MRS HAMPSON’S MISSION.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2827, 17 April 1882, Page 2

MRS HAMPSON’S MISSION.

[Our special reporter attended last night’s meeting, and we give his impressions verbatim,] The Trinity Presbyterian Church threw open its doors last evening at 7.30 precisely, and immediately received within its walls snch a concourse"of’ people as I am quite sure it never had before. There could not have been, at . minutes to. 8, -fewer than 1000 persons - seated in waiting for the inisaioner. The other places of •worship'had, by prearrangement, discharged their company at 7.30, and for some twenty minutes a steady stream of people set in towards the scene of the proceedings. At about ten minutes to eight a solemn hush fell upon the congregation, and just before the hour Mrs Hampson stepped up to the front of the rostrum, and the workers and stewards of the mission took their places round her, she being always the central figure. During this time the choir, occupying the gallery at the bottom of the building, sang one or two of Moody and Sankey’s hymns. A survey of the rostrum showed a figurative gathering. Blunt, in his key to Church history, dwells upon the symbolism of ecclesiastical architecture, — of tlm nave, transept, and chancel respectively—and one was reminded of this by a glance at the rostrum last night. It might be taken as a figurative heaven ; for on it were gathered in holy fellowship all sorts and conditions of men. His Honor Judge Ward was a conspicuous figure, and round him were grouped office-bearers of the various churches, and the pastors. After a hymn, and a prayer by the Primitive Methodist minister, the missioner herself opened the Bible at*lsaiah 55, and read a portion of Sciipture,commenting upon it as she proceeded. In fact the relative quantity of Scripture and comment was as a grain to a bushel, nor was the comment very forcible or telling. Mrs Hampson is a self-possessed, substantial looking lady, of extremely comfortable appearance,richly and tastefully dressed. Her fingers had evidently been divested of rings, their deep marks being plainly perceptible. She has remarkable selfpossession, and looks quite at home as alie stands eyeing the vast crowd before her. Her voice, at first somewhat indistinct, becomes clearer and louder as she proceeds’, and is distinctly audible in every part of the building, from first to, last. In her face there is none of the softness, in her voice none of the vibraPon, that belong to sympathetic natures. She has facial. power, but the changes are muscular ones, not changes of expression, ' and the tears which she , frequently sheds and quickly dries up, succeed one another with astonishing rapidity. On the whole, for a missioner, she is a wearisome speaker. She has not sufficient general culture to enable her to avoid a great deal of iteration in her speech, or to mingle in due proportion her on treaties and her arguments. Her discourse is a succession of metaphors, often exaggerated; sometimes very striking, often ill-conceived, forceless, . and unpleasing. When the gap between fast-succeeding metaphors is filled up by passages of pitiful appeal and thrilling anecdote, thoTyhole effect, if not crushing, is wearying in the extreme. The people behaved with serious attention. The occupants of the rostrum exhibited an astonishing and edifying solemnity of demeanour, but of the usual effects of revival discourses there were none. Of flushed, faces, wild pitiful eyes, involuntary moans and the peculiar rooking movement of the body which persons labor*: ing under strong excitement are given to, there were none. The audience were generally impressed, but quite unmoved. In the vast sea of faces I saw none giving evidence of any very strong excitement, and the preacher appeared tome to be, in a great measure, dashing herself upon a rock, and putting forth an excessive amount of physical power unnecessarily. Mrs Hampson chose as her text 19th St Luke 10—“ For the Son of Man is come to 4 seok and to save that which was lost.” The opening passages 8f the discourse ’were devoted to a very telling discursion on the word “lost.” But for undue rapidity; and a mistaken hurrying from scene to scene without breathing pause, this was very effective,and caught everyone’s attention It then appeared as if no definite train of thought or argument had been pre pared or was to be entered upon. The preacher launched herself on the'subject and turned hither and thither as something caught her attention which would furnish materials for a, lesson. She thus spun around the minds of her hearers a sort of a web or cloud which had a certain solemnizing effect bat she gave them nothing on which their minds might set, to work. The pitiful tone, the ready tear, the dramatic change of voice and tone and key, have an effect, hut it is not lasting. These’ belong to the stage, not to the pulpit. : At the close. oL her discourse: Mrs Hampson earnestly invited all who felt anxious about their salvation to meet heir in the enquiry room, and a number of persons filed off thither in response. Daring the singing of the hymns, immediately at the close of the discourse, most of the congregation filed out, it being then nearly ten o’clock. The audience was composed ; of highly res pectable well-attired persons ; and there was fortunately in one.sense, and unfor tunately in another, entire absence of the larrikin element. This revivalism is a hard matter, but it does certainly appear to me that these violent appeals, this harrowing up of the soul and freezing of the blood can only be useful and efficacious under certain exceptional circumstances, and those exceptional circumstances did not exist, so far as one could judge, last night.' The churches’ordinary work, is not to be done by this emotional exercise. In the crowded cities where, side by side with wealth and comfort and happiness, there exist poverty, squalor and crime—where the light of prosperity is marred by human misery in all sorts of shapes that meet and shock the observer ; where the Arab, the outcast whoso hand is against society and against whom society’s hand is ever raised, here this sort of effort is crowned with a noble success. For in the sweet and inviting story of redemption, in the beautiful melodies that the Gospel has called forth, in the personal appeal, in the delightful, the strangely delightful, vision that the service calls up before minds that have never : had a pleasant picture in life to look upon—in all these lie the elements of attractiveness. These have power to arrest, to attract, to direct. These work a change in the heart and awaken fire, enthusiasm, desire. The poor creature who hoars all this pleading and sweetness and invitation addressed to him, forgets his sqaulid rags, his filthy surroundings and low life. The robe of righteousness may bo his, the harp and crown are within his reach,_ he may if he chooses walk in the Saviour s footsteps. Full of these now-bom hopes and beliofs.ho feels a new self-respsct, a new desire awakened, and if his idea of redemption be a fantastical one, at least it is practical and efficacious. This is the first step towards reform of life. But it is only among semisavages and city arabs that the Work is

crowned with success. Here, ninetenths of the people are beyond the reach of these passionate appeals, a large number are churcb-goers and God-fearing persons. To them meditation is more important and beneficial than rhapsody. How the Presbyterians appreciate this sort of thing, I am curious to learn. It is not a proceeding likely to be-generally approved by that body. But they hare kindly, and in the true spirit of charity and unity, placed their building at the disposal of the revivalist, - .