A NOTABLE SERMON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81901, 13 December 1906, Page 2

A NOTABLE SERMON.

To (ho Kditor. Sir,—Your eorre.-piwleiil. -Vi-.iior." hil* ll OI]l; t]| t . llUHUl!!' ,11 < |,' Miiblir i! addition in my adilres., on "Te'uinia- r lioir' delivered in W'liileley Church mi i' Sunday niiM'iiiii^ 1 , and lie ceinrra I ulaies t lee nil lile |';iel l!i:i( I preach "in:ri-. old fa-hioncd Christianity." I am I Ihankfn) to liiiu fur liis cuanse 1 have always : t riven In I'i'eaeh the Word with such help as has ennie lo Die by my Ivadin;;'. r.l -el-, a I inn, li am! Ihe direc'iiij; pov.'e r (if I!e Holy I, Spiiii.-,. "\isiiin"s" rv.nii|i:ks on Hie .* general subject of my addrc-s proves it thai he is h visitor, I'ccanse 'I said notliiii); on Sunday morning aiienl the (I necessity of veinovinj.' from amidst la the people the temptation of llie "Open Par." does not say [ think siieh a. :i. temptation is necessary in order to I the development of chain Hits. l'Aery regular worsliippar in Whitelov Clmreli knows my views to be, exactly opposite to tlmt. Prom tlio time gi ivhen as a boy I wont to the Band of M Slope, I have been a pledged abstainer, tfc

and since reaching manhood have l:ecii in sympathetic touch with every pha-i----of Temperance reform, and am nov» an earnest advocate of No-Ueense. i do not admit, however, that in holding these" views, and on occasion advocating them, I. am out of harmony witJi "pure, old-fashioned Christianity,'" Most Methodists believe that John Wesley at any rate taught "pure, oldfashioned Christianity," and this is what he has to say on this subject:—'".Neither may we gain by hurting our neighbour in his body. Therefore we may not sell anything that tends to impair health, Such is, eminently, all that liquid lire, commonly called drams, or spirituous liquors. —ail who sell them in the common way, to any that will buy, are poisoners general. They murder His Majesty's subjects by wholesale, neither clues their eye pity or spare. They drive them to lieli like sheep. And what is their gain? is it not the blood of these men? Who then would envy their large estates sumptuous palaces? A curse is in the midst of them: the curse of Cod cleaves to the the stones, the timber, the furniture of them I The curse of Cod is in the gardens, their walks, their groves; a lire that burns to the nethermost hell! Blood, blood is there: the foundation, the lioor, the walls, the roof, are stained with blood! And canst thou hope . . to deliver down the held of blood to the third generation': Not so, for there is a Cod in Heaven; 1 therefore tliy name shall .be rooted out. Like as those whom thou hast destroyed, body and soul, "thy memorial shall perish with thee." Pretty strong language certainly, and not spoken with bated breath either, ana 110 doubt John Wesley thought he had warrant for every word of it in [Sacred bcripture. xVfter that 110 modern Metkouist Treacher need apologise for striving to remove temptation out of the way of the people, That, however, was not the aspect of the question that i wanted to emphasise on {Sunday morning, '■ hence no reference was made to it, and 4 - no regular member of my congregation a would misunderstand my position in r. consequence. Temperance reformers d are not so rabid as lo imagine that no j aspect of Divine truth can L»e complete I<t unless viewed through their spectacles. i.our correspondent thinks it a pity i use the .Revised instead of the Auit thorised Version because, as he asserts, F o the latter is so union superior, it is q, well he thinks soj 1 don't, and 1 believe the best scholarship of the age holds (d tiie same view as myself. Anyway ie the conservative ALctuodist Conference )v liais urged the use of Uio .Revised \ ersiou in all our churches. But whether "Revised" or "Authorised," Visitor has managed to misquote both. In nein» tii,er case do we inid the word "vats' but "fat.;." This may ue only'a sinalJ matter because Doth words mean tilt same thing but when he proceeds \x tiie assumption "that it is impossible to have otner than fermeuled wine it a vat," he displays his want of know iedge on the subject; just as well tc say that the oil must be fernientcc too. The meaning of "fats" in thh passage is not vessels in which the ex pressed liquid is poured and allowed t< stand, but it is ine presses themselves and both the fcevemy and the V ulgati so translate it. The idea is that then shall be such an abundance of the frui ; of tiie vine and the fruit of the orchard that the presses shall overliow, eithe, with the unpressed fruit, or with tin liquid pressed from the fruit. —1 am etc., T. U. iiiiPUlDi. To the jAiiior. Sir.—l'roiu the remark* of "Visitor" in your issue of 11th iust. under the ahove heading, it would seem that pronioiting the sale of alcoholic liquors under the present weaken our moral libre in resisting temptation.—\ery well, Mr Visitor, let us have plenty of brothels, opium dens, gambling hells, aud such like incitements to do evil placed in our streets; and most public places, to test our diilercnt weak. poiuU, as the dram shop docs not raise the devil in all constitutions. ISuch is tue logical conclusion which pure old faslnoued Christianity, as isitor" calls it, would lead us to.—i am, etc. liCiiJiilT CLECC.