The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1900-03-21
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disc, so it closes with the drama of the
second paradise
Antiquity of the Drama.

disc, so it closes with the drama of the
second paradise.
Antiquity of the Drama.
Mind you, when I say drama, L do not
mean myth or fable, for my theology is
of the oldest type-50O years old, thou
sands of years old, as old as the Bible.
When [ speak of the drama at the be-
ginning and the close of the Bible, | do
not mean an allegory, but | mean the
truth so stated that in grouping and IN
startling effect it is a God given, world
resounding, heaven echoing drama. NOW,
if God implanted this dramatic element
in our natures, and if he mas cultivated
and developed it in the Scriptures, de-
mand that you recognize 1t.
Because the drama has again and again
been degraded and employed for destruc-
tive purposes is nothing against the dra-
ma, any more than music ought to be
accurscd because it has been taken again
ana again into the saturnalian wassails
of 1000 yers. Will you refuse to en-
throne music oa the church organ be-
cause the art has been trampled again
and again under the feet of the lascivious
dance!
1t is nothing against painting and
sculpture that in Corinth and Hercuiane-
UNI they were demonstrative OF vulgarlty
and turpitude. The dreadful museum at
Pompeii shall throw no discredit on Pow
ers' Greek Slave" or Church's Heart
of the Andes or Rubens Descent from
the Cross" or Angeles Last Judgment.
The very fact that again and AGAIN the
drama has been dragged through the sew
ers of iniQuity is the reason why we
should snatch it up and start it out on
grand and holy and magnificent mis-
sion. Let me say at this point in my SER
mon that the drama will never be lifted
to its rghtful sphere by those people who
have not sense enough to distinguish be-
tween the drama and the playhouse. The
drama is no more the theater than
hymn book is a church. l am not speak
ing in regard to the theater at ALL The
drama is literary expression Of that
feeling which God implanted in the hui
man soul. Neither will the drama ever
be lifted to its proper sphere by whole
sale denunciation of all dramatists If
you have not known men and women con-
nected with the drama who are pure III
heart and pure in speech and pure in life,
it is because you have not had very wide
acquaintance.
Wholesale denuncaton of all drama
fists will never elevate the drama. Yon-
der stand church and a theater on oppo-
site sides Of the street. The church
shouts over to the theater, ''You are all
scoundrels'' The theater shouts back,
You are all hypocrites," and they both
falsify.
nf Art
Fifty essays about the sorrows of the
poor could not affect me as little dra-
ma of accident and suffering l saw one
slippery morning in the streets of Phila-
delphia. Just ahead Of me was lad,
wretched in apparel, his limb amputated
at the knee; from the pallor of the boys
cheek, the amputation not long before.
He had a package of broken food under
his arm-food he had begged, L suppose,
at the doors. AS he passed on over the
slippery pavement, cautiously and care
fully, steadied him until his crutch slip
ped and he fell. helped him up as we'll
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 l saw the blood
run down his pale cheek [ burst into
tears. Fifty essays about the sufferings
of the poor could not touch one like that
little drama of accident and suffering.
Oh, we want in all our different depart
ments Of usefulness more of the dramatic
element and less of the didactic. The
tendency in this day is to drone religion,
to whine religion, to can't religion, to
moan religion, to croak religion, to sepul-
charlie religion, when we ought to pre-
sent it in animated and spectacular man
ner.
Let me say to all young ministers of
the gospel: If you have this dramatic
element in your nature, use it for God
and heaven. What we want ministers
and laymen. is to get our sermons and
our celebrations and our prayers out Of
the old rut. The old hackneyed religious
phrases that come snoring down through
the centuries will never arrest the
masses. What we want to-day, you i'll
your sphere and / in my sphere, is TO
freshen up. People do not want in their
sermons the sham flowers bought at the
millinery shop, but the japonicas wet with
the morning dew; not the heavy bones
of extinct megatherium of past ages,
but the living reindeer caught last Au-
gust at the edge of Schroon lake. We
want to drive out the drowsy, and the
prosaic, and the tedious, and the hum
drum, and introduce the brightness, and
the vivacity, and the holy sarcasm, and
the sanctifed wit, and the epigrammatic
power, and the blood red earnestness, and
the fire of religious zeal, and 1 do not
know of any way of doing it as well as
through the dramatic.
Purpose of the Drama.
But now let us turn to the drama as an
amusement and entertainment.
Rev. DIR. Bellows Of New York many
years ago, in a very brilliant but much
criticised sermon, took the position that
the theater might be renovated and made
auxiliary to the church Many Christian
people are of the same opinion. l do not
agree with them. / have no idea that
success is in that direction. What have
said heretofore on this subject, as far as
[ remember, is my sentiment now. But
to-day / take a step in advance of my
former theory. Christianity is going to
take full possession Of this world and
control its maxims, it's laws, its litera-