Liquor Dealers and Church Membership
THE question whether liquor dealers are disqualified for membership in the Christian church was recently seriously discussed in Brooklyn, N. Y., where it was raised by the admission of a wine merchant to membership in a Congregational church. The pastor of the church justified the act as being “in accord with the spirit of Jesus and the teaching of Paul,” but the assistant pastor and several members of the congregation protested against it by resigning. The Brooklyn Presbyterian is “inclined to believe” that applications from liquor dealers to join the church “should as a matter of Christian expediency not be encouraged.” It would seem that but one answer could suggest itself in any Christian mind to the question whether a man engaged in a business engineered by the devil is a fit subject to be received into the body of Christ.