A PLEA FOR TEMPERANCE.
[TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."]
Sir.,—Reading Mr. Stephen Phillips's fine lines in the Spectator of September 16th I am tempted to wonder if we have truly improved upon Old Testament morality so much as in our self-complacency we sometimes presume to think ? Abraham pleaded for the salvation of a city which contained but ten righteous men; we invoke upon a nation the ire and vengeance of a God because five miserable men—probably misguided and perhaps wicked, but also conceivably con- scientious and stupidly loyal to their notion of a patriot's duty—have committed what we in our safe and comfortable England can cheaply denounce as a crime. Is this indeed the spirit of Him who, when his disciples proposed the con- suming fire, rebuked them, saying : " Ye know not what
manner of spirit ye are of "?—I am, Sir, &c., H.
Previous page
