A FALSE BIBLE LESSON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 48, 22 March 1909, Page 4

A FALSE BIBLE LESSON.

Hi'-" ' 'JVftfb'liilitor. ' Sir, —The nOiin-de-pliinie of your anonymous corrcbpondent, "A kSunday School Teacher," reminds me of a hush friend i>i mine wiiu found a very liltle dog, and after watch in# it .closely for some time, remarked sententiously, "lie has all the \vay«s of a big dog," Vour correspondent has ail the ways of a teetotal advocate; particularly their way of evading an argument and endeavoring to draw a red herring across the train. Had he given his name, your readers 'would "have resected him the mora. With all hi* verbiage -he is not ahlc to refuti! the proofs 1 gave of the historic mlseness of the lesion in question. The ({notations he gives ; from various authors cannot contravene the plain words of Scripture as to the cause of tlie dispersion of the Ten Tribe*. I have already given one text in iproof that it was not their drunkenness—as taught in the lesson—but their idolatovy that was the cause of their ruin; /but I will give one -or two more out of many passages to the same ' effect. -Moses predicted that should they "niaku ••a graven image, or the likeness of. anything, the Lord shall scatter you among Die nations and ye shall I);* left few in number among the heathen." This prophecy, found in Dent. V., in repeated again and again, but never a word is -said about drunkenness as a cause—it was rather a consequence of their . idolatory. llosea, speaking in the aiaine of the 'Lord, says: "I Mill no more have mercy upon the house of Israel. . . . ior ishl' did not know that J gave her corn and wine and oil and multiplied her silver and her gold, which tliev liave prepared foi- Baal. Therefore 1 will return and take away my corn in the time thereof and my wine hi the sea-son thereof," etc. Note' in pas-sing, that God here speaks of that wine which these people ami this lesson falsely assert to poitson, as "my wine." in Kings wt» learn that because Israel "walked hi the statutes of the heathen," "set them up imajca and groves in every high hill," "burnt incense in all the high places," as did the heathen, "{served idols," ''made them molten images, even two calves," "worshipped a! I the hosts of hv.ivcn and served Baa)." "caused their sons ami daughters to pass through lire," ''There-' fort; the Lord >wa.s angry with lsra?l and removed them out of lite sight." Xothing can he plainer or more explicit; it remained for modem teetotallers, with minds r»o thoroughly warped as to think only of one sin and its removal, to single out hut one minor symptom of t lie corruption of the wholly hodv politic and teach this as the. reason o'f its dissolution, and this, too, in direct contradiction of the word of inspiration. l'orgefeful of our Lord's dictum that the wheat and the tares must grow together until the harvest; oblivions of His caution against attempting to sew new cloth on an old garment, they run aiuuek against their pet sin, striving to turn out. hy fair means or foul, the devil of drunkenness, undis* mayvd hy the fact that if they succeed in some'iiifitanees. they make room for seven other and •v\ i . to llJ^^^qui r os trutnin the 'inward parts: one of the worst features , of teetotalism, whvn taught as a Chrisij tian duty, is that untruthful, prevaricating spirit ifbegcts, of dealing deceit- [' fully with Clod's word—as in the cane under consideration. Another easy herictmcnt is to magnify drunkenness and j minimis;- other and more prevalent sins; ( so much so. that one hears the remark, that in New Zealand, if one is a tee- ' lol'aller he may break every law in the Decalogue, and yet he deemed a good cit.iy.eii. Your correspondent, "A Sunda v School Teacher." given us an object . le-oon mi this point, 'when he tells us (or is it *luh) "pride is not among the sin* that shall ke"p a man from enterj ing the kingdom of heaven, (but the drunkard is absolutely barred out hv his vice." Is it not time for all who • are believers in the power of Christianity and of Christianity alone to elevate mankind, to call out for a return to the old paths and to the teachings of our Lord and His Apostles? T hope it is only necessary to quote these words of your correspondent to refute them. At any rate, 'this fetter qannot he swollen hy quoting proofs of hw error. Tlie drunkenness prevalent hi Judea in ttihlical times has a. most important bearing on the question of prohibition, which, with your permission, Sir, we might appropriately consider at some future time, as was also that garbled passage falsely ascribed to Habakkuk. Your correspondent says that I can find no woe pronounced against teetotallers—a rather silly remark considering that the Yankees only invented the system last -century and that it! Into been vamped on to modern Christianity within my recollection. But here is a passage that applies to the!

same sort of thing, from our Lord's own month:—"Wo,, unto you scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, for ye pay tithes of iiiinland anise and cummin and have "milled the weightier matters of tlie law, judgment, mercy and faith. Ye blind guides which strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Ye. make clean the outside of tin' platter, hut within they nlie full of extortion and excess."—l ani, ete., B. ENROTH.