SUNDAY TRAINS AND PICNICS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20964, 1 March 1930, Page 11

SUNDAY TRAINS AND PICNICS.

■y, TO TEE EDITOR. ' ' ' { Sib, —I have' waited with interest Mr I Stringer’s reply to a letter by “Pious” j in last Saturday’s issue of your paper ' with regard to what is commonly de- 1 scribed as Sabbath Day desecration. ' I I Sould, like to point but that, as God ] as _ given every man a free will on, spiritual matters, we Christians as his representatives should do the same. Surely God is grieved when men deliberately sin against Him, but He does not curse them with soine visitation of Divine wrath. Similarly we Christians are grieved at the worldjinesg and indifference around_ ns, but we cannot improve matters spiritually by parliamentary laws, or by any other form of civil dispensation. “ Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” saith the Lord. Mr Stringer would do better if he were to preach the Gospel cheerfully and faithfully, instead of growling about the sheep that go astray. Parliament and all other such bodies cater for the public demand, and it is the duty of the churches to uplift the Christ that all men will be drawn to Him so that public demand will be for the spiritual, and Parliament will have to cater for it, even for special trains to take people to church, as in Wales at the present time. A mighty revival is sweeping that country, and 4000 people crowd into the largest building in .Cardiff to hear the Gospel—and, needless to say, .the preacher is not wasting time growling about parliamentary sacrilege. i ■

Let me say that if the church people were less concerned about their church, its creeda and doctrines, and more devoted to the Lord and the preaching of His Gospel there would be no nfeed for complaints by such correspondents as “ Watch Dog” against the tyranny and religious oppression which is fai to prevalent in the older and more established churches. So far as the Sabbath Day is concerned, it is a part of the old Mosaic Law which was abolished or rather fulfilled on Calvary, We are now living under the dispensation of grace,.when we Christians keep the first day of the week not as a Sabbath but as a- day for spiritual refreshment. You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.— I am, etc., Christian Student. Dunedin, February 25.