Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1900-03-22
TALMAGE'S SERMON.
DRAMATIC ART THE SUBJECT
LAST SUNDAY.
rhs TEXT II L Cosinthisas VIZ. al
They That Use rhh world ss Not
Abasing Ir'--Parify bus DO Not
suppress It.

Copyright. 1900. by Louis Kiopsch.l
The text Is l. Corinthians VIII, 81.
They that use this world as not
abusing It."
My reason for preaching this dis
course Is that l have been kindly In
vited by two OF the leading newspa-
pers OF this country to inspect and re-
port on two OF the popular plays OF
the day--to 60 some weeks agogto Chi
cago and see the drama Quo vadis'
and criticise It with respect to its mo-
raj effect and to 80 to New York and
see the drama "Ben-Hur" and write
my opinion Of Il for public use. In
stead OF doing this propose In a SER
mon to discuss what We shall do with
the dramatic element which God has
implanted in many of our natures, not
In 10 or 100 or 1000, but In the vast
majority Of the human race. Some peo-
pie speak of the drama as though It
were something built up outside of
ourselves by the Congreves and the
Goldsmiths and the Shakespeares and
the Sheridans Of literature. and that
then we attune our tastes to corre-
spond with human inventions. Not at
all. The drama Is an echo from the
feeling which God has implanted In
our immortal souls. 1t is seen first In
the domestic circle among the children
three or four years Of age playing with
their dolls and their cradles and their
carts. some ten years after in the play
houses Of wood. ten years after N
,parlor charades. after that in the
elaborate impersonations In the acade-
mics of music. Thespis and Aeschy-
1us and Sophocles and Euripides mere
ly dramatized what was In the Greek
heart Terence and Plautus and Sem
'eca merely dramatized what was in
the Roman heart. Congreve and Far
fQuhar merely dramatized what was
in the English heart. Racine. Cor
nellie and Alfieri only dramatized what
was in the French and italian heart.
Shakespeare only dramatized what
was In the great worlds heart. The
dithyrambic and classic drama. the
sentimental drama, the romantic
drama. were merely echoes OF the hui
man soul.
I do not speak of the drama on the
poetic shelf. nor of the drama In the
playhouse. but speak of the dramatic
element In your soul and mine. We
make men responsible for 1t, but not
for the original implantation. God
did that work, and SUPPOSE he knew
what he was about when he made us.
We are nearly all moved by the spec
tacular. When on Thanksgiving day
we decorate our churches with the cot
ton and the rice and the apples and
the wheat and the rye and the oats,
our gratitude to God is stirred. When
on Easter morning We see written In
letters OF flowers the inscription. "He
Us Risen." cur emotions are stirred.
Every parent likes to go to the school
exhibition with its recitaticns and its
dialogues and its droll costumes. The
torchlight procession OF the political
campaign Is merely the dramatization
Of principles involved. No intelligent
man can look In any secular or religi-
GUS direction without finding this
dramatic element revealing, unrolling.
demonstrating itself. What shall we
do with It?
Shall We suppress It You can as
easily suppress its Creator. You may
direct 1t. you may educate 1t. you may
purify It. you may harness 1t to multi
potent usefulness. and that II Is your
duty to do. Just as we cultivate the
taste for the beautiful and the sublime
by bird haunted glen and roistering
stream and eataracts let down in up
roar over the mossed rocks. and the
day lifting Its banner OF victory In the
east. and then setting everything on
fire as 1t retreats through the gates
of the west. and the Austerlitz and Wa
terioo Of an August thunderstorm bla-
cling their batteries into suitry after
noon, and the round, glittering tear Of
q world wet on the cheek of the night
--as in this way we cultivate our taste
for the beautiful and sublime, so In
every lawful way we are to cultivate
the dramatic element In our nature,
by every staccato passage In literature,
by antithesis and synthesis. by every
tragic. passage In human life.
Now, have to tell you not only tina.
God has implanted this dramatic ele-
ment In our natures. but have to
tell you in the Scriptures he cultivates
it, he appeals to 1t, he develops It. I
do not care where you open the Bible,
your eye will fall upon drama. Here
II is In the book of Judges, the fir tree,
the vine, the olive tree. the bramble-
they all make speeches. Then at the
close OF the scene there is a coronation,
and the bramble Is proclaimed king.
That 10 q political drama. Here 1t Is
in the book Of Job: Enter Eliphaz.
Bildad. Zophar, Elihu and Job. The
opening act Of the drama. all darx-
ness: the closing act Of the drama. all
sunshine. Magnificent drama Is the
book OF Job!
Fifty essays about the SORROWS Of the
poor could not affect me as q little
drama OF accident and suffering saw
one slippery morning in the streets Of
Philadelphia. Just ahead Of me was a
lad, wretched In apparel. his limb am
putated at the knee; from the pallor
OF the boys cheek. the amputation not
long before. He had package Of bro
ken food under his arm-food he had
begged, I suppose. at the doors. AS he
passed on over the slippery pavement.
cautiously and carefully. l steadied
him until his crutch slipped and he
fell. helped him up as well as I
could. gathered up the fragments of
the package as we'll as | could. put
them under one arm and the crutch
under the other arm. But when saw
the blood run down his pale cheek I