BIBLE READING IN SCHOOLS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1324, 25 August 1886, Page 2

BIBLE READING IN SCHOOLS.

(CONTINUED). Some contend that the mere reeding of the Bible in school*, without note or comment, is an advantage so doubtful M not to be wcrth contending for. It ii aatoniabtng to hear thia said by pro* feased!} Christian men and even ministers. To be consistent they moat hold that portion of divine service In every church where scripture ia merely read is mean* logleas, and that the reading of the Bible in a household is of no account. But surely any one may learn from the mere reading of the Bible that God is to bp loved with all the hearty and soul, and mind. Surely any one (pay leapt that we are to love onr neighbor as ogrr selves. Is it a doubtful advantage for a child to hear the words, “ Honor thy Father and thy Mother.” ? I have been present at the opening of one of onr High Schools while the rector reads a portion of Scripture, the pupils meanwhile ranged in lines opposite, and the teaohetl by his side, prayer was reverently offered; and one could only feel assured that instead of being of doubtful advantage, the exercise wss wholesome and profitable, Snob a manner of opening school seems calculated to aid definitely in the maintenance of discipline.

not to speak of higher results. Scripture says of itself. The entrance of the word gives light: “the testimony of Thy Lord is sure, making wise the simple. ' Why should not the advantage enjoyed in opr High Schools be extended to all of them I Judge Stprer, in the famous Cincinnati casp, 1870, says pa this pointy “ Nor do we think that tfip mere reading of the Bible, without comment, pan be dpempd an act of worship in the commonly received definition. The lessons selected are in all probability those wh'ch elevate t|te mind and soften the heart—an exercise not only proper hot desirable to calm the temper of the children, yhile it imprpseeg the troth of personal responsibility for good or evil conduct. It furnishes a per feet standard of moral reetltnde, not to be found elsewhere, which is immutable as Ik

is authoritative.'’ He goes on to dual that the Bible may be properly reed |oc its moral teaching,—its history, its geographical descriptions, “its pan Sexes English, so simple that every ordinary capacity may be instructed.” Bs lays it down that it may well focsLjt part of a school coarse from its antiquity its bearings on modern travel and discovery, aa well as from Its histories! valoe and continues, “ There la to be no censorship over Latin and Greek classics, or German and French Jtteratore, however exceptionable may be the production, the or made is sgalnstthe Bible, and the Bible only, the first printed

volume after types were invented, a book which from its first publication In Latin has (been translated and la now circulated in more tban 200 languages, a volume recognised by every civilised government as sacred, and has ever retained, and, we trust will ever retain as

contra distinguished from all other books the name It bears—the Bible." In this Cincinnati case, argued for nearly a whole week, and with four judges on the bench, the prohibition of the Bible by the School Bpard was ordered to be withdrawn |0 that the Bible might' be read. It Is a mistake to undervalue the simple reeding of the Bible. While that may oe granted tolejascffient for denominational purposed yet those fundamental tenths may b« learned from if, that are hpld in the highest estimation in all Christian lands, gnch *9 the death of Chrht, and his prevailing intercession. But spait from its destinelive religious trashing, we can claim that ib* Bible Is tbe brat end suit raUsblg

iex.b boot In the important department* of ancient Jewish history. Anything short of denominational instruction has been sty’ed a j elly fish religion. (Church Netcs March, 1884.) Such allegations mu-t be made thoughtlessly, and In forgetfulness of the fact that the saints of the Bible existed before our modern denominations took their rise lading religions instruction, as given previous to 1877, it is to be hoped that no lover of the Bible wilt decry its being at least read in the schools day by day. The acquaintance even with the ten commandments and the Lori • Prayer and the elementary froths of religion would sff*rd a basis of conduct not to bs despised. In New Zealand, some of onr Governors

and members of Parliament have expressed such views on this mattei as show that in their opinion the legislation was a mistake. Sir Hercules Robin bod, Governor of New Zealand, at the open'ng of the Normal School, Wellington (1880), having referred to the system pa- sn d at Home and in New South Wales, said, “ Here, f believe, there is nothing of the bind, and the omission appears to me to indicate a forgetfulness of the fact that the twofold- object of National Education is to secure in the individual citizen intellectual clearness and moral worth,” He went on to say that with the franchise so extended as it is now, it is important that every man should have intelligence enough to form a s"*und judgement on subjects of public - concern. “ But (he continutd) it is even more essertal to the veil-being of a community that its youth should be taught to love right and hate wrong, that they shouldba brought up to entertains s'rong sense of truth and justice, virtue and integrity, honor and duty, respect for constitutional authoiities, ana the law, these and such like moral results can, I fear, never be rccomplished by in'ellectnal cultivation alone.” He quoted

Pmfoeacr Huxley as confessing him self at a loss to know how th( religions feeling, the essential basin o< conduct, could be kept up, without the use of the Bible. The quotation is continued to show, from its character and contents, the propriety of its being made known to the chi’drtn. Sir Willirra Fox (1883), speaking in Parliament in support of hia poaition that an overwhelming majority of the fathers and mothers in this country desired the Bible read in schools, stated that a clergyman who had resided in the province of Nelson bad for thirteen years tested public feeling in the matter by personal canvass, and the result was that ntnc-'euths at the people were opposed to the secularising of the Act. The Provincial Council in 1873 refn»od to eecularhe it accordingly. Sis VII iam continued : • There is another point of vew from which I approach *his subj •t. I think t is an indignity rff red by ou’selvei to ou - - selves, that in a country, ninr-'enths of whose inhabitants profess a rel gon of some sort based on the sac; ed Scriptures, the sacred Scriptures should be the only hook interdic’ed in our schools. Yon may teach the religion of Confucius or of Brahminism the whole of the ancient mythology, including everything above Jupiter, M»rs, Venus, and their loves, and so on —od tvxustum —bat you are on no account to let them know that there is a Gtd n P eaven or to mention the name > f our Pay.ont. X may be told that we have no National religion. That is true in one sense—we have no State Church —*he State does not identify it»e f with any special form of religion, but the id nlifiction of the nation with the 01 rislian f*i>h is comple’.e; and 1 appeal to you. Sir, to say whether the he ok in front of you. from which the prayer is read every day, is not a proof that we ate a Christim nation.” He then pointed to the example of the New England States, France, Prussia, and New South Wales, and the success of Mr Forster’s Engli-h Bill, which has been m operation twelve years. In the London Board Schools 200,000 children were being educated by the State, and there bad been a withdrawal of cn'y 1 in 4000 under th conscience clause, 1° reply to the state,, □rent that the parents could do it he said *• Anybody who knows anything of th rising generation must be aware that proportion of the mothers are degrade and debased to a degree which make them ut'erly 'Uiapable of imparting re ligious Ins rapt! n. / gimoro than tha there are hv-nd’-a's of these whom ws know to ba de<« it and retpeotable wome who are incapable of doing it. Therefore If we are to depend upon the t digiou Instruction given at the mother’s knee Tarn afraid It will not reach a large proportion of the class of children to which I have alluded. And then, Sir, with regard to those mothers themselves in the next generation we have to think of them and how they will grow up. If they grow np without any religioua teaching, what wort of mpthers will they make !” (To be continued }