PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2541, 26 November 1902, Page 69

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

LIBERTY AND LICENSE : A FEW LITERARY GEMS.

. Wherever English law is in force, full liberty is given to the expression of thought, and we nave had free expression amounting to license in Dunedin during the past week or two. I always like to hear and read all that can be said on any question I take an interest in, and one question I concern myself with is social advancement. Many think that the abolition of the liquor traffic is, under existing conditions, necessary ; many, of course, think otherwise. The election will be over ere this appears in print, 80 I am giving you a few extracts from Liberty and Truth, the liquor, organ, to show you what liquordom has to say about ministers not connected with the Roman Catholic or Church of England Churches — for presumably these are the ones exempted in one of the paragraphs, and what it has to say of those who have voted "no-license." Now, I don't quote because it is a pleasure, but because I think it ought to be pretty widely known what the writers of this sheet think of those opposed to the continuance of the liquor traffic ; and because I wish my young readers when, in the future, they write on controversial subjects, not to adopt the style used in the paragraphs quoted. Such a style means either a bad causa or execrable taste, and will never carry conviction to those in doubt unless to influence more against the cause no advocated than for it. So MUCH FOB THE DKVILI6H EFFECTS (the small capitals are not mine) of the mistaken policy of the «leek, well-fed members of the Council of Churches. They care not — their luxurious comforts will not be interfered with/ Will not the people see for themselves, end cease to be hoodwinked and bluffed by tfiese would-be destroyers of the Gospel of Christ? These guerillas and commandants of sectarianism and prohibition more pitiless and ferocious than the wont of the Boere of South Africa, for they make -war indisciminately on all, including women and children, whom they would doom to death through ruin, misery, and starvation. Picture^ to yourselves the poor mother with a sick and dying husband and eight young children around her! And there were 22 families similarly treated in Dunedin at the last reduction of licenses, all Buffering more or less misery, ruin, destitution, death. Estimable people, many of them, simply robbed and driven to deprivation and death, because two or three prominent drunkards made themselves appear repulsive to the supersensitive agitators of total abstinence. Publicans do not flood the country with advertisements tempting people to buy more than they casa afford, or what is of no u«e to them. Neither do they entice them from their home* and domestic duties to cheap •ale*, hysterical conventions, and so-called revivals, all of which ofteu lead to financial, social, and mental troubles, and the shepherds dare not attempt to interfere with cheap sales of useless finery, because glaring display. is necessary to keep up attendances and excitement. • What evidence is there that our elected leaders are^ sincere in their professed desire to improve the, condition of the people? Is not the evidence rather that tney care not for the people, and only study to retain place and power and emoluments for themselves? From a patriotic Premier right «lown to the hypocritical prohibitionist legislators who have made their money by *!y grog-selling; the colony is accursed with thorn. The law-breakers have become the lawmakers, and the Lord help the colony! The people being educated and demoralised by the Government, it should be the .duty ot the pastors of the many sectarian denominations to endeavour to helo them up, through the Divine teachings and principles of Christianity. It may be said that the two leading churches adhere to these teachings and principles, though in these there are individual failures — Judas Iscariofc, 4o wit; but the other sects, or rather their leaders, appear to have no such principles, and to have lost all faith in the Divine power of the teachings of the Great Master, if they ever had such faith. At all events, they assert and proclaim their own insufficiency and helplessness to improve the people by Christian teaching and example, when in fact they have never tried it; and now they want to bring the law to their aid to keep the people — not from gambling. immorality, extravagance, idleness, and other failings, but from the temperate enjoyment of that which the Lord had commanded and provided. Thus this monstrous crew blaspheme and fcetray the great Captain they profess to serve. Should He "appear again on earth, they would deny Him as they deny the wisdom and efficacy of His Divine teachings. He would say to them: — "The Son of Man is come eating and drinking, and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man and a winefcibber, a friend of publicans and sinners." And they in their malice and hatred would again crucify Him — and these are supposed to b* teachers of Christianity.

