The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1874

Evening Star, Issue 3433, 21 February 1874, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1874

It appears to us that the Sunday question has been sufficiently ventilated, for the present at any rate. No new light is likely to be thrown on it, and it might be as well to let the subject quietly drop, and allow the animosities and party feeling which its discussion has undoubtedly caused in the City of late to subside. Nothing is to be gained by rubbing what is already a painful and irritating sore till it becomes a chronic and malignant ulcer. But though we do not intend to deal with this qumstio vexata again till some new phase of it comes into prominence, we feel bound to say a few words with regard to an article on the subject which appeared yesterday in the columns of one of our morning contemporaries, or

rather with regard to the remarks which form a sort of preface to the article in. question. The writer of this article tells us that certain arguments against the Sabbatarian view of the case—reasons of great weight—have been somewhat studiously omitted and denied public utterance. “ They have been suppressed out of courtesy,” the writer says. We wonder whether he lays claim to any credit for this courtesy. Let us see how far such a pretension may be well grounded. It is known to most of our readers that the different Christian Churches have divided amongst themselves the missionary work in the Islands of the Pacific, in such a way that each Church may do its own work in its own field without unnecessarily interfering with the work of any other Church. In short, they have applied the principle of division of labor, on the whole, as it appears to us, with very fair success. At any rate we know that there are vast numbers of men and women who are now civilised and decent-living, to say the least, who were but a few years ago savages of the very lowest type, practising human sacrifice, cannibalism, infanticide, and such like enormities. The part of Polynesia occupied by the Presbyterian Church is the group of islands called the New Hebrides, the head-quarters, so to speak, of the mission being Aneiteum. A short time ago the Eev. Mr Paton, who has been stationed at Aneiteum for many years, and has gone through dangers and persecutions almost sufficient to qualify him to take rank amongst the martyrs and confessors of the Christian religion, paid this Province a visit, and related his adventures to large and enthusiastic meetings. Just now, therefore, the New Hebrides mission is an object of great interest and just pride to almost all the more earnest Presbyterians in the Province. That they may have, however, “ a thorn in the flesh to buffet them,” the writer in the ‘ Daily Times,’just at this nick of time, sneers most offensively at the heroic efforts which have been and are being made to ameliorate the condition of the Polynesian savages. In fret, he goes out of his way to insult every Presbyterian in the Province who takes an interest in missions, assuming as he does, that because a man cares for the heathen who are far off he must necessarily be indifferent to those who are nearer home. This is not only not “courteous, but it is unfair in the extreme. Does the writer referred to really mean to say that every “ cleric ” who takes an interest in matters that are not intimately connected with his own “ cure of souls ” must care nothing for the said souls 1 We, too, have known “clerics” who have kept schools, taken boarders, or have even earned money by writing for the Press, but we should be very sorry to hint that they “ did not care a jot for their own special work. And surely if a minister may interest himself in increasing his income in the above-mentioned ways, it cannot be altogether wrong for one “to be full of profound interest in the morals of Aneiteum Natives and the religious convictions of the savages in the Malay Archipelago," unless it be because he is likely to gain but little temporal advantage by being so. In our last evening’s issue there appeared a most amusing story from the Melbourne ‘ Leader,’ in which are recorded the troubles of two ministers who, in spite of themselves, were compelled to ride through the streets of Melbourne in company with a female of very doubtful reputation. It is stated that the result of this ride was that they found themselves deserted by their congregations on the following Sunday. It appears to us by no means improbable that this story suggested to the writer in the ‘ Daily Times that if he wished to blacken the schools of the Province, the best thing he could do was to place them in very bad company, Accordingly he “ courteously ” introduces them to the public in company with the Walker street brothels. This of .course is rather irritating to the persons connected with the District Schools ; but then it is so utterly ridiculous, and the motive is so very obvious, viz.—-to hint away the character of public schools—that it would be a mere “ breaking a fly upon the wheel’’ to seriously attempt to show the absurdity of the thing. On the whole we may conclude that, though the writer referred to may be foolish, inconsiderate, or spiteful, he certainly is not courteous. (Q.E.D.) It is very distressing to the friends of civil and religious liberty, to find a cause in which they take a great interest injured and retarded by the injudicious and ill-timed conduct of their own allies. Our sentiments on this subject have been declared over and over again in this paper, and, as was said before, we see no reason for continuing the controversy at present; but we should be sorry to have it supposed that we have the slightest sympathy with a writer who sows calumny broadcast, and appears not to be bound by any of those ordinary restraints which cause newspaper writers generally to pay a certain respect to the feelings and even the prejudices of those who differ from them.