St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1900-04-21
THE DRAMATIC ART.
Dr. Talmage Gives His Views Of
the Theatef.


|
Copyright. 1900. by Louis Klopsch.l
Washington,
/ At time when the whole country
is in CO ltroversy as never before con.
corning the theater, and some plays
are being arrested by the police. and
others are being patronized by Chris
tian people, this sermon of DIR. Tai
mage is of much interest. The text
is Corinthians vii, 81: "They that
use this world as not abusing it,
My reason for preaching this dis
| course is that have been kindly invited
by two of the leading newspapers Of
this country to inspect and report on
two of the popular plays of the day
to 60 some weeks ago to Chicago and
see the drama "Quo Vadis" and criti-
else it with respect to its moral eff
feet and to 60 to New York and see
the drama ''Ben-Hur" and write my
opinion of it for public use. Instead
of doing that l propose in a sermon
to discuss what we shall do with the
dramatic element which God has i'm
planted in many of our natures, not
in 10 or 100 or 1000, but in the vast
| majority of the human race. Some
people 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 cur tastes to CORE
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 chill
dren three or four years of age play
ing with their dolls and their cradles
and their carts, seen ten years after
in the playhouses of wood, ten years
after in the parlor charades, after
that in the elaborate representations
in the academies of music. Thespis
and Aeschylus and Sophocles and Eu-
ripides merely dramatized what was
in the Greek heart. Terence and
Plautus and Seneca merely drama
tized what was in the Roman heart.
Congreve and Farquhar merely dram
atized what was in the English, heart.
Racine, Corneille 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 human soul.
1 do not speak of the drama on
the poetic shelf, nor of the drama
in the playhouse, but 1 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
it. but not for the original implanta-
ton. God did that work. and sup
pose He knew what He was about
when He made us. We are nearly
all moved by the spectacular. When
on Thanksgiving day we decorate our
Llurches 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 on Easter
morning we see written in letters of
flowers the inscriptions: He Is
Risen," our emotions are stirred. Ev-
cry parent likes to go to the school
exhibition with its recitations and its
dialogues and it's droll costumes. The
torchlight procession Of the political
campaign is merely the dramatiza-
tion of principles involved. No intel
ligent man can look in any secular
or religious direction without finding
this dramatic element revealing. I'M
rolling. 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 usefulness, and that it 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 cataracts let down in up
roar over the messed rocks. and the day
lifting its banner of victory in the east,
and then setting everything on fire as
it retreats through the gates of the
west, and the Austerlitz and Waterloo
of an August thunderstorm blazing
their batteries into sultry afternoon,
and the round, glittering tear of a
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 dra-
matte element in our nature, by every
staccato passage in literature, by an
tithesis and synthesis, by every tragic
passage in human life.
Now, have to tell you not only that
God has implanted this dramatic ele-
ment in our natures. but have to tell
you in the Scriptures He cultivates it.
lie appeals to it, 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 coronation,
and the bramble is proclaimed king.
That is political drama Here it is in
the book of Job: Enter Eliphaz, Bill
dad, Zophar. Elihu and Job. The open
ing act of the drama. all darkness: the
closing act OF the drama, all sunshine.
Magnificent drama is the book of Job.
Here it is in Solomon's Song: The
region, an oriental region-vineyards,
pomegranates, mountain of myrrh,
flock of sheep. garden of spices. WOO
ing. bride. bridegroom. dialogue
intense, gorgeous, all suggestive drama
is the book of Solomon's Song. Here it
is in the book of Luke: Costly mansion
in the night! All the windows bright
with illumination. The floor . 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
his old garb and prepare for this ex-
temporized levee! Pouting SON at the
back door. too mad to go in, because
they are making such fuss. Tears of
sympathy running down the old mans
cheek at the story of his sons wander
ipsv and Su 1fcrsno n nd tears IF iov n hi