OUR PERSISTENT SINS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5209, 28 November 1927, Page 4

OUR PERSISTENT SINS.

TRAIL OF THE TIN HARE.

SABBATH PETROL BOWSER, The sermon with which Dr. Barnes raised such a commotion was printed in summary in the Press last week. So far as I can make out, Dr. Barnes holds that no religious doctrine is sound unless it can bq tested with litmus paper (writes K in the Christchurcrh Press). And if there is any Christian belief which does not satisfy the Inspector of Scaffolding or which conflicts with the fifth proposition of Euclid Book I. it must be dismissed as counterfeit. In fact, Dr. Barnes believes that religion is, if not bogus, yet. at least mixed with chicory. It is not surprising that everybody is wondering why he goes on dealing in it. But I mention Dr. Barnes and the controversy he has aroused only as illustrating the distance which the churches in Britain have drifted from the realities of religion. What those realities are the New Zealand public was reminded last week. Rum, of, course, is one of the cardinal things in theology, and important also are dances, women’s clothes, and horses. But the foremost problems for the man who is religious are the tin hare and the Sunday bowser. The attack pn the tin hare was entrusted tp the Auckland Presbytery, which “ viewed with indignation ” the proposed ‘introduction of this interesting animal, and “deplored” the fact that certain named persons were introducing it. One or two members suggested that there should be no reflections on individuals, but they were not listened to. As the Rev. L. H. Hunt said, the Presbytery would be failing in its duty if it did not publicly brand as sinners, and name by name, those not of its way of thinking. The church, he said, would gain more respect if it were more outspoken. Yet such is the perverseness of this wicked generation that the Rev. L. H. Hunt is certainly wrong, for most people hold the silly idea that bad manners is not good religion. As for the Sunday petrol, the issues involved are hopelessly difficult. Some of them could be decided only by the ancient Jewish teachers of tfhc Law or by modern interpreters .of the rules of golf. It; was the Christchurch Presbytery which attacked the Sunday bowser while the Auckland body was holding the fort against the tin hare. Its protest—if “ viewed .with alArm ” —was, so against the sale of petrol on Sundays one of its members explained, rather than against Sunday travelling. As the protest was directed against “desecration,” tih's distinction is top subtle for me. Then the questien ar°se whether it was desecration to fill up the tank on the way to church, or whether the gas was unsanctified gas only if it was used to propel a car to a picnic ground. The general sense of the; Assembly was expressed, however, by the member who said that the sale of petrol on Sunday was “absolutely unfair, quite apart from the Sabbath desecration.” This recalls the warning given by a judge to a witness whom he suspected of perjury: “You are not. only imperilling your immortal soul, but you are, also rendering yourself liable to six months’ imprisonment.” iOf the desecration of the Sabbath I have nothing to add to what I said last week. But like everyone else I rejoice that there is very little likelihood that the churches will be obliged, like the boot factories, to put their hands on short time. When all the registered cancers gnawing at the vitals of the nation have beeii got rid of—beer, Sunday golf, tin hares, petrol, shingled heads, dances, and horses—Satan will find some mischief still for godly men to view with alarm.