THE STAGE, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE DEVIL.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXI, Issue 3, 4 November 1892, Page 7

THE STAGE, CHRISTIANITY, AND THE DEVIL.

(Edinburgh Catholic Herald.) "Is the stage an influence for good " is a frequent question. It depends on what you make it. Its complexion is derived entirely from those who manage it. The origin of the stage in Christian lands was due to the monks, who found it a useful medium of instruction. Abbe Gamier, the great French " Apostle of the Workingmeo," whose vast church is one of the most crowded on all occasions, and who is noted for bis interest in all movements affecting the welfare of the masses, is strong in advocacy of teaching through means of a Christian drama. The Abbe says :— The number of Pagans of Prance (by Pagans I mean French men and women who have not been baptised) is startling. It is by millions that men live among us, and, what is sadder still, die among us oat of the way of salvation. How not to be moved by such a state of things I How not to seek remedy for it I The remedy is the means of teaching these people gospel truths and makiog them acquainted principally with the life and death of Our Saviour. If the stage might be made to serve such a purpose, what results might not be achieved, as the French people naturally

delight in scenic effects." The Abbe then refers to the miracle plays of the Middle Ages, and to attempts in this direction that have been made in our time and with considerable success by certain enterprising and zealons priests. In conclusion, he says : — " It has been objected by our opponents that Jesus Christ made nse of no stage in order to make bis doctrines known. The truth is that Jesns Christ died on a stage ; while among those who looked on were some who wept, some who blasphemed, some who remained indifferent, and some who became converted." There is no use of leaving an agency potential for good in the hands of the devil, and if there be any place where Satan's possession of the stage should be disputed it is in France, for there, truth to tell, he has a monopoly of it. In Great Britain we were once very bad in this relation, We are bad still, are getting worse, but in France the need of reformation is truly greatest.