Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1900-03-28

| suppress its Creator. You may direct it,
| you may educate 1t, you may purify it,
ness, and that it is your duty to do, just Us
/ We cultivate taste for the beautiful and
sublime.
Now, have to tell you not only that God
| has implanted this dramatic element in
our natures, but have to tell you in the
Scriptures He cultivates it, Heappeals to 1t,
| He develops it. do not care where you
| open the Bible, your eye will fall upon "A
| drama. Here it 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 corona
tion, and the bramble is proclaimed king
! That Is u political drama. Here it is In
the book Of JOB. Enter Eliphaz. Bildad,
| Zophar, Eiihu and Job. The opening act
| of the drama, all darkness; the closing
act OF the drama, all sunshine. Magnih-
| cent drama Is the book Of Job.
Here it is in Solomon's song-the region,
| an oriental region: Vineyards, pomegra-
nates mountain of myrrh, flock of sheep,
garden of spices, a wooing, a bride. a bride
| groom, dialogue after diaiogue-intense
| gorgeous, all suggestive drama is the book
| of Soiomon's Song. Here 1t is In the book
| of Luke: Costly mansion In the night. ALI
the windows bright with illumination. The
| floor a-quake with the dance. Returned
] son in costly garments which do not very
| well fit him perhaps, for they were not
made for him, but he must swiftly leave of
lis old garb and prepare for this extern
| porized levee. Pouting son at the back
door, too mad to go in, because they are
making such a fuss. Tears of sympathy
running down the old mans cheek at the
story of his sons wandering and suffering
and tears Of Joy at his return. When you
heard Murdock reclte 1.-The Prodigal Som
! whether to sob or shout. Revivals OF re-
ligion have started just under the reading
OF that soul revolutionizing drama Of "The
! Prodigal Son."
Here 1t is In the book of Revelation -
crystalline sea. pearly gate, opalins river
one vial poured out incardinating til, wa
! ters, cavalrymen OF heaven gullop.-g on
white horses, nations In doxology, ha:lelu-
labs to the right OF them, halleluiahs to
the left Of them. As the Bible opens with
the drama OF the first paradise, so 1t closes
with the drama of the second paradise.
Mind you, when l say drama 1 do not
mean myth or fable, for my theology is OF
/ the oldest type-50O years old, thousands oi
years old, az old as the Bible. When speak
and close of the Bible, DO not
mean an allegory, but 1 mean the truth
| so stated that in grouping and in startling
| effect it is a God given, world resounding,
heaven echoing drama. Now. II God i'm
| planted this dramatic element in our ma
] L
| oped it in the Scriptures, 1 demand tina.
| you recognize it.
Because the drama has again and again
! been degraded and employed for destruc.
| tive purposes is nothing against the drama
| any more than music ought to be accursed
/ because it has been taken again and again
! into the saturnalian wassails OF 1000 years.
| Will you refuse to enthrone music on the
! church organ because the art has been
trampled again and again under tie feet
Of the lascivious dance?
| 1t is nothing against painting and sculp-
| ture that In Corinth and Herculaneum
| they were demonstrative OF vulgarity and
turpitude. The dreadful museum at
! Pompeii shall throw no discredit on Pow
srs's "Greek Slave" or Church's Heart
| OF the Andes or Rubens's ''De-
! scent From the Cross" or Angeles 'Last
Judgment" The very fac. hat again and
| again the drama has been dragged through
( the sewers of iniquity is the reason why we
| should snatch 1t up and start 1t out Oh
a grand and holy and n magnificent
mission. Let me say at this point In my
| sermon that the drama will never be lifted
have not sense enough to distinguish be-
tween the drama and the playhouse, The
drama is no mere the theatre than a hymn
book is a church. l am not speaking In
regard to the theatre at all. The drama Is
| 4 literary expression OF that feeling which
God implanted In the human soul. Neither
will the drama ever be lifted to its proper
sphere by wholesale denunciation OF all
dramatists. II YOU have not known mel
ana women connected with the drams W
are pure in heart and pure In speech and
pure in life, 1t is because you have not had
very wide acquaintance.
- Wholesale denu ncia,ion of all dramatisti
will never elevate the drama. Yondel
stand a church and n theatre on opposite
sides OF the street. The church shouts Owe
10 the theatre, "You are all scoundrelsi'
The theatre shouts back. "You are all hyPo