Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-10-19
CONVERSION BY GYMNASTICS.

With MN Tor religious conversion, and so
he performs the most astonishing gymnas-
tics in and about the pulpit, jumping over
the altar, springing upon the railing,
leaping down into the aisles, running
up and down them, and, in brief, conduct
ing himself much more Ike one OF the
monkeys at Wcodward's Gardens than
ike rational human being. While ne IS
leaping and Topping and wriggling in this
way, he necessarily shouts, or shrieks,
excited appeals to his audience to
"come forward and be saved, and by
continual hymn singing he seeks to fan
the excitement which his own fantastic
movements and vociferous adiurations have
produced. There is nothing spiritual,
emotional, or rational, in this young mans
method. II is neither more nor less than
an exceedingly coarse and vulgar ex-
pertinent upon the emotional natures OF
the weakest of his audience. He is
aware that noise and excitement of any
kind will produce hysterical manifesto
tons in women and children, and some
times in feeble minded men. By judi
cious application of noise of almost any
kind, without the pretense of religious
motives, it is always possible to produce
this kind of phenomena, as every medical
man knows. Even the mere contact of
large crowds is apt to produce the condi-
tons which are most favorable to such
manifestations. In such cases one person
excites another until sort of epidemic of
temporary alteration sweeps through the
assemblage. These truths are familiar to
all who have witnessed an old fashioned
negro revival in the South.
The Boy Preacher cannot be said to re.
semble Mark Antony in having g neither
faction nor utterancs," but his action is
that of harlequin rather than that of an
orator, and his utterance is convulsive
scream which has no other object than to
excite his hearers. He says frankly that
he believes in excitement, and thinks moth
ing can be done without it, and so far as
his work is concerned, perhaps he is right.
The question, however, which has to be
! determined is, whether that kind of work
is worth doing at all. The influence ex-
erted upon nervous women and children by
| this jumping and ranting is assuredly not
religious influence, unless it is to be held
| that religion and reason are necessarily an
tagonistic. The poor women who are
dragged up to the altar . in the midst of
this young mans buffoonery, can certainly
not have experienced any real change of
mind. What has happened to them is
simply to be carried away by the excite
ment OF the moment. They are the vic
tins of hysterical impulse, and their ten
deucy to hysteria has been deliberately and
carefully cultivated by the Boy Preacher.
He does not appear to possess any culture
himself His sermons are beneath crit.
cism. His CALCULATIONS betray very crude
understanding In fact it may be said of
him that he is trying to introduce me-
dieyal practices into the nineteenth GEN.
tury, and it is obvious that to do that he
must appeal to the feeblest intelligences in
the community.
The so-called conversions which result
from his irreverent burlesque upon real
religion carry no warranty with them.
They are merely the effect of a blind
irrational impulse, and when that dies
away they, too, will disappear. Such
spurious revivals remind US of the case of
peddler who some years ago went
through the country Offering to plate with
silver all the spoons and forks of the
farmers wives. He put on them prepa
ration which made them shine beautifully
for day or two but by the time the
wicked peddler was beyond the vengeance
of his victims the spoons and forks all
turned black and yellow again, and the
ephemeral glory OF them had departed.
Just SO is it with the kind of work done
by the Boy Preacher. His conversions
have no roots, and they will wither like
cut flowers stuck into the ground. Nor
is it for the advantage of religion that the
methods of the mountebank should be en-
ployed in its behalf. The thoughtful and
rejecting portion OF the community must
be disguised and alienated by performance
the clap.trap character of which is too plain
to be mistaken. The sham conversion
of dozen or two Of hysterical women and
children is poor Offset TO the estrange-
ment of the intelligent and clear seeing.
The methods OF the Boy Preacher can
never touch virile minds. His charlatanic
tricks can only repel and annoy them, and
may cause them to mistrust the religion IN
support of which it is thought legitimate to
use such undignified AID puerile ipstru-
mentalities. 1t is by persuasion that true
religion must maintain itself, and not by
trickery of this coarse kind. There will
of course never be any difficulty in getting
people to attend such exhibitions as that of
the Boy Preacher, for free shows are GER
tain to retain their. popularity. But it is
merely as show that this exhibition is
attended, and whatever influence it exerts
upon the public mind is assuredly inim-
ical to the cause of genuine religion.
NEW CURE FOR RHEUMATISM