Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1900-03-19
DRAMA DISCUSSED.
REV. DR.. TALMAGE SAYS 1T CANNOT
BE SUPPRESSED


Should Control and Reform Public
Amusement-The Church Should Go
, to the Thenter.
WASHINGTON, March 1S.-At a time
when the whole country is in contro-
yersy 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 in
terest. The text is 1 Corinthians vii,
81, "They that use this world as not
abusing it"
NV reason for preaching this dis
course is that [ 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
day-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
ion of it for public use. Instead of do
ing that 1 propose in a sermon to dis
cuss what we shall do with the dra-
matte element which God has implant-
ed in many of our natures mot 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 GOldSmlths 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. 1t is
seen first in the domestic circle among
the children or years of age playing
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 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-
bic 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 l speak of the dramat-
ic 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 implantatiOn. God GiG that
work and l 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
flowers the inscription, He Is Risen,"
our emotions are stirred. Every parent
likes to go to the school exhibition,
with it's recitations and its dialogues
and its droD costumes. The torchlight
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, unrolling, 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 it, you may
purify it, you may harness it to multi
potenE 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 have to tell
you in the Scriptures he cultivates it,
he appeals to it, he develops it. l do
not care where you open the Bible,
your eye will fall upon 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 coronation,
and the bramble is proclaimed king.
That is a 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
ang, a bride, a bridegroom, dialogue
after dialogue-intense, gorgeous, all
suggestive drama is the book of Solo