By REV. R. J. PATTERSON, LL.B. Geo. H. Doran Co. 192 pp. Price $1.00;
by mail of THE SURVEY $1.07.
The author, a Presbyterian minister, in the north of Ireland, catches
enthusiasm from a Catholic priest, and a temperance movement of great
significance results, enrolling 130,000 men in a year’s time, chiefly by
the work of ex-drinkers for their former “pals.” The book is a glowingly
Irish account of what has been a unique illustration of the power of
sheer brotherhood, applied after the method of the Gospels and in the
unconventional spirit of the Good Samaritan. The material given here is
to be classed for significance in interpreting religious experience with
two recent publications—Varieties of Religious Experience and Twice-Born
Men.
Perhaps the core of the book is the conclusion phrased in words
previously and independently used by Professor Horne: “Sometimes
conviction leads to action.... Sometimes action leads to conviction.”
The experience of the mystic seems incalculable; the religion of the
Gospels and of this book reveal a constant, lawful and infinite power, a
source of true miracle, latent until men take its challenge and by a
brotherly act of will allow it to work its wonders through them. “All
our attempts to save a man,” says Mr. Patterson, “should be made at the
point where he understands.... [Jesus] began at the blind man’s eyes, at
the lame man’s feet, at the deaf man’s ears, at the dumb man’s tongue.”
This movement has given also another proof of the pressing necessity of
social centers for men, equally attractive and unconventional as the
saloon, and the author has interesting things to say about “Temperance
saloons,” public opinion, and legislation.