The Leon reporter., 1900-03-22

for God and heaven. II you will 60
home and look over the history Of the
church, you will flnd that those men
have brought more souls to Christ
who have been. dramatic. Rowland
Hill, dramatic; Thomas Chalmers,
dramatic; Thomas Guthrie, dramatic;
John Knox, dramatic; Robert Nc
Cheyne, dramatic; Christmas Evans,
dramatic; George Whitefield. dra-
matte; Robert Hall, dramatic; Robert
South, dramatic; Bourdalou, dramatic;
Fenelon, dramatic; John Mason, dra-
matte. When you get into the minis
try, IL you attempt to cultivate that
element and try to WELD it for God.
you will meet with mighty rebuff and
caricature, and ecclesiastical counsel
will take your case in charge. and
they will try to put you down. But the
God who starts you will help you
through, and great will be the eternal
rewards for the assiduous and the
plucky.
What we want. ministers and lay
men, is to get our sermons and our ex-
hortations and our prayers out of the
old rut. The old hackneyed religious
phrases that come snoring down
the masses. What we want today, you
in your sphere, and l in my sphere, is
to freshen up. People dc 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 August at the edge OF
Schroon lake. We want to drive out
the drowsy, and the prosaic. and the
tedious, and the humdrum. and intro
duce the brightness and the vivacity,
and the holy sarcasm, and the sancti-
fled wit, and the epigrammatic power,
and the blood red earnestness,. and the
fire of religious zeal, and do not know
of any way OF doing it as well as
through the dramatic.
But now Let us turn to the drama as
an amusement and entertainment
Rev. DR.. Bellows of New York, many
years ago, in 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 today l
take step in advance of my former
theory. Christianity is going to take
full possession of this world and con-
troll its maxims, its laws, its literature,
its science and its amusements. Shut
out from the realm of Christianity
anything and you give it up to sin
and death.
If Christianity is mighty enough to
manage everything but the amuse-
ments of the world, then it is very
defective Christianity. Is 1t capable 4
of keeping account of the fears of the
world and incompetent to make record
Of its smiles? Is it good to follow the
funeral, but dumb at the worlds play?
Can it control all the other elements
Of our nature but the dramatic ele-
ment? Ny idea Of Christianity is that
it can and will conquer everything. In
the good time coming, which the world
'aal e6lden age and the poet the
elysian .ese and the Christian the mil
iennium, ae have positive announce
ment that the amusenents of the
world are to be under Christian sway.
Holiness shall be upon the bells of
the horses" says one prophet. So,
you see, it will control even the sleigh
rides. "The city shall be full of boys
and girls playing in the streets there
Of" says another prophet. So, YOU
see, it is to control the hoop rolling
and the kite flying and the ball play
ing Now, what we want is to hasten
that time. How will it be done? By
the church going over to the theater?
1t will not go. By the theater coming
to the church? 1t will not come.
What we want is reformed amuse-
ment association in every city and
town of the United States. Once an
nounced and explained and illustrated.
the Christian and philanthropic capt.
talist will come forward to establish
1t, and there will be public spirited
men everywhere who will do this work
for the dramatic element of our ma
lures. We need a new institution to
meet and recognize and develop and
defend the dramatic element of our
nature. 1t needs to be distinct from
everything that is or has been.
I would have this reformed amuse-
ment having in charge this new in
stitution of the spectacular take pos
session of some hall or academy. It
might take a smaller building at the
start, but 1t would soon need the larg-
est hall, and even that would not hold
the people; for he who opens
before the dramatic element in
human nature an opportunity
of qualification without com
promise and without danger does the
mightiest thing Of this century, and
the tides of such an institution would
rise as the Atlantic rises at Liverpool
docks.
would go to such an institution,
such a spectacular. should 10 once
a week the rest Of my life and take
my family with me. and the majority
OF the families Of the earth would 60
to such an institution. expect the
time will come when cen. without
bringing upon myself criticism, with
out being an inconsistent Christian,
when 4, a minister Of the good ,old
Presbyterian church, will be able 70