New-York tribune., 1875-11-01
THE DANGER or LOOSE SPEECH


1t will be admitted, we presume, by all
thoughtful persons Of whatever religious be-
lief AMI even by those who have no pro-
nUunccd convictions upon the subject, that the
object for which Messrs. Moody and Sankey
are striving in Brooklyn is good one; that
their success in awakening men TO sense 0f the
importance of personal religion and to a truth
full apprehension of their duty to their fellow
men and TO God, Will wOrk nothing but beneht
TO the community, and that their failure would
be, even from the low plane of social adyan-
tage and material good, public misfortune.
In the work of these two Jealous and uGsclfish
men and the cooperative labors OF the
earnest and sincere men and women gathered
around them, the great public, and in II large
measure what is called the irreligious public,
sympathize much more deeply, We believe, than
is generally supposed. Whatever leads men
out of selfshness and evil doing into charity
and right conduct, promotes at the same time
the general welfare, enhances personal secu-
rity, and increases the comfort of society.
Upon all such enterprises, social, moral, or re-
lgious, all men look with an APPRECIATION
which is natural, even if it be selfish. so the
religious awakening In Brooklyn has the best
wishes of thousands who take no part in 1T,
and whose emotions are not and probably will
not be touched by it. Their failure to co0pe-
rate should not be mistaken for want of SYM
patty or interest.
With all this we are quite well aware that
there is a large class Of thin-brained, vacant
minded persons for whom life has nothing
serious except personal discomfort, and who
are most hippant over the weightiest problems
of eyisience and that these stand ready upon
the slightest pretcxt 70 make the whole busi-
ness n lest and turn it into ridicule. But how
ever lightly they may treat the matter, how
ever much they may burlesque the actors in
it, and make of their zeal and devotion
mockery and jest, one thing is certain, that
no nan or set of men can make religious
movement of the importance OF this one
ridiculous unless it be the men themselves who
are engaged in it, So long as they are sincere
and earnest and can forget themselves in the
greatness of their work, nothing can Withstand
them, and certainly nothing can detract from
their dignity or belittle their efforts. But the
emotions lie close together. High religious
sentiment is of brittle edge, and easily crum-
bles into silly sentimentality. Faith lies very
close to superstition; it is but a step from
trusfillness TO blind crcduity. There are
well marked metes and bounds which cannot
he disregarded in the presentation of religious
truths and the expression Of religious senti-
ments and emotions. Within these limits the
advocate or exhorter is invested with
grandeur Of personal dignity which belongs to
the man who is saturated with bis belief, and
who in utter Inconsistencies OF self is rapt
in the contemplation of what he conceives to
be the absolute and awful truth. These limits
oversteppod for IN instant or by word, and
his power is gone. Between pathOs and bathOs
the difference is less than of letter; the step
is that cone" from the sublime.
Ii should not be forgotten by the leaders in
the revival movement that religion is by no
means all emotional; that it rests on reason
and common sense, which its ministers and
missionaries must not allront by lack of logic
or shock By shallow illustrations and weak
appeals. Clergymen with the cdcoethes loquend
should consider that when they take part in
these meetings they are lifted up above their
ordinary pulpit level and are talking to the
outside world instead of merely to their own con-
eregations. They should he careful to saynotliing
to which any listener might be tempted to say
"Nmsense" and turn away. When clergy
man asks prayers for a member OF his family
who is i'll and absent from home, and the next
day Informs the congregation that the prayer
" was flashed from here to heaven on angels
"wincs. and from Heaven to Charleston with
"out the loss of moments time" and that
the rraycr Was answered in the recovery of
the sick person, he is doing what 10 prOfane
person outside can to bolittle the movement
and bring ridicule upon it. The attitude and
act of prayer are beyond all other things in
life invested with solemnity and clothed
in mystery Ii is the supreme act Of faith;
approached 10y the penitent with doubts and
questions and infinite wondering; only slowly
aDprchcnded, and so UNNECESSARILY vast III its
meaning TO the helpless soul struggling up
ward on it, that man at his very best can only
throw himself upon it in utter self-distrust
and leave the rest to God. The questioning
men and women in Brooklyn, longing to learn
the truth and 10 lead tue lives get no light
nor comfort from any such ilppant illustla-
tons Of the power of prayer. They excite
doubts instead of removing them; they con-
finn .sl,epticism and awaken no conviction;
they do not attract but rcpel the sincere seeker
after truth The work in hand is OF too great
moment to be handled without the profodndest
care and the most thoughtful consideration OF
every word spoken and every act done.
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