HOW I MET DOWIE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13396, 26 January 1907, Page 2 (Supplement)

HOW I MET DOWIE.

It is smile years ago now. when, on one of my many wandering expeditions in the Australian bush. I met Alexander Dowie— D.D.—and, by his own grace, reincarnate Prophet, and Regenerator-in-Chief of the human race.

It was midday. I was resting ; and. after my " tea and damper." was indulging in day-dreams and kindred far-away fancies, when a dark man, of middle height. but abnormally large of head and broad of shoulder, quietly approached me through the scrub and entered into conversation.

A " kookaburra." or " laughing jackass" continually interrupted us with its performances, providing, indeed, the initial subject of discussion. But not for long.

Insensibly I found myself listening to a. wonderful tirade of vague religious mysticism, which, while 1, of course, knew it to be unorthodox, daringly impious, and socially impossible, was, in a. way. and for the moment, rendered practically unanswerable by reason of the speaker's evident earnestness and apparent sincerity.

No ordinary man this, I said to myself; one who is certainly, whether for good or for ill. a born leader of men.

Now, having in view the present proprietor of Zion's announcement of himself as the reincarnated Elijah, it is, to my mind, not a little curious, and also amusing, to reflect that at this " bush" meeting I mentally compared him to a latter-day John the Baptist—minus the " wild honey," but with the " locust" touch then and there given by a coincident-ally passing stormcloud of" those flying pests. Still—like- the "Ancient Mariner" —holding meagainst not my will only but- my better judgment— by his " glittering eye, ' he gave me to understand 1 that he had a <_'re--et mi?;-'"?? 't,man: that lie -Was, in fact, divinely coinmissioned to regenerate him; not by ordinary and prevailing false, ecclesiastical methods, but by the wonderfully simple " Christ-teaching" revealed to him—Alexander Dowie —-wholly and exclusively.

This extraordinary statement by a man whom I had known but for the proverbial "five minutes" was, it will easily be believed, a. " staggerer." Presumably lie himself also realised that the "dose" was for the time, at any rate, perilously large, for he said no more. I could not help, however, having the last word, and, by way of joking parallel to his own assumption of prophetic dignity, said that I, as Marco Polo 11., hoped at some future time to renew acquaintance with himself. The locust storm was over, we had left our temporary shelter, and with a. handshake and a monitory wagging of his forefinger—the latter in silent reminder to think over all that he had- said—my new friend went his way. So we parted—l, in spite of my expressed hope, never expecting that we should ever meet again.

But fate decreed otherwise. Some little while afterwards 1 happened to be in Sydney. While strolling in the Domain I saw a large crowd, in the centre of which was the upraised figure of a man (not, as I thought, altogether unfamiliar to me) shouting and gesticulating in frantic fashion. If Dowie (for it was he) was loudly insistent, so also was the crowd.

Presently it was clear that the latter had become unmanageable, and' I, forcing my way through to the speaker's side, first "cut him out." and then escorted him to the gates of the park. He was grateful, and invited me home to his house.

Out of curiosity more than anything else I accepted, and in the " parlour" of a small artisan dwelling in. a side turning off Victoria-street was introduced to the " missioner's" wife. Evidently an exceptional rather than a. strictly typical helpmeet, she appeared to have eyes and ears for no one save her husband ; though, as it were, almost unconsciously, behaving to me with' all the) courtesy of the true hostess.

Dowie's subject on this occasion (for. as I had discovered by this time, he never failed to " improve the shining hour") was, I noticed, more socially antagonistic than of old. He fell foul of the press, the police, the publicans, and the "powers that Ik?" generally, with a vehemence almost vindictive. 1 fancied I could read the signpost at the comer of the road he was now travelling, and: before I had bid him and his wife "Good-bye" learned, to my satisfaction, that 1 had read aright. Our next and last meeting confirmed the impression. I certainly had a passing glance of him again in Sydney, but as there was then no personal intercourse 1 merely refer to it incidentally.

It was some years later, that last meeting. He was shortly about to leave a Pacific .port for the United States. What a. change!—well-nigh a miracle! No longer the budding, semi-dejected reformer—no longer a- weary traveller on foot—but a Man-god ! — veritable Royal Arch-Hitrarch, moving from point to point in super-royal stale. A missionary-autocrat, surrounded by a, retinue of uniformed, well-drilled followers. I could scarce believe my eyes or credit my senses. Dowie, the stump-orator, was now Dowie the missionaire ; Dowie, the owner and ruler of a city of 40.000 inhabitants—a city in which his old enemies the police, the press, and the publicans had neither a "habitation nor a name."— De Rougemont.