Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1899-06-23

VI NVouNiuH' hHh tNt lditHtI 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 CALLER
les. Despoil n mans Imagination and
he becomes a mere carcass The show
windows Of English and American cit
| les. In which the low theaters have
sometimes hung long lines of brazen
actors and actresses in style insulting
to all propriety. have made a broad
! path to death ior multitudes of people
But so have all the other arts been at
times suborned of evil. How has mu-
sic been bedraggled? Is there any
place so low down in Gissoluteness
that into it has not been carried Da-
vid's harp, and Handels organ, and
Gottschalk's piano. and Ole Bulls vio-
| lin? 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 thou
sands Of years has had an exalted mis-
sion? Architecture. born in the heart
Of him who made the worlds, under its
arches and across It's floors. what
bacchanalian reyelries have been en-
acted. 1t is not against any of these
arts that they have been so led into
captivity!
Pleasant Pictures.
What a poor world this would be If
it were not for what my text calls
pleasant pcturesw refer to your
memory and mine when ! ask If your
knowledge Of the Holy Scriptures has
not been nightly augmented by the
wOOdcuts or 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 pictures. To prove the truth OF
it in my own case. the other day took
up the old family Bible which | inher-
tied. Sure enough. what | have car
ried 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
tie Shunammite's son. tie massacre Of
the innoccn,s Christ blessing little
children. tLe cruciAxion and the last
Judgment My idea of all these is that
Of the old Bible cngrayngs which
scanned before ! could read a word.
That is true with nine-tcnths Of you.
If could swing open the door of your
forehcads, ! would find that you are
walking picture galleries. The great
Intelligence abroad about the Bible did
not come from the general reading Of
the book. for the majority OF the peo-
pie read it 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 achieve
ment First. painters pencil for the
favored few. and then ensrayer's plate
or woodcut for millions or millionsl
What overwhelming commentary on
the Bible, wh1t reinforcement for pa
triarchs. prophets. apostles and Christ.
what distribution of Scriptural knowl-
edge Of all nations. in the paintings
and engravings therefrom Of Holman
Hunts Christ In the Temple" Paul
veroneses "Magdalen Washing the
Feet of Christ" Raphaels Michael
the Archangel." Albert Durer's Drag
on Of the Apocalypse" Michael An
eelo's plague Of the Fiery Serpents.'
TlntorettO's "Flight Into Egypt" Ru-
bens' Descent From the Cross"
l.eonardo Da Vincrs Last Supper"
Clscde's Queen Of Sheba," Bellini's
Madonna" at Milan. Orcagna's Last
Judgment and hundreds of miles OF
pictures. if they were put in line, Illus
trating. displaying, dramatizing, IRA
dating Bible truths until the Scrip
lures are not today 50 much on paper
rs on canvas. not so much in ink as in
all the colors of the spectrum. In lS33,
forth from Strassburg. Germany. there
came child that was to eclipse in
speed and boldness anything ana
everything that the world had ever
seen since the first color appeared on
the sky ut the creation, Paul Gustaye
Dore. At II years Of age he published
marvellous Autographs Of his own Say
ing nothing of what he did for Milton's
Paradise Lost" emblazoning it on
the attention OF the world, he takes up
the book of books. the monarch OF
literature. the Bible. and in his pic
lures, The Creation of Light" "Ihe
Trial of Abraham's Faith" The
Burial of Sarah" Joseph Sold by His
Brethren" The Brazen Serpent, l."
.Boaz and Ruth" David and Go
liath." THE TRANSPORTATION" The
Marriage In Cana" Babylon Fallen"
and 2O5 Scriptural scenes in all, with
a boldness and a grasp and almost SUI
pernatural ahlatus that make the heart
throb and the brain reel and the tears
start and the checks blanch and the
entire nature quake with the tremen-
dous things Of God aud eternity and the
dead. actually staggered down the
steps of the London Art gallery under
The power of DOre's Christ Leaving
the Praetorlum.' Profess you to be a
Christian man or woman and see no
divine mission in art and acknowledge
YOU no obligation either In thanks TO
God or man?
Arts Divine Mission.
II IS no more the word Of God when
nut before US in printers ink than by
skilIful laying on OF colors or designs
OH metal through incision or corrosion.
What a lesson in morals was presented
by Hogarth. the painter, in his two
pictures. The Rake's Progress ana
'aThe Miser's Feast" and by Thomas
Coles engravlngs Of the Voyage OF
Human Life" and the Course Of EN-
pire." and by Turner's slave ship.
God In art. Christ in artl Patri.
archs. prophets and apostles In art'
Angels In art. Heaven in art!
The world and the church ought TO
come to the higher appreciation OF the
divine mission Of pictures, yet the
-, - ,to,,, lova crpnerollV been