The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-01-19
THE CHURCH PAGEANT.

The Methodsts, those stad and sober followers
of John Wesley at the Centenary exhibition at
Columbus, Ohio, last reverted to four
teenth century customs and revived the miracle
play. stupendous spectacle costing millions of
dollars to present was produced, which added in
great degree to the attractiveness of the exhibits
Quite recently the Inter- Church World Move
ment officials have presented this stupendous pag-
cant at Madison Square Garden. "The Wayfarer
is the vehicle that is being employed to attract ad
vanced intelligence to the church and to the Bible
as were the miracle and morality plays of the me-
dieval church employed to appeal to the simplicity
of the fourteenth century folk.
The miracle play has it's origin in the mass-ser-
vice of the Catholic church at Easter and Christmas
tide. The first recorded play given at cele
bration for St. Catherine of Dustans The ordinary
services, say at Easter, enriched with special
ceremonies, such as burying the crucifx in tomb
of the church on Good Friday and disnterring it
Easter morning, with monks and choir-boys to take
the parts of the three Marys, the angel at the
tomb, and the chorus of rejoicing angels in heaven
These little ceremonies gradually became detached
from the service and were moved from the church
into the church-yard. Later when the crowds desc
Grated the graves in their eagerness to and
hear the plays were transferred to the public
square. By Chaucers time these miracle plays"
OF mysteries" had passed to large extent out of
the hands Of the priests, and had come under the
control of the guilds trades unions. These guilds
presented the whole of the Bible story from Gene
sis to Revelations, in series cycle, the largest
of which the York cycle, containing 48 plays.
1t was the aim of these great mracle-cyces to give
a connected view of Gods dealings with man, from
the beginning of the world until its destruction.
The miracle plays attempted to teach only what
is necessary to mans salvation, dealing solely with
matters of belief. Apart from these, yet natural
outgrowth from them, were the morality plays,
which treated Of the side of religion which deals
with matters of conduct. By means of personifca-
tions of the Seven Deadly Sins-Death Lust,
Vice, Greed, Old Age, Virtues, both good and bad,
the morality play presented the conflict between sin
and Righteousness for possession of the human soul
Cftentmes real slapstick comedy was added to the
church plays, as in the Building of the Ark pre-
sented by the Shipwrght's Guild, Noah's wife does
not relish being cooped up without her "gossips,"
leaving these amiable women to drown Noah fin
ally resorts to arguments of blows and drives his
scolding helpmeet into the Ark to the great delight
of the crowd.
Mr.. Walter Hampden who has recently come into
prominence for his Shakespearian impersonations,
notably Hamlet, is playing the part of The Way
farer, and is supported by cast of over 5000 char
acters. He is answering the critics who opposed
to allowing the figure of Christ being featured on
the stage by his aim to keep the standard of the
miracle play so high that it will be reckoned an
honor to be allowed to have share in their pre-
sentation.
- DR.. Frank Crane, of the New York Globe, and
contributor to several papers in this state, thinks
that the main reason why plays with the, religious
motif do not succeed upon the secular stage is that
they are not we'll enough done.
Shall the church revert to the theatrical business,
no matter what the end to the means be- shall the
deacons, stewards, vestrymen, and elders of our
Protestant churches become ushers and ticket col
lectors; shall the ministers become press agents
for the shows of their church? All of these and
similar questions going to be sources of watch
full interest in the future as there are many COM
municants who believe that it's all right to trob
Peter to pay Paul." so long as the end desired is
attained.