[Footnote E: J. H. Hotchkin, "A History of the Purchase and Settlement of Western New York," pp. 36, 37.]
And thus the revival progressed from day to day, the ministers working harmoniously together in the common purpose of waking the spiritual interests of the people. When, however, the time came for those who had "experienced religion" to profess their party allegiance, it became apparent that the seeming good-will between the sects did not extend below the surface. The ministers began then to contend one with another. The noise and confusion of the sometimes fanatic gospel meetings had been great; but the confusion that followed now was greater and of a more serious kind. Standing in their tent-doors, as it were, the ministers cried to the sorely perplexed new converts, "Lo, here is Christ!" "Lo, here." "The Reverend Mr. Stockton * * * insisted that the work done was largely Presbyterian work as he had been a dominating influence in the movement, and presided at the meetings. The Reverend Mr. Lane of the Methodist church preached a sermon on the subject, 'What Church Shall I Join?' He quoted the golden text of James, 'If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.'"[F] And to the confusion of the scene was added bitterness; for, not only did the newly converted not know with what church to associate themselves, but the pseudoministers of God strove among themselves, the one maligning the other. From a well-meant spiritual revival, begun in religious zeal and conducted apparently in brotherly love, there resulted finally bitterness and contention because there was no unity among the professing followers of Christ. The newly converted were hardly better off after their conversion than they were before it.
[Footnote F: B. H. Roberts, "History of the Mormon Church," in Americana. Vol. IV, No. 6, p. 614.]
Meanwhile, there was present during this strenuous religious revival in Manchester, a rather serious-minded boy of some fourteen years of age. He was the fourth child of the Smiths. The Smiths themselves were in the main attracted by the doctrines of the Presbyterians. But Joseph did not know what he should do. He attended the revival meetings. He witnessed the violent manifestations of religious emotion. Undoubtedly, he was deeply affected at times by the excessive demonstrations of his associates and friends. But through it all, he maintained a perfect self-control. Never once was he so overcome by his emotions that he took part in the excitement of his friends. He stood calmly, thoughtfully by—a spectator, puzzled, perplexed. "During this time of great excitement," he wrote in his manhood, "my mind was called up to serious reflection and great uneasiness; but though my feelings were deep and often poignant, still I kept myself aloof from all these parties, though I attended their several meetings as often as occasion would permit. In process of time my mind became somewhat partial to the Methodist sect; but so great were the confusion and strife among the different denominations that it was impossible for a person young as I was, and so unacquainted with men and things, to come to any certain conclusion who was right and who was wrong. My mind at times was greatly excited, the cry and tumult were so great and incessant. The Presbyterians were most decided against the Baptists and Methodists, and used all the powers of both reason and sophistry to prove their errors, or, at least, to make the people think they were in error. On the other hand, the Baptists and Methodists in their turn were equally zealous in endeavoring to establish their own tenets and disprove all others."[G]
[Footnote G: "History of the Church," Vol. I, pp. 3,4.]
Under such conditions it is hardly to be wondered at that the boy was troubled in mind. The wonder is that he, too, was not overcome by the emotional excitement of the day. Perhaps no fact of psychology is better established than this, that the mental and nervous organizations of like-minded people "respond in like ways to the same stimuli." With the religious folk of the Manchester revival this boy was undoubtedly sympathetically like-minded. Yet, he did not yield to the emotional impulses that seized upon his friends; and that, too, in spite of the fact further asserted by psychologists and sociologists, that sympathetically like-minded people "are not likely to have their primitive and instinctive nervous tendencies and mental traits under the governance of the higher inhibitory centers;" and that "the nervously unstable, the suggestible, the inexperienced[H] [are] affected by the highly emotional revival earlier than the dignified and intelligent people of judgment and standing."[I] This boy of fourteen years was inexperienced; his standing in the eyes of the world was nil; yet, his primitive and instinctive tendencies and mental traits seemed to be well under the governance of the higher inhibitory centers.
[Footnote H: Italics are present writer's.]
[Footnote I: Davenport, "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals," pp. 2, 3.]
Professor Frederick Morgan Davenport, whom I have already quoted, says further in his treatise of the primitive traits of religious revivals, that, "we must bear in mind constantly that the effect of a sympathetic religious movement is greatly increased by the massing of men and women in a psychological 'crowd,' a camp meeting for instance. * * The natural result of the assembling of men in crowds, especially when skilful speakers engage their attention and play upon the chords of imagination and emotion, seems to be the weakening of the power of inhibition in each individual, and the giving of free reign to feeling and imitation. * * * This will be most in evidence among primitive, superstitious and unlettered people, of course, for civilization shows itself in nothing more clearly than in the growing capacity for individual self-control, but they will also appear in the relatively high stages of culture and experience if the combination of conditions, physical, mental and social, is strong enough to develop them. In fact there is no population, there are comparatively few individuals in any population who cannot be swept from the moorings of reason and balanced judgment if brought under the mysterious and potent influence of the psychological 'crowd.'" [J]
[Footnote J: Davenport, "Primitive Traits in Religious Revivals," pp. 9, 10.]