, 1876-10-29

' gushing rehglonlst." We have often hear
Mr.. MOODY, for instance, commended for hi
earnestness, but do not remember that IN,
one has ever accused him of what has com
to be known as 'sgush." Evidently he feels
and not without reason, that his choice sim
ply lies between earnestness and hypocrisy
"Gush" is easily recognized, though j
may be difficult to define it with accuracy
It is religious sentimentalism which knows
no bounds, which violates all canons o
taste, which ignores any distinctions o
time, place, and company, and which slob
bers its favorite words and phrases over ev.
erybody. It has sort of religious slang
for pet expressions OF pious character soo1
become what in secular life is called slang,
especially when they are of q hgurative na.
ture. And the gushing religionists take to
figures of speech as readily as do ducks ia
water. They especially dislike to say any
thing in a natural, simple, straightforward
way but they seize upon rhetorical figure
with ayidity, and make it do endless service.
They thus remind one of Bu1wER's hero,
Hudibras, Of whom the poet testifes:
For rhetoric, he could not ope
His mouth, but out there dew trope.
There ere men who tell their neighbors and
acquaintance Of their affection for their
wives, and who display their conjugal love
freely before all spectators. There are
young ladies also whose regard for their par
ticular friends e1hausts the English language,
and who dote upon admiring young men in
manner decidedly astonishing to more Sc
date people. We suppose some Of these
silly ones are occasionally converted. and
transfer their eHusiveness to the religious
sphere. Thereafter they wear pane OF
glass in their breast, SO that all may discern
their inmost feelings, and their tongue is
worse than newspaper reporter in announc-
ing the most private things to the public.
Religion to such persons is chiefly matter
Of feeling, a glow Of sentiment; and their
language takes on semi-poetic dress.
This were well enough if it did not gradu-
ally degenerate, with some, into sensuous-
ness, and with others into insincerity. Too
much sentiment weakens the moral faculties,
which require firm will acting in view Of
clearly perceived truth. When sentiment
takes the lead, and emotion controls, the
will becomes subject to impulse, and moral
distinctions grow confused. 4 leading sf or
thodo1" pastor in this city recently uttered
q much-needed truth. He reminded his
auditors that steamboat at the wharf often
makes great churning Of the water with its
wheels without moving foot,-the line not
L I. .zk If A~,t3 h. Jo1
man may excite himself with talking and
singing, until his sensibilities are all in q
foam, and then go away and commit adul-
terry! This was putting the case in rather
startling manner, and we might have shrunk
from so bold statement; but there must be
some truth in the assertion. It was founded
on sud facts as well as upon plausible theory.
It is not at all unlikely that DAVID himself,
before his memorable fall, had sunk into q
merely gushing and sentimental religion, and
had fallen into the delusion of substituting
psa1m-singing and temple-service for moral
principle and sef-restraint. The progress
of the Brooklyn scandal simply drew atten-
ton to nest Of gushing religionists, whose
ever-twittering songsters finally quarreled,
and turned from benedictions to maledic-
tions. When the correspondence between
the parties WIS published, it was difficult to
say who had *sgushed" the most, "HESRY
WARD" OF "THEoDoRE," or "E1HApErH." :"
A1r. Mou1ToS Was the only one who simply
talked business. The others mixed up piety
and lying, religious sentiment and human
love, Scripture. and English literature, till
there was moral chaos in all their minds
and it remains to be settled who has been
deepest in the miro Of sin. AS if Brooklyn
were fated to employ this wretched dialect,
DR.. TA1MAGE has just added to years Of SEN
sational preaching gushing utterance over
o peculiar transfer Of himself from the
Christian at Work to the Adpance, which
has brought upon him the ridicu1e Of the
entire secular and religious press. He could
not quietly and simply change positions and
bid farewell to his old readers without bring
ing in the totally irrelevant and gushing re-
mark, in conclusion ''This world never
seemed SO bright, or Heaven SO glorious, as
this afternoon" And this was said in the
very oct of Neutrality-suspicious. to his assoA
ciates and the proprietors, and after they had
left at night the forms made up for the press
q farewell which advertised his new occu-
patton and place Of business, to the injury of
the paper in which it was to appear! In a
similarly gushing strain is his sa1utatory in
the Adoance, in which he informs his new
readers that ''Newspaperiddg is to me an
e1hilaration, and religion a joy, which must
have some place to run over" and winds up
with this thrilling piece OF news: ssThe