The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers’ Advocate, Sat 13 Apr 1907 1
PARRAMATTA QUARTER SESSIONS.
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The following is the list of cases set down for the Parramatta Quarter Sessions, to open on Monday morning:—
Monday, 15th April.
Jesse Maud Tuke, false pretences.
William Martin, breaking and entering and stealing.
Thomas Watson, breaking and entering and stealing.
Henrietta Williams, wilfully making false statement.
John Elliott, placing obstruction on railway line.
Tuesday, 16th April.
Frederick Edward Barker, perjury.
Alfred Hill, indecency.
Byron Cheadle, inflicting grievous bodily harm.
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The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers’ Advocate, Sat 20 Apr 1907 2
PARRAMATTA QUARTER SESSIONS.
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Tuesday, April 16.
(Before Acting Judge Scholes.)
…
Wednesday, April 17.
A lad, Alfred Hill, was charged with a serious offence, [bestiality ], at Picton on or about August 1, 1906.
The lad was undefended.
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and Hill was discharged.
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“NEW THEOLOGY.”
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PEOPLE WHO WORSHIP PET DOGS
MORE THAN GOD.
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Father Bernard Vaughan, SJ, again preached on the sins of the “Smart Set” from the pulpit of Farm-street church on Sunday February 24, his subject being “The Sin of Caiaphas.”
When Christ stood on his trial, said the preacher to a crowded congregation, the priests searched for witnesses to perjure themselves, as people were ready nowadays.
How many perjurers in the West End sold themselves body and soul! He had received many letters during the week telling him that there was no truth at all in what he said the previous Sunday with reference to the sins of those who, having ordered clothes, returned them to the maker after wearing them for one evening.
It was difficult to understand why, in the pockets of things sent back, were found a card-case, or a scent bottle, or, perhaps, a menu card of the latest wedding breakfast. Those articles were
NOT CONJURED IN THOSE BORROWED GARMENTS,
and he had actually seen some of them. The people who did these things might not be ladies, but they were women in smart society.
What, Father Vaughan went on to ask, were they to think of those who called themselves Christians, and who said Jesus was a very good man, but He was not God? There had never been wanting at any time in the Church’s history whose who had denied the divinity of Jesus; but now were being told by ministers that they could not honestly accept the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection. He asked them how, in honesty, they could remain where they were?
Father Vaughan added: “The Church of England has to look to this, and unless she rights herself as a champion of the Divinity of Jesus Christ, she will no longer be wanted as the breakwater against
THE RISING TIDE OF INFIDELITY IN THIS COUNTRY.
Her raison d’etre as the Establishment will be at an end.
“They have revised the Bible, they are now going to revise the prayer-book; they will soon revise themselves out of the house.
“If the West End churches are empty, it is because our Anglican friends do not know what to believe, and care less.
“Many women in this locality there are who worship their pet dogs more than they do God Almighty. This is a fact, and you know it.
“It was time for us to look to our position when we saw this aggressive evolutionary theory, which blotted out God and Heaven, spoke of Christ as a visionary of the soul, as a myth, and the future as a problem. To judge from the
SCANDALOUS BOOKS AND NOVELS THAT WERE READ,
the loose plays that were played, the gross superstition that was preached, the visits to palmists and quacks, and the charms bought and worn, he should say society was on the down-grade.
“We were opportunists. If Jesus Christ came to London to-day He would find Himself very much in the same position as He did in the house of Caiaphas. There would be some certainly to stand up for Him, but more to say, He is a Moses, a Zoroaster, a Mohammed, a Plato, a Socrates—a great man, a great philosopher; but He is not the Son of God.
“Let them go to their legal and medical men; make inquiries
IN THE CLUBS AND HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS;
let them go to the secretaries of very fast clubs—let them go where they would, read the story of life as they saw it in the highways, in the parks and squares, and they would say, “Jesus Christ might as well have stopped in Heaven.”
He knew he should be charged with exaggeration, but everything seemed exaggerated unless God was in His right, because unless He was there was no sense of proportion at all.
1 The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers’ Advocate (Parramatta), Sat 13 Apr 1907, p. 11. Emphasis added.
2 The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers’ Advocate (Parramatta), Sat 20 Apr 1907, p. 8.