A CHRISTIAN VOTER'S DUTY.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XV, Issue 20, 9 September 1887, Page 11

A CHRISTIAN VOTER'S DUTY.

TO THE EDITOR N.Z. TABLET. Sib,— Would you kindly find space for the enclosed letter. It appears that from pressure of other matter the letter does not appear in the September number of the N.Z Presbyterian, and the October ißsue will be too late for the purpose for which the letter was written. I do not blame the editor, or editors, of that publication further than to say that I think current topics ought to have precedence. I may also hazard the expression of an opini >n that the views of nine-tenths of the Presbyterians of this Province are in harmony with the views I contend for and not in harmony with the views expressed in the editorial note complained of, and I think it is a sore evil when a paper which claims in some slight degree to speak with authority should so misrepresent its constituency.— l am, etc.. August 31, 1887. j.' wood.

TO THE EDITOU "N.Z, PBESBYTEBIAN." Sib,— l trust you will give me space to make a few remarks on an editorial note which appeared in your issue of Ist inst. This note, I find, is highly approved of by a portion of the Press, which fact is, to my mind, highly suspicious — feeling, as I do, in such circumstances very much as " Bird-o'-Freedum Sawin " felt in the matter of teet'fltalism :—: — " There's one rule I've been guided by in settlin' how to vote oilers— I take the side thet ain't took by them consarned teetollers." Biglow Papert. Your note, as it appears to me, amounts to this— viz., we may not vote for a Bradlaugh or Holyoake, but we may vote for an honest man, be he " a Mohammedan, or Buddhist, or even a Freethinker." Now, to my mind the writer of the article is somewhat befogged here. Who is to judge of this honesty, and what are its criteria f Most people think, in a sort of loose way it may be, that honesty is chiefly shown where a man acts out his inner convictions ; all else is merely policy, which the events of a day may upset at any time. In this sense a Bradlaugh or Holyoake might be a much more honest man than the most dexterous expediency rail-sitter oi that ilk. Your conclusion, I think, is defective because it rests on no clearlydefined principle. Again, in its ultimate analysis, as the saying is, your advice is not free from the ridiculous notion so common— viz., that rejectors of Christianity have somehow a monopoly of brains. Now in all its ramifications this notion is rotten to the core. We all admit that piety alone is not the only qualification that a man requires for public (or, for that matter, private) life ; a man may be a pious fooL But I say that, other things beimg equal, a religious character ought to turn the scale in determining our vote, and with professing Christians being in a majority of 15 or 20 to 1 surely Christian men equal, if not superior, to infidels, Mohammedans, or Buddhists might be fouad. Further, your views are utterly opposed to the doctrine taught in ths New Testament. There, at least, Christians are not supposed voluntarily to set over them men opposed to Christianity. Ido not need to cite Scripture to show this, but I wish to point out that the cant we so often hear about persecuting principles had better be dropped. We don't wish to apply either rack or thumb-screw, but we wish to vote for the man of whose principles we most approve, All Christians worthy the name admit, theoretically at least, that hostility in any form to Christianity is dangerous to the State, and every Christian whose convictions guide his conduct will hesitate before giving his vote to either a " Mohammedan, a Buddhist, or even a Freethinker." There may be cases— l know of a few just now—

wheri it is '■ Hobson's choice " ; if you vote at all, it is either for Satan or Beelzebub. In such cases it is hard to say what a voter should do. The pity is there is not a law which enables him to vote against both. The proper course, I think, would be for Christian voters not to take your advice, but to bs on the look-out continually for proper men to be brought forward at the right time. — I am, etc., Dunedin, August 22, 1887. J. Wood.