The morning journal-courier., 1908-01-13
THE EMOTIONAL QUALITY.


 THE EMOTIONAL QUALITY.
 The quite unnecessary question has been raised whether the Rev. Dr. Chapman, the visiting evangelist and | his corps of able assistants appeal to i the reason of their audiences through i their emotions The question would | seem to imply that to play upon the ] human emotions of men and women is to strike below the belt in a conven- | tional undertaking to lead them to a better and purer understanding of their obligations. It is quite unneces- sary for us to say at once that we have no sympathy with such an idea. So long as the methods used are sin cere and honest they should be ignor- ed for the results accomplished.
 We have not the slightest doubt that a trained and highly disciplined evan gelist such as Dr. Chapman is recog- nized as being would cheerfully admit the legitimacy of reaching men through the emotions. Whether the cure worked out is as lasting as that worked out by patient and plodding methods Is not matter for individual judgment; it is susceptible of proof. pr. Chapman, for example, who has conducted revivals irf various parts of the country and the local clergymen who nave been associated with him and his assistants know to nicety what the results are of the different tactics used to move men and women to keener realization of their better natures But even though experience should show that a man or woman who had been improved upon by emo tional methods lasted a shorter time than a man or woman reached by patient and plodding methods 1t would still be necessary to make men and women over before the rule could be .-arplied of abandoning emotional meth ods altogether. Everybody at all fam iliar with public speaking knows that it is the emotional speaker who gets control of his audience quicker, though if there is a serious administrative or executive task to be done 1t had better be trusted to one less sentimental. A prominent citizen of New Haven said last week that of all the preachers in the Chapman corps Dr. Dawson got hold of him better. The citizen to whom we refer is a practical business man and a man of profound religious convictions, but he Is human enough to want to be reached spiritually through his gentler emotions. Instead then of criticising either Dr. Chapman for employing emotional methods oi others for asserting that he does em- ploy them, general satisfaction should be taken in the victories he is credited with winning.
 That the general public want theii addresses highly seasoned is abundant ly proved by the experience of VII liam ]. Bryan of Nebraska, who ad. r1its that he has been made comfort. able for life through his power o' speech He uses simple language ir all his speeches and addresses ant quotes liberally from the Scriptures but their popular charm lies in theil emotional quality. No public man il the history of the country ever played so successfully and proftably on tn. emotions of the American masses while the greatest speech Abraham Lincoln ever made. that at Gattysbure rested wholly on an emotional basis There are men the country over wh, can prepare and make excellen speeches, but the successful ones or the platform and a. Chautsuqua as ssmblies are the emotional speakers Theodore Roosevelt is the most emo tional of speakers He has gone up ant down the country for seven year preaching sermons upon how to b good and how to enjoy the fruits of be ing good, and as a result he can cred it very largely the esteem In whicl he is held as 8 man of integrity an sincerity to that practice. He woul have tailed utterly, too, had not hi audiences been susceptible to emotion ai appeals. Mir Fairbanks, who is
 man of excellent ability and good com mon sense, Is not taken seriously D the public as candidate for the pres idency because in lacking 8 sense ( humor he is destitute of the emotion ai quality So when we come to meas yrc the power and influence of a mal whether he is found in the pulpit, O tho platform, or the stage or in tn drawingroom, the emotional qualit cannot be left out of the calculation IT it Is, a totally wrong conclusion
 reached The quality must be kept UT der control and not left to express i self. but this is something men Of tt experience Of Dr Chapman we'll ur dcrstand MT. Moody understood
 before him, as di6 John [. tioug