Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-11-23
KISSED OFF THE STAGE.
TALNIAGE DECLARES ALL MEN
AND WOMEN PLAYERS.


mage preached this morning IN the Brook
lyn tabernacle on the subject, "Hlssed
OF the Stage" Before the sermon he ex-
pounded the 25th chapter Of Acts, con-
cerning PauPs 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, 2S:
"Men shall clap their hands at him and
shall hiss him out of his place" Follow
ing is the sermon in full:
This allusion seems to be dramatic.
The Bible more than once makes such al
lusiOn. Paul SAYS: "We are made the
atre or spectacle) to angels and to men,"
The theatre is so old that no one can fix
the date of its birth. ArchilOchus, Sim-
onides and SOlon, who wrote for it dithy-
rambics, lived about six or seven hum
0red years before Christ. 1t Is evident
from the text that some OF the habits OF
the theatre-goers were known in Jobs
time, because in the text he describes an
actor hissed of the stage. The imper-
senator 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
oyer-applause, attempting by great clap
ping of hands TO drown out what he says;
and, that falling to stop the performer,
they put their tongue against their teeth
and make terrific sibilation until he dis
appears behind 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. Mccullough, the actor, re-
Gently buried, was no more certainly APP
pOluted on any occasion TO appear as
''Spartacus," or Edwin Forrest as "Kng
Lear" or Charlotte Cushman as ''Meg
Merrllies," or John Kemble as "Mac-
BETH" or Cooke as "Richard Ill.," or
keane as "Othello," than you and | are
expected to take some especial and par
ticular part in the great drama of human
and immortal life. Through what hard
ship and suffering and discipline 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 helpfulress, what
little preparation we have made, although
we have three galleries 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 critieizing the other performers and
saying sthat was too higu,2 or '.too low"
OF "tOO feeble" or "too extravagant," or
''tOo tame'' or ''tOo demOnstrative, !" while
we were making ourselves dead failure
and preparing To be ignominiOusly hissed
on the stageI Each one is assigned a
place, no supernumeraries hanging
around the drama of life to take this or
that or 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 our
selves are the real Merchant of Venice,
or the real ShylOck, the real tilial Cor
della, or the real cruel Regan, the real
POrtia or the real Lady Macbeth. The
tragedian of the playhouse, at the close
of the third scene OF the ii IN act, takes of
the attire of Gonzalo OF Edward Morti-
meT, or Henry v, and resigns his char
acter In which for three hours he ap-
peared. BUT we never put of our char
acter and no change Of apparel can make
us any one else than that which we
eternally are.
Many make a failure of their part in the
drama Vi lie 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 a law that
the drink cup should have pins fastened
at certain point in the side. so that the
indulger might be reminded to stop be-
fore he got to the bottom. But there are
no pins projecting from the sides OF the
modern wine cup or beer mug, and the
irst point at which millions stop is at the
gravelly bottom of their own grave.
DR.. sax, of France, has recently discov-
ed something which all drinkers ought to
know. He mas found out that alcohol i'm
every shape, whether Of wine or brandy or
beer, contains parasitic life called bacil-
lus pOtumani8. By powerful mlcro.-
cope these living things are discovered,
and when you take strong drink yOu take
them into tue stomach, and then into your
blood, and getting into toe crimson canals
Of life, they 90 into every tissue or your
body and your entire organism ia taken
possession OF by these nOXiOus ininitesi-
mails. When in deirium tremens a man
sees every form OF repiilian life. IL rs only
these parasites OF the brain in exaggerat-
ed size. II is not a ballucinatiOn that the
victim is suffering from. lie only sees in
the room what il actually crawling and
rioting in his own brain. Every time you
take strong drink you swallow these
maggots, and every time the Imblber OF
alcohol in any shape feels vertigo, or
rheumatism, or nausea, IL ~ only the iu-
bilee Of these maggOts. Efforts are being
made for the discovery Of some germicide
that can Kill the parasites OF alcoholism,
but the only thing that Will ever eGtrpate
them. IS abstinence from alcohol, and tee
total abstinence, 70 which / would before
God swear all these young men and Old.
America is a fruitful country, and we
raise large crops of wheat, aud corn and
oats, but the largest crop we raise In this
country is the crop Of druIkards. With
sickle made out OF the sharp edges OF tue
broken glass or bottle and dsmijOhn they
are cut down; and there are whole
swathes OF them. whole winrOws Of them,
and II takes all the hospitals, and peni-
tentiaries, and graveyards and ceme-
ieries 10 hold tnis harvest Of hell. Some
OF you are going down under this evil, and
the neYer-dying worm OF alcoholism has
wound around you one Of It's coils, and by
next New Years day II will have another
coil around you, and II will after awhile
put coil around your tongue. aud
a coil around your brain. and a coil
around your lung, and coil around your
foot, and a coil around your beart; and
some day this neyer-dying worm will
with one spring tighten all the coils AZ
once. and IN the last twist Of that awful
cOnVOlusiOn you will cry out. ''Oh, my
God :" and be gone. The greatest OF dra-
matists, in the tragedy OF the Tempest"
sends staggering across the stage
''stephanoV the drunken butler; but
across the stage OF human life, strong
drink sends kingly and queenly and
princely natures staggering forward