SAYING WHAT HE THINKS

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 15 June 1916, Page 2

SAYING WHAT HE THINKS

TO THE EDITOR

Slß,—The sermon printed in your last two issues shows a'remarkable freshness if not of thought, at least of fearless outspokenness, by the preacher, Rev. J. A. Lamond. lam afraid, however, the reverend gentleman is piling up trouble for himself, for the rigid sectarian who thinks the way to heaven leads only through the door of his little bethel, will not care to have such unpalatable and unrefutable facts hurled at him What! says he, " deny the necessity

of intant baptism ?" if he is a believer in such. , Another, who may be a Roman Catholic, says : "Question the infallibility : of the Holy Poutiff!" To these the honest parson replies in Shakespeare's words, " A plague on both your houses," . and the thinking non-church goer in more emphatic language says, "To blazes with you all with your petty, . quarrels and narrow dogmas. Get down" to essentials: something on which we can all agree. Preach to uplift mankind. Attack hypocrisy and injustice in high places. Follow the teachings of your ' Great Leader, and not the fancies of poor deluded mortals. Work for unity of spirit, and denounce evil without your eyes on the collection plate." How can parsons expect thinking people to go week after week to listen to banal platitudes, which are 'an insult alike to preacher and congregation ? The Church should be an educational institution to teach us how to live better lives here and now. .Where or how we spend eternity will surely depend on how we live our lives. It is a refreshing thing, an oasis in the desert, to find at le^^^Mß| parson who has the courage to sjß^^B^B he thinks. The Church needs'den of^l his stamp, even if not able to orate. Every word breathes sincere conviction; the pity "is that it is riot taken to heart. Here, in this one-horse village, are two Churches, neither of which are, except ' on special occasions, even half filled, and yet the members of one are straining every nerve and asking for help to renovate their building. Why not sell 1 one for a barn, and all worship together? Right apart from this being war-time, when all ought to practise economy; the fact is, that sectarian pride and differences urge one tinpot sect on to ' outdo the other. When our gallant lads can fight and die shoulder to shoulder, -s surely to God, we, their brothers, can worship together. No! the Anglicans ,~" and Romans say not —at least on Anzac Day.—l am, etc.,

Holy Catholic. Kaukapakapa, June 12, 1916.