The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-10-30
PLEASANT PICTURES.
DIR. TALMAGE's DISCOURSE AT THE
T4BERNACLE.
AN ARGUMENT AGAINST HIGH ART.

IN Ezekiel, after which the hymn beginning:
"Thine earthly Sabbaths Lord we love,
But there's nobler rest aboye"
was sung, Professor Browne presided at the
grand organ and rendered a concerto in b fiat
by Handel. The subject OF DIR. Talmage's
discourse was "Thc Divine Mission Of Pic
tures" His text was Isaiah Chapter 2, parts
of the 18th and 10th verses; 1.-THE way Of the
Lord Of Hosts shall be upon all pleasant pic
lures" He'said;
Pictures are by some relegated to the realm
OF the trivial, accidental, sentimental or
worldly, but my text shows that God scrutin-
lies pictures, and whether they are good or
bad, whether used for right or wrong purposes,
Is a matter OF Divine observation and arraign-
ment
The divine mission OF pictures is my subject.
That the artists pencil and the eDgrayer's
knife have sometimes been made subservient
TO the kingdom Of the bad is frankly admitted.
After the ashes and scora wero removed from
Herculaneum and pompeii the walls OF those
cities discovered to the explorers q degrade
tion In art which cannot be exaggerated Sa-
tan md AL his imps have always wanted the
lingering of the easel they would rather have
possession Of that than the art Of printing, for
types are not 50 potent and quick for evil
as pictures The powers Of darkness
think they have gained a triumph, and they
lie art gallery they can hang canvass embar-
RAISING TO the good, but fascinating 10 the evil.
1t 10 not IN a spirit Of prudery, but backed
mp by Gods eternal truth, when ] say that you
have no right 10 hang in your art rooms or your
dwelling houses that which would be offensive
70 good people il the figures pictured were alive
In your parlor and the guests Of your household.
picture that you have TO hang In somewhat
secluded place, that In public haii Won
cannot with y groun " friends deliberately
stand before and discuss, ought to have q knife
stabbed shto ~ az the top and cut clear through
10 the bottom, and stout finger thrust in on
the right side, ripping clear through to The left.
Piiny, the elder, lost his life by going near
enough to see the inside of Vcsuyius, aud the
further you can stand off from tho burning
crater OF sin, the better. Never till the books
OF the last day are opened shall We know what
has been the dire harveDt OF evil pictorals and
unbeeumiug art galleries. Despoil a mans
imagination and he becomes a moral carcass.
The show windows OF English and American
cities in which the low theaters have some
times hung long lines OF bragen actors and ac-
tresses IN style insulting to all proprioty, have
made broad peih t9 qeaith for multitudes OF
people, But So nave all the other arts been at
Times suborned OF evil. How has music been
bcdraggled? Is there any place so low down
IN d4ssoluteness that into II has not been car
ried Dayid's harp, and Iandel's organ, and
Gottschalk's plano and Ole Bulls violin; and
the flute, which though named after
so insignificant thing as the
Sicilian eel, which has seven spots on the side
like flute holes, yet for thousands OF years has
had AN exalted mission. Architecture, born
in the heart Of Him who made the worlds,
under its arches and across its floors what
hacchannian reyelries have boon enacted! 1t
Is not against any o{ these arts that they have
been SO led into captivity. What o poor
world this would be II IL were not for what my
text calls pleasant pictures" 1 refer to
your memory and mine when / ask II your
knowledge OF the Holy Scriptures has not
been augmented by the woodcuts or engrav-
ings ia the old family Bible, which father and
mother read out Of and laid on tho table In
the old homestead when you were boys and
girls. The Bible scenes which we all carry In
our minds were not gotten from the Bible
iypology, but from the Bible pictures. TO
family Bbls which Y ' inherited ted
Sure enough, what have carried in my mind
of Jacobs ladder was exactly the Bible en-
craving OF Jacobs ladder and so with Sam
son carrying OFF the gates of GAIA; Elisha re-
storing the Shunamito's son the massacre of
the innoeents Christ blessing little children;
the crucltietion and the last Judgment. MY
idea OF all these Is that of the old Bible
enRravings which scanned before / could
read word. That is true with n'ne-tenths
OF You. IL ! could swing open the door OF
your foreheads / would find that you arc
walking picture galleries. Tho great inteli-
genco abroad about the Bible did not come
majority Of the people read IL but little il
they read il all but all the sacred scenes
have been put before tho Great
masses, and not printers ink but the
pictorial art must have tho credit Of the
achievement. First, painters pencil for the
favored few and then engrnvers plate or wood
cut for millions on millionsi What over
whelming commentary on tho Bible what re-
Enforcement for patriarohs, prophets, apostles
and Christ, what distribution of soriptural
knowledge Of all nations, in the paintings and
engravings thoreirom Of Holman Hunts
.'Christ in the Templei" Paul Veroneses
"Magdalen Washing the Feet OF Christ; :"
Raphael's michael the Archangei;n Albert i
Durer's dragon Of the ApocalyI Sc p Michael
Angeles "Plague Of tho Fiery Serpents -
Tinforets Flight into Egypt" Ruhen's
"Deseept from the Gross; !" Leonardo Da
Ninci's Last Supper" Claude's Queen OF
cagna's last Judgment" and hundreds of
miles OF pictures il they were put IN line,
illustrating, displaying, dsamati1ing, irradi-
Ating Bible truths until the scriptures arenot 20.
day so much on paper as on canvas, not omuch
In Ink rs in all the eolors of the spectrum In
1855 forth from Strasburg, Germany, there
came child that was 20 eclipse in speed and
holiness and grandeur anything and everything
that the world had seen since the first color APP
peared GA the Sky at the creation, Paul Gus
taN Dorc. At eleven years Of age he pub-
hshCa marvellous Autographs az his own Saw
ing nothing OF what he dia for Millions para
dise Lost. emhaEoning Il on the attention Of
the world, he.takes up the Book of books the
monarch Of literature. the Bible. and his pic
tnres THE Creation Of Light" ".rhe Trial of
Ahraham's Faith, "Ihe Burial Of Sarah"
"Joseph sold BY his Brethren" "The Rrazen
Serpent" "BoRK aud Ruth" David and
Goliath" "Tho Transformation, +" ''Tho Mar
riage in Cana Babylon Fallen,n
and two hundred and FIVE scFiptual
scenes IN all, with holdneSs
aud grasp and almost supernatural atiiatus
that make the heart thgoh, and the brain reel,
Rnd the tears start, and the checks bamch.
and the entire nature quake with the tre-
mendous things Of God aud eternity and tho
dead ] actually staggered down the steps of
the London art gallery under the power OF
Doro's "Ghrlst Leaving the PryetoFinm"
Profess you 20 90 a Christian man or woman,
aud sec no divine mission Ia art, and aoknogl-
edge You 10 obligation either in thanks TO
God or man2
II is uo more the word OF God when nut he
fore US IN printers ink than BY skiliful laying
on II coloss, or designs on metal through in.
cialou or corrosion What a lesson In morals
was presented by Hoearth, the painter, in his
two piciuros. "rhe Rake's Progress, e and
"The Msers Feast and by Thomas Coles
enEravings Of the "Noyage OF Human Life"
and the "Course Of Empire !" and hy "Iur.
so Il He.a G..f -. 80