THE REVIVAL

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume V, Issue 1440, 26 September 1905, Page 2

THE REVIVAL

TO TM BDITOR ' •' Sih, —So far no exponent of the Bevivap*movement here has ventured to . advance any sound argument, or any atgumdnt, in •' favour of this roligions paroxyara, which is 'V / sweeping over the heads of a certain class 'n our midst, who whilst under a magnetic hypnotism, generated by all orowds, combinod wilh tho effect of loud-mouthed oru- *

tors working upon tho emotions, have sue- ■ oumbed, and as a result have imsgiiied themselves the most dreadful sinners in creatioD, and fit subjects for a hot hell. The sooner this superstitious nonsenso of a burning hell on the one hand, and golden streets and harps,' etc., etc., on the other hand, is eliminated from the minds of the rising . generation, the more fit they will bo to enter their spiritual existence when tho timo comes for them to pass to the higher life. Mr Harrison said nt ono o! his meetings that he knew there were many steeped in sin present, bat who had not , the manliness to come forward. If this is present day Christianity, and the Bev, Hurrison is a type of such, and a professed disciple of the Christ he attempts to preaoh, then I, want no heaven or a Christ with the Rev. Harrison inoluded. The howling denunciations made against writers to the papers from the meetings in the streotß are suffloiert > to hold up to the puplio eye the travesty so levied upon the name of religion. 1 visited some of these revival' meotings with an open mind, but the< ' effect was more of one of disgust than any - thing else. In the first place the clas? ono would wish to see changed most was conspicuous by its ab-, senco, and tho • meeting consisted mostly ot church-goers. Although . " Sadducee's" statement" that ihe movement has hod one good effeo'—it' has shown to tho community what rogues and hypooritos have been living amongst them "-oannotke refuted, it was cortalnly , borne to my mind that a large number of ohurch-goers an certainly .■ hypocrites, at proven out of many mouths at these meetinss. Some of the conductors and speakers at tho meetings . are more boye, with no knowledge of, any of the deeper questions and advancements of the day. Steeped in bigotry and superstition, tho superstitiqn of a Bible which is misquoted, mistranslated and- misunder-. stood, thoy niter words and statements which are tho childrwi of ignoranoo and superstition, Tho whole, movement is fictitious, passing, and is nothing more or lees than religious bystoria, which has provided, alas, numberless inmates for our asylums. It would be well for level-headed parents to keep their children away; the rosUlts, heard of in own colony, of some of these- rovivals, are such that they cannot appoar in oold print. The present scandal of the Abode of Live, at Home, is the outcome of. religions mania, developed in the miudß of these unfortunate subjeots, by playing upon their emotions and ignorant. The main threat and promiso held to people attending these I meetings, and the lever, by which it is in- '• . tended to "save" them, is the fear t ; of Hell and the promiso of Heaveu, both - fictitious creations of old tim» superstition, f ! If it takes a promise or a threat to convert a person, then that so-called conversion is v fortod and unreal, I know some of the > recent 11 converts" to be absolute believen in this teaching. Such men as Dr Watson f and ex-Major Wilson are- Bimply high , priests, of the "work on the emo« ' tions" olass; tho latter is a pure romancer, the former I label " dpgerj bus," as being the preacher of creed, that of everlasting torment. In oi)nelusion, let mo thank " Saddnoce" for his able letter on the subject, a matter of much importance to every person who wishes,V for truth and light and not passing out* :Vj bursts, Map, I agree with hiui that Mr. P' M. J, Stewrt should confino himself to matters which he has personally investigated, and as a ooueequence hiß public ad- ; dresses would , then bo more vslaed.—l am, etc., ' Viriias,