The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1900-03-30
THE DRAMATIC ART.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE GIVES HIS VIEWS OF
THE THEATER.
The Drama. Rightly Directed. He says
is a Source of Good-It Should be
Purified, Not Suppressed-Good
and Bad Plays.

At a time when the whole country
is in controversy as never before con-
corning the theatre, and some plays
are being arrested by the police, and
others are being patronized by Chris
tian 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"
Nv reason for preaching this dis
course is that 1 a been kindly in
vited by two of the leading newspapers
of this country TO inspect and report
on two Of the popular plays of the day
to go some weeks ago to Chicago and
see the drama Quo Vadis' and crltl-
else il with respect to its moral erect
and to go TO New York and see the
drama 'Ben-Hur" and write my opln-
ion OF IL for public use. Instead OF 10
ing that I propose in a sermon 10 dls-
cuss what we shall do with the Ora
matte element which God has lmpldhI-
ed in many Of our natures, not IN ~
or 100 or 1000, but in the vast MAORI
ty of the human race some peoPle
speak Of the drama as though IL were
something built up outside OF ourselves
bv the Congreves and the GOldsm1tns
and the Shakespeares ard the Sherl-
dams of literature and that then we
attune our tastes TO correspond Win
human inventions. Not at all. Inc
drama is an echo from the feeling
which God has implanted in our I'M
mortal souls. 1t is seen first In the
domestic circle among the chlldren b
or 4 years OF age playing with their
dolls and their cradles and their CARTS
seen ten years after in the playhouses
- 81 nfrar II the n4TlOr
charades. after that in the elaborate
impersonations in the academies OF
music. TheSpis and ana
Sophocles and Euripides merely Dram
affixed what was in the Greek heart-
Terence and Plautus and Seneca mere
" amatiz what was in the Roman
heart. Congreve and Farquhar mere
" dramatized what was in the Engl1sh
heart. Racine, Corneille n Alf1er1
only dramatiZed what was IN the
French and Italian heart. Snakes
peare only dramatiZed was In the
great worlds heart. h dithyramblc
and classic drama, the m
drama, the romantic drama, were
merely echoes of the human o
I do not speak of the drama on the
poetic shelf, nor OF the drama In the
playhouse, but 1 speak of the
elemen in your soul and mine. we
make men responsible for it. They are
I'D ICSDOIIo1OAC- IN
for the perversion of it, but not for the
original imp%lantation. God did thar
work. and, / suppose he knew ne
was about when he made us. We are
nearly all moved by the spectacular
When on Thanksgiving a we decor
ate our churches with the cotton and
the rice and the apples and the wheat
and the rye and the oats, our graft
tude to God is stirred. When on East
er morning we see written in letters
of flowers the inscription, II Is Ris-
en-" our emotions are stirred. Every
parent likes to go to the school exhi-
bition with it's recitationS and its d1a-
logues and it's doll costumes. The
torchlight procession of the political
campaign is merely the dramatlZatlon
of principles involved. No intelligent
man can look in m secular or rellg-
ious direction without finding this dra-
matte elemen revealing, unrolllng,
demonstrating itself. What shall we
do with 1t?
CORRECT. DO NOT SUPPRESS.
Shall we suppress it? You can as
easily suppress its Creator. You may
direct it, you may educate 1t, you may
purify il, YOU may harness II TO multi
potent usefulness, and that II Is your
duty to do. Just as we cultivate the
taste for the beautiful and he sublime
by bird haunted glen and roistering
stream and cataracts let down in up
roar over the messed rocks. n the
day lifting it's banner OF victory In the
east, and then setting everything on
fire as it retreats through the gates or
the west, and the Austerlitz and wa
terloo of an August thunderstorm blaz-
ing their batteries into a sultry after
noon, and the round, glittering tear or
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 dramatic element in our nature,
nv every staccato passage in literature,
by antithesis and synthesis, by every
tragic passage in human life.
Now, I have to tell you not only that
God has implanted this dramatic ele-
ment in our natures, but l have TO tell
you in the Scriptures he cultivates 1t,
he appeals to it, he develops it. l do
not care where you open the Blple'
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 a
and the bramble is proclaimed KING.
That is a political drama. Here it is
in the book of Job: Enter Eliphaz
Bildad, Zophar, Elihu and Job. The
opening act of the drama, all darkness
the closing act of the drama, all sun
shine. Magnificent drama is the book
of Job
Here it is in Solomon's Songs: The
region. an oriental region-vineyards,
pomegranates, mountain of myrrh,
flock of sheep, garden of spices, a WOO
ing, a bride, a bridegroom, dialogue
after dialogue-intenSe, gorgeous, Ill
suggestive drama is the book of Solo
mons Song. Here it is in the book Oh
Luke: Costly mansion in the night
All the windows bright with
ton, The floor a-Quake with the
dance. Returned son in costly gar
ments which do not very well fit him
perhaps, for they were not made 1o1
him, but he must swiftly leave on MS
old garb and prepare for this extern
ported levee! Pouting son at the
back door, too mad to go in, because
they are making such a FUSS! Tears
OF sympathy running down the ole
mans cheek at the story of his sons
wandering and suffering and tears OF
low at his returni When you heard
Murdoch recite 1.-THE Prodigal Son. in
n of his readings, you did not Know