Daily Yellowstone journal., 1888-11-04
MISSION OF PICTURES.
DIVINE SERVICES IN THE BROOKLYN
TABERNACLE.

American Cities Need Great Galleries Of
Paintings-Men Of Wealth Should Build
In the Place of Their Residence Thrones
for American Art.
BROOKLYN, Oct. 2s.-The Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, ID. d., preached at the
Tabernacle this morning. A vast congre-
cation attended the service. The pastor
expounded a chapter about the room of
imagery in Ezekiel, after which the hymn
beginning:
Thine earthly Sabbaths, Lord, We love,
But there's a nobler rest above,
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 THE Divine
Mission of Pictures Histext was Isaiah,
chapter ., parts Of the twelfth and six
tenth verses: 1.-The day of the Lord of
Hosts shall be upon all pleasant pictures"
He said:
Pictures are by some relegated to
the realm Of the trivial, accidental, sem
timental or worldly, but my text shows
that God scrutinizes pictures, and
whether they are good or bad, whether
used for right or wrong purposes, is
matter of divine observation and ar
raignment.
That the artists pencil and the en-
g%raver's knife have sometimes been made
subservient to the kingdom Of the bad is
frankly admitted. After the ashes and
scoria were removed from H~erculaneum
and Pompeii the walls of those cities
discovered to the explorers a degradation
in art which cannot be exaggerated.
Satan and all his imps have always
wanted the lingering of the easel; they
would rather have possession of that
that than the art of printing, for types
are not so potent and quick for evil as pic
lures. Thepowers Of darkness think they
have gained a triumph, and they have,
when in some respecta DE parlor or pub
lie art gallery they cal hang a canvas
embarrassing TO the rood, but fascinat-
ing 10 the evil.
1t Is not in a spirit Of prudery, but
backed up by Gods ,ternal truth when /
say that you have no right to hang in
your art rooms or rgur dwelling houses
that which would be offensive 10 good
people If the figures pictured were alive
in your parlor and the guests Of your
household. \ picture that You have To
hang in a somewhat secluded place, or
that in a public hall you cannot with a
group of friends deliberately stand before
and discuss. ought to have a knife
stabbed into il at the top and cut clear
through 10 the bottom, and stout finger
thrust in on the right side ripping clear
through 70 the left. Pliny, the elder,
lost his life by going near enough 10 see
the insideo Of Nesuvius, and the further you
can stand of 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.
DespOu a mans imagination and he be-
comes a moral carcass. The show win
dows Of English and American cities in
which the low theatres have sometimes
hung long lines Of brazen actors and
actresses in style insulting to all pro-
priety, have made a broad path TO death
for multitudes 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 DISCO
luteneSs that into il has not been carried
David's harp, and Handel's organ, and
Gottschalk's piano and Ole Bulls violin;
and the flute, which though named
after so insignificant a thing as the
Sicilian eel, which has seven spots on the
side like flute holes, yet for thousands of
years has had IN exalted mission. Ar
chitecture, born in the heart Of linn who
made the worlds, under its arches and
across its floors what bacchanalian revel-
mes have been enacted II is not against
any of these arts that they have been so
led into captivity. What a poor world
this would he if it were not for what my
text calls pleasant pictures!' l refer TO
your memory and mine when ! ask il
your knowledge Of the Holy Scriptures
has not been nightly augmented by the
wood cuts o r engrayings in the old
family Bible, which father and mother
read out Of, and laid on the 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 typology, but from the Bible pict-
ures. To prove the truth of il in my
own case, the other day | took up the
old family Bible which ] inherited. Sure
enough. what | have carried in my mind
Of Jacobs ladder was exactly the Bible
engraving of Jacobs ladder; and so with
Samson carrying of the gates Of GAIA;
Elisha restoring tue Summarizes son;
the massacre Of the innocents; Christ
blessing little children; the Crucifixion
and the Last Judgment. My idea of all
these is that Of the old Bible ~engravings
which scanned before / could read a
word. That is true with ninc-tenths OF
you. If could swing open the door OF
your foreheads | would find that you arc
walking picture galleries. The great in
telligence abroad about the Bible did not
come from the general reading Of the
book, for the majority Of the people
read II but little, il 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 en-
graver's plate or woodcut for millions on
millionsl What overwhelming com,