic; Bossuet, dramatic: Huge Lati.
mer, drsma,ic. They had hard
time Of it in their day, but
they have gone Up into the
ornament of the Curistian Church. OF
course, if after YOU get into the minis.
try. YOU undertake the dramatic You
will meet with mighty rebutFs, swift car
feature, and ecclesiastical denunciation.
And your co tempCrarIcs will discuss
YOU and try to put you down, but the
Lord who sent you out will see YOU
through, and great will be the eternal
rewards TO the assiduons and the
plucky. What We want n Ost as laymen
and ministers, is 10 get our sermons aud
our prayers and exhortations
Out ofthe Old Rut.
People stay away from church and
prayer meetings because they are
not interested. The hackneyed
theological phrases that come snoring
down IRON aye to age, through the