The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-11-23
THE GREAT DRAMA OF LIFE.
The Stage of the World, ON Which Each
Must Play the Part Assigned Him.
Failures Caused by Dissipation, Incidence and
Selfishness-The Triumphs Of Those
Who Play Well Their Parts.
Special to the Indianapolis Journal.


BROOKLYN, N. T., Nov 22-Dr Talmage
preached, this morning in the Brooklyn Taber
nacle, on the subject, 'Hissed OFF the Stage"
Before the sermon he expounded the 25th chap
ter Of Acts, concerning Paul's appeal unto Caesar.
The opening hymn was:
Our God, our help in ages past.
Our hope for years to come.
The text was from Job, xvii %: Men shall
clap their hands at him, and shall hiss him out
Of his place" Following is the sermon in full:
This allusion seems to be dramatic The
Bible more than once makes such allusion. Paul
says: "We are made theater Tor spectacle) to
angels and to men," The theater is so old that
no one can fix the date of its birth Archilochus,
Simonides and Scion. who wrote for it dithyram-
blcs, lived about six or seven hundred years be-
fore Christ. It is evident from the text that
some of the habits of the theater- goers were
known in Jobs time, because in the text he de-
scribes an actor Missed off the stage. The i'm
personator comes on the boards, and either
through lack of study of the part he is to take or
happiness, or other incapacity. the audience are
offended and express their disapprobation and
disgust first by r-applause-attempting by
great clapping of hands to drown out what he
says-and that failing to stop the performer,
they put their tongue against their teeth and
make terrific sibilation until he disappears be-
hind the curtain. MEN shall clap their hands
at him and shall hiss him out of his place."
Ny text suggests that each one of US is put on
the stage of this world to take some part. Nc
Cullough. the actor recently buried. was no more
certainly appointed any occasion to appear
as Spartacus, or Edwin Forrest as King Lear or
Charlotte Cushman as Meg Merrilies, or John
Kemble as Macbeth, or Cooke as Richard ILL., or
Kean as Othelo, than you and I are expected to
take some especial and particular part in the
great drama of human and immortal life.
Through what hardship, and suffering, and dis
cpine these artists went, year after year, that
they might be perfected in their parts you have
often read. But we-put on the stage of this life
to represent charity, and faith, and humility,
and helpfulness-what little preparation we have
made, although we have three galleries of specta-
tors-earth and heaven, and hell! Have we not
been more attentive to the part taken by others
than to the part taken by ourselves, and while
we needed to be looking at home and concenter
ing on our own duty, we have been criticzing
the other performers and saying ''that was too
high" or 'too low" or ''too feeble" or "too ex
travagant" or 'too tame," or "too demon
strative," while we were making ourselves dead
failure and preparing to be ANONYMOUSLY Kissed
off the stage9 Each one is assigned place, no
supernumeraries hanging round she drama of
life to take this that, the other part, as he
may be called upon. No one can take our
place. We can take no other place. Aye. it is
not the impersonaton of another; we ourselves
are the real Merchant of Venice, or the real Shy
lock; the real filal Cordelia. or the real
cruel Regain the real Portia, or the
real Lady Macbeth. The tragedian of the play
house, at the close of the third scene Of the fifth
act takes off the attire of Genzalo or Edward
Mor.ln-, ~ Henry V, and resigns the character
in which for three hours he appeared. But we
never put off our character and 70 change OF
apparel make US any one else than that
which we eternally are
Many make failure of their part in the drama
of life through dissipation. They have enough
intellectual equipment and good address, and
genalty unbounded But they have a wine
closet that contains all the forces for their social
and business, and moral overthrow. So far back
as $50 King Edgar, of England, made law that
the drink-cup should have pins fastened at GER
tain point in the side so that the indulger might
be reminded to stop before ne got to the bottom.
But there are no pins projecting from the sides
of the modern winecup or beer-mug and the
first point at which millions stop is at the gray
ely bottom of their own grave.
DR.. SAKE, of France, has recently discovered
something which all drinkers ought to know
He has found out that alcohol in every shape,
whether of wine, or brandy, or beer contains
parasitic life called bacillus potumaniae Bya
powerful microscope these living things are dis
covered, and when you take strong drink you
take them into the stomach, and then into your
blood, and getting into the crimson canals of life
they go into every tissue of your body and your
entire organism is taken possession of by these
noxous infnitesimals. When in delirium
tremens a man sees every form of reptilian life,
it is only these parasites of the brain in exag-
gerated size. 1t is not an Authorization that the
victim is suffering from. He only sees in the
room what is actually crawling and rioting in
his own brain Every time you take strong
drink you swallow these maggots, and every
time the imbiber of alcohol in any shape feels
vertigo, or rheumatism, nausea, it is only tn
jubilee of these maggots. Efforts are being
made for the discoves4 of some germcide that
kill the parasites of alcoholism, but the only
thing that will ever extirpate them is abstinence
from alcohol and teetotal abstinence, to which
would before God swear all these young men
and old.
America is fruitful country, and we raise
large crops of wheat, and cora, and oats, but the
largest crop we raise in this country is the crop
of drunkards With sickle made out of the sharp
edges of the broken glass of bottle and demi-
john they are cut down, and there are whole
swathes of them whole winrows of them, and it
takes all the hospitals. and penitentiaries and
graveyards, and cemeteries to hold this harvest of
hell Some of you are are going down under
this evil and the never-dying worm of alcoholism
has wound around you one of it's coils and by
next New Years day it will have another coli
around you, and it will after while put a coil
around your tongue, and a coil around your