The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1914. THE CHURCH AND THE ELECTION.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 157, 9 December 1914, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1914. THE CHURCH AND THE ELECTION.

A striking sign of the extent which the. spirit of reverence or the right of private judgment is permeating even one of the most conservative forms of church organisation is furnished by the underlying note of the hot debates in the Presbyterian Assembly on the question on Bible-in-Schools and Prohibition. It is a significant fact that where an overwhelming majority of the members was ill favor of an endeavour to secure a bloc vote for each of these measures, the House showed grea't restiveness against the passing of any decree which should unduly interfere with the sacred right of every individual to vote according to his own conscience. There is a growing recognition of the principle' that it is the province of the Church to direct, but not to dictate. One of tho speakers put the case very fairly when he said that all the minister was entitled to do was to put the facts plainly before the people and then leave them to decide for themselves. Several of the leading ministers showed plainly that they were opposed to any attempt to commit the members of the church to an absolute pledge even on the subjects on which their convictions nearly approached to unanimity- Profespor Dickie, of Knox College, in fact, went as far as to say that while personally he was a' strong supporter of the League's platform, he had no desire to be a minister of the church or a teacher of its college if he thought that the Assembly had the slightest intention to tell liiui how he should vote at any parliamentary election. The right position to be taken up by tho church is clear, i viz., to impress upon all its members the duty of taking all the facts of the case into careful and solemn consideration, and then of voting solely according to the dictates of his own conscience recognising any other authority whatever. The church has.a perfect right to direct its members to throw the whole weight of their influence at the coming election into the discountenancing of intemperance, and into tho disregarding of the authority of that great English classic, the Bible.) But it has no right to lay down a right rule as to the precise form in which any man should express his conviction on either of these subjects. Every religious man is bound to vote on the liquor question according to the principle so ably laid down by Maeaulry on the question of tho slave traffic "that the right of a nation to its morality is infinitely stronger than the rigiit of a trade to its wealth." I-Ie is also bound in his vote on the Bible in - schools question, to recognise the principle that to keep the children of this Dominion in ignorance of the sublime morality of the Bible is a far greater wrong than it would be to keep them in ignorince of geography and arithmetic. But whether the recognition of these principles carries with it tho duty to vote for Prohibition or for the referendum prescribed by the Bible in Schools Lcaguo is a question which must bo left for each elector to decide for himself. If the objection be raised that this recognition of the right of every man to perfect liberty of private judgment will tempt thousands of people to become rail sitters, the answer is obvious. No one who realises the ground 011 which the right of private judgment rests can by any possibility be a rail sitter. The right of private judgment rests on the responsibility for the exercise of that judgment. No one. who repudiates the responsibility of his vote has any right to freedom in the exercise of it. "I am free to vote according to the exercise of my own judgment solely because I and I alone am | responsible through all time and all eternity for the way in which I vote." The attempt to fetter any man's freedom at • the election is an immoral act, just because it is an attempt to relieve him of the responsibility of his vote. To tell a ; man how ho must vote is to transfer the responsibility for his vote to the party that issues, tile command. The position to which the church must therefore come is the decision to teach every man the sacredncss of the responsibility of his vote, and then to tell him that the whole of that responsibility must for ever rest upon himself. In a sermon preached on the eve of an election more than fifty years ago F. W. Robertson said: "It is an important thing that the right man should be returned at the approaching election, but it is a more important thing still that every man who has a vote should use it according to tho dictates of his own conscience." Tho issues to be determined at the poll to-morrow are momentuous, just because they are to be determined by the votes of free men. Tlie less that freedom is interfered with the grander the result of the election will be. J here is only word of advice which we will venture, in conclusion, to give our readers, and that is this: The gieatest mistake any elector can make at the election is not to vote at all. Neutrality is a cowardice that borders hard on crime." Solon, the great Athenian legislator, punished every citizen who refused to take a side in any public contest with disfranchisement. r So doe 3 the legislation of this Dominion. We trust eveiy elector will rise to the height of his dignity and of his responsibility by giving such a vote us becomes every one who is free to vote as he thinks right | solely because he alone is responsible for the ellect which his vote exercises on the destiny of his nation.

THE PGNSONiBY FRACAS. Peoplo of all shades of politics cannot but regard the disgraceful treatment accorded to Mr. Massey at Ponsonby on Monday night as an outrage against decency, arid a blot on the good name of the Dominion. A general feeling of regret—if not shame—must have been felt by all right-minded people on reading the report of the rowdyism that marked the whole affair. Mr. Massey, by virtue of the high office he holds as Prime Minister of New Zealand, is entitled to be treated with the respect due to his j exalted position, and. those who took part in the degrading tactics referred to deserve the most severe condemnation. Whatever Mr. Massey's political views may be, the office lie holds should protect him from insult, and wo are sure that every Liberal in the Dominion holds the outrage on the Premier quite as nui«h in horror as the most zealous member of the Reform party. It is almost inconceivable that men should be found in New Zealand who can so grossly outrage decency as was the case oil Monday night, but it is absolutely certain that no true Liberal would for a moment countenance such proceedings. There is no I need to inquire into the motive of the miscreants, or as to how the affair was; engineered, but there ought to be some means for disfranchising those who take part in such exhibitions of political madness. Even supposing the perpetrators were of the class which the Reformers haTC so persistently gibed at as "Ked Feds.," there was no justification for their acting like goaded savages. That the Liberals of the northern city had no band in or sympathy with the affair must be abundantly evident to all unbiassed people, if only for the reason that it was just the one thing -which would recoil on their heads, and rightly do their cause far more harm than good. Possibly the. Eeform party have gone to greater lengths than were either rational or prudent in decrying the "Ked i'eds.," and branding them with ignominy solely to damage the Liberal party. There was neither need nor justification for such' a course, as between the Liberals and tho extreme section of the Labor party there is a great gulf, which even the Reformers cannot bridge over. For Labor and all that tends to, benefit the masses the 'Liberals have shown themselves true friends, but with the disorderly rabble they will have no more to do than would the Reform party. It is likely that political capital will be made out of the affair, but this will be a great mistake. The only feeling It should evoke is one of abhorrence, and the earnest hope that the time will come when politics will no longer be soiled by such base opisodes as that which the Prime Minister of the Dominion was forced to go through at the hands of an. Auckland rabble.