The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1888-11-14
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINES SUN.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 1.-The Divine Mission Of
Pictures"

Subject: 1.-THE Divine Mission OF
Pictures"
TEXT: "The pay of the Lord of Hosts
hau be upon au pleasant pictures. u
Isaiah Ii, parts Of the 18th and 10th verses
Pictures are by some relegated to the realm
Of the trivial, accidental; sentimental or
worldly, but my text shows that God scru..
|tinizes pictures, and whether they are good
3tre bad, whether used for right or wrong
purposes, is a matter of Divine observation
4nd arraignment. The divine mission of
pictures is my subject.
That the artists pencil and the engraver's s
knife have sometimes been made subservient
b the kingdom of the bad is frankly admit
ed. After the ashes and scoria were re-
noved from Herculaneum and Pompeii the
Falls of those cities discovered to the eXplor-
rs degradation in art which cannot be e6.
ggerated. Satan and all his imps have al
Ways wanted the lingering of the easel; they
would rather have possession Of that than the
and quick for evil as pictures. The powers
'nf darkness think they have gained tri-
umph. and they have, when in some respect
able parlor or public art gallery they can
hang q canvas embarrassing to the good, but
Fascinating to the evil
1t is not in spirit of prudery, but backed
up by Gods eternal truth when I say that
Iyou have no right to hang in your art rooms
pr your dwelling houses that which would
be offensive to good people if the figures pic
eured were alive in your parlor and the
kuests of your houSeho d 4 picture that
you have to hang in a somewhat secluded
.blace, or that in public hall you cannot with
8 group of friends deliberately stand before
and discuss, ought to have knife stabbed
into it at the top and cut clear through to
The bottom, and a stout finger thrust in on
left. Pliny, the elder, lost his life by going
near enough to see the inside Of Vesuvius.
and the further you can stand off from the
burning crater Of sin the better.
Never till the Books of the Last Day
are opened shall We know what has
been the dire harvest of evil pictorials and
unbecoming art galleries Despoil mans
imagination and he becomes moral carcass.
ihe show windoWs VS. OF 1 EnE,sa ana american
Times hung long lines Of brazen actors and
actresses in style insulting to all propriety,
have made broad path to death for multi
tudes Of people. But so have all the other
arts been at times suborned Of evil. How
has music been bedraggled! Is there any
place so low down in dssoluteness that into
6t has not teen carried Davids harp, and
IOle Bulls violin; and the flute, which though
named after so insignificant thing as the
ISicilian eel, which has seven spots on the
|stde like flute holes, yet for thousands Of
{years has had an exalted mission. Architec-
Eture, born in the beart of Him who made the
worlds, under its acres and across its floors
what bacchanalian revelries have been en-
lactedl It is not against any Of these arts
THAT they have been so led into captivity.
What poor world this would be if it were
mot for what my text calls pleasant pict-
|ures!" refer to your memory and
mime when I ask if your knowledge
|of the Holy Scriptures has not
been nightly augmented by the woodcuts
lor engravings in the old family Bible, which
the table in the old homestead when you
were boys and girls. The Bible SCI mes which
I'VE all carry in our minds were not gotten
from the Bible typology, but from the Bible
pictures. To prove the truth Of it in my
own case, the other day I took up the old
family Bible, which inherited. Sure enough,
what I have carried in my mind Of Jacobs
Jacobs ladder; and so with Samson carrying
of the gates of GAIA; Elisha restoring
the Shunamites son; the massacre OF
the innocents; Christ blessing little
children; the Crucif1ion and the
Last Judgment My idea of all these is that
|of the old Bible engravings which l scanned
before I could read a word That is true
with nine-tenths Of you. If I could swing
|open the door of your foreheads would find
great intelligence abroad about the Bible
did not come from the general reading Of the
book, for the majority of the people read it
1but little, If they read it at all; but all the
sacred scenes have been put before the great
masses, and not printers ink but the
pictorial art must have the credit Of the
achievement First, painters pencil for the
favored few, and then engraver's plate or
woodcut for millions on millions What
Overwhelming commentary on the Bible,
what reinforcement for patriarchs, prophets,
Apostles and Christ, what distribution Of
Scriptural knowledge Of all nations, in the
paintings and engravings therefrom Of
Holman Hunts 'Christ in the Temples" Paul
Veronese's 'Magdalen Washing the Feet of
Christi" Raphaels Michael the Archangel;"
Albert Durer's Dragon of the Apocalypse"
Michael Niche angeles Psgue Of the
Egypt" Rubens Descent from the Cross"
Leonardo Da Vinci's Last SUPPER Claude's
"Queen of Sheba;" Bellinis Madonna at
Milan" Orcagna's Last Judgment" and
hundreds Of miles of pictures if they were
put in line, illustrating, displaying, drama
tizing. irradiating Bible truths until the
Scriptures are not to-day so much on paper
|as on canvas, not so much in ink as in all the
colors Of the spectrum. In 1888 forth from
Strasburg, Germany, there came child that
was to eclipse in speed and boldness and
grandeur anything and everything that the
world had seen since .ue first color
appeared on the sky at the crea-
tion, Paul Gustav Dore. At eleven
years of age he published marvellous litho-
graphs of his own. Saying nothing Of what
L Al 81 Do ,1o
ing 1t on the attention of the world, he takes
up ths Book of Books, the monarch Of litera-
ture, the Bible, and in his pictures, 'The
Creation Of Light" "The Trial Of Abraham's
Faith" )" ''The Burial Of Sarah, "Joseph Sold
by his Brethren" 'The BraZen Serpent"
"Boaz and Ruth, "''David and Goliath, ;" The
TRANSPORTATION" )" "The Marriage in Cana"
"Babylon Fallen" and two hundred and
five Scriptural scenes in all, with boldness
ana grasp and almost supernatural atilatus
that make the heart throb. and the brain
reel, and the tears start, and the cheeks
Sanch, and the entire nature quake with the
tremendous things of God and eternity and
the dead. I actually staggered down the
steps Of the London Art Gallery under the
power Of Dores "Christ leaving. the
SPratorium." Profess you to be Christian
man or woman. and see no divine mission in
art, apd acknowledge you no obligation
either in thanks to God or mani
. II Is no more the word Of God when put
before us in printers ink than by skillfuily
laying on OF colors or designs on metal
through incision or corrosion. What lesson
in morals was presented by Hogarth, the
painter, in his two pictures, The Rakes
Progress, n and 1.-THE Miser's Feast" and by
Thomas Coles engravings Of the Voyage OF
Human Life" and the Course Of Empire; =
and by turner's Slave Ship" God in Art!
Christ in Art! Patriarchs. prophets and
apostles in art! Angels in art! Heaven in
art!
r, ..,a ,,d tt,o ob,rcb ought IN come