Page:Psychology and preaching.djvu/256

 238 PSYCHOLOGY AND PREACHING

The soft, sweet strains of a Christian hymn rising amidst the din and roar of traffic is a most effective means of arrest ing the attention; and the appeal to men to turn their thought toward the things that transcend time and sense often succeeds, by its very strangeness in such surround ings, in awakening a thrill in a heart that would under ordinary circumstances be wholly unresponsive. In the second place, the voice of the singer or preacher often falls upon the ears of a passer-by at &quot; the psychological mo ment &quot; ; for a man is often peculiarly conscious under these conditions of the strain and pressure of life, of the sordid- ness of materialism, of the mocking vanity of a life of trans gression, of the need of moral cleansing, spiritual consola tion and support. At such moments his mind and heart are quite susceptible to the religious appeal. But notwith standing these advantages, street preaching is not easy. Only a few are sufficiently interested to be held ; the urge of business is upon them. Many stop for a moment and then move on, and newcomers are constantly arriving. The speaker addresses a moving procession which swarms by a little nucleus of interested listeners. It is extremely difficult to secure a sufficiently stable group to induce mental unity. The diverting and distracting influences are very hard to overcome. Something is required which excites powerful emotions in order to form a unified psychological group under such conditions.

II. The purposive assembly. In this a group of people are brought together by the same purpose.

Of course, the common purposes which bring crowds of people together are very various and of all degrees of im portance. The throng gathered to see or hear the &quot; re turns &quot; after an election ; or to pass through the gates to the train at a railway station; or to gaze at an interesting exhibit or performance at a &quot; fair &quot; and many others that will occur to the reader afford profitable opportunities for the study of mass psychology ; but may be passed by as having little significance for the special interest of this dis-

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