CHURCH AND STAGE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 961, 31 October 1910, Page 8

CHURCH AND STAGE.

"PASSINC OF TH-E THIRD FLOOR BACK." A STRIKING SERMON. On taking the pnlpit at .the Unitarian Church last evening the Rev. W. Jellie apologised for changing tho subject of his discourse.' "I was to have spoken," lie said, "on tho chief end of man, and so intended; until I saw the play now being staged at tho Opera House, and at onco it gripped my thoughts so tight that it became a matter of necessity to speak of it. ... I shall offer 110 apology tor going to the theatre or for preacning on a play or for advising you, as 1 do, to hear it for yourselves. Tliero are plays and plays. There arc some I would not go round the corner to see. But those are not invariably, let me add,, the plays that are banned by ordinary professional moralists. If tne play be a serious .revelation of life, it is good enough for me to take an interest in it, whether its 'revelation be a life on the good or bad side, on the light Or dark side, in its humorous or graver aspects. If the drama be a revelation of life that is enough for me; for life in its ultimate bearings is eternally moral. . . . We do not go to the theatre to hear a sermon. Some doubtless would like us to do' so, but this, it seems to me, is part of a narrow conception which we want to rescue religion from. Art, and the dramatic art among the rest, has its own particular part ,to play and its own place to fill in the great complex economy. Professional religion is. far too apt to> impose stifling restrictions upon human nature in distrust of the natural human impulses. Too: often ministers desire to have ail other men moulded after their own pattern. They might.. consider that if people went to tho theatre for sermons there would be no necessity for the churches, and if players preached there-would bo no need for ministers. We do not go to the' theatre to be preached to. But any play ihat has in it more than the plot, or no plot, of a second-rate comic opera, must, of necessity, convey some moral impression. And what, not merely the churches, but all right-minded people ought to look for from the theatre is that the play presented , for the people's amusement shall bo wholesome, and sound in its moral. impression. Whether it lightly or gaily skims the surface- of life or gravely descends to the depths with laughter and tears. ' We have a right to look to the theatre for plays that shall give us the. idea that the normal life is one where human lovo is pure; fidelity is common, honour not a mere matter of opinion, and where, when high ideals are prescribed to men and women, they are not ashamed to acknowledge and. follow them. .

: "Most distinctly is this the case with 'The Passing 1 of the Third Floor Back,' whatever' else may be said of it,', it is' 'certainly a, "serious, play—a serious play with yet'enough provocation to mirth in it to make the'fortune of half a dozen ordinary comedies. It is a play- that deals seriously with the .deepor facts of life, and the intensity with which the large audience on Thursday evening watched its gradual' shows.: that' it is ■ an. utter ,mistake to' imagine that theatre audiences care for nothing but sensation, doubtful sex problems, and still more doubtful farces. ... The play is instinct with life and feeling. It has some really clever bits of characterisation, and it' presents a very important idea. 'If you have any power of thought at all it holds you in its grip." It makes you think of what .you are, and'what you niight be.' It makes a powerful appeal by > suggestion 'to your better nature, and—it may be nothing! '' but? fancy. 1 "ori .iny parlAbut' ~I had. an-.impression as the crowd. left the theatre that the folks wore a .little inclined to.treat one. another - with gentler consideration than, is usual in tho rush and hurry of catching. cars. I could not help the thought that here was something which, if the people of Wellington would take it to heart, would have effect, for

■ ; 'Truth ombo.died in a,;tale'' , . Shall enter in at lowly doors. 1 . ' After describing and criticising the play,' and stating that the Passer-by stood for the better self in manhood, the preacher continued:. "The Passerby, the third-floor lodger ,is with us in many ways. He speaKs .sometimes out of the.pages of a book—perhaps the Bible, perhaps a modern novel. He looks out of a picture.' 'He speaks in the voices of Nature, and sometimes, most unaccountably, out of the depths of our own soul. But most frequently lie comes in the form of a liuman friend, one wliOf sees more than the world sees .in lis, ■ and by making us see it too, helps us to realise it. . .

And I want' to impress' this ouo other thing upon you: 'The Passing of the Third Floor Back' gives us the very key to a' successful and happy life. Itihas the 'open sesame' to _ that garden ,of joy. where we all desire to be. It is an expression in dramatic-form of the profoundest law. of human life!"