Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-22

 ship who has not repented of his sins and trusted in Christ for salvation. And he furthermore insists that in or der to be admitted into the visible church one should in measure have the virtue of the Holy Spirit. All oth- CT matters, he declares, are to be rele gated to the category of the nonessen- tial. Now, this is a fine creed. It is fine in what it includes and fine in what it does not include.
 Assuming for convenience sake the sincerity of the man, it is to his mis- fortune that he links himself in any way with Elijah. In the first place, Elijah, even the original Elijah, is not what we want, and still less do we want counterfeit copy of him. Eli jah is back number. John the Bap- tist came in the power of Elijah, and the Lord himself said that the poorest servant in the kingdom of heaven was ahead of John the Baptist. The re- mobilization of antiquities is not the thing required.
 Tn the second place, Dowie is so evi- dently tremendously human that the masses are not going to take kindly to his claim of being whit above hu- man. Granted that he has chastened himself into believing that he is the fourth member of the Trinity, the peo- pie at large are going to interpret that as being so much sanctimoniousness, not to say sacrilegious buncombe.
 He will not capture the people. He Is no more like Moody or Sturgeon or Wesley than a kettledrum is like a canary The people who throng so long as they continue to throng Madi- son Square Garden will be of two classes. The larger class will be of those who attend in the same way and in the same spirit that they would come into the Garden if Dowie were off and circus were on. Dowie and his troupe are to them nothing more or less than a cage of imported curi- osities.
 The other class is made up of those who are suffering from a twist in their psychology and who want Christian ity with a corresponding twist to match it, and the people who trail after Dow ie are of the same general breed.
 Now, have tried to give our visit 1AIS CFdASC1AoL OA PLOPACS oA w AdICfCA he may style himself the benefit of ev- cry doubt. have tried to cover his personality and character fairly and honestly. I have sought to give him cr> | for everything that can possibly be credited to him; but, having done all that, feel entirely free to go on and say that the harangue that he gave us last evening was all in all simply and unqualifiedly abominable and disgust ing.
 confess myself as utterly disap pointed. There were quantities of fine, prosperous people in the number of his followers, and there was large amount of intelligence in the audience, but language so inconsiderate, so E scourging, so discourteous, so scoading and so beneath the dignity of the occa- sion and of civilized people never heard from any platform. I cannot be encouraged by it, because it was so abominable as to be really more anus ing than irritating The epithets which he applied to his congregation or to certain elements of it at any rate was bound to be offensive to all ears of po- | lite and Christian people.
 MT. Dowie has undertaken contract that is too large for him. He seems not | to understand human nature and inn l agines that New York people are going l to be bulldozed into respect for him and for Zionism. He has attempted
 more than he is equal to- He is too I willfully conscious, he is too coarse | grained he is too ignorant of anything
 like sagacity and everyday discretion
 to be able to draw his Madison Square
 Garden congregation into his love or
 even into his confidence.
 The service in certain portions of 1t
 partook very largely of the nature of a
 circus. He did not damn his audience
 exactly, but he evidently thought l damn, and one is about as profane as
 and luny. felt ashamed of him and
 of his cause and almost ashamed of myself for being there.
 \. # Now, as I already have said, went I to the gathering prepared to speak of | him and of the service in terms of I warm approval. I have heard so much l said against him that the very reasons l of the charges brought against him op- 
 erated as a reaction in my own mind l and made me all the more desirous of 1 speaking strongly in his behalf. 1 The congregation was courteous 1 one. If there could have been upon the
 platform man with as fine presence as MT. Dowie and with as searching ] and carrying voice as MT. Dowies ! and along with that spirit as true as l that of the original Elijah great deal l of good might have been accomplished
 and if any man or any number of men
 came in there last night not knowing 1 what Christianity is and imagined
 what Dowie was giving was Christian, l ity the condition of mind of them when l they went away would be depiorable. I There were fine looking men on the I platform, and it was with amusement
 that observed the apparent and in.
 deed evident satisfaction that they took in even the most commonplace