The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-06-19
THE MISSION OF ART.
ApoTeNT FACTOR IN UPLIFTING THE
/ HUMAN RACE.

Rev. DR.. y. De Witt TalAa40 breaches
| oh the InAaenoe Of pheasant Plc-
lures" n the Development of ChrAs-
tisn CAassstsr.
lcopyistt, Louis Klopsch. 1891
WAsMNoroN, June 1s.-Dr. TaImage
shows in this discourse how art may be-
come one of the mightiest agencies for
the elevation and salvation Of the human
race. The text 10 Isaiah, II, IL, 10, THE
day Of the Lord of hosts shall be =
upon all pleasant pictures" =.
Pictures are by some relegated to the
realm OF the trivial, accidental, senti-
mental or worldly, but my text shows
that God scrutinizes pictures, and wheth-
er they are good or bad. whether used for
right or wrong purposes, 10 matter Of
divine observation and arraignment The
divine mission Of pictures 10 my subject.
That the artists pencil and the engrav-
er's knife have sometimes been made sub
servient to the kingdom Of the bad is
scoria were removed from Herculaneum
and Pompeii, the walls Of those cities
discovered to the explorers degradation
in art which cannot be exaggerated. Ga-
tan and all 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 10 po-
tent and quick for evil a. pictures. The
powers Of darkness think they have gain.
ed triumph, and they have when In
some respectable parlor or public art
gallery they can hang q canvas embar-
RAISING to the good, but fascinating to
the evil.
1t lie not In q spirit Of prudery, but
backed up BY Gods eternal truth. when
I say that you have no right to hang in
your art rooms or your dwelling houses
that which would be offensive to good
people II the figures pictured were alive
in your parior and the guests Of your
household. A picture that you have to
hang In a somewhat secluded place, or
that in public hall you cannot with
group Of friends deliberately stand be-
fore and discuss ought to have knife
stabbed into 1t at the top and cut clear
through to the bottom and stout finger
thrust In on the right side, ripping clear
through to the left. Pliny the elder lost
his life by. going near enough to see the
inside Of Vesuvius, and the farther 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 picto-
rials and unbecoming art galleries. De-
spoil man'simagination, and he becomes
a mere carcass. The show windows Of
English and American cities, in which
the low theaters have sometimes hung
long lines Of brazen actors and actresses
In style insulting to all proprlety, have
made q 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 dissoluteness that
Into 1t 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 insigni6-
cant 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 foors,'
what bscchanalian revelries have been
enacted! 1t is not against any of these
arts that they have been SO led into cap
tivity!
Familiar Bible Pictures.
What poor world this would be il It
were not for what my text calls pleas
ant pictures" refer to your memory
and mine when ask II your knowledge
of tho Holy Scriptures has not been
nightly augmented by the woodcuts or
engravings 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 carly in our minds
were not got from the Bible typology,
but from the Bible pictures. To prove
the truth Of itin my own case, the other
day took up the old family Bible which
l inherited. Sure enough, what have
exactly the Bible engravines Of Jacobs
ladder, and 80 with Samson carrying off
the gates Of GAIA, Elisha restoring the
Shunammite's son, the massacre of the
innocsnts, Christ blessing little children,
the cruei6xion and the last judgment.
NY idea Of all these is that of the old
Bible engYavings, which scanned before
i could read word. That is true with
nine.tenths Of you. II l could swing
open the door Of your foreheads, would
find that you are walking picture gal
leries. The great intelligence abroad
about the Bible did not come from the
general reading of the book, for the ma
jority of the people read 1t but little, II
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 mil.
lions!
: What overwhelming commentary on
the Bible what reinforcement for patri-
archs, prophets. apostles and Christ, what
distribution of Scripturalknowledgs of all
nations In the paintings and engravings
therefrom of Holman Hunts Christ In
the Temple" Paul Veronese's "Magda-
len Washing the Feet Of Christ" Rapha-
els michael the Archangel," Albert
!Durer's dragon Of the Apocalypse" MI.
chael Angeles plague of the Fiery Ser
penis" Tintoretto's Flight Into Egypt"
Rubens' Descent From the Cross" Leo
nardo Da Vinci's Last Supper" Claude's
Queen Of Sheba," Bellini's Madonna"
at Milan; Orcagna's Last Judgment"
and hundreds Of miles of pictures, II they
were put in line, illustrating, displaying,
dramatizing, irradiating Bible truths I'M
til the Scriptures are not today 30 much
on paper as on canvas, not SO much In ink
as in all the coiors Of the spectrum. In
1888 forth from Strasburg, Germany,
there came child that was to eclipse in
speed and holiness anything and every
thing that the world had ever seen since
the first color appeared on the sky the
creation, Paul Gustave Dore. At II years
of age he published marvellous litho-
graphs Of his own. Saying nothing Of
what he did for Milton's Paradise Lost"
emblazoning 1t on the attention of the
world, lie takes up the book Of books, the
monarch of literature, 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" 1.-THE Brazen Serpent" "Boaz
and Ruth" David and Goliath" "The
TRANSPORTATION" 1.-THE Marriage In Ca
na," Babylon Fallen and 205 scriptural
scenes III all, with boldness and grasp
and almost supernatural afaatus that
make the heart throb and the brain reel
and the tears start aud the cheeks
blanch and the entire nature quake with
the tremendous things of God and eterni-
y and the dead. I actually staggered
down the steps Of the London Art gallery |
,,nder the mower Of Dore's "Ohrist Ieav. |