Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1875-08-07
SENSATIONAL PREACHING.

month, from the reports puDusned IN
the two leading Portland papers, of the
brilliancy of meteor appearing in the
religious armament. They had formed
the opinion, from this source, that Mr..
E. P. Hammond was a prodigy of elo-
quence, rhetoric and piety; that his
ministrations were miracles of power
and that words of wisdom fell from his
lips like the gentle mists of Oregon de-
scend upon the parched earth. We
had taken it for granted that there was
no foundation for the rumor that those
who assisted Mr.. Hammond in his re-
ligious crusade furnished the reports
for the Oregonion and the Bulletin, to the
exclusion of those Of their regular re-
porters. The opinion, however, is
forced upon us, from actual observa-
ton that the rumor was true, for we
have never listened to public speaker
so much overrated az he has been in
the public estimation. His anecdotes
were stale and of doubtful authenticity,
his style was rough and commanding,
while a portion of his discourse gave
grave grounds of offense to very ex-
amplary members of at least one of our
churches, the peer of others in the NOR
atty, as we'll as in the general intelli-
gence, of its members. We had in
intended to give some specimens of the
peculiar style of the apostle, but space
will not permit, but we will express the
hope that when he likens Christians to
fat cattle again, he will have the good
taste not to carry the smile quite SO far
as he did while mounted on Cooks
coal-black charger, last Tuesday even
ing.
We do no intend for our position to
be misunderstood. We are no scoffer,
and hold in respect the opinions of
others, but reserve the right to criticize
the policy pursued by professed re-
formers, when we conceive that it con-
ficts with the public interest. We
Judge of men and bodies of man by
their acts, and of the wisdom of their
course by the results which follow. We
deprecated the whisky crusade. The
consequences fully substantiated our
position. We now declare that APP
planes used to excite the mind beyond
the limits of reason may result in ire
parable injury. Experience has shown
this to be an absolute fact, and instances
could be cited in this community to
prove its truth. The tenets of re-
lgious belief should be the subject of
deliberate inquiry and investigation be-
fore they are accepted as a life-creed by
anybody. If this was done, their would
be fewer hypocrites and bigots in the
church.
The advent of Mr.. Hammond has
been the occasion of another misfortune
for we cannot regard the agitation Of
sacred subjects in the manner lately
witnessed, in any other light than as
a misfortune-the sowing Of the seeds
of infdelity by an ADLER exponent, in
the person Of Mr.. J. L. York. In these
two men the extremes have met. The
one eulogizes the " blood Of our Saviour"
and implores sinners to " come to Jes-
u.s." while the other avails himself of
the opportunity afforded by the use Of
such hyperbolic fgurative expressions
to bring religion into contempt. The
manner in which ready tongue can
use these expressions to prejudice the
mind against the revealed word, has
been apparent at every lecture delivered
in Olympic Hall. These are conclu-
sions based upon our own observation.
1t may be, as claimed, that we saw Mr..
Hammond at his worst; that he was
fatigued by excessive labor and did not
do himself nor his cause justice. This
is probably true, but our desire is to
deprecate the sensational style Of OBJ
tanning converts, and this is MIR. Ham,
mond's acknowledged forte. Our con-
victions are honestly entertained and
these comments prompted by just as
high motive as that which actuates
that gentleman. ~.
| sst
E N. Crosby Jr., left last Wednes-
day for San Francisco, where he pro-