THE REVIVAL CAMPAIGN. Appeals to the Emotional Side of Man.

Free Lance, Volume III, Issue 114, 6 September 1902, Page 8

THE REVIVAL CAMPAIGN. Appeals to the Emotional Side of Man.

IF only the Wellington clergymen had the knack of filling their churches as the Skating Eink has been lately filled by the American Evangelists, Dr. Torrey and Mr. Alexander ! Does the fact of these revival meetings being crowded to excess show that the clergymen of Wellington are not " the right men m the right place " ? Not to any appreciable extent. The people expect something stirring when they read that a great revivalist is coming along. Most people are more easily approached through the emotions than through the head, and it may be that the former is a near cut to the latter. All the clergymen in Wellington in many years ea .not lay claim to having made the same number of " converts " as noted revivalists make in a few days. * # * Why ? Their doctrine is as sound. They preach the same religion. Perhaps it is that there is nothing startling or novel enough about the modern clergyman's style no excite the emotions of the people, and it is left to one man here and there to do what a crowd has not been able to accomplish. How powerfully the feelings can be moved at times is instanced by the case of the Australian Salvation Army soldier, Avho recently confessed to having committed three murders — crimes that existed only in his imagination, and were probably conceived through an overmastering desire to exhibit a violent contrast between his past career and his present life. * * * Note the enormous power wielded by Dr. Dowie. whose personal influence is .so great that tens of thousands of people m America flock to hear if he is in truth the '• Elijah." There are, alas, no means of testing the gen uineness of the results of revivals. Men who are able to control and electrify a huge mass meeting have great magnetic power and a power that is frequently productive of the finest results. It is, however, a peculiar commentary on changeable human nature that truths which people are convinced about should have to be hammered home in the revival fashion in order to evoke a spirit of enthusiasm about them. * * * If through revivals the emotions of the people were stirred lastingly and they were induced to listen to their own regular ministers in larger numbers as a result, it is likely that the benefits of these periodical \ isits would be more easily discernible. The Wellington clergy should test the \alue of the re\ lvals by calling on the people to gather as they are at present gathering in a year's time. It may be that the people think more of the teaching than the teacher. They should be asked to demonstrate this.