THE SABBATH QUESTION.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2583, 29 May 1871, Page 2

THE SABBATH QUESTION.

To the Editor . Sib, —Tbc interest which is being taken in the controversy which has been going on in the columns of your contemporary for some days past emboldens me to ask the favour of a little space for a few remarks on tho subject, not so much as to discuss the queslion of whether the day of rest sa divine or a human institution, as to take exception to the position the Rev Mr Sutherland has assumed in dictating to his fellow colonists what they shall and what they shall not do, and threatening to call to his aid the arm of the law in order to coerce everyone to submit to his intolerance. Ido not imagine the rev gentlemen would really like us to go back to the dark ages, when persons were burnt at the stake for holding religi us opinions differing from those ordered by tho ruling powers. But the principle is the same. Of all despotisms that of religion is the worst, the most unmerciful, the most tyrannical ; and, 1 cannot help thinking, from the tone of Mr. Sutherland s letters, that his mind is largely imbued with the gloomy and ferocious tenets held in an age, happily long gone by—the age of religious persecution, of lire and sword, of slaughter aud martyrdom. It is, aud always has been, one of our proudest boasts that in this new laud we enjoy perfect religious liberty, an immunity from those heartburnings and rancorous discords which still breed strife even iu Great Britain. But there seems to be a desire on the parts of some of the clergy that this state of things should exist no longer—and of those none betrays a tendency to dictate to the consciences of his fellow men more than does the Rev. George Sutherland. He holds certain Lard, sour, illiberal views on some religious matters, and he would, by main force, cram them down the throats of his neighbors—an impertinent interference with their rights, as it appears to me. It is questionable if the Hev. Mr Sutherland wishes to bring hack to us the Sabbath of the Puritans, when, as the Hudibnw baa it, a M-ayfarcr saw one of them '

“ Hanging a cat on Monday ~ For killing a mouse on a Sunday. Whether he has gone the right way to work in raising this discord, and whether it will not rather serve as an advertisement for what he chooses to call Sahbath desecration, than tend to induce people to spend their Sundays in the gloomy manner be points out, is a matter open to question. Those who know ibc amiable spirit which governs the rev. gentleman will not I e surprised that, even in his letter on Sal'hath desecialion, he must needs go out of Ins way to have a fling at a g,iilleman, than whom, no one in Dunedin is more respected, by all classes amt creeds. Wc all know to whom he m'em when he sperks of mealy-mouthed people, and wc have cause to he tbankfu. that we have in Dunedin, and that too amongst tlmse of his own denomination, Dr e hearted, generous minded clergymen, who do not view humanity through the jaundiced spectacles of religious intolerance, hut who, with that Christian chanty which sutlcieth long, and is kind, can find “ T< ngues in running brooks , Sermons hi stoues, ai.d good in everything.» The Eev. Mr Sutherland has been accused of having ridden in a cab on the Sabbath day himself. Ido not, nor would any sensible man, blame him, but I think it does come with very bad grace from him to threaten perdition to others for doing what ho himself does. His argument about employers of labor forcing men to work on Sundays, and thus depriving them the oppoitunily of attending divine service is \ cry plaiuihle, but unfortunately for him, it is not true. I have made enquiries, and so far as I can discover, Sunday work is entirely at the option of the men employed, and I know that so far ns the Harbor Company’s men a e concerned, it is distinctly understood that they need only mention an objection to Sunday work, and they are neither asked nor required to attend on that day. I ha\e not gone into the abstract question of babbath desecration, as that has been already discussed at great length in other columns, nor do I think it necessary to do so, as every man’s conscience will tell him whether he is committing a sin or not, bu k I do think that the Rev. Mr Sutherland is rather exceeding his duty as a hristian clergyman when he fulminates his thunders at those who sec less harm in enjoying the free air of heaven, either in the green fields or on the bosom of the bay, than in sitting at home brooding over the shortcomings and backslidings of their fellow creatures. I am, &c., A Man.