QUAKERS, To get the taste of these paragraphs out of your mouth now, read the following extracts, pure and simple, or adapted from a novel called "A Gallant Quaker." It gives a very clear picture of the Stuart Period when persecution was rampant and when so many left England to worship freely in the American colonies, but where they often enough in turn became as intolerant as those they had fled from. The. Quakers were the spiritual children of the men who resisted the political despotism of Charles I, and the ecclesiastical pretensions of the ritualistic Episcopal Church. Their actual founder was George Fox, a plain, outspoken man, who dreamed dnams and beheld visions, and to whom was revealed th» leading- Quaker doctrine of tho Divine Light that is implanted in every man, and which, if fostered and followed, every man a true minister of God. So greatly did the teaching of George Fox and his disciples move the hearts of the people, that by the time of the Restoration — some 12 years, that is to say, after they first began to teach — it was estimated that there were about 30,000 Quakers in England.

The Quakers, like most other sects, arose from the ashes of persecution. By the time the story opens many a cruelty had been practised on them. Men had been scourged and pilloried and branded with hot irons. Women had been whipped at th» cart-tail, dragged through ponds, and flung into prison. It is but fair, however, to state that the tongues of the Quakers were singularly fearless and vituperative, and that in those days religious toleration was an unknown quantity.

The Quakers believed in the absolute equality of every man. "All ace equal in the sight of God," they said, therefore all should be equal on earth. Titles, honours, and even the ordinary forms of address, such as "Sir" or "Madame," were to them obnoxious, and they would neither bow the knee nor lift the hat to any man. They carried their love of absolute truthfulness into the minutest details of life. "You" was never used save to more than one person, the singular being "thou." The names of the days and months suggested heathen gods, and therefore were designated by numbers. All amusements, such as plays, dancing, and music, were wrong, and were avoided, along with fine clothes, jewels, and flowing curls. A paid .ministry was an abhorrence. Every Christian was a priest to God, and needed no other guidance than the inner light or illuminated conscience. Oaths in a court of justice' were sinful : "Swear not at aTI,"a T l," said the Bible. Resistance was forbidden, "the sword of the Spirit" being the Quaker's only weapon.

In the early Quakers one can observe, at once the Puritan rebound from the license and frivolity of the Stuart courts, and the same stern demand for political and ecclesiaslical liberty that had been so tragically expressed in 1649. But in addition to this Puritanism, the Quakers displayed a mystic fervour that seemed to exalt them above all earthly powers or considerations. "This is a sect that even I know not how to break or bend," said Cromwell, and the Great Protector ever looked upon them with a half-impatient, half- appreciative indulgence. On the Quaker's side Cromwell was regarded as a good man, whose head was somewhat turned by the giddy eminence to which he had attained, and it was only after his death that they realised what a friend they had lost in him. No sooner was the Restoration accomplished than a fieroe and enduring persecution of the Quakers began. Acts of Parliament were passed against them, and so strictly enforced that by 1662 no fewer than 42,000 of these innocent people were lodged in gaol waiting for transportation to Jamaica. Among these was George Fox, their founder, who was only released in 1666. But, in spite of ridicule and hatred and persecution, the ten years that followed the Restoration were years of growth and fruition. Extravagance and absurdities still marked the conduct of many of them, but gradually they began to win the esteem of religious and respectable people. They became a more united body. Barclay compiled their creed; Perm, in prison, wrote many a book of comfort and exhortation, and his father's death in 1670 left him a fortune, which was promptly placed at the disposal of the new sect.

Perm and Fox: A Contrast. — "Nay, nay, child. A Spanish jennet could not draw this coach through the mire, and William Perm could not have ploughed through the rough roads of persecution and obloquy that George Fox did. If Fox be rude and harsh in his methods, ehame to those who made him bo ! But hie leathern breeches went where Perm's French shoes can barely follow."

Advice ao Mothers. — Are you broken in your rest by a sick child suffering with, the pain of cutting teeth? Go at once to a, chemist and get a. bottle of Mrs "Wiwslow's Soothing Syrttp. It will reliev* the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harm leu and ple&sant to taste, it produces n&tural, quiet sleep, by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes " as bright as a, button." It soothes the child, it soften* th« gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates th» bowels, and is the best-known remedy for dysentery and diarrhoea, whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup it sold by MkUcia* dealers ertrrwbtf*.