ver is most dexterous in catching it. In such a _milieu_ Dowie
might indeed hope to pursue his aims with advantage.

His personality had a certain hypnotic fascination. His eloquence, his
patriarchal appearance, his supposed power of curing even the most
intractable diseases, his use of modern catch-words, his talent for
decorating the walls of his little temple with symbols such as
crutches, bandages and other trophies of "divine healing," all combined
to bring him before the public eye. He had a dispute with the doctors,
who accused him of practising their profession illegally, and another
with the clergy, who attacked him in their sermons; the populace was
stirred up against him, and laid siege to his tabernacle, and he
himself threw oil upon these various fires, and became a prominent
personage in the daily Press.

It is true that the arrest of some Dowieists whose zeal had carried
them beyond the limits of the law of Illinois was commented upon; that
long reports were published of the death of a member of the Church of
Sion who had succumbed through being refused any medical attention save
that of the high-priest of the sect; that much amusement was caused by
the dispersal of a meeting of Dowieists by firemen, who turned the hose
upon them; and much interest aroused by the legal actions brought
against Dowie for having refused to give information concerning the
Bank of Sion. All these affairs provided so many new "sensations."
But what is of importance is to attract the public, to hold their
attention, to keep them in suspense. The time came when it was
necessary to produce some more original idea, to strike a really
decisive blow, and so Dowie revealed to a stupefied Chicago that he was
the latest incarnation of the prophet Elijah. Then while the serious
Press denounced him for blasphemy, and the comic Press launched its
most highly poisoned shafts of wit against him, the whole of Sion
exulted in clamorous rejoicings. For the prophet knew his Chicago.
Credulity gained the upper hand, and the whole city flocked to the
tabernacle of Sion, desirous of beholding the new Elias at close
quarters.

III

The definite organisation of Dowieism--or Sionism, as it is more
usually called--dates from 1894. From this time forward Dowie ceased
to be merely a shepherd offering the shelter of his fold to those
desiring salvation, and, allowing evangelisation as such to take a
secondary place, became the director, ins