SOLDIERS' SUNDAY PICNIC.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXVII, Issue 17061, 10 January 1916, Page 8

SOLDIERS' SUNDAY PICNIC.

TO THK EDITOR. Si r) __The correspondence in your columns goes to show in itself thai, the proposed Sunday picnic to the returned soldiers" is a piece of Sabbatti desecratiou for which there is not the smallest justification and against which the entire religious community us protesting. Yesterday among the protests was*one unanimously made by the Papanui Presbyterian Church at the morning service and another witn similar unity at Belfast. The. Christ. ian community as a whole who live in the districts whose Sabbath rest is invaded have expressed themselves as opposed to this deliberate profanation of our Rest Day. The letter of protest we officially sent on lwha.lt of the Lord's Day Alliance, has been treated with contempt. We take it that the members of the Automobile Association, have not been consulted and tnat certain officials have taken it on themselves to run this excursion against all-comers. Many are accordingly beguiled. We who stand for the Lord * Dav claim to be the true patriots. It the Germans captured -New Zealand to-morrow in one Aspect there would be libertv. The Automobile Association, the'returned soldiers and all who co-operate with them in tins reckless desecration, would be free to outrage to their heart's content every sacred dav and obligation. The Continental Sundav would be introduced with flag and drum, and encouraged. The churches are in favour of this war and have furnished most of the. recruits because thev believe that in fighting the Germans'we are fighting for civilisation itself, and is not tho first day of the week acknowledged on all hands to be the corner stone of civilisation? We should like to see the returned soldiers get the best outing that can be given them, and would sacrifice time 3 and money to make it a success on real patriotic lines. But surely the soldiers themselves will feel keenly the insult of a cheap excursion at the cost of mortgaging the Lord's Day rest and worship. They are under authority and ought to be the last persous in the world to ignore a Divine command. They ought to realise that obedience to Divine'law is the only way to enjoy true liberty. It has come to xhis, that the Automobile Association in willingly or unwillingly going on with this Sunday picnic are insulting the intelligence of the returned soldiers, the acumen of those they would induce to enlist, the Christian sentiment, of the community they live amongst, are endangering the cause of civilisation and throwing a, stumbling block in the way of the successfufteraiiuatiou of this war. We don't want neutrals iu this war. We can onlv a,sk with the Israelitish leader at a critical time, "Who is ou the Lord's side," who will disdain going with the multitude to keep holiday on a nou' day? Who will be true to Christ by turning a deaf ear to persistent requests for car or petrol, by refusing to go on this excursion or aid by his catering or presence a scheme that hides under a patriotic guise the throwing overboard, of the Lord's Day?—l am. etc., JOHN DICKSON, On behalf of tho Lord's Day Alliance and the Presbyterian Sabbath Observance Committee.