Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1880-11-30
tBy Uncle Danid.l

That the religion Of r~svivallsts appeals
almost wholly to the emotional nature
Of man. and is fed and supported by
mental excitement, 10 30 clearly evident
to the observing reader that no argumen,
IL necessary to sustain the affirmative Of
the proposition. The sweet, emotional
singing Of sanksy prepares the minds Of
his hearers for the sxhortstion Of
Moody. And Il would. no doubt. be
impossible to make . revival . success
without the seftsning influences Of that
peculiar kind Of music iamiliarly known
A. revival melodies, which touch the
feelings 80 deeply. A camp meeting
without singing would b a. unpro6tabls
reliRiously as . State Agricultural Fair
that would not advertise i9 the news
papers would be Improbable financially.
There are men who . bring tears to
the eyes Of . large audience BY singing
SEINE plaintivs ballad. or perhaps some
simple negro melody. With m audi
snoe In tears IL Is an easy matter to make
Just such an impression upon their
minds a. Q skillful operator may desire.
Down South. Il 10 said. the negroes will
work themselves up to . high pitch Of
excitement by monotonousiy chanting
verses like the following:
Do debble chase me round . stump.
Gwine for 10 carry me home;
he catch me most ct cherry Jump,
Gwine for TO carry me homo;
Swing low. sweet chariot.
Gwine for to carry me home.
At revival meetings, when religious
exhorters can melt their audience to
tears their work 10 comparatively easy,
and the desired effect 10 readily produced.
Then the s,udiously drawn pictures OF
sorrowful desthbed scenes, and dsscrip-
lions Of the agony Of lost souls In hell
begging pitsously for water to cool their
parcbed tongues, never fail to make the
desired impression upon frightened
hearers. Aud the exoitemsnt once be-
gun. with careful management. will In.
crease In intensity daily. like fever in
the blood. until the strained and over
taxed nervous systems become pros
trstsd, when relaxation necessarily en-
sues, and the deluded victims hnd rest
in what they = led to believe 10 re-
ligion.
Bot Il may we'll DO Questioned whether
the effect produced by "Rstting rsli.
gion" 10 this way 10 beneficial to the
individual victims. or TO the community
at large. It would seem that unless the
reason IL convinced OF the truth Of .
proposition. the effect produced by Q
transitory excitement cannot be bensf.
cial or lasting. And II 10 we'll known
that cool reasoning and logical srgu.
meuts are a. destructive to the success
Of revival meetings as . heavy frost 10
to opening buds In the Spring. Hence
Mr.. Moody says that "ths religion OF
Jesus 10 not 0 religion Of Investigation"
That those who embrace this religion
are no better morally than those who do
not embrace 1t should DO an admitted
fact. What banker will discount . note
simply because tho maker OF II 10 . pro.
lessor OF religionf A year or more since
the Cincinnati Commercial published the
names Of fifty-ons ministers who In 1878
were convicted Of %immorslity, mostly
lic~eptiousness. And the Truth Seeker
added to the Commercials list the names
and crimes Of about two hundred and
twenty ministers, dsacons and church
members. which were Of public, news
paper record. Facts like these 60 far to
sustain the oft-rspsatsd assertion that
those persons who are frightened into
- getting religion 4" want only enough OF
1t to enable them 10 keep out Of hell.