' Love ' and ' Liberty'

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 13, 28 March 1907, Page 9

' Love ' and ' Liberty'

Auckland has" the privilege of publishing an interesting ' Christian ' journal which, like, the Bernini school of sculpture, seems to have arisen in a storm. It is conducted 'by church-people— for the glory of God. Here is one of its mottoes from the current issue :— • We maintain that in matters of opinion, matters of - expediency, and methods of labor, "there should be entire liberty of expression and practice, providing .(sic) always •that everything is done in subjection to the all-impor-tant law of love.— l Cor. 13.' In the same issue this ' all-important law of love ' and ' entire liberty of expression and practice ' are put into operation in the course of an -editorial article" that is (so to speak) filled with ' fire, 'bail, snow, ice, and stormy winds '. The editor refers to the ' wellknown Christian charity ' which moved the ' yellow ' section of the Auckland, population to refrain from boycotting those ' weak-kneed Protestants ' who showed a half-hearted, apologetic, cir unpugnacious opposition to Home Rule during the visit of .the Irish Delegates., He then grills the ' weak-kneed ' -ones to the following lively tune- :— ' But we are now beginning to feel that T/his particular kind -of charity has about exhausted itself — has reached its limit, and signs are not wanting of the desire to call into requisition a stern boycott of those traitorous Protestants who have traded so shamefully upon our assumed simplicity. And this will be the dawning of a brighter day for Protestantism, liberty, and righteousness '. Alice in Looking-glass Land was puzzled full sorely when Humpty Dumpty made -the word ' glory ' mean ' a nice knock-down argument ', and made ' impenetrability ' signify ' We've had enough of the subject, and it would be just as well if you'd mention what you mean to do next, as I suppose y-ou don't mean to stop here all the rest of your life. Well, there are probably a few people in Auckland just how who are racking their brains to discover how such strange, now meanings came into the terms ' liberty ', ' righteousness ', ' love ', and ' entire liberty of expression and practice '. Does the Auckland ' Christian' journal, like Humpty Dumpty, give these words extra pay for extra work ?