A NEW RELIGION.

NZ Truth, Issue 100, 18 May 1907, Page 8

A NEW RELIGION.

OPERATING IN AUSTRALIA,

Missionaries m Melbourne.

The "Go-Preachers" or " Dippers "—The "No-Sect Sect"— A Campaign of Cadging — Homes Broken Up— % i Australians Beware!

Of the making of . new religious sects there is no end. And as if Australia had not already an ample variety 'of religiosity, a new one has come here.; Officially, they bear no name, but, for reasons hereafter explamned, they arc variously known as "The Gro-Preachers,"- "The Cooneyites," "The Irvineites," "The No-Sect Sect," and sometimes as "The Dippers." Ostensibly they have no responsible organisation, no headquarters, no offices ; but, behind it all, there are, as usual, clever hands and cunning, bra-ins. 'Four representatives of the sect are already opera tiai'g m Melbourne, while two are said to 'be at work m Sydney. It would appear that the sect was started m Great Britain m, 1898. Six years previously one William Irvine, a colliery manager at Kilsyth, Scotland, attended a mission service held by the "Rev." John McNeil, an Evangelist. Ei/gh'ti mionths later he resigned his position and went to the Bible Training Institute at Glasgow, and until 1898 he was attached to. the "Faith Mission," which sent out preachers all .over the United Kingdom. But while working m the South of Ireland Irvine came .to the conolusion that his position was "inconsistent with the example of Christ," aral 'lie left the mission to preach alone. "Had I. chosen the ordinary path that leads to the ministry, with' its churches, chapels, congregations, and stiperids, all would ha,ve bpsn well," says Irvine. So he inaugurated the- ''Go-Preachers," who sometimes vary the name ;by calling themselves the "TRAMP PREACHERS."

Their "Charter," as they call it, is the 10th' chapter of Matthew's Gospel, and they are told to follow the Apostolic injunction : "And as ye go, preach, saying the Kingdom of jj-le-a-v---cn is at hand," and ''Provide neither gold, nor silver, not , brass m your purses;; nor scrip for your journey, neither two. coats,. . .for the workman Is worthy, of his hire." Upon this foundation the Irvineites have built up an extensive system of fraud, imposition, cadging and credulity. In 1891 Irvine was joined by, amongst others, Edward Cooney, the soji of on Engadskillen draper, who bjecame a mjember of the sect with Annie Smith, one of his father's assistants. Later on 'lrvine and Cooney were joined by one Wilson McClung, and hence m certain parts of England tjhe "preachers" are known as "MoOlungites."

Now what are the tenets of this sect ? In the first place they cadge and loaf upon other people. Irvine himself says : "In exchange for bread

and' 'tiutten we gitve those" who are m fellowship with us bread from HeavCft— a real hearty, exchange. . .. .

Whenever I have visited ythe home of a brother I have always found hospitality m exchange (' for that wh'ioh, as a preacher of the truth, I bring into it. H <.| • As for those phases of ibhe. work which oannot : be carried on without money, all I know is that the money has always been available.." But at the 'back of all this bumOium 'there is the un-deni-able fact that Irvine's "converts'' and '".ddsoiples" 'have supplied him with' any amount of money. It has been ascertained that the income of Irvine and Cooney totals at least £2,000 a year, apart from the cost of senddiig "preachers" to the colonies and, other expenses, such as bicycles, clothes, railway and boat fares, to say nothing of the' cost, wnere it must be incurred, of accommodation. But, primarily, tke "GoPreaohers"- or "The Dippers" are loafers. • ' Secondly, the "Go-Preachers" (acaorddjng to the English papers whiidh have investigated their proceedings) are breakers of homes, breeders of STRIFE AND DOMESTIC SIONUp to the commencement of the present year Irvine had despatched 114" "preachers" to .Canada and the United States, some score to South Africa, and half a 'dozen or so to Australia and New Zealand. These "preachers'" are mostly girls, and it is; evident, from published correspondence, that their movements are directed by Irvine and Cooney. Ijvine says : v Tlie preachers always go, atyout m pairs — two men and two women. ... A sister always has 'her companion to whom silie can appeal. If she thinks it advisable she may go to jone of the 'brothers, who are always at hand, prepared to exercise nothing more v than a brotherly con- [ trol, Which' is the only 'kind of conitrol we have. We don't recognise that sisters 4o more than help. Theycouldn't baptise.'* Scores of young men and women' have turned their backs Tipon home and relatives and gone into the worlid as converts of the »ew relTigion. In many cases (inqfuiredi imto I>y Engiisii jouiroaliats) four sisters named Wilson, the daugh-. ters of a fanner near Ipswich, were each entitled to £500 under their grandfather's will, and' all this money went to Irvine. Numerous instances "have been published; of girls leaving; home, and, under the 'influence ot the new religion, going to America, Africa or Australia •; and an auitjh'on'tociated case (m Lancashire) is 'given to prove that a young woman lost her reason through THIS RELIGIOUS MANIA 1 . • and had to be placed m confinement. "IGod provides," said the "preachers," but the £2,000 of the Wilson children' should be 'borne m mind. A typical illustration of the practices of the "Go-Preachers" is that one of them who "lived" on a poor woman m Falkirk, Scotland, untiil she was compelled to put him out." Their "preachers" m Australia are carrying on the same gaanie. ■ .

As. to their assertion that they have neither organisation nor method! it is conclusively shown that, as a body, they " are controlled by individuals ; that there exists a perfectly understood system* encouraging likely "preachers" ; that, so far from their movements depending upon Divine guidance, they are mainly prearranged ;i that they are maintained and housed by an elaborate system liable to abuse •;■ and that the strength of the : preaching is modified to suit the occasion. If they can, they loaf/; but sometimes "payment is necessary where there >is no saints or -10 accommodation." All requests ; to Irvine or Gooney . from f atihera or mothers for information as to the WHEREABOUTS OF THEIR CHILDREN and the. conditions under which they are living ,@,re refused. -At the annual convention held m Belfast brothers and sisters-- (according to Irvine) '•' Volunteer for the work m the; col-, onies," but there is ample evidence that they are '''sent," and have" no choice but to go. Regarding "Go-Preachers" who are already operating m Australia, "Truth'" " has 'been able to ascertain that four are m Melbourne.. Two of this quartette are Willie and Aggie Hughes- (apparently brother and sistor), who oame here on the Oswestry Grange. Subsequently Aggde wrote : "We got into a Baptist hajl, 'but only got staying a week. Were put out <at the end of it, although we did try to go sof-tly" (i.e., m preaching). TJie names of the others are at present urcascertainable ; and it is significen't that the Melbourne Baptists, with which denomination the "Dippers" are stated to be allied, deny all Qcnowlcfdge of the sect. "Truth's" representative . who inquired into the matter, thowevera has reason to believe that the "Baptist hall" mentioned' in the letter was ■ ONE IN FITIZROY. But the fact 1 that there are representatives of the "&d-Preachers" m Melbourne and Sydney is fully esta|blished, and also that they are at work endeavoring to proselytise and "convert," and also to loaf, and cadge, according to their creed, (upon those who have provided themselves with a modicum of the good things of this world. . It is worthy of note that the "Irvineites" are divided into two sections— the "preachers" and the "saints." The "preachers" are those who abandon the things of the world m order to devote their lives to preaching. -The '•'saints" are those who remain at home "m fellowship" under the supervision of the, "bishops," among the latter being Irvine and Cooney; And it is an understood, thiujg that the ' 'preachers' ' m the colonies are expected to remit to the "saints" at home any monetary collections they may, make^— Melbourne- -Truth^'- 1 • • ' . .