SUNDAY HIKING

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21297, 26 September 1932, Page 13

SUNDAY HIKING

Sir, —May 1 bo allowed to express the view of a man "in the middle of the road," as one might say, with regard to this controversy? I either "hike" or go to church on a Sunday, whichever I am inclined toward, and I do not always go to the same church. Why do not some of your correspondent's take a broader view of life and religion ? It would be interesting to know how many who condemn Sunday hiking have over practised it. What do they know of the reasons and results of this habit ? One, a neighbour of mine, once condemned a doctor for playing golf on Sunday, yet admitted to going out for a run in the car himself. He did not play golf, either! But if ha had broken his arm on a Sunday ? Well, of courso, that would bo different! Does it hot amount to this: The churches will not bo fdled unless a genuine desire is active in tho parishes to attend the services. If coercion is attempted, by curtailing the possibility of other interests, antagonism will be the immediate result. Layman.

Sir, —As a convinced Christian, I would like to add my word in favour of tho hikers. First of all, some church people need to expand their minds to take in this idea, viz., that religion is a bigger thing than public attendance at some building to take part in a formal service. Cod is to bo found in many places, in books, in work, in art, etc. Religion embraces all, and is as wide as man in all his diversity of tastes and moods. Second, people who profess Christ's religion of love, the true religion, will win others to their cause only by tho power of example and sympathetic persuasion—certainly not by scolding them for innocent outdoor occupations on Sunday, or by insisting on compulsory attendanco at somo formal religious servico. Fortunately, in a very few years, we shall find that even the orthodox aro ablo to reconcile true religion (love for God and man), with a pleasant, healthful tramp on Sunday. In the meantime, cannot all—hikers and. objectors alike—act quietly according to their conscientious opinions, and cease to dispute. In accordance with which, I will argiie no further. Tolerant.

Sir, —Hiking is not in itself a sin, but all forms of mere pleasure-seeking on tho Lord's Day are to be deprecated, especially organised activities. In defence of Sunday hiking, etc., your correspondents make much of uncongenial working conditions, the need for activity in the open-air, the enjoyment of natural beauty and even the worship of tho creature (rather than tho Creator). Have they forgotten that there was a time when the working day was 12, 14, 16 hours, with no weekly halfholiday? An eight-hour day, a weekly half-holiday, tho institution of daylight saving—all fail to provide enough leisure for a pleasure-loving generation. Truly is it written: "In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lover* of their own selves—lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away." The path of tho true Christian is clear. By* example and by precept, by instruction and by warning, ho must remind men that hp -that soweth to the flesh shall reap corruption, and as the salt of the earth and the light of the world ho must seek to preserve it from moral decay and from spiritual darkness. Tho Railway Board, for tho sake of additional profits, caters for a materially-minded generation, which has so far forgotten God and tho claims of tho Lord Jesus Christ that the day which should be spent reverently in His servico and worship is devoted to rollicking pleasure. Let those who will seek to justify such disregard of eternal verities. It is written, nevertheless, "Exercise thyself-' rather unto godliness; for bodily exercise profiteth for a little time, but godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is ajid of that'which is to come." It is the moral issues involved in Sunday pleasures which concern many earnest Christians. Desecration of the Lord's Day is but one symptom of many which, indicate the decline in the religious life of our nation. A.H.D.