THE USE OF WORDS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 16 April 1907, Page 2

THE USE OF WORDS.

To the Editor.

Sir, — I quite agree with your correspondent "An Old Philologue," when he says that he cannot understand the Rev. R. J. Campbell's use of words. Of course he can't, and neither can any other reasonable man. The fact of the matter is that his words are' not meant to be understood. It ia part of his business that people should puzzle ovei theological problems, and come back a second time, only to go away more" mentally befogged than before. I happened to be ia London, and heard this young man eloquently urge his hearers to copy the "sweet naturalness of Christ's asceticism." And this from a gilded pulpit ! in a gilded temple ! on which the sum of £6000 had just been spent for decorations. His salary is not less than £3000 a year, and he drives in an expensive motor car from his place at Enfield, 20 miles from the metropolis, twice on Sundays And men, and women, and little children starving all the time close by. He also made use, later on, of very intemperate terms regarding the workers, people he never comes into personal contact with at all, Ishould say; and for several Sundays he was besieged in his temple, and the ordinary score of police on duty there had to be largely increased to keep order, and he himself had to adopt a rather clever ruse in order to escape being mobbed as ho left. And 'now "Labour" is a "Church" if you please. He professed to be "full of joy" over the Welsh revival. Even then the was a believer in "the new theology," and one would have thought that he could only have regarded the victims of this strange and sudden outburst as fanatics, labouring under the spell of an exploded and antiquated delusion. I regard Mr Campbell as a clever and graceful artist in his chosen profession — that is all. It's time wasted to try and "understand" him — just as it would be waste of time to try to fathom all the many tricks that Mr Maskeleyne (an artist in another line) is willing to puzzle you with in the Egyptian Hall of Mystery. I am, etc., R.S.