PARSONS, PUGS., AND PUBS.

NZ Truth, Issue 217, 21 August 1909, Page 1

PARSONS, PUGS., AND PUBS.

There ,is -not, there cannot be, any manner of doubt Whatever that "God's Own Country" is being shamefully scandalised by gospel-grinding gasbags, who arrogate to themselves the almost blasphemous designation of "(rod's Own Ministers;" :The pestilent, parsonical element m this grand Dominion, is fast becoming a positive peril to popular rights and individual liberty. A plethora . of played-out parsons sit, .like an incubus, on the < moral, chest of the community. Their occupation is practically gone, as the ever-falling cash-collectiojis m their' semi-empty, weather-board bethels and corrugated-iron. conventicles painfully show. They have ceased to command, if. ; they ever really "possessed, the confidence of the community ; arid with that want of confidence has come the cruel concomitant loss of cash contributions. Christ told his disciples to set soul-sav-ing above siller ; that the teaching of the Divine principles taught m the fcjermon on the Mount did not. imply the pouching of pelf; and that' His servants were lo : preach, -the glad tidings of salvation, regardless of the getting of gear and gold. But: the modern, g^el-.g£i£der of the Metho dy -'■'JWesiey^owset *'-. Brimstonepaptisti- . -cal. persuasion regard not the' Master's "';■'■ aflmomtioia, but "go for the gonce" with A>;v «tt i^e^aQr i H^ "gamesters, and crucify ChrliSt anew "on a cadger's cross, quite as cruelly as monopolist-sweating multimillionaires like Carnegie and -Rockefeller crucify! Him, m the persons of His poor, on a cross of gold. * * *■ Preaching is the professional game of I these gasbags, just as purveying "purge" is that of the publican and punching that nf the pugilist. Certain people place these three classes m the category of parasites, on the assumption that neither of them is a producer, and each of them have hfttaken themselves to their respective occupations either through a love of ease or a horror of legitimate reproductive work. Such a characterisation, however, is neither fair nor accurate, and does the publican and the pugilist 'a grievous -wrong 'by classing them with the wowser-loafer, who lives by misrepresenting and maligning them. Parasites, pure and simple, publicans and pugilists are not ; because, reputedly, and as a rule, they do honestly cater for recognised pubiic wants. There is a genuine and healthy .demand for beer and beds and these the public demand, and the publicans supply, m a manner prescribed by law. There is an equally genuine, though not nearly so general, demand for exhibitions of boxing, demanding on the part of the participants a decent display of skill, endurance, courtesy and courage within prescribed legal limits. In properly catering for these public wants the publican -and the pugilist supply a legitimate public want. The proof of this, so far as it affects the publican, is v a liking of a majority of the people for beer and spirits, and the preference they show for hotel accommodation to that afforded by boarding and "hash"-houses. As regards the. pugilist the special necessity for his existence •is the maintenance . of that . splendid local organisation, the Wellington Boxing Association, and the packed audience of nearly 4000 citizens— "well-dr|essed, well-behaved, and respectable,"— as the ,current cant phrase runs— which filled the vast auditorium of the Wellington Town, Hall on Wednesday evening last. Let these proofs of the necessity and legitimacy of the existence of the publican and pugilist stand for what they are worth for the present. What about their pestilent rival, the preaching, praying, and ever-preying parson ? •■ • • It must not and cannot be lost sight of that while these pestilent . persons themselves each preach one God and one Gospel there are a thousand and one little sects, each with its only little (despicable despot or peculiar pope, all claim/fng to be "the real McKay" and "true /brew" of Christianity. Each- and every / one of them claim to be God-inspired depositories of Divine Revelation of God Almighty's eternal and immutable designs concerning man ; of Man's destiny, here and hereafter, on .Earth, m Heaven, or Hell. None of them believe as the other believes on any one essential point concerning the Personality, powers or intentions of the Deity. All these multiplied sects regard each other with distrust or detestation ; differ diametriclly to one . another about the meaning of their respective "Divine Revelations" "and m their interpretations of God Almighty's will toward his creatures. The doctrine of one sect is anathema to all other sects, and that of all the other, anathema to the one. Those of them who are sincere honestly believe all others who difier from themselves to be blasphemous misbelievers, destined, for the most part, to eternal damnation m ever flesh-frizz-iag, but non-consuming, ever-burning.

