V.—Tue EncuisH Mora Puays. 
By Etvsert N. S. THompson. 
Cuapter [.—TuHe ALLIANCE OF THE PULPIT AND THE STAGE. 
The beginnings of the medieval miracle-plays have been very 
clearly traced to the tropes that were added in the tenth century 
to the antiphonal portions of the Gregorian service. As yet the 
origins of the morality plays have not been determined with equal 
certainty; partial investigations have yielded only tentative con- 
clusions. The old idea, that the moralities developed from the slight 
allegorical elements of the late miracle-plays, has been convincingly 
set aside. The influences, too, of the Psychomachia, of the popular 
Dance of Death, and of the allegorical handling of the verse in 
the Psalms, ‘“‘Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and 
peace have kissed each other,” have been made clear, and of late 
more thoroughly studied. But a careful examination of the contents 
and the spirit of the English moralities will reveal more concerning 
their origin and growth, and, the author believes, will eventually 
justify the conclusion that both branches of the sacred drama were 
devised by churchmen to supplement and enforce Christian teach- 
ing. The miracle-plays, like the carvings on the portals of the 
Amiens cathedral or the figures on the windows of Chartres, pur- 
posed to teach the facts of sacred history; the moral plays, by 
placing upon the stage personifications of virtues and vices to re- 
present concretely the temptations that man must face and the means 
of overcoming them, served to reiterate the moral and doctrinal 
message of the pulpit. One received its first development in con- 
nection with the antiphonal elements of the mass; the other was 
the direct outgrowth of the ensuing homily. 
It would be a great mistake to suppose that early Christian worship 
consisted chiefly of liturgical forms, to the exclusion or subordination 
of the sermon. The record of Christ’s life, the example of the 
Apostles, and the tradition of the Jewish synagogue, established at 
once both the duty and the method of oral instruction. The earliest 
preachers went forth as missionaries to carry the gospel to distant 
nations. But almost as soon, certainly in the time of the Apostolic 
Fathers, each community of believers was accustomed to receive 
religious instruction from its duly appointed leader. Since this 
parish preaching was the church’s readiest means of getting its 
