DR. SOMERVILLE AT BRISBANE.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5233, 31 December 1877, Page 3

DR. SOMERVILLE AT BRISBANE.

The Brisbane correspondent of the Melbourne Argus , writing ou November 26, says:— In Brisbane we have not suffered for want of bustle. First of all we had Dr. Somerville, the great revival preacher. All “evangelical” congregations gathered at the exhibition building to listen to this worthy and venerable man, who has more reverend-looking loug white curls than any individual since the time of the patriarchal Casby iu “ Little Dorritt.” A younger Somerville accompanied this fine old pastor, and supplied the elements of music and pimples, being fairly endowed in both respects. The services made a great impression, and were the scene of much genuine earnestness on the part of the attendants. But the general effect lias been marred by a terrific bluuder which the silver-haired teacher fell into. At one of his services the doctor requested that all . of the male sex, except those who assisted in the choir (and who, it may be presumed, were supposed either to be requisite for theatrical effect, or else to possess peculiar delicacy of feeling as an accessory to an ear for music), to withdraw. Accordingly there was a solemn stampede of all the men in the congregation. As soon as they were gone the venerable revivalist requested, iu delicate terms, that all women who were sensible of having led a life of sin, and who desired to find peace, would itand up. There were about 1500 women present, and only about a dozen failed to understand the rev. gentleman. That dozen, being simple and innocent-minded young persons, had heard that “ all men are sinners,” and took “men ” to be, a generic terra including “ women.” Accordingly, under the impression that there would be a universal roll up, they rose in their, places, and were astofiished to find themselves unsupported. Their further amazement and horror may be conceived when I mention that the revivalist began to harangue these innocents ns lost sheep, in a fleshy sense, and insisted on their leaving their places, parading up the long aisles under the thousand-fold fire of all the other women present, and introduced them to a private room, where he solemnly depxecated their immoral courses, and prayed for them as a group of Magdalenes. Of course, the poor young things were by this timq hysterically weeping with shame, confusion, and anguish. The more they wept, the higher rose the exultant ecstacy of the good old man. Not oue of the despairing young people had the nerve to enter upon an explanation necessarily delicate, and distressing to unmarried young ladies and to young wives. They wanted to escape by a side door, but the revivalist was determined to snatch these brands from the burning, and insisted that they should march back to their places, which the nearly frantic creatures actually did. And then the venerable man got all the knowing balance, who had not considered themselves sinners, to pray for their sinful sisters, and he glorified the Almighty and himself (as an humble instrument) for having plucked them forth and brought them to a sense of the evil of their ways, the outward expression of this sense being that the victims were almost cataleptic with distress, embarrassment, and suffering. Now, I know three of the young ladies who were exposed to this outrage through the blundering conceit of a foolish old man. Oue is the young wife of a member of Parliament, and two are the daughters—then unmarried—of one of our highest Government officials. All three have been brought up, as it were, under the eyes of every old resident of Brisbane, and since childhood have never furnished occasion for an unkind remark. Everybody knows them for exemplars of all that is innocent and pure in girlhood, and a sentiment of deep indignation pervaded all but the fatuous circles of evangelicisra at the cruel torture arising from the conceited assumption of infallible insight by a sensational travelling preacher. This found expression in the writings of a local humorist in the evening paper, who briefly condensed a caustic account of the terrible blunder. Instead of an apology being forthcoming from the proper quarter, the organ of the evangelicals—the Standard —poured a torrent of abuse on the writer, and accused him of having outraged the feelings of women !