A MAN AND THE PEOPLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 81, 25 March 1908, Page 3

A MAN AND THE PEOPLE.

I Popularity bestows its favors in many directions —now on an athlete, now on a politician, and anon on a prominent citizen. Uut, after all, popularity reserves its most sacred places for tlrose who live near to the heart of the people, and who try to do them good. That is the reason why the Rev. J. Flanagan's name is enshrined on the hearts of so many thousands of Englishmen in London and elsewhere. He is essentially 11. man of the people. Born in Mansfield, in the county of Nottingham, he is the son of an Irish father and English mother. Hence the blending of the Celtic lire and Saxon executive ability so clearly seen in his life work. In his early career he knew what it was to endure privation, it frequently happening that the purse of his mother was reduced to the last sixpence, and it often became a serious problem how that should be expended, the matter being settled gener-

ally according to the season of the yearMr. Flanagan, 100, possesses that large generosity of nature, that spirit of good fellowship, that gift of humor, which, in his earlier days, made him the life of any company where he was found. Nothing has escaped his keen observation, and his interpretation of the phenomena of aggregate or individual religious experience is invariably sound and shrewd. .Iu estimating the success of his work, it

'must be borne in mind that for the most part, in his early days as a preacher, he labored single-handed, and often went upon unprepared soil and stayed for a fortnight or three weeks only. And in practically no instance was there anything like the thorough and systematic visitation and preparation for his advent, as is now given to junited 'Flvl ' Church missions. Yet his missions were

almost invariably successful, and often remarkably so. But it is his work as a preacher and pastor in London that sets Mr. Flanagan apart as one of the great religious geniuses of the age. Some of the story of his work will be told in his lecture on "Fourteen Years in Darkest London." but the title 01" it can never be fully known by men. This celebrated preacher Ii is grappled with sin and sorrow first hand, and hundreds have been rai-ed lo respectability and righteousness of life through his efforts. Posse-sing wonderful adaptability he can charm the cultured and refined' with

deep thought and polished speech, and he ean reach the uneducated and poor along their own lines of thought and practice. Some of his afternoon Bible readings and Saturday morning sermons | are indescribably beautiful, whilst sometimes the Celtic imaginativeness and seeming recklessness of speech reach those whom nothing else can touch. It i< because lie ean play on all the keys of the organ of human life that James Flanagan is the man he is. We confidently bespeak for this great evangelist overflowing audiences during his mission I here.