The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA: FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1877.

Clutha Leader, Volume IV, Issue 161, 10 August 1877, Page 4

The Clutha Leader. BALCLUTHA : FRIDAY, AUGUST 10, 1877.

We publish elsewhere a cothmuni'cation received from a correspondent ' refei-riuo* to our articles on education,' and. espe". cially to the place which those article! proposed to ascribe to the Bible.,', Ho challenges our statement thaf the' feible has been the grand factor in. product' the difference that exists betweentha state of Britain and that of Franco!'^ Spain, and the great factor, in raisin^ Britain to its eminence in intellectual advancement and its position arnqng civilised nations. That the Bible haa been pre-eminently the factor in all this we most decidedly maintain, cfc causes have indeed been in operation) that have, however, been more or' less indehted to the Bible for their origin as well as for the influence they have wielded in advancing the civilisation the freedom, and the material interests of Britain far beyond what is found' to prevail anywhere else. And we areas firmly persuaded that just as the -in. Huenee of the Bible extends and 'in. creases in Britain, will it move on ,in the same line of advancing progress outstripping all other nations in material and moral progress, till they open \ for the Bible the same free passage within their gates, and give it the place wliich it has had in Britain in influencing its religion, its government, its education, and Jhe whole arrangements of private, domestic, and social lifp. We are not concerned about the absence in books of history of reference to the presence and influence of the Bible. Historian's lookf,only at the surface of things, and write often with a bias against religion, especially of the purer sort. We think> however, we could lay our hands on' : apt a few statements of not a few British historians, who do ascribe Britain's progress to the influence of the purer Christianity that has prevailed within her borders, — a Christianity from which have sprung those very elenienrs to which our correspondent, in namoVof his historians, would ascribe that progress,—viz., "the liberal character ,of the British constitution, with the privileges which it gives to the people, the liberal measures forced from the govern-. ing powers by the people, and the liberty of the press." These, we affirm, are all due to the Protestantism of Britain,—, that is, to the presence and influence of. the Bible, and that, not as a mere book, in every house, but as tho Book of Gpd,' the sacred scriptures given by inspiration of God, and having for its gre#t ; object the lifting mankind out of s the slough of moral degradation, idolatry) . and misery, in which men everywhere are seen to wallow where the Bible .ia, not known, and where religion and tho,, knowledge which it teaches are not experienced. To the Bible, as what ifc professes to be, as what the Christian | world and especially Britain regards it [ as being, in the truths it reveals, in the \ hopes it inspires, in the principles it enunciates, in the perfect example it. presents, in the relation it purposes toy bring about between God and man and; man and man, in the laws it embodies^, in the motives it supplies, — we find the. originating causes of those very elements in the British constitution, the. freedom of the people, and tbe liberty . of the Press, which our correspondent would assign as the special factors in British progress compared with that ot other nations. " Moro than two thou- , sand years before Magna Charta, the rights of the people and the power of princes were chartered in the Word,' 1 The grand principle embodied in the , Bible, that God alone is the Lord of the conscience, lies at the very foundation of all moral freedom and civil liberty. Prom the Bible Britain learned it, and hence her constitution, the freedom of her people, the liberty of hcv press. And if our correspondent will ! doubt this, then we ask him to account for the fact, patent to all observers, " that true freedom, good government, constitutional law for the protection of life, property, and liberty, hatred to despotism, and political virtue aie unknown among peoples ignorant of the Bible." This is a fact which our correspondent has need to study, and studying it alike in ihe teaching of the Bible and in the facts of the world's history, he will not fail to conclude with us that the Bible has given to Britain

her constitutional government, the freedom of her people, and the liberty of the press, just because it has given her her •religion. Por nowhere do they exist as tbey exist in Britain and America, and nowhere does the Bible hold the place and weild tbe influence that it does in them. . How different the scene in Mahommedan, heathen, and papal lands — as France and Spain — where the Bible is unknown, rejected, or denied the place that it holds in Britain. The •contrast proclaims that Britain's Queen was right when, presenting a Bible to the Indian prince, she proclaimed it the source of Britain's greatness, and her special glory. This is written in her whole history,— a history that is finding "its repetition in Madagascar, the Islands of the South Sea, and everywhere where British and American Christians are hearing the Word of God. Britain "was once the abode of a race of savages, naked, idolatrous, as brutish and cruel "as any savages to whom the modern missionary bears the oracles of God. And what lifted them out of their ancient savageism but Christianity, the religion of the Bible, as brought home to them by the early pioneers of Britain's faith. . Through their teaching v 'new era dawned upon Britain, and she * entered upon the faith that led on to "ever advancing civilisation, though that teaching ere long became sadly corrupted, hindering the " full development 'of the change that had been effected, and by a gradual process involving Britain, in common with other Christian ■nations, in all the evils of the dark nges of papal supremac}', and its accompanying attendant, national ignorance. But 'the Reformation came, giving to kings and nobles, to burgesses and peasants, the Bible in their own tongue, an era in British history from which dates Britain's progress in all that makes her - stand out in contrast with other nations, a progress that has had its leading developments just at those epochs in British history when the Bible came to the frdnt, and its influence Was more specially felt and recognised. Other •nations that had passed from barbarism to comparative civilisation through their reception of Christianity, and experienced the evil effects of papal ascendancy for many generations, resisted the Reformation, cast out the Reformers, burnt the Bible, and refused to'hearthe voice that Britain recognised as coming from 'its pages. And what 'the result 1 What but the-difference between them -and Britain — a difference that will only disappear when the Bible shall be to 'them what it has been to Britain, when it does for them what it is doing for the Islands' of Polynesia and elsewher?. " Reason's" allusions to the burning -of witches, Galileo's recantation, and his references to the views he remarks upon in connection with geology, we regard as the desperate shