Calvinism a life-system - pagina 98

CALVINISM AND RELIGION.

94

God

Neither

Himself.

How

imagination.

is

there

any

special evil in dramatic

highly did Milton appreciate Shakes-

Drama, and did not he himself write in dramatic Nor did the evil lie in public theatrical repre-

peare's

form?

Public performances were given for

sentations, as such.

the people at Geneva, in the Market Place, in Calvin's

all

and with

time,

No, that which offended

his approval.

our ancestors was not the comedy or tragedy, nor should

have been the opera, in itself, but the moral sacrifice which as a rule was demanded of actors and actresses,

amusement

for the

of the public.

A

theatrical troop, in

those days especially, stood, morally, rather low.

low moral standard resulted partly from the

and

constant

the

ever-changing presentation

This

fact that

of

the

character of another person, finally hampers the moul-

ding of your personal character; and

partly because our modern Theatres, unlike the Greek, have introduced

the presence of

in

women on

which a

God

woman

entrusts

to

very

few large

well

gauged by the measure

jeopardizes the most sacred treasures her,

proachable conduct. is

the stage, the prosperity of

Theatre being too often

the

her

name, and

stainless

irre-

Certainly, a strictly moral Theatre

conceivable; but with the exception of a

cities,

such Theatres would neither be sufficiently

patronized nor could exist financially

remains that, taking

all

;

and the actual

fact

the world over, the prosperity

of a Theatre often increases in proportion to the moral degradation

Caine

in

sad truth

his

of the actors. '•''Christian'^

— the

Too

often therefore

— Hall

corroborated once more the

prosperity of Theatres

is

purchased at

the cost of manly character, and of female purity.

And

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