WORK.

Freethought Review, Volume I, Issue 6, 1 March 1884, Page 13

WORK.

A HOMILY AND A HYMN,' '' Work while it is yet day, for the night cometh when no man shall work." Jesus of Nazareth. In the ' Pall Mall Budget' of Nov. 9th, 1883, there is a brief memoir of Mr. Moody, the Revivalist, and a description of the new temporary tabernacle in which he and his partner, Mr. Sankey, were performing for the edification of North London. It is perhaps quite unnecessary for me to state that I have very little sympathy with these American traders in Christian emotionalism. Their existence is however a fact, and the influence which they have upon the middle and lower strata of Society is another fact well worthy of serious consideration. According to the memoir referred to, Mr. Moody began his career as a teacher in Chicago, in which city he was doing a good business in the boot and shoe trade. His sympathies for the young outcasts of society were awakened, and he opened a sort of ragged school for the Street Arabs of Chicago, and there can be no doubt that his labours in that direction were productive of a large amount of good. It is asserted that Napoleon the first declared that he was "by nature a Republican,but circumstances made him an Emperor." The force of circumstances upon the character and conduct of men is a phenomenon with which most of us are familiar, and I am inclined to believe that Mr. Moody was, or is, by nature a philanthropist, but circumstances have made him a Revivalist Preacher. The report from which I have quoted says : —" Mr. Moody is as unlike an ideal apostle as it is possible for any man to be. He is stout and thick set, with a broad chest, a hairy face, the beard grizzling slightly. His manner is brusque, his voice harsh, his delivery irregular and singularly unimpressive."' The writer states that the building accommodated the vast number of five thousand persons—l put it in words so as to avoid the possibility of mistake—and after expressing his astonishment that so large a number should come " through fog and rain into a bleak and misty hall to listen to such a discourse," he says —"From every point of view except the supreme one of effect upon the audience, Mr. Moody's remarks were most disappointing. Alike in style, manner, matter, there was nothing in them superior to what might be heard in any meeting house." The reporter interviewed Mr. Sankey, and sought to discover the secret of tins wonderful " effect upon the audience," and plainly expressed his opinion on the poorness of the sermon. Mr. Sankey replied : —" We have no secret. I cannot explain it ; nor can you. Behind all instrumentalities, feeble or mighty, there lies an inscrutable something which influences the soul of man. We call it the spirit of God. Beyond that we cannot go." With that dubious explanation the reporter had to be content.

As it is still a moot question, may' we not hazard an hypothesis ? Mr. Moody's perseverance, his unflagging persistency', has proved that he is in earnest. Whatever may be the-inner and perhaps half unconscious motive, whether it be the saving erf souls, the accumulation of the “ almighty dollar,” or a desire for fame, or all three mysteriously combined —for singleness of motive is extremely rare— there can be no doubt that he is in earnest. That in my opinion is the primary cause of success, while the longing of the human heart for some higher, though undefined, ideal than is presented by' the cares and toils of every day life, does the rest. Great as have been the strides of intellectual culture during the last twenty or thirty years, the minds of the adult population of Great Britain at the present time have been but slightly purified from the dross of superstition inherited from their seniors who arc just passing away. The women, the mothers of the generation just budding into maturity, are most firmly clasped in the arms of Christian mystery and priestly' influences. The progress of Freethought, and true secular advancement, cannot be stopped, but there are impediments that delay our march, and to overcome which we must work , not faintly but earnestly.

ONE MORE DAY'S WORK FOR FREEDOM. ' Tunc : No. 50. Moody & Sankcy's Collection of Songs and Solos. One more day's work for freedom On this bright Earth for me, Where science is revealing What priestcraft is concealing—. Man's true nobility. Reason's bright ray Shall be our guide to-day : One more day's work for freedom On this bright Earth for me. One more day's work for freedom, That precious, sparkling gem ; To win it is our duty, We love it for its beauty, Which no tyranny can dim. We'll guard it as a treasure, Priceless beyond all measure : One more day's work for freedom On this bright Earth for me. We seek a glorious freedom From error's painful thralls ; Wc seek the light of reason, To slight it would be treason To humanity's loud calls For sympathy in sorrow, Hoping for the morrow, To work again for freedom : One more day's work for freedom, And this Earth our Heaven shall be. Another day's work for freedom, Till she smiles on all our race, Till ignorance shall perish, And truth alone shall flourish, And beam from every face, As o'er the earth shall move Man's own evangel Love : One more day's work for freedom Till Earth a Heaven shall be. Charles J. Rae.