the way of sinners." "There you find the man," says one, "who has lost
all love for his home, the careless, the profane, the spendthrift, the
drunkard, and the lowest prostitute of the street. They are found in all
parts of the house; they crowd the gallery, and together should aloud
the applause, greeting that which caricatures religion, sneers at
virtue, or hints at indecency." Not only the actors and the onlookers of
the average theater are vile, but all of the immediate associations of
the playhouse must correspond with it. If not in the same building with
the theater, in adjoining ones, at least, are found the wine-parlor and
the brothel. It is generally conceded that no theater can be prosperous
if it is wholly separated from these adjuncts of evil.

The theater, therefore, kills spiritually and degrades the moral life
of the one who attends it. The theater deals with the spectacular.
This appeals to the eye, to the ear, and to all of the outer senses.
Spirituality depends upon a cultivation of the spiritual senses that
Grace has opened up within the soul. Hence, the spectacular is directly
opposed to the spiritual. The deep, contemplative, spiritual soul could
find little or no food in the false, clap-trap representations of the
modern stage. And to find an increased interest here is evidence that
one lacks spiritual life, at least deep-seated spiritual life. This is
why so many professing Christians are so eager to go to the card-party,
to the dancing-party, and to the theater. The inner-sense life of the
soul is dead, and one must have something upon which to feed, hence he
feeds upon the husks of "imprudent and un-Christian amusements." And let
one who has a measure of spiritual life, instead of increasing it,
seek to satisfy his soul-longing by means of the spectacular, of false
representations in any form, soon he will lose the spiritual life that
he has. And this loss will be marked by an increased demand for the
spectacular. The surest proof to-day that the spiritual life of
the Church is waning in certain sections, is not so much that her
membership-roll is not on the increase, but that professing Christian
people are running wild after cards and dancing and the theater.
Evangelist Sayles declares: "The people of our so-called best society,
and Christian people, many that have been looked upon as active workers,
sit now and gaze upon scenes in our theaters, without a blush, that
twenty-five years ago would