.' GOSPEL-GRINDING^ GASBAGS.

hell-fire. This is a fair and faithful description of the dreary, depressing, dismal, damnable doctrines \of those opposing: anarchical sects. Such is the chaotic ' contusion concerning the Past, Present, and Future, m which their ignorance, superstition and N bigotry has landed them. They are religious Anarchists, without the credit : that - can be claimed by the social Anarchists, that of championing Individual Liberty. There is no real liberty m Anarchism, religious or social. The social Anarchists want to do as they like and restrain everybody who differs from them.: These Anarchistical Wowsers while pretending to champion "Law and Order," really want to make themselves a law unto the community m the sphere, of social and political life and legislation, as they have made themselves a law as regards religion within the insignificant ambit of their own circumscribed' conception of God and Eternity. : * ■ • . ■ « These are the audacious Anarchists who are now m this great and alleged free Dominion aggressively putting forward the absurd parsonicaL claim,, to lord it over the. daily lives and actions, of an enlightened aird progressive -peopled "These pestilent parsons pretend to this prerogative of power m the name of God Almighty Himself, and :by virtue of., theirri ( office of professional parsons preying on the people, by means o* plate-pushing and penny-pinching and other "silver-eoin-at-the-door" tricks practised by all such common showmen so solely dependent as they are on popular pence for. a crust. But all shows m time become played out. The tricks of the showmen no longer deceive or amuse. Even Shakespeare palls at times ; and the Bible ceases to command reverence or "even respect when commented by coin-chasing charlatans. The so-called Oracles of God m the mouths of pulpit-puncning parsons cease to be prophetical"; Bible-banging bounder's become blasphemous m their lire and brimstone bans and fulminatio ••; ; and gospel-grinding gas-bags, greedy m gear and grabbing fit gold resemble rath er the traitor Judas , than the Master Whom he betrayed. This is recognised by a large and influential section of the community, who resent these parsonical pretensions to predominance : but this resentment at present is only passive ; it has not yet translated itself into actual resistance. On the other hand, the pestilent parson is not without countenance and support. To do him justice he has the courage of his opinions ; or, the courage of what he conceives to be his own personal pecuniary interests. At heart and m the main the pestilent parson is . a hypocrite and a humbug, but all humbugs are not without capacity and courage of a sort. A successful charlatan must possess both courage and capacity. Added- to this, these gospel-grind-ing gasbags owe much of their partial success m "commandeering" the community m the name of Christ to the very best and most elevating instincts of Humanit3 r — to • a • reverent regard for religion and a recognition of the Divinely Democratic lessons of th'e life and teachings of CHrist. On the other hand they are . largely aided by the ignorance and superstition of certain classes, whose only idea of religion is to believe with bigot-ry-and to persuade by persecution. Much moral.- mission work has yet to be done among the pestilent parsons' dupes at home before we shall be fitted to play the part of missionaries to the pagans abroad. ■ • • Meanwhile the pestilent parson is supported by superstition and tolerated with apathy : and is thus, for. a time, permitted to pose as a sort of pragmatical pernicketty pope, laying down the law to citizens and legislators, telling men how they shall live, move and have their being—what they' shall eat and drink and wherewithal they shall be clothed— how, what and whom and when and where they shall liquor and love— how they shall live and die, and, indeed, whether they, shall be damned with the devil •or reign with these gospel-grinding gas-bags m heaven hereafter. Angels, cherubim, and seraphim defend us from sharing heaven with such a set, whose solo aim here below seems to be to make earth a hell ! Yet is this same, sanctimonious, praying and preying, copper-cadging charlatan of a pestilent parson almost as serious a proposition as he was m Scotland under the Calvinistic Puritanical Presbyterian Kirk during the. 17th century. Examining the Scotch Intellect m the Seventeenth Century, Buckle, m his "'History of Civilisation," says :— According to the Presbyterian polity, which . reached its height m the seventeenth century, the clergyman of the parish selected a certain number of Jaymen on whom he could depend, and who, under the name, of elders, were his councillors, or rather the ministers of his authority. They, when assembled together, formed what was called tfce -Kirk-SeM&jn, and this J#tl«

