CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2226, 22 February 1886, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor,) Sra—Your correspondent "Every man to his trade," no doubt fully understands his own business; indeed, the best argument in favor of this is the utter ignorance he displays in his letter of the business of others. Pormit me to tell him that ministers of religion are not asked to "leave their platforms" when they are asked to assist in temporance work, but merely urged not to neglect their duty. Your correspondent appears to share the popular notion that a ministor's duty begins and ends with his Sunday preaching, but this is very far from true. Preaching is a part, but only a part, and perhaps not the most important part of a minister's duty, for, besides this, he should exemplify by his life the word he preaches, he should continually do battle against evil, particularly those evils which most directly obstruct his work, and hoshouldboconstantly amongst his people visiting them in sickness and in health, urging the truth upon theni, teaching and instructing them to do good and to fight against evil, It requires no argument to prove for it is admitted on all hands, that the greatest obstaolo to a minister's success is the drink trafiio, at all points it meets him' and destroys his work, and renders vain tho most painstaking and faithful labor. This being so, is it not patent to every man who thinks, that it is the boundon duty of every minister to labor in season and out of season to remove such an obstacle from ,jiis path, and that in so far as he neglects to do bo Tie neglects his duty and does not exemplify in his life the truth he preaches. Should not every minister teach his people the evil of drink, show them how it obstructs tho work of religion, and band them together to help him to put such an evil away. Admitting this to be the case (and there are few I think who will dispute it), lot us look at how the work is done here. Do tho ministers teach their people the evil of drink 1 Well, yes, in a half-hearted sort of way when safe in their pulpits some of them do say a few words against it. Do .they 'dennunco it for the awful obstruction it is to their work ? Well, no, because you see some of their people like it, and if they were too urgent against it, they might lose a threepennypiece or two out of the plate on Sundays. Do tho ministers seek to destroy the drink, and do thoy band their poupjo together against it ? Oh no! That would never do, the Church is the Church, not a Temperance Society. Such work must be douo outside the Church, it is beneath the dignity of the Church to stoop to reclaim drunkards, or to prevent men becoming such. Whilst in other countries the Churches aro giving their greatest and noblest men to tho work of temperance, hero in Masterton it is neglected, Whilst in England temperance work is recognised to be a most important duty by clergymen of all denominations, here it is relegated to whoever (S%ise9 to do it. Whilst in other communities both Pulpit and' Press unite in teaching the peoplo the truth about drink, with us the Pulpit ignores the truth, "and the newspapers suppress it." Is it any wonder then, that while this is jo the people in ipnorance of the truth "follow their inclinations," and mon like " Every man to his trade" write such slanders upon the ministers as appeared in your Friday's issue.

lam, &c,, Outside the Church. [Newspapers, we presume, "suppressive truth" by publishing oqr correspondent's communication,—Ed. W.D.I