THE CHURCH AND THE STAGE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LI, Issue 5602, 7 February 1879, Page 7

THE CHURCH AND THE STAGE.

The relations existing between the Churoh and the Stage have been brought very conspicuously under the notice ot the public during the last few days, and especially at the Onuroh Congress, which held its session in Sheffield in the course of last week; and it is satisfactory to find that many liberalminded clergymen have come boldly forward and advocated the support of the theatre as capable of exercising a beneficial influence. This may be taken as a good sign, when we find the profession of the stage-player upheld by those whose duty it is to be the chief guardians of religion and morality. Our belief is that (he Stage either is, or mayeasily be made to be, a great moral teacher j that provided the public itself has any real inclination to accept it as such, there is hardly any limit to the good it may dot and that what is worthy of oonaemnation in the repertory it now offers is due not to anything inherently immoral in it as an institution, but to the decidedly immoral instincts and impulses of those who patronise it. Shakspeore, as a teacher of morality, is worthy to be placed on a level with the inspired teachers of religion} yet is it no fault of theatrical managers that the Sublio favours a play with an immoral tenancy, or calculated to excite even the slightest sense of immorality, other than the moral teachings of our great dramatist. The danger to fight against is the rapid and °°h' tinuous degradation of tone m publici morals, the esteem—we may even ray the deep respect—which is exhibited by decent people towards those who are chiefly distinguished bvthe laxity of their moral Sense, aud the readiness with which they both teach and practise (he beautyofh vicious life. On these (he moral teaching of (he Stage has as little influence as religion { yet is it the height of injustice to oondenm the former because its influence, is of no greater effect than that of the latter. Bother is It (he duty Of this two to combine together, with a view to elevate the tone of public feeling. Let them both direct their most strenuous efforts against the vulgarity aud licentiousness which people seem so cordially to sympathise with j and let those of the public who are in’any way desirous these efforts should be successful, render what assistance it is in their power to

Offer. We have sai I the stage is, or i capable of being made, the greatest teacher of morality. At all events, we are fairly entitled to ask, as did the Bev. the Earl of Molgrave at the Church Congress, “What other form of popular recreation is possessed of such wonderful teaching powers as the And with him we may point out that through tragedy it excites towards the attainment of tbs highest virtues, whilst it warns against the attractions of eviL The tenderest emotions are provoked, sympathy stimulated and taught, the inner man braced up to play a noble part in tbe great drama of everyday life. Through comedy the folly and vices of a present age are held up to rimcule and scorn, the absurdities of a pampered and selfish society exposed to contempt, and so warned against imitation.’’ Let us also repeat the words of Mr William Smith, so eloquently referred to by the Bishop of Manchester, and point out “ what the Stage is depends on what Society wills that it should be. ’ Let us bear this in mind when denouncing the so-called immoral tendencies of the Stage ; and remember that, if it is as immoral os ve have described it in our own imagination, its immorality it due to the very encouragement the public itself has afforded. Let tbe clergy, instead of fanatically opposing and decrying an institution of which the bulk of them know nothing, exercise a little of that charity by which they, as ministers of religion, are presumably distinguished. Let them strive their utmost to elevate the tone of Stage teaching, .and so will they in time succeed in eradicating from it what is vicious. Bat this, it mast be remembered, they will never succeed in doing if they are content to withhold all countenance from, and never weary of denouncing what has been, is, and ever will be, one of the grandest institutions, for whose existence we are indebted to the genius and skill of man.