Connecticut western news., 1900-03-22
DRAMA DISCUSSED.
REV. pR. TALMAGE SAYS IT CANNOT
 BE SUPPRESSED.

He SuRGShtk nal ShrtstkAnNy should Control snd Reform Public AmuHement-The Church Should Go to the Theater.
 WASHINGTON, March 1S.-At a tirne when the whole country is in contro- versy as never before concerning the theater and some plays are being ar rested by the police and others are be- ing patronized by Christian people this sermon of Dr. Talmage is of much ii. terest The text is l Corinthians vii, 3l. They that use this world as moi abusing It."
 My reason for preaching this dis course is that I have been kindly in yited by two of the leading newspa- pers of this country to inspect and re- port on two of the popular plays of the ,,ay-to go some weeks ago to Chicago and see the drama Quo Vadis" and criticise it with respect to its moral eff feet and to go to New York and see the drama "Ben-Hur' and write my opin- son of it for public use. Instead of do- ing that !. propose in a sermon to dis cuss what we shall do with the dra- matic element which God has implant- ed 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 some thing built up outside of ourselves by the Congreves and the Goldsmiths and the Shakespeares and the Sheridans of literature and that then we attune our tastes to correspond with human in- yentions. Not at all. The drama is an echo from the feeling which God has implanted In our immortal souls. It Is seen first ip the domestic circle among the children 8 or years of age playing with their dolls and their cradles and their carts, seen ten years after in the piayhouses of wood, ten years after in the parlor charades, after that in the elaborate impersonations in the acade- mics of music. Thespis and Eschylus and Sophocles and Euripides merely dramatized what was In the Greek heart; Terence and Plautus and Sen .eca merely dramatized what was in the Roman heart; Congreve and Far quhar merely dramatized what was in the English heart; Racine, Corneille and Alfieri only dramatized what was in the French and Italian heart; Shakes peare only dramatized what was in the great worlds heart. The dithyram- hic and classic drama. the sentimental drama, the romantic drama, were mere ly echoes of the human soul.
 I do not speak of the drama on the !, poetic shelf or of the drama in the playhouse. but I speak of the dramat- fc element in your soul and mine. We make men responsible for it. They are not responsible. They are responsible for the perversion of 1t, but not for the original implantation. God did that !. work, and | suppose he knew what he was about when he made us. We are nearly all moved by the spectacular. When on Thanksgiving day we deco rate 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 on Easter morning we see written in letters of i flowers the inscription, He Is Risen," ,. our emotions are stirred. Every parent likes to go to the school exhibition, with its recitations and it's dialogues and its droll costumes. The torchlight procession of the political campaign Is merely the dramatizatien of principles involved. No intelligent man can look in any secular or religious direction without tnding this dramatic element revealing, unreHing demonstrating It. self. What shall we do with it?
 Love of the Beautiful.
 Shall we suppress it? You can as easily suppress it's Creator. You may direct it, you may educate 1t, 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 sub- lime.
 Now, have to tell you not only that God has implanted this dramatic ele- ment in our natures, but I have to tell you in the Scriptures he cultiyates it, he appeals to it, he develops it. I do not care where you open the Bible, your eye will fall upon drama. Here
  z. 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 a political drama. Here 1t 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 1t is in SolomOn's Song-the region, an oriental region: Vineyards, pomegranates, mountain of myrrh, flock of sheep, garden of spices, a woo ing, bride, a bridegroom, dialogue after dialogue-intense, gorgeous, all suggestive drama Is the book of Solo mons Song. Here it is In the book of LutGa Costly mansion in the night. All the windows bright with Illumination The floor a-quake with the dance. Re turned 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 pre- pare for this extemporized levee. Pout- ing 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 recite "The Prodigal Son" in one Of his readings, you did not know whether to sob or shout. Re vivals of religion have started just 1n- der the reading of that. soul revolu- tionizing drama of "The Prodigal Son." s Here 1t Is in the book of Revelation crystalline sea, pearly gate, opaIine river amethystine capstone, showering coronets, one vial poured out incarna- dining the waters, cavalrymen of heav- en galloping on white horses, nations in doxology, halleluiahss to the right of i.s