Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1900-03-22
THE DRAMATIC ART.
REV. Or. TALMAGE GIVES HIS VIEWS
OF THE THEATeR.

The Drama, Rightly Directed. lie
snys IL n source of Good-It should
he Purified. Not supprcsscd-Good
md bad Plays.
WASHINGTON. March 1S.-At n time /
when the whole country is in controversy .
as never before concerning the thcatcr, I
and some plays are being arrested by the
police, and others are being patronized by
Christian people, this sermon of DR.. 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 discourse
is that have been kindly invited by two
of the leading newspapers of this country
to inspect and report on two of the popu-
lar plays of the day-to go some weeks
ago to Chicago and see the drama Quo
Nadis" and criticise it with respect to its
moral effect and to go to New York and
sec the drama "Bcn-Hur" and write my
opinion of it for public use. Instead Of
doing that | propose in sermon to dis
cuss what we shall do with the dramatic
element which God has implanted in
many of our natures not in 10 or 100 or
1000, but in the vast majority OF the hui
man race. Some people speak Of the dra-
ma as though it were something built mp
outside of ourselves by the Congreves
and the Goldsmiths and the ShakcspCarcs
and the ShCridans of literature and that
then we attune our tastes to correspond
with human inventions Not nj all. The
drama is an echo from the feeling which
God has implanted in our immortal souls.
1t is seen first i'll the domestic circle
among the children 3 or years Of age
playing with their dolls and their cradles
md their carts, seen ten years after in
the playhouses of wood, ten years after
in the parlor charndes, after that in the
elaborate mpersonations in the acade-
mics of music. Thcspis and .Tschyus
and Sophocles and Euripidcs merely
dramatizcd what was in the Greek heart
Terence and Pautus and Seneca merely
dramatized what was in the Roman
heart. Congreve and Farquhar merely
dramatized what was in the English
heart. Racine, Corncille and Alfier only
dramatized what was in the French and
Italian heart. Shakespeare only dram
ltzed what was in the great worlds
heart. The dithyrambic and classic dra-
ma, the sentimental drama. the romantic
drama, were merely echoes Of the human
soul.
do not speak OF the drama on the
poetic shelf. nor Of the drama in the play
house, but | speak of the dramatic ele-
rent in your soul and mine We make
men responsible for it. They are not re
sponsible. They are responsible for the
perversion Of it, but not for the original
implnntation. 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 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 on Easter morning we see written
in letters of flowers the inscription, He
Is Risen" our emotions are stirred. Ev-
cry parent likes TO go to the school exhi-
biton with it's recitations and its dia-
logucs and its drol costumes. The torch
light procession Of the political campaign
is merely the dramatization of principles
involved No intelligent man can look in
any secular or religious direction without
finding this dramatic element revealing,
unrollng, demonstrating itself What
shall we do with it?
Correct. Do Not Suppress.
Shall we suppress it? You can as casi-
IL suppress its Creator. You may direct
it. you may educate it, you may purify it,
You may harness it to multipotent useful
ness and that it is your duty to do Just
as we cultivate the taste for the beauti-
ful and the sublime by bird haunted glen
and FOSTERING stream and cataracts let
down in uproar 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 Austerltz and Water
loo of an August thunderstorm blazing
their batteries into n sutry afternoon,
and the round glittering tear of world
wet on the cheek Of the night--as in this
way we cultivate our taste for the beau
titul and sublime, so in every lawful way
we arc to cultivate the dramatic element
in our nature, by every staccato passage
in literature, by antithesis and synthesis
by every tragic passage in human life.
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, he appeals
70 IT, he develops it. / do not care where
you open the Bible your eye will fall up
on n drama. Here it is in the book OF
Judges, the fir tree, the vine, the olive
tree the BRAN ble-they all make speech
cs. Then at the close of the scene there
is a coronation, and the bramble is pro
claimed king. That is a political drama
Here it is in the book OF job; Enter Eli
phaz Bildad, Zophar, Elihu and Job
The opening act Of the drama, all dark
ness; the closing act of the drama, all sun
shine Magnificent drama is the book 81
Job,