LIQUOR AND THE CHURCHES.

Motueka Star, Volume I, Issue 25, 5 November 1901, Page 5

LIQUOR AND THE CHURCHES.

Dean Fitchett, speaking at the Anglican Synod, Dunedin, said no student of the New Testament could be a pro-

Many-were very earnest 1 people and no one .doubted their sincer- % ity. He could understand why the Anjglican Church adopted the attitude it i did upon the liquor question. Were l&hey to think that their Lord could not pfcvve foreseen what was to come in a ffafcure time? If so, would He have J made wine and approved of its con- '\ sumption? Were; they fto think that? iHe thought not. The Lord of all |earth knew whatawas to come as well as what had gone before and to hold any other thought was dishonouring to | their God. His conduct while on ; earth was a safe ,>guide to take in this

as in everything else. They were bound as of Christ to go back to their authorities, and when they went back to their authorities they found they were opposed th prohibition. St Paul had said-:."Be not drunk with wine in excess." The point of the apostle's admonition was "excess," not moderate u.se. Thp/e was justification for moderate use, but not for excess. Touch not, taste.not, handle not, was probably a wise precaution in some cases, but a study of the Scriptures would convince the earnest student that to make an iron rule for all men's observance would not make them bettor. The doctrine of prohibition w r as like putting a ring fence round the tree of good and evil. It aimed at * making the whole community slaves ■ and that was a reason why they as a church could not support prohibition. Men required to be made morally superior to the moral perils that beset them.