St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-02-04
MINNEAPOLIS PULPITS
Rev. Shutter Delivers an In
tepesting Sermon on Thea
ters and Dancing.
"What to Do With Criminals"
Rev. Simmons Subject
for Discourse.
Services at the Police Station
&C. J. Buell. Wants a
Debate.
Sure Cure for SMALLPOX
Funeral of the Late Mons.
Grinager.

Last evening at the Church of the
Redeemer. Rev. Marion d. Shutter
preached from the text: LET every
man be fully persuaded in his own
mind" During his remarks, he said:
One way in which the strong may
help the weak is by teaching them to
discriminate. Help educate their
Judgment. Help sharpen their powers
of distinguishing between good and
evil, between the baneful and the bene-
fetal. If q man is lame, we can render
him better service by healing his lame
his way. We lump things. We label
alike things that are vastly different
Let us rembember that all novels are not
bad novels, that all plays are not bad
plays, that all operas are not bad operas,
that all games are not in the broad road
that leadeth to destruction. that all
amusement is not wicked. that he who
does not accept current ideas in the
churches about these matters is not
necessarily bound to commit the I'M
pardonable sin.
1t is customary, even now, for the
pulpit to denounce, without discrimi-
nation, the theater. The stage is said to
be utterly corrupt. Christians are eX-
horted never to enter the doors of an
opera house.. That there is much trash
upon the stage, goes without saying:
that there are some theaterS one ought
never to enter, is true. But this does
not condemn the whole profession. This
does not cast shadow upon all actors.
1t does not put the ban on all plays.
There are good as well as bad dramas.
One needs TO use his common sense i'll
respect to the theater, as well as all
things else. Let him patrOniZe the
plays that are good: that are uplifting :;
that afford him healthful recreation and
leave all the rest alone!
just now another subject is promi-
nently before the public-that of dane
ing. Its prominence just now is due to
the fact that certain ministerial as
semblies through the country have
petitioned the president-elect either to
do away with the Inauguration ball or
refuse to attend it. A vast deal of
pious nonsense has been uttered upon
the subject, great deal of well meant
but maudlin advice has been given,
great many fervent but foolish eXhorta
tons have been made. There may be
circumstances under which dancing is
injurious and improper; in such cases
religion aud common sense say refrain.
lHeTo are OtutF CIRCUMSTANCES ullucI
which it is innocent and healthful.
Here, as elsewhere, one needs dis
eliminating intellect. He needs to use
his common sense.
Each thing in this world must stand
upon its own merits. 1t is not of the
skies because it has good name, nor Of
the pit because it has a bad one. We
help others when we can show that
what offends them is not thing to
offend-that the evil lies, not in the
thing itself, but in their defective
vision. In the old fable there was no
monster in the sun; it was fly in the
telescope. If a color blind asserts that
all the landscape is of single hue,
those who see distinctly are not obliged
to make that concession. The debt we
owe to sickness is not catching the dis
ease. but providing remedy. The debt
to ignorance is not concession, but en-
lightenment. The debt to bigotry is
not narrowing ourselves, but smashing
the windows of its little tenement, SO
that sunlight and air may enter.