Los Angeles herald., 1908-03-25
CLEAR, CRISP AND CLEAN
STAGE AND CHURCH

AT o MORE will Robert L. Down.
VI ing's sonorous voice declaim
~ Shakespearean roles, no more
will his manly form wear the toga
yiriIis or the gladiatorial kilt in Ro-
nanesque plays. He has hidden fare
v ell, a long farewell, to all his stage
greatness. Henceforth he will walk
in the footsteps OF Dwight L. Moody.
and will be an evangelist He will be
successful emotional preacher, beyond
doubt, and we sincerely hope he VIII
also effect permanent good and that
his converts will settle down to be
church members and workers and
won't relapse as soon as they are out
Of reach of the magic spell of his voice
and influence.
We have no right to criticise mans
cnoice of profession or his change
of profession. We do not propose TO
criticise. We are not criticising. But
we wish to call attention to one of the
remarks with which Mr.. Downing an
nounced the transition of his sphere of
activity. He said: From the stage
to the pulpit is a long step" The old
ldllltIS WIZ WIN my
plays helped to Christianize Europe
anc to keep it Christian knew better
than that They knew the intimate
connection of church and stage, and
made the latter serve the former. II
any one had suggested to them that
tie stage door is the door to perdition
an actual remark made by a minis
4n,, Of nf fha gtraitGT mnOpFn
sects-they would have thought he
was demented.
Mr.. Downing's views of the relations
of church and stage have evidently
been colored by the prejudices which
he imagines others older in religion
than he still entertain. Some may en-
tertain them, but not all. He would
indeed be hardy and brazen bigot who
could read the "reminiscences of Ellen
Terry and without blushing or falter-
ing speak chiding or evil word of the
great and noble profession that she
adorned.
But-here's the point. Just as there
are ministers who are jumping jacks in
the pulpit, there are actors who are
jumping jacks and worse on the stage.
1t is to be hoped that there are not
many ministers like Cooke. An actor
who had been guilty of Cookies mari
fal eccentricity would not be allowed TO
appear in public. He would be hooted
off the stage. But we have not yet
card any actors denouncing the pull
pit because of Cooke and others.
From the disreputable stage to the
reputable pulpit is a long step. From
a disreputable pulpit to a reputable
stage is a long step But from the
reputable stage to the reputable pulpit.
or from the reputable pulpit to the
reputable stage, is not a long step, Our
70 efathers never imagined that there
vas gulf between stage and pulpit un-
til temporary fanatcism of puritan
ism had curdled the milk of human
Kindness in them and substituted an
unreasonable and unreasoning religious
ferocity which treated priests of the
venerable Church oe Rome and aged
women with black cats as joint ennis
saries of Satan, and hunted and har-
T.ed the former and burned the latter.
In the Puritan reign of terror in Eng
land and New England and in the first
heat of the Presbyterian revolution in
Scotland--both Of which we've ilially
echoed or continued in the United
Stotes-the stage went under the BAN
But, praise God from whom all bless
ings flow for he mercifuly protected
the stage and saved from The Puritan
rage and the Presbyterian fire the
works of William Shakespeare.