Church and Liquor.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 253, 2 November 1901, Page 2

Church and Liquor.

(To the Editor of the Times.) Sii;, —It was refreshing to read the lead' ing article in your last- issue upon the above subject. Your words were plain ; to my mind you hit the nail right on the head, and I entirely agree with you that it is disgraceful and shocking for a Church | Synod to mix itself up in this matter in the wav it is doing. There is no doubt the Sy; -.1- the t buveh. and its ministers can ami should li:i i n Ltor scope for the j exerci- o < f their energies than i.i meddling I in and muddling up this liquor question. | and in ■- sting '.(heeling through nit the j i won; It: 1 , t> i .(give them if 1 c rc-iue- : dies feu.-.--, tied were admittedly «r<i.- and benelk-t-d. uiihuvjn'.ueh, : v arei not, a: !, 15 shop Julius has vcr- aptly written nj prohihitioii it iota! is ineffective ii.r ■ ,<|, and likely u beget worse mils than drunkenness. Wo all know V'-: biii.uresa that is shown by njinisteioi re’ J-.-n who arc active in this liquor quest; .We ali know what j ill-feeling it creati:- in a community, even to the extent o! b: inying discord among' ! families ; yet. with ail this, we iiud our ministers of religion, whom we pay to teach and imbue into us a true religious, charitable and forgiving spirit, trying to force upon us an admittedly immoral reform, with an uncompromising and bitter revengeful spirit, and from actual instances coming under my own observations, the most charitable conclusion I can come to is that sonic of the ministers of religion who are very active in this liquor question seem to think they are imbued with the Spirit of God to tell lies, in order to assist the ■ cause, If, .Sir, this stale of things is to continue, I world like to know what the end will be ; will the church prosper, or will it tend to draw us lay-people into the church folds, so that we may have inculcated into us a religious, forgiving and charitable spirit? I venture to think that it will do neither, but, instead, will drive us from the church, and inculcate into us

a spirit of contempt and ill-will towards the church. In this respect I blame the press of the colony for not being more outspoken about the attitude and position of the church in this liquor question, and I trust that the press of the colony will realise that it has a greater duty to fuliii than to merely throw its columns open to correspondents upon the subject which has been the general attitude of the press in the past ; out I trust that your lead in this respect will be followed by other journals, so that the improper and imprudent attitude of the church may be curbed.—l am, etc., VT. Poc<si.v« Lvs.vae,