Blair Collection > Rhys Lewis, minister of Bethel

I?BYS LEWIS. 183
beer, and tliat he has a tendency, after overstepping the mark,
to fall upon his back, or lurch on one side— in which no one
can, or \rants to justify him. But is there, pray, any regula-
tion by ■which a man can be called to account for avarice and
parsimony ? Are some men to be allowed to go on sowing the
seeds of discord, persecuting their fellows, and blackening their
characters, snapping like curs at their heels, living ever on envy
and bitterness of spirit, always for killing and flaying preachers
and deacons, merely because they are preachers and deacons?
* That thou doest do quickly,' said Christ to Judas, and Judas
obeyed the command. But people like these can't come up
even to Judas's standard. They sell the Master every day for
thirty pieces of silver, but they do it leisurely, slowly, without
haste, and without any sign either, more's the pity, of speedily
hanging themselves and going to their own place. And yet
it would appear there is no rule of discipline for folk like
them. Has the church no punishment save for William the
Coal and me ? When William took too much drink, every
letter in the regulations of discipline cried aloud for his
expulsion, notwithstanding, as Will Bryan says, that he put
all the fault on Satan. And when I happened to lay the Old
Soldier on his back, on seeing him cruelly beating my brother,
the spirit and letter of the rules demanded my expulsion also.
It's nonsense I call a thing Like that. In the great day to come
— the day when will be revealed the secrets of our hearts — were
I compelled to stand in either William the Coal's shoes or
John Lloyd's, I know the ones I'd choose. As you are aware,
I'm as strict an abstainer as anyone in church, and I think I
grieve as much as any man over the evils of intemperance.
But our God is not the God of temperance alone, is He ? Is
He not also the God of justice, love, magnanimity and meek-
ness ? The New Testament teaches me He is, pre-eminently
60. But when did you see Abel Hughes — all respect to Abel ;
I believe he is a sincere Christian— when did you see him get
upon his feet to move the excommunication of anyone for
avarice, hard-heartedness and hard-facedness ? Whom have
you seen expelled for setting people by the ears ? For perse-
cuting his betters? Por foul-mouthedness? No one, I'm
sure. Not because there are none euilty of such sins; vou