The Burke County news. [volume] (Morganton, N.C.) 1899-1901, 1899-07-07
Or. 1ALMbGE'S SERMON.
PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR YOUNG
AND OLD.
Subject: Ar; a Eighty Agency For the Sail
walton CT Mankind Pictures Potent
For Cool or Evil as the Subjects Are
Good or H~ad-Praise For Our Artists.

text is Isaiah H., Il, 1G. The day OF the
Lord OF Hosts shall De upon all
pleasant p.ctures.'
Pictures are by some ~rclegated to the
realm OF the trivial, accidental, sentimen-
tai 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 a matter Of divine OBJ
servation and Arrangement. The divine
mission Of pictures is NY subject. That the
artists pencil and the eDgraver's knifO
have sometimes been made subject to the
kingdom Of the bad is frankly admitted.
After the ashes and scOria were removed
from Herculaneum and Pompeii the walls
OF those cities discovered to the explorers
n degradation in art which cannot be ex-
aggerated. Satan 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
go potent and quick for evil as pictures.
The powers Of darkness think they have
gained II triumph. and they have, when in
some respectable Tarior or public art gall
lery they can hang a canvas embarrassing
10 the good but fascinating to the evil.
1t is not in q spirit Of prudery, but backed
MP by Gods eternal trdth, when | say that
you have no right to hang in your art
rooms or your dwelling houses that which
would be offensive to good people If the
figures pictured were alive in your pariOr
and the guests OF your household. A pic
ture that you have TO hang in q somewhat
secluded place, or that in a public hall you
cannot with a group OF friends deliberately
stand before and discuss, ought to have Il
knife stabbed into it at the top and cut
clear through to the bottom, and Il 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 Vcsuvius, and the farther YOU
can stand off from the burning crater Of
- 49,. H. l-~l - A..
last day are opened shall we know what
has been tho dire harvest Of evil pictorials
and u~nbecOming art galleries.. DespOil a
mans imagination and be becomes a mere
carcass. The show windows Of English
and American cities, in which the lOwthea-
tres have sometimes hung long lines OF
brazen actors and actresses in style insult
ing to all propriety, have made a broad
path to death for multitudes Of people. But
so have all the other arts been at times sub
Orned Of evil. How has music been be-
draSSled? Is there any place so low down
in dissoluteness that into it has not been
carried David's harp. and Handel'S organ,
and Gottschalk's piano, and Ole Bulls vio-
lin? and the flute. which though named
after so Insignificant athing as the Sicilian
eel, which has seven spots on the side like
flute holes, vet 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 floors, what
bncchanalian revelries have been enacted!
1t is not against any OF these arts that they
have been SO led into captivity!
What a poor word this would be II it
were not for what my text calls pleasant
picturcS.' | refer to your memory and
mine when ask if your knowledge of the
Holy Scriptures has not been nightly
Augmented by the W00GcutS 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
carry in our minds were not gotten from
the Bible typologv. but fro the Bible pic
lures. To prove the truth OF it IN my own
ease, the other day ltook up the old family
Bible which l inherited. Sure enough,
what | have carried in my mind CT Jacobs
ladder was exactly the Bible engraving Of
Jacobs ladder, aud SO with Samson carry
ing of the gates OF GAIA, Elisha restoring
the Shunammite,s son, the massacre of the
innocents. Christ blessing little children,
the ciucitiXion and the last Judgment. Ny
idea Of all these is that of the old Bible en-
cravings which | scanned before l could
read a word. That is true with nineteenth.
Of YOU. II | could swing open the door 81
your lorcheadS, l would find that YOU ar,
walking picture galleries. The great in
teliicence abroad about the Bible did no,
come from tie general reading OF the book
for The mu. GRITTY Of the people read il bu'
little, il they read it II al; but all I'll,
sacred scenes have been put before tn,
I,eat masses. and not printers ink. bur III,
pictorial art, must haze the credit Of III
achievement. First, painters pencil FOL
the favored few, and even encraFcr.- plat.
or woo4cUt for millions on millions,
WAAt overwhelming commentary on I'll,
Bl'ie. what c-entOrctmeutS for patri.
arcAs. prophets. apostles and Christ
what distribution Of ScriptGral knowledge
.f all nations, III tie paintings and encray
il tie TEMPLE Paul Neronese's Mag
daleu Washing tile Feet of Christ" Ra
lhaet's Michael the ArchanCeI.' AlbeI'
Durers Dragon o. the Apocalypse.