SOCIAL TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 1985, 10 March 1892, Page 43

SOCIAL TOPICS.

By OIGABETTB,

RELIGIOUS REVIVALS.

11 Life is mostly froth and bubble," sings the Australian poet, and so it is ; but nevertheless that is what makes it so attractive. Who cares for a glass of ale without any head on it? and i 3 there anything more nauseous than stale stout 7 No wonder then that we all do our best to prevent life from becoming flat by welcoming every form of excitement that comes in our way. We must have distraction, and whether it be Bland Holt, General Bootb, Stanley, or an Episcopalian revivalist who brings it, each one is sure of a hearty welcome. Religious revivals are extremely popular. No sooner is one over than another begins. It is impossible to be apathetic in the nineteenth century, for just as a hot poker or pinch of soda is put into stale beer and stirred to make it froth, so are religious revivalists constantly stirring up the multitudes by metaphorically burling fire and brimstone at their heads. But then, as the " washing lady " remarked the other day, "It's a rattlin' good billet a preacher's, so no wonder there's so many of 'em. What's preachin' and vi&itin' 1 You can'c call 1 that hard work I "

But a revivalist require* to do more than preach. He must be able to act and to sing; he must be "tall and of prepossessing appearance," as they say in the advertisements for barmaids ; he must have a large fund of humour and a large stock of anecdotes ; and, most important point of all, he must be single. A married man will not have halE such luck at the " after meetings " as a single one, nor will the fair penitents be nearly so numerous if the mission preacher has a wife. For in religious revivals it is the personal influence of the preacher that draws the people. They go to see and bear and not to worship, for generally the prayers are scrambled through or altogether left out so as to have all the more time for the sermon. The more personal the preacher Is in his remarks the more popular he will be, and if, throwing decorum to the „ winds, he can crack a few jokes, make tbe women giggle and the men grin and forget they are in church, so much the better: his fame is accomplished. If the preacher is wise he will say he is not going to take the collection. His words have far more effect on his hearers if they do not know how his expenses are paid. A religious revival is generally a nine days' wonder. It seldom lasts longer, for one cannot live always at high pressure ; besides, the stock sermons becomes exhausted, everyone is " converted," and so the '• mission " preacher passes on to fresh fields' and pastures new ; the congregation calms down, the pews grow empty again, and tbe collection falls off, until by and bye another revivalist comes along and stirs up the sinful souls again. What good do they do, and _what is the result of all this religious excitement 1 Who can tell ? Every fish will not take the same bait, and every man's taste is different. Therefore what some regard as tomfoolery appears to others to be religious fervour, and the more ignorant the people the more impressionable they are. It is the uneducated classes who relish revivalists most. Culti.vated minds abhor religious theatricals, such as ridiculous gesticulations in the pulpit, resounding thumps on the Bible, hissing whispers and thundering anathemas; but all these antics are as necessary to the revivalist as powder and paint to the actress.

' Eloquence is a great gift but a rare one, and religious ranters strive to make elocution do instead, and many a sermon that "would look very commonplace in print is ■wonderfully embellished by artful elocution and ample gesticulation. Bat these are the things that please the public, and they flock to hear the preacher who can act in the pulpit as well as preach. At a recent mission held in an Anglican church in a neighbouring colony, the crowds were so immense that people were sitting on the floor, while the .chancel was packed with embarrassedlooking females facing the vast congregation. When the clergy filed in there was barely room for them to pas?, and one venerable old canon catching his surplice in a lady's umbrella almost measured his length on tbe floor. The scene was one of great confusion. People jostled each other for seats ; the aisles were crammed, the porches were crammed ; while several of the mission preachers' satellites were going about with hymn books whispering excitedly, " Let the unconverted get ml Let the unconverted get in ! " Again we cry, Cuh bono ?—"? — " What is the good of it all 1 " and theie is no answer. Alas, it is so much harder to practise than to preach. And yet it is the lives of good men that make tbe best sermons. Such men as General Gordon, Cardinal Newman, and Canon Liddon have done what no amount of sermons will ever do— they have left behind them " footprints in the sands of time ; " they have lived their religion, and done more for it than the whole host of religious revivalists, for we have many preachers but few examples, and as one of the brightest of these said, " A noble and beautiful life is the most convincing and persuasive of all preaching."

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