The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1900-03-23

they are making Sucn a 1uSS. ears OF
sympathy running down the old mans
cheek at the story of his sons wander
ing and suffering and tears of JOY at his
return, When you heard MurdOck re-
cite The Prodigal Son" in one of his
readings. you did not know whether to
sob or shout. Revivals of religion have
started just under the reading of that
soul revolutionizing drama of THE
Prodigal Son"
Here it is in the book of Revelation:
Crystalline sea, pearly gate, oPalinc
river. amethystine capstone, shOwering
coronets. one vial poured out incarnad-
ining the waters, cavalrymen of Heaven
galloping on white horses, nations in
doxology. halleluiahs to the right of
them. haIleluiahs to the left of them.
As the Bible opens with the drama Of
the first Paradise. so it closes with the
drama of the second Paradise.
Mind you. when | say drama do not
mean myth or fable, for my theology IS
of the oldest type-5OO years old, thou
sands of years old, as old as the Bible
When 1 speak of the drama at the be
ginning and the close of the Bible, do
not mean an allegOry, but l mean the
truth so stated that in grouping and in
startling effect it is God-given, world
resounding, Heaven-echOing drama.
Now. if God implanted this dramatic
element in our natures. and if He has
cultivated and developed it in the Scrip
lures. l demand that you recognize 1t.
Because the drama has again and
again been degraded and employed for
destructive purposes is nothing against
the drama. any more than music ought
TO be accursed because it has been
taken again ard again into the satur-
nalian wassails of 1000 years. VIII you
refuse to enthrone music on the church
organ because the art has been
trampled again and again under the
feet of the lasciviOus dance?
Rev. DIR. Bellows. of New York. many
years ago. in 4 very brilliant but much
criticised sermon. took the position
that the theatCr might be renovated
and made auxiliary to the church.
Many Christian people are of the same
opinion. 1 do not agree with them. /
have no idea that success is in that di-
rection. What / have said heretofore
on this subject, as far as ] remember.
is my sentiment now. But to-day l
take a step iu 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 re aim of Christianity any
thing, 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 de
fective Christianity. Is il capable 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 bur the dramatic element?
My idea of Christianity is that it can
and will conquer everything. In the
good time coming. which the world
calls the colder age and the poee the
elysian age and the Christian the
millennium, we have positive announce
ment that the amusements of the
world are to he under Christian sway.
Holiness shall be upon the bells of the
horses. says one prophet. So, you see,
it viii control even the sleigh rides.
The city shall be fun of boys and girls
playing in the streets thereof" says
another prophet. So. you see, it is to
control the hoop rolling and the kite
flying and the ball playing. Now. what
we want is to hasten that time. How
will it he done? BY the church going
over to the theater? 1t Will not 60. BY
the theater coming to the church? 1t
viii not coma What we want is a re-
formed amusement association in every
city and town of the United States.
Once announced and explained and IL
Iustrated. the Christian and philan-
thropic capitalist viii come forward to
establish il. and there will be public
spirited men everywhere who will do
this work for the dramatic element of
our natures. 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.
would have this reformed amuse-
ment association having in charge this
new institution of the spectacular take
possession of some hall or academy. 1t
might take a smaller building at the
start. but il would soon need the .larg-
est hall. and even that would not hold
the people; for he who opens before
the dramatic clement in human nature
an opportunity of qualification with
out compromise and without danger
Il . IL;
tury, ard the tides of such an institu-
tion would rise as the Atlantic rises at
Liverpool docks.
There are tens of thousands of
Christian homes where the sons and
daughters are held back from dramatic
for reasons which some
of you would say are good reasons and
others would say are poor reasons. but
still held back. But on the establish
ment of such an institution they would |
feel the arrest of their anxieties and |
would say on the establishment of this !
new institution which have called the |
spectacular: Thank God, this is what /
we have all been waiting for"
Now. as l believe that l make sug- |
gestiOn of an institution which wiser |
men will develop, l want to give some
characteristics of this new institution. |
this spectacular, if it is to be a grand /
social and moral success. In the first /
place. its entertainments must be COM |
pressed within an hour and thrce-uuar- |
ters. What kills sermons. prayers and !
lectures and entertainments of all sorts |
IS prohNity. At a reasonable hour |
every night every curtain Of public en- !
.ertainment ought to drop, every
church service ought to cease, the in !