walketh not in the counsels of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way
of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful." And so it is, that
every effort at reforming the theater, thus far has failed. The Rev.
C.W. Winchester says concerning the reforming of the theater: "The
facts are, (1) that the theater in this city and country never had the
support and encouragement of moral and religious people it has now;
(2) that the theater here was never so bad. Clearly, if Christian patronage
is going to reform the theater, the reform ought to begin. But the grade
is downward. The theater is growing worse and worse." Dr. Wilkinson
makes this statement on the question of reforming the theater: "Now
the Protestant Christians of New York number, by recent computation,
less than seventy-five thousand souls, in a population of a million.
Supposing a general agreement among them all that a regular attendance
at the theater was at this juncture the most pressing and most promising
method of evangelical effort, they would not then constitute even one-
tenth of the numerical patronage which the management would study
to please." Dr. Herrick Johnson says: "The ideal stage is out of the
question. It is out of the question just as pure, chaste, human nudity
is out of the question..The nature of theatrical performances, the
essential demands of the stage, the character of the plays, and the
constitution of human nature, make it impossible that the theater
should exist, save under a law of degeneracy. Its trend is downward;
its centuries of history tell just this one story. The actual stage of to-
day..is a moral abomination. In Chicago, at least, it is trampling
on the Sabbath with defiant scoff. It is defiling our youth. It is making
crowds familiar with the play of criminal passions. It is exhibiting
women with such approaches to nakedness as can have no other
design than to breed lust behind the onlooking eyes. It is furnishing
candidates for the brothel. It is getting us used to scenes that rival the
voluptuousness and licentious ages of the past." As never before to-