MR. ROOTS IN REPLY.

Feilding Star, Volume XVIII, Issue 43, 19 August 1896, Page 2

MR. ROOTS IN REPLY.

to the editob of tbe stab. Sib,— That physiological fact to difficult of performance, viz, the leopard changing his spots, could an easily be accomplished as a Prohibitionist to be can* did or courteous when opposed on hip favorite subject. The gentleman assum* ing the somewhat euphonious title of " Strike out tbe Top Line " is no exception to the rule. With regard to his per* sonalties to myself I shall not trouble to reply, beyond saying that I am actuated by the best of motives, viz, the love of truth and the hatred of oppression in opposing a scheme, which has all tbe elements of a persecution worthy the worst times of our history, under the specious pretext of moral reform. Feneevtton based on religious fanaticism is a passion which grows rapidly under favorable eir« cumstanees. My object it to expose the evil, and to point out that the advance wave of the in-coming tide ot persecution . is headed by those religions bodies who hare exclaimed against any supposed at* tempt on the part of others to infringe the least of their privileges. Yet no sooner does an opportunity offer than they betray themselves as ruthless oppressors, seeking, not by a majority »b_fc»n. tion, as tbey most mialeadingly pnt it, but by a blatant minority ceaselessly striving to rouse tbe passions of their fellows to pass acts punishing the innocent with tha guilty. His remarks with regard to loving our neighbours, as the basis of tbe scheme, is as absurd and far-fetched as Prohibitionists' statements and arguments generally are. I will prove to every dispassionate mind that my friends have not the slightest conception of the meaning of tbeir text. It was the grape growers. the wine manufacturers and vendors of same that formed a large proportion ot tbe population of Judea, and consequently constituted no small portion of the Saviour's hearers. This class if he had bad the prohibitive views of my friends would have been denounced together with those self-righteous classes known as the Scribes and Pharisees, whom he told off in tbe strongest possible language, while the people connected with tbe Liquor Trade — as onr friends would phrase it— were spoken to in the gentlest manner. His most noble discourses and most gracious utterances were to tbose despised and hated by the religious bnt now Godfearing men wbo, like their antitypes the Prohibitionist of the 19th century, taught the commandments of men for the Word of God. And these are the men who so love their neighbours that, Hke Saul of Tarsus, they in their flery bat mistaken zeal would practically rain tbem with their wives and families not " through themselves abstaining, which tbey have a perfect right to do, bnt by inflaming the passions of the multitude by inciting them to pass laws to drive into practical outlawry and beggary these people who number thousands, and that without tbe slightest compunotion. Mr friends' efforts, even if successful at the polls, will fail to abolish tbe traffic. Clutha is a case in point where the public booses were closed at the instance of tbe Prohibitionists, with the result that drunkenness is said to have been enormously increased, which is no mpre than might be expected. Prohibition by law and Prohibition in fact are different. I shall close, or 1 shall be too long for your columns, by showing why Jesus did not prohibit the production . and sale of wine. It was -because He was Himself a moderate drinker of the very article so condemned by tbese gentlemen, and which thay are straining every nerve to compel others— no matter bow temperate they may be— to abstain from. My friends hare placed themselves on the horns of a dilemma, from wbich their wonted mental dexter- : ity will fail to extricate them with credit. If the Master were right in the moderate use of wine, it follows that tbey are altogether wrong in their extreme views on the subject, and the sooner they retnrn to a common-sense and, in tbis case, a Scriptural view, tiie ' better for themselves and neighbors. Hoping that they are not too blind to perceive what must be patent to every dispassionate observer — viz., that tbey have mistaken their vocation and misinterpreted their text ; and I would advise tbem in future to preach Jeans as the Saviour from sin as well as the Saviour of sinners, I am, ftc, J. B^ Roots. P.S.— I do not hold myself bound to reply to any skulkings under assumed names.