court, which enforcelfvthe decisions uti; tergtfjin Mibe iPJUJiii^as..>so . . supported • .by . tab superstitious • reverence ; of the people, that . it was far more powerful than any civil tribunal. By its aid, the minister became supreme. For, whoever presumed to disobey him was excommunicated, was deprived of his property, and was believed to have incurred the penalty of eternal perdition. Against such weapons, m such a state of society, resistance was (impossible. The clergy interfered with every man's private concerns, ordered how he should govern his family, and often took upon themselves the personal control of his household. Their minions, the ciders, were everywhere ; for each parish /was divided into several quarters, and to each quarter one of thes© otlicials was allotted, m order that he might take special notice of what was done m his own district. .Besides this spies were appointed, so that nothiing could escape their supervision. Wot only the streets, but even private houses, were searched, and ransacked, to see if anyone was absent from church while the minister • was preaching. To him, all ■ must piston, and him all must obey. Without"t he consent of his tribunal, no person might engage himself, either as a 'domestic servant,' or as a field laborer. If anyone incurred the displeasure of tne clorgy, they did not scruple to summon his servants and force them to state whatever- they knew respecting him, and whatever they had seen dono m his house. To speak dis-. respectfully of a preacher was a grievous offence ; to differ from him was a heresy ; even to pass him m the streets without saluting him, was punished as a crime. His very name was: regarded as sacred, and not to betaken m vain. And that it might foe properly protected, and held m due honor, an Assembly of the Church, m 1642, forbad it to.be used m any public paper unless the consent of the holy man had been previously obtained. • These and similar proceedings, being upheld by public opinion, .were completely successful. Indeed, they could hardly ha vo been otherwise, seeing that it .was' generally believed that whoever gainsaid the clergy, • would be visited, not only with temporal penalties, but also with spiritual ones. ; •■ For such a crime, there was. punishment here, and 'there .was punishment hereafter. -The preachers willingly fostered a delusion : by which ' they ."benefited'. They told _ 'their . hearers, that what was spoken m '"'"■' thi- "puloit was ■binding upon all- believeobs, and was to, be regarded as immediately proceeding from the Deity. This proposition being, established, other propositions naturally- followed. The clergy believed that they alone wore privy •to the counsels of . the ' Almighty, and that, by virtue ;of this knowledge, they could determine what any man's future state would be. Going still further, they . claimed ' the power, not only of foretelling .his future state, but also of controlling it; and they did not scruple to affirm that, by their censures, they could open and shut the kingdom of heaven.' As if this were not enough, they also Rave out that a -word -of theirs could hasten the moment of death, and by cutting off the sinner m his prime, coulrt bring him at once before the judgment-scat of Uod. Due allowance rfcade for difference m time and of circumstance, caused by the, lapse of centuries and by the advancement oi science, and the consequent diminution of superstitution and progress of rational thought, this description of the Scotchbyterian saints m the seventeenth century cannot be considered as an altogether characterless, caricature of the pesti lent parsons of this period, or as being more than a somewhat exaggerated description of tucir despicable characters and dastardly designs. Take their attitude on such questions as sports an'! amusements, right or wrong, rational oi irrational, elevating or degrading, bo'ol-j. or ignoble, they, are to be banned H Boanerges can't make his approval "of them square, with his. parsonical conceptions of his personal interests and professional influence. The people must nut amuse themselves m any reasonable way that would seem to conflict with the gospel-grinding business as a ffiolitablc penny-pinching industry. Now, if people walk about or ride about, and go a-vis-iting and picnicing of a Sundays m U-od's ■Own sunlight and sweet fresh air, instead of crowding into stuffy, stinking, germsoaked, bug-bitten, flea-flayed, sewer-sav-ored bethels, to hear bad-breathed biiilebangers "bummin away," as Tennyson's Northern Farmer puts it, then thair facilities for Sunday pleasure and recreation must be circumscribed and cut down m the interests of the parson. If the people patronise the publican and the pugilist m preference to the parson, then must the pub. and the pug. be abolished m favor of their clerical competitor, the parson. If men and women want to gam- j ble on the race-course or on the "tots" instead of at bethel bazaars and lotteries, gambling must be put down and the "tote" wiped out m the interest of the parson's plate, m short, what isn't m the interest oi the parson must l?e con- | demned on the assumption, manifestly j false, that it must necessarily be detract- j ing and demoralising to the whole community. The fact that four thousand j sane, sensible individuals delight m wit-.j nessing an exhibition of skill, • courage, i and endurance, m what has always t.een properly regarded and described as "the noble art of self-defence," is not to bo j permitted to countervail the contemptible caterwaulings of a handful of wretched wowsers. Those four thousar.d respectable, well-behaved, law-abiding cili- j zens, who won't go even m dozens to j hear the parsons, and arc. willing m their : thousands to pay to see the pugilists, are to be barred from their reasonable recreations and amusements, and at the bidding of the parsons banned as brutal and bloody persons with low, degraded instincts ! And all, for what 7 Simply because the parson is about played out. JOHN NORTON. Wellington, August 10 tb, lIKH>.