THE BISHOP AND THE BREWER.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1272, 16 July 1886, Page 4

THE BISHOP AND THE BREWER.

The Bishop of Rochester who recently issued a 'Pastoral op the question of Disestablishment and Church Defence, has received the following letter from a Tyneside brewer : Rev. Sir, —I saw lately in the papers that you Lad been speaking on the Disestablishment of the “ Church of England,” and I observe there is a considerable flutter in the clerical dovecote at the threatened attack. 1 myself am a Conservative, and have, up to now, been a Churchman, and belong to a family in which has never been a dissenter. I say up to now, for lam about to sever my connection with this so-called Church of England,” and transfer my annual subscription of three guineas to the Liberation Society. And the reason is this :—I am a brewer, and your Church is now a huge Teetotal Society, and bent on the destruction of an important and honorable branch of industry. You are perverter of the Scripture, and dishonour jour Saviour by your dogmas, and by instituting a 11th Commandment you place the laws of man before those of God. As an instance of the hideous deformity of the teetotal mind, a clergyman (?) lately told me that if our Saviour were to re-visit the earth again he would be a teetotaler! I verily believe that if lie were to come on earth now Ho would he waited upon hy teetotal deputations, and on refusing to subscribe to your wretched dogmas, your Church, like the wretched Pharasees of old, would denounce Him as a friend of sinners and a wine biber. In fact, that is what the Church (?) does now, for did He not give us wine both for our bodily pleasure and as the emblem of our redemption ? He said, “ Drink of it.” Your Church (?) says “Drink none of it,” You have no more right to preach teetotalism in your Church than you have to preach vegetarianism or vaccination. Therefore, what is ■sauce lor the gooso is sauce for the :gancler. You make a terrible screech when the Church is attacked, but you Rave no scruples in attacking us. Will you apply the same action to your side ? I know many clergymen who are a disgrace to their species. Do you advocate sweeping the Church away in consequence, or arc they even removed from their charge ? No, But because one man in a bundled takes too much; you say sweep away the entire trade,-t Well, all I can say is, I would like to see the broom with which you are to do it! You see the mess you have made in Wales by your tinkering, and yon would press your Sunday closing still further, but Bishop’s cellars are still to bo open, and Bishop’s horses groomed, and Bishop’s dinners cooked, while the poor man has nowhere to get his modest pint of beer to his dinner - . Do not believe the people whom you seek for domineer over will bo driven into your Church—this is a delusion—they will resent your priestcraft, and ultimately smash you. Nor need you lay the flattering unction to your souls that you will fall in a good cause. You will fall unrcgi-etted and despised, denying your Saviour, and oppressing your fellow men. 1 can well minister to my own religious wants without belonging to any sect, and therefore remain, sir, A Brewer first, and a Che ec nil an after,