New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4281, 9 December 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1874.

Temperance is a virtue. The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church has had the subject,of “intemperance” before it, and the report of a special committee, appointed last year, has been read and adopted. The Assembly, after some discussion, resolved to abate the intolerable evil of drunkenness, by means of a special sermon to be preached at the national vice, on the second Sunday in March, 1875. The holidays intervening, we presume considerable latitude will be permitted in the interval. At all events, advantage will be taken of the considerate provision of the Assembly ; —a provision, we may remark, similar to that x-ecbm-mended by the Synod of Otago, and the General and Diocesan Synods of the New Zealand Episcopal Church. The Church has apparently no other means of combatting this crowning vice of the AngloSaxon race than by a sermon once a year, which will be about as effective as the remaining sermons of the annual course, in influencing the morals and social habits of the people. Now, we by no means undervalue the Pulpit as a public instructor; but wo venture to predict, although we are neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, that the Assembly will not be able to record any gain to the temperance cause from these sermons. Indeed, the apologetic way in which the committee spoke of last , year’s sermons, preached in compliance with the Assembly’s order, and its refraining from suggesting a similar order for the coming year, is highly suggestive. The com mittee says, quoting from our report “ The committee was pleased to think “ that, by the appointment of the Assem‘l bly, a sermon was preached from all “ the pulpits during the year against this “ evil. It was one of the most efficient “ ways of creating a healthy public “opinion on the: subject, which was the “ basis of all measures for mitigating the “dreadful evils under which the'land “groans. The committee, however, “ did not suggest that another sermon “should be preached this year by ap- ‘ ‘ pointment of; the Assembly, but they would joyfully concur in any measure which the Assembly might deem proper “ in connection with the subject. They “ sincerely hoped that all ministers “ vyould give countenance and encouragoment to any effort, local or otherwise, “which they judged fitted to promote ,“ the sobriety of the people.” Here, truly, is'a confession of weakness ; and in its wisdom, or in its helplessness, the Assembly falls back upon the treatment of moral evil as prescribed in the theological.pharmacopceia, namely, an annual sermon. This, sermon is to be preached in March. Well : March, hath its hares, And May must have its heroines. The intention is good;;phut “good “ intentions” form the proverbial caloric pavement of a place which should be: nameless to ears polite. Wo say, without fear of contradiction, that neither does the committee’s report, nor the discussion in the Assembly, nor the Assembly’s deliverance, do credit to that body. If “ drunkenness-is a dreadful evil under “ which the land groans,” the theological Faculty, bent upon its cure, shouldabandon the abortive palliative treatment, and adopt heroic treatment' instead; but the Presbyterian General Assembly, following the example, of its ecclesiastical rival, the General Synod of the Anglican Episcopal Church in Ne w 'Zealand, solemnly resolves to stay, the tornado of intemperance by opposing' to. it a peacock’s tail of pulpit eloquence. To save appearances, it is agreed to preach against drunkenness once a year ; and that the members may “show modera- “ tion unto all men, ’’ they reserve to themselves the right of limited self-in-dulgencei We have no patience with such maudlin sentiment as was talked at the General Assembly, on Monday. Let the Presbyterian Church, as represented by the General Assembly and the Synod of Otago, adopt some dis' tinguishing color with regard to: “ the “ sin of intemperance,” and hang out its flag that all men, may see it. Opnld any honest man believe in the sincerity of either body after reading the reports of recent discussions' inthe Otago Synod, and the “goody-goody talk” in the General Assembly at Wellington ? We defy him to do so. i Now, let us invito, the Church to bo sincere and in earnest, and by “the Church,” wo mean every religious body which calls

itself Christian. The followers of Mohammed are al least sober. The followers of ; Christ should bo sober also. .When, however, , we'hear men occupying; leading places in'the Church, declare in one place that drunkenness is not to be cured by total abstinence, and in another that it is tyrannous for a majority of two-thirds of any given district to be empowered by law to prohibit the sale of intoxicating drinks in any such district—opinions which largely reflect the views of the “fathers “ and brethren ” —we have no hope whatever that the vice of drunkenness will bo abated by “the foolishness of preaching.” Truly, as the Moderator said in his opening address, “we live in no ordinary “ times, and the circumstances in which “ the Church is placed are no ordinary “ circumstances.” Let the Church once awake to a perception of her high vocation, and we shall not then hear the wail of unprofitable servants at her annual gatherings, instead of the record of duties honorably performed and triumphs fairly won.