Orange County observer. [volume] (Hillsborough, N.C.) 1880-1918, 1900-04-05
Dr.TALMAGE SERMON
THE GREAT D!VINE'S ELOQUENT
HESSAGE.
Subject: Drama Discussed-It Cannot BE
Suppressed-Christianity should Con-
troll and Reform Public Amusement
The Church should Go to the Theater.
ls34l

much interest. The text is | Corinthians
vii, 81, They that use this world as not
abusing it,"
Ny reason for preaching this discoursei is
that | have been kindly invited by two OF
the leading newspapers Of this country to
inspect ana report 0n two OF the popular
PLAY OF the day-to 90 some weeks ago to
Chicago and see the drama QUO Vadis"
and c~ritici-e it with respect - its moral ef-
feet and to 90 10 New York and see the
drama "Ben-IIur' and write my opinion OF
1t for public use. Instead OF doing that |
propose in q sermon to discuss what We
Shall do with the dramatic clement which
God has implanted IN many Of our natures
not 10 ten or 100 or 1000, but In the vast
majority Of the human race. some people
speak OF the draua as though 1t were
something biiit UP outside Of ourselves by
the Congrcve5 and the Goldsmiths and
the Shake-Peares aud the Sherldans or
literature and that then we attuno our
tastes to correspond with human inven-
tions. 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, seen
ten years after in tAe playh0uses Of wood,
ten years after in the parlOr charades, after
that In the elaborate i'm p~e1sonations in the
academies OF music. IhespiS ana -tschy-
lu3 and Sophocie5 and Euripides merely
Grammatical what was in the Greek heart;
Terence and Plautus and Seneca merely
dramatized what was in the Roman heart:
COngreve and Farquhar merely drama tiZed
what was in the English heart: Racine,
COrnei.!e ana Aliieri only dramatlZed what
was in the French and Italian heart;
Shakespeare only dramatized what was in
the great worlds heart. The ditlyraInbic
and classic drama, the sentimental drama,
lI, n-,n i, =, u p atI VOC =. rpar.lv ..hnau
Of the human soul.
| do not speak Of the drama on the poetic
shelf or OF the drama in the playhouse, but
| speak OF the dramatic element in your
soul and mine. We make men responsible
for it. They are not responsible. They
are responsible for the perversion Of il, but
no. for the original i'm plantation. Gcd did
that work, and suppose He knew what De
was about when He made US. We arr
nearly all moved by the spectacular. When
on Thanksgiving Day we decorate our
churches with the cotton and the rice and
the apples and the wheat and the rye and
the oats, our gratitude to God is stirred;
when Oh Easter morning we see written in
letters Of flowers the Inscription, lie Is
Risen our emotions are stirred. Every
parent likes to 90 to the school exhibition.
with its rccithtiOns and its dialogues and
its droil costumes. The tOrchlight pro-
ccssion OF the political campaign is merely
the dramatiIutlOn OF principles involved.
No Intelligent man can iOOk in any secular
or religious direction without finding this
dramatic clement revealing, unroIiing,
demonstrating itself. What shall we do
with it?
Shall we suppress it? You can as easily
suppress its Creator. You may direct it,
you may educate it, you may purify it,
you may harness it to multi-potent useful
ness, and that it IS your duty to 60, Just as
/ we cultlSate taste for the bpautjfui and
ublime
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, tho vine, the olive tree, the
bramble-they all make speeches. Then at
the close of the scene there is O corona
ton, and tile bramble is proclaimed king.
That Is u political drama. Here it is in
the book OF Job. Enter Eliphaz, Bildad,
Zopllar, Elit1 and Job. The opening act
of the drama, all darkness; the closing
act Of the drama, all sunshine. Magnif-
cent drama is the book of Job.
Here it IS in S~olonon's Song-the region.
En- oriental region: Vineyards. pomegra-
mates, mountain OF myrrl, flock of sheep,
garden Of spices, a wooing, a bride. a bride
6lNOIH, httipouC ailtI
gorgeous, all suggestive drama is the book
OF Soiomon,s Song. Here 1t Is In the book
or 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 off
lis old garb and prepare for this extern
IoriZed leyce. Pouting son at the back
door, too mad to go III, because they are
making such a fuss. Tears OF sympathy
running down the Old mans cheek mt the
story OF his sons wandering and suffering
and tears Of Joy at his re urn. When You
heard huriock recite Tho PrOdigal Sou
IL one OF his readings, you did not know
Ehether TO sob or shout. Revivals OF re-
tcion have started just under the reading
that soul notwithstanding drama Of IT
Proiigai Son"
Here it is in the book OF Revelation
crystalline sea. pearly gate. opaline river,
amethvstine carstOne, showerinC cOroneti
one vial poured out incardinating the wa
tiers, cavalrymen Of heaven cailoping on
white horses, nations in ioxoIoyv, hAlielu-
iahs to the right OF them, halleluiahs tc
the left OF them. A. the Bible opens witt
the drama Of the first paradise. SO it closes
with the rama OF the second paradise.
Mind you. when l say drama | do no,
mean myth or fable, FOR my theology is OF
the oldest type-5o0 years old, thousands o'
years old, "a old as the DiUlc. When SPEAK
OF the drama al the beginniue
and close Of the Bible. I do moi
mean an allecorv. but l mean thu truth
50 stated that in grouping and in STARTLING
effect It i n God given. world r~esouuiing
heaven echoing drama. Now, il God i'm.
planted this dramatic clement in our IA.
lures, and II He has cultivated and devel
OF Ell II in the Scriptures, l demand thai
yOu recognize it.
Because the drama has again and agair
been degraded and employed for dostruc
i've purposes Is nothing against the drama
any more than music. ought to be aceur.ed
because il has been taken again and again
into the saturnalian wassails OF 1000 wears
VIII You refuse to enthr0ne music on tn,
church organ becau.e the art has beer
trCmPIei again and again under the fee:
OF the lascivious dance
II Is nothing against painting and sculn
ture that in Corinth and Herculaneuu
they Were dem0nstrative OF vulcaritv ant
turpitude. The dreadful museum a,
Pompeii hall throw 10 1iscradit on Pow
srs's Greek Slave or Church's "Hsar
,. She Andes" or Rlhens's De
scent From the Cross or Angeles LAS
Judgment" Tie very iart that again am
again the drama has been dragged through
the sewers q inlquity is the reason why W,
should snatch Il up and start il out OF
u grand and u holy and Il naGnifccn