St. Landry democrat., 1885-12-05
TALMAGE's SERMON.
"Hissed or the Stage" the Brook
Iyn Preachers Theme.
The Never-Ending Drama of Everyday
Life and the Characters it Devel-
ops-Why Some Succeed and
others MiserabIy Fail.

+. Dewitt Talmage at the Brooklyn Taber-
nacle, he announced as the subject OF his
discourse "Hissed OF the Stage" taking
the following as his text:
Men shall clap Their hands at him and shall
hiss him out of his place.--Jobs xvii, 70.
This aIlusion seems to be dramatic. The
Bible more than once makes such allusion
Paul says: 'sWe are made theater Tor
spectacle) to angels and to men," The
theater is so old that no one can fix the
date of it's birth. Archilochus, Simonides
and Scion, who wrote for it dithyrambics,
lived about 800 or 700 years before Christ.
1t is evident from the text that some of the
theater- goers were known In Jobs times
because in the text he describes an actor
Kissed of the stage. The impersonator
comes on the boards, and, either through
lack Of study of the part he is to take or iIl-
aptness or other incapacity, the audience
are offended, and express their disappro-
baton and disgust first by over-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 sibil-
lation until he disappears behind the cur
and shall hiss him out of his place."
My text suggests that each one Of us is
put on the stageo Of this world to take some
part. Mccullough, the actor recently
buried, was no more certainly appointed
on any occasion to appear as Spartacus, or
Edwin Forrest as King Lear, or Charlotte
Cushman as Meg Merrilies, or John Kem-
bic as Macbeth, or Cooke as Richard III,
or Kean as Othello, than you and are ex-
pected to take some special and particular
part in the great drama of human and i'm
mortal life. Through what hardship and
suffering and discipline these artists went
year after year that they might be perfect-
ed in their parts, you have often read.
But we, put en- the stage of this life to rep
resent charity and faith and humility and
helpfulness-wh little preparation we
have made, although we have three CALLER
les of spectators, 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 concentrating on
our own duty, we have been
criticising the other performers and
saying 'tthat was too high" or
sttoo low" or ttEoo feeble" or ttoo
extravaganza" or "too tame" or "too
demonstrative," while we are making our
selves dead failure and preparing to be
ignominiously Kissed off the stage? Each
one is assigned place; no supernumer-
aries hanging around the drama of life to
take this or that or the other part, as he
may be called upon. No one can ii IKE our
rV AoIr ~ v11n vyn
it is not the impersonation of another; we
ourselves are the real Merchant of Venice,
or the real Shylock, the real filial Cor
della or the real cruel Regain, the real
Portia or the real Lady Macbeth. The
tragedian of the playhouse, at the close of
the third scene of the fifth act, takes off
the attire of Gonzalo, or Edward Mortimer,
or Henry ", and resigns the character in
which for three hours he appeared. But
we never put off our character, and no
change of apparel can 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 geniality unbounded.
But they have wine closet that contains
all the forces for their social and business
and moral overthrow. So far back as 959
King Edgar of England made law that
the drink cups should have pins fastened
at certain point in the side, SO
that the indulger might be reminded
TO stop before he got to the bottom. But
there are no pins projecting from the
sides of the modern wine cup or
beer mug, and the first point at which
millions stop is at the grsvelly bottom of
their own grave.
II Many also make failure In the drama
Of life through Incidence. They are al
ways making calculation how little they
can do for the compensation they get.
There are more lazy ministers, lawyers,
doctors, merchants, artists and farmers
than have ever been counted upon. Com
munity is full of laggards and shirkers. I
can tell it from the way they crawl along
they street, from their hardness in meeting
engagements, from the lethargies that
seem to hang the foot when they lift it, to
the hand when they put it up, to the words
when they speak.
Two young men in store. In the morn
ing the one gees to his post the last minute
Of one minute behind. The other is ten
minutes before the time, and has his hat
and coat hung up and is at his post wait
ing for duty The one is ever and anon in
the afternoon looking at his watch to see
if it is not most time to shut up. The other
stays half an hour after he might go and,
when asked why, says he wanted to look
over some entries he had made to be sure
he was right, or to put up some goods that
had been left out of place. The one is very
punctilious about doing work not exactly
belonging to him. The other is glad TO
help the other clerks in their work. The
The first will be prolonged nothing and
she win be poorer at sixty than at twenty.