NO COWARD’S CASTLE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 51, Issue 3153, 5 August 1942, Page 3

NO COWARD’S CASTLE

ATTITUDE OF A MINISTER

ALL HAVE THEIR CONVICTIONS

“It was the famous preacher, Robertson of Brighton, who once described as a ‘coward’s castle the pulpit from which a man attacked or criticised others who had no equal opportunity for reply,” says a writer in Advance, of America. “On a recent Sunday I attended service in one of our churches and witnessed a very fine and unusual thing.

The minister, a man in early middle life, came down from the pulpit in the early part of the service, and standing at the head of the centre aisle, said (in substance, for I cannot reproduce his words): ‘My friends, I have a confession to make to you, for I have something on my conscience that is troubling me.

“ ‘ As you know I have very strong views about war and the question of our attitude toward America s entrance into this war. But I have come to realise that I have taken advantage of my position in the pulpit, forgetting that others who have reached different conclusions than mine have no chance to speak.

“ T have been at fault in this matter; and while my views are not likely to change, you will find me in the future more considerate in the matter of using the pulpit as a place on matters in regard to which thoughtful and sincere members of my congregation disagree with me entirely. They have just as good a right to their convictions as I have.’ ”