How freely they bear ridicule! Men who would blush to talk of religion do not hesitate to be sneered at for the sake of their party, wearing their colour and priding themselves on their opinions. We have nothing to say against
this. Men ought to have the courage of their opinions, but why not own up and play the man for Jesus Christ?
We should like to know what the election has cost for
Printing.
Many thousands of pounds have been spent, and spent freely, without a grudge, for placards and cartoons. Any man who had a new idea in the shape of a striking advertisement could have it adopted by his party, regardless of cost. All this, too, we don’t object to, but we say that if any of us Evangelists wanted to spend a small proportion of this amount in trying to get men and women to come to God’s house during a Mission, there would be a tremendous outcry against his
Extravagance!
One interesting feature in this matter is the large number of
Private Carriages
used to convey voters to the poll. It was very amusing to see some of the men riding in state, in the custody of the owner of the carriage! It was good to tell they had not been used to it, and felt that they were on their good behaviour. What struck some of us was the readiness of ladies and gentlemen to lend their vehicles for this purpose. We can have no possible objection to this, but we wonder what would be said to us if we counselled them to send their carriages to bring the aged and feeble to the house of God? We should be told that we had no idea of the fitness of things. This would be true if heaven were less than earth, and politics of more importance than religion.
It is a queer world, and we wonder sometimes if the time will ever come when men shall believe their Bibles as much as their newspapers? As we have seen during the last few days, professing Christians of the most apathetic order, going half wild about Whigs and Tories, we have said to ourselves,