Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1875-05-07

There is this to be said in behalf OF re-
vivalists like Narley aud Moody and Sam
key, that they warm up peoples religion
when 1t IL cold, and put little temporary
life into 1t. They do not pretend TO teach
new doctrines, nor to inculcate new pre-
cepts. Their hearers are presu med to know,
and in fact do know, all about the subject
OF their discourses. Their task Is to re-
vive faded Impressions, rouse dormant
feelings, and quicken dead emotions, and
In some aspects Of the case they do good.
Just rs vice, by familiarity, grows less
olious, so virtue, after long practice, some
times loses its attractiveness, and by dress
ing IL in a new garb and setting II In a new
light, men may, perhaps, be won back to
their first love for it. Old truths gain ad-
! ditlonal force by being presented in an un-
usual form, and when the soul " heated
red hot In the lire Of stirring eloquence it
may be more susceptible 10 good influences
than in q state of cold worldliness.
The drawback to this possible benefit is
that souls get cool again as easily and
quickly as they get hot. Violent emotions
are, from the very ntIre Of the human
constitution, transltory. If II were not so,
revivalists would soon exhaust their field
Of labor. II all religious converts stayed
converted there would remain, amer a
while, no more work Of the kind to be
done.
Preachers thrive upon the recurrence OF
sinfulness In their hearers as doctors thrive
upon the repeated violations of the laws Of
health by their patients. Statistics show
that not more than one-third Of the mem
bers admitted to the Methodist church on
probation persevere in their religious
course, and the same fact is presumably true
Of other denominations. Nor does this
third continue In anything like their prim-
tive fervor. They settle down into the
usual huindrum, easy going style OF Chris
tian, and need fresh revival as much as
their back sliding and unconverted breth-
rem.
Worse than this, after a soul has been
heated red hot and then cools off 1t Is not
so easy to warm II up again. Cast iron
melted over once or twice becomes refrac-
tory to the fiercest furnace, aud men are
something like it. There Is a certain
VI Albuilhb III auN
that Is burned out they defy the match.
They become seasoned TO tho stimulus of
eloquence as the topper becomes seasoned TO
Jersey lightning. They resist the plead
ings of the orator as fruit trees blossoming
out Of season and then nlpped by the frost
resist the wooing of the summer sun. The
germs of religions life once killed re-
In xpliah IN for ond
fortunate is he to whom that additional
year is granted.
Nor is this red-hot religi ion, while 1t lasts,
of much practical value. Life is not made
up Of prayer meetings and sermon hearing.
Men must do their work in the world, and
women must attend to their households.
II Is in the trials and exigencies of every
day affairs that religious principle is really
tested. 1t is easy enough to sing hymns
and shout amen TO a preachers exhorta-
tons, but how is it about dealing honestly
| in business, doing justice TO ones neigh
Dor, aud living generally according to the
Ten Commandments? 1t may DE a popu-
lar error, but there is Il widespread belief
that eminent pety in the church is no him
drance TO profound rascality down town or
vineSar-temperedb behavior TO the domestic
circle. The revivalists do nothing to de-
stroy this conviction, because they are aim
| ing at something else. They start work
which they do not stay 10 finish, and unless
some one else takes il up, 1t comes to an
end. So that after all the best fruits of re-
| lgion are due to the labors of the patient
steady minister, who never makes a seusa-
lion, but who attends 10 his daily duty,
and, by words Of warning, reprooi and ad
vice. faithfully cultivates the field which
his master has allotted him.-.Sm.