The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1900-03-28
DRAMATIC ARI',
Rev, Dr.. Talmage Olives His
Views of the Theater
GOOD AND BAD PLAYS
The Drama, Rightly Directed ne
Saws, IS a Source Of Coco.
isShouId Be Purified
Not Suppressed.

At 8 time when the whole country
is in controversy as never before con-
eerning the theater and some plays are
being arrested by the police, and others
are being patronized by Christian pco-
pie, this sermon Of Dr.. Talmsge is OF
much interest. The text IS Corln-
thians vii, 81, "They that use tins
world as not abusing it."
Ny reason for preaching this DIS
course is that have been kindly IN
yited by two of the leading DewspaperS
Of this country to inspect and report
on TWO of the popular plays OF the Gay
to go some weeks aco to Chicago and
see the drama Que Nadis and erltl-
else it with respect to its moral effect
and to 90 to New York and see the
drama ''Ben-Hur' and write my op;n.
ion of it for public use. Instead OF
doing that | propose IN q sermon to
discuss Ihat we shall do with the ORA
nstic element which God has implant-
ed in many of our nstures, not IN 10 or
100 or 1000, but in the vast majority
of the hunan race. Some people speak
eof 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-
ventions. 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 8 or I years Of age
playing with their dolls and their era
dies and their carts, seen ten years
after in the playhouse Of wood, ten
years after in the parlor charades, after
that in the elaborate impersonations in
the academies of music Thespis and
Rschylus and Sophocles and Euripides
merely dramatized what was IN the
Greek heart. Terence snd Plautus and
Seneca merely dramatized what was in
the Roman heart. Congreve and Far
quhar merely dramatized what was in
the English heart. Racine, Corneille
and Alferi only oramatized what was
IN the French and Italian heart.
Shakespeare only drauatize6 what was
il the great worlds heart. The dithy-
rsmbic and classic drama, the seuti-
mental 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
playhouse, but I speak OF the dramatic
element in your soul and mine. We
make meH responsible for it. They
are not responsible. They are respon-
sible for the perversio2 of it, but not
for the original implanation. God did
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 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 morn
ing We see written in letters Of flowers
the inscription. ''He Is Risen,' our
emotions are stirred. Every parent
likes to 90 to the school exhibition
with its recitations and its dialogues
and its droll costumes. The torchlight
procession of the political campaign is
merely the dramatization of principles
involved. No intelligent man can look
in sny secular or religious direction
without finding this dramatic element
revealing, unrolling, demonstrating it
SELF. Whatshall We DO with 1t?
Shall We suppress it? You can as
easily suppress its Creator. You may
direct it, yoS may educate it, 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 Cor the beautiful and the sublime
By bird haunted glen and roistering
stream ana cataracts let dosn in uproar
over the mossed rocks. aud the day lift
ing its banner Of victory n the east,
and then setting everything on fire as
1t retreats through the c,tes Of the
vest, and the Austcr;,z lui Waterloo
Of an August thunderstorm p!azirc
their batteries into sultry astcr"oa:,
and theroun6, glittering tear Of a wor.,;
wet on the cheek Of the night-as Ia
this way We cultivate our tsste for the
beautiful and sublime, SO in every law
fal way ne are to cultivate the dfanat-
ic element in our nature, By every STAG
cato passage in literature, by antiihesis
and synthesis, By every tragic passage
in human life.
Now, I have to tell ycu not only that
God has implanted this dramatic ele-
nent in or natures, but have to tell
you in the Scriptures he cultivates it,
he appeals to it, he develops it. I 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 81! anake speeches. Then at the
close Of the scene there is coronation,
and the bramble is proclaimed king.
That is political drams. Here it is
in the book Of Job: Eater Eliphaz,
Bildad, 2ophar, 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 Solomon's Song: The re-
gion, an oriental region-7ineyards,
pomegrauates, mountain of myrrb,
sock Of sheep, garden Of spices, WOO
ing, bride, bride groom, dialogue af-
ter dialogue-intense, gorgeous, all
suggestive drama is the book of Solo
mons Song. Here it is in the book Of
Luke: Costly mansion in the night!
All the windows bright with lllunina-
tionl The floor a-quske with the dance.
Returned son in costly garments which
not very well fit him perhaps, for they
were not made for him. but he must