The sun., 1903-02-03
Dowtcism in New York.

The demonstration which is to be made
in New York next October by DowIE.
with the assistance Of 2, 600 Of his Western
followers, will be a sensational adver-
tisement Of a mixed secular and religious
movement which has assumed a good
deal Of importance in Chicago during
the last ten years
Dowieism, as his cult is called in the
common speech. is of the general school
OF Christian Science and the New
Thought DO far as concerns healing by
spiritual means or by faith The diff
ference between it and the others may be
plain to their followers, who will object
very decidedly to our classification, but
there is kinship, all the same. How
far the growth of Dowieism, or the
Christian Catholic Church in Zon,' az
DowIH calls it, compares numerically
with that Of the others we are unable TO
say, but they have all gained headway
which makes OF them remarkable reli-
gious movements Of this period
The popularity Of DowIE's propa-'
ganda is that it has been made to bring
in a great amount Of money, millions Of
dollars, to the General Overseer," as
he calls himself, and with it he has es-
tsblished an extensive manufacturing
plant. q college bank, hospitals,
faith healing hotel, and town called
Zion City, on land Of an area Of $500
acres near the Wisconsin town of Wau-
kegan, in the neighborhood of Chicago.
- 40 20; y hna ;no . a lar
scale, at his healing homes, led to his
arrest at Chicago many times at the
beginning of his career there, but Of late
years interference with him by the law
seems to have ceased.
He established the system Of tithes
to raise money for his various under
takings, religious and secular. When
laborers enter Zion they are required to
forswear the use of liquor, drugs and
tobacco, to give up secret societies. and
also to contribute to DowIE one-tenth
of their incomes; and their abstinence,
according to him, enables them to pay
the tithe and still have more money left
than they would have had if they had
continued the forbidden indulgences.
In the last nine years. said DowIE in
1900, my income has been about ST.
100000, and have given all except s25,-
900 of it back to the Church" DR.. HILLS
spoke Of him at Plymouth Church, on
Sunday, as a man as full Of magnetism
as an electric battery"
DowIE is of Scotch birth and is little
short Of sixty years of age He was
trained for the ministry at Congrega-
tional theological seminary at Edinburgh
He first made himself conspicuous in
Australia, where, in 1873, he resigned from
the Congregational ministry and set up
at Melbourne church of his own, calling
it the Free Christian Tabernacle, and
afterward developed his Divine healing
theory. Ten years later he came TO San
Francisco, but after stay there OF two
years he planted himself at Chicago and
began the very remarkable and success
fnl career which hes made him ene Of tho
most conspicuous Of the new school OF
religious agitators Of this time. He is
a man Of patriarchal appearance, who
unites unusual business shire wdness
and administrative ability with a per-
sonal magnetism as leader which gives
him a strong hold on the minds Of his
followers and attracts to him their un-
questioning confidence and reverence.
When he was asked two years ago. on the
eve Of his departure on pilgrimage to
the Holy Land, to give the secret Of his
art IN making money. he replied; You