FEAR IS A BAD COUNSELLOR.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3803, 7 March 1881, Page 3

FEAR IS A BAD COUNSELLOR.

Sib,—A hundred years ago there was ods remedy that was applied to almost every kind of evil, and that remedy was terror. The king and his- counsellors knew no better means for making good subjects, and the labourer used the remedy in person by kicking and otherwise ill-treat-ing his wife and children. We now . wonder at an isolated case where the terror, inspired by a descending poker, gave speech to the dumb, but in those times terror was a panacea. Did doctors desire tp cure the insane, their great . medicine was terror. Did the pedagogue wish to make great scholars of his pupils he worked upon v their fears Did the Government desire to put down revolts, mutinies, and conspiracies the invariable means was terror. Did the Vanguard of the Church militant indulge in holy aspirations that the virtues, chastity, temperance, and charity should flourish they spread terror among the backsliders. This one means was always at hand, and it required ao refined agents to apply it, and so it was naturally the first tried. Now this old remedy is year by year accounted of less value It is abandoned in teaching because it partially paralyses the power of memory. It is abandoned by rulers, as it.arouses a worse form of evil passion than it attempts to quell. It is rejected by doctors as it aggravates tenfold mental disease; and would on every hand be regarded as useless and dangerous if it did not hold such a prominent place in popular religious teaching. It is not going beyond the mark to say that a revival is nothing more nor less than i;he act of terrifying crowds into goodness. Ifc may be that all the joys and pleasures and music and golden crowns are pictured, but the foreground has the pit of hell with the roaring flames and the shrieking devils, and. all other horrors. To escape these-we are ordersd to be good(at once, and we obey. Hanging over the bottomless pit in imagination, we hold on to the tail of anybody's coat to get further back. But then it appears anybody will not do; that there are certain persons, " the called, the chosen,'the faithful," who possess this gift, in their mantles, who say the word and we escape, wfeo withhold it and, and j . This religious question has now become quite periodic—prophet after prophet has arisen, and still a new prophet comes. We may fairly compare the metaphysical with the physical health giver, who, holding up the Wizard Oil or Blood Restoreror Mother Seigel's Syrup, offers one last chance to suffering, sad humanity. There is, however, this important difference, that the dispenser of the Wizard Oil or Magic Pills is quite content with the credulous, whilst those , who profess to ■ ladle out celestial nectar / are fierce beyond measure against all who >■ Venture to doubt that the stuff comes from heaven at all. In conclusion, I, for one, entirely disbelieve in any form of teaching that makes use of such a barbarous instrument as terror to enforce its lessons ; it Is one of the remnants of the savage age, and it.can only be wielded by those inspired by ignorance.—l am,.&0., ■■■■■■■■ : ■ ■. •**-*