FORCEFUL CONDEMNATION.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1302, 4 December 1911, Page 9

FORCEFUL CONDEMNATION.

A CHRISTIAN MINISTER SPEAKS OUT. INTEMPERATE LANGUAGE 'el- REPROVED, vas lay (By the Rev. Wm. Beatty, Remuera.) f O 3 It is time that a protest should be uttered in the name of common sense, er o common decency, and common humanity ley against the language used by some advoen- catos cf Prohibition regarding a considerable class of our neighbours and fellow* citizens. It is bad onough to have Gods good gift of wino, which was chosen by :he Christ as a high and sacred symbol of the means of' oux salvation, stigmatised as to "liquid damnation," but when men go on sit to affirm that all who aro in any way enra- gaged in tho manufacture or salo of ir- alcoholic liquors are trading upon the v o- blood and misery of human beings, and ho aro, therefore, such unclcan pariahs and ir- outcasts that their money should not bo he received by the Christian Church, truth, % justice, and charity demand that such 1S ? false, cruel, and wicked statements should be indignantly challenged. ... No doubt there, are dishonest brewers and dishonest hotelkeepers, but to brand a whole class on account of the evil-doing of j s a few is as dangerous as it is uncharit!r- able. he it AN AGGRIEVED HOTELKEEPER Ist might reply, to Mr. Isitt with the general of statement all ministers of religion are hypocrites, which would, be quite 03 true ' v ® and quite as capable of proof as the co general statement that all makers or sellers of liquor are unfit to be members of the Christian Church. Such wholesale denunciations do unspeakable harm. The ( 3 sense of justice in those against whom •it they are levelled revolts against them, 'Y their conscience refuses to respond to ■ them. Those who are endeavouring to pursue honestly a.calling which they ill know to, bb legitimate are hurt and wonmtcd by expressions which blacken F? themselves and their families. And the [j framers and approvers of such unjust acy' cusations are taking one of the surest ,'(i mcan3 of crushing their neighbours' selfrespect, and of hardening and embittering their own hearts, while at the same time 0 they are impeding the causa of rational rt and moderato reform. le ic A MATTER OP MONEY, j .Mr. Isitt objects to tho Church taking money from brewers and publicans, be--10 causo it i 3 the product of robbery. If he ie will search the New Testament, which IS contains at least as many and as strong p warnings ; against spiritual pride and n censoriousness as against drunkenness, ( ! he will find one instance in which money was refused on account of a scruple as. 11 to the way in which it had been earned. • But tho example is not an encouraging | one. Christ did not refuse tho offering of an alabaster box of ointment from a '■ woman, whose sins He declared to bo !' many; it was tho chief priests whose nice t conscience would not suffer them to put e into the treasury the reward they had }-. not hesitated to give for the betrayal of J 1 innocent blood.. The manufacture and salo of pure liquor is an honest, useful, " and respectablo business, and for my own >- part I would a thousand times rather 8 make or -sell good beer than retail bad [" theology. And thero are many persons y engaged in the liquor trade who are quite e as good Christians as Mr. Isitt, and better y than I "can pretend to be. . This fact needs 5 • to be broadly, and plainly 'stated,' for sucfi ' g persons cannot' stand forth to defend e themselves from.attacks which thsy know 0 to be' unfair anrf'UTikinrf, and which" thev ? feel deeply as tending to Imprint a brand j on themselves' and their children. ." . A , CLOAK OP RELIGION. -V • Again, supposing tho Church authorities aro bound to scrutinise tho source of gifts which seem to bo made in all good faith, - where aro tlioy to stop? There are persons 1 who make money by lies and puffs, by adulteration, by extortion; there aro some f who put on a cloak of religion that thoy . may better cheat their neighbours, and 3 some of their ill-gotten wealth finds its way into the coffers of the Church. Are we to examine every man's books, to question tion his customers, to tost his goods, be r foro wo will receive any contribution fron i him? Are we to distinguish between wha t he makes honestly and what ho make: I dishonestly, and say that tho Church wil ? take tithe of tho former, but not of thi latter? ' ' THE THING IS ABSURD. j What the Church has (0 do is to pro- , claim with unfaltering voice'the need oi [ strict integrity and fair dealing, the dnly • tho wisdom, the blessedness of doing as '■ you would be done by, to denounce all ' attempts to profit by another's injury. , and then to leave every man's conscienct . to apply tlieso universal principles to hi.< . particular case. But to lump together in a common condemnation the person whe 1 koeps an orderly, comfortable hotel, and soils wholesome liquor, with the scoundrel who encourages debauchery, and gambling, and drugs people with vile decoc- , tion?, is to compound good and evil in the most reckless and 'presumptuous fashion. But some of the advocates of prohibition seem determined to shut their eyes to the plainest facts. They tell us that with tho disappearance of alcohol would come the disappearance of the greater part of our poverty, vice, and crime. No doubt drunkenness is answerable for a shocking amount of misery, but Prohibition is no such panacea for human sin and wretchedness as ita advocates would have us believe. There is a startling proof of I his before the world at the present timo. Tho Koran forbids the use of intoxicants, and every orthodox Mussulman is a strict abstainer. Religions scruple has brought about and maintained IN MOHAMMEDAN COUNTRIES a prohibition far stricter and more effectual than any which legal enactments could produce in New Zealand; and yet murder, cruelty, Tapine, lust, ignorance, sloth, are rife in Turkey, though alcohol is banned. I know that we have influences for good at work among us which the Turks have not; but tho fact remains indisputablo that you may havo the vilest condition of things in a country which enjoys the advantages of Prohibition. And it is a questionable advantago to have tho outside of the platter clean if tho insido is full of filth. . There arc sincere and consistent abstainers who feel that the champions of Prohibition aro making a religion of a political crusade, that they are invoking the law to restrain men's action instead of proclaiming tho power which can renew their hearts, uplift their desires, and mould their wills. And certainly the suggestion made lately with all gravity, that for six weeks before the coming olection ministers of religion should lwivo their work of preaching the Gospel, conducting tho worship of God, visiting the sick and afflictcd, and teaching the young, in order to embark in a political campaign, is a singular proof of the danger we ara all in of thinking that iit New Zealand. Parliament? and policemen havo uiuro authority than j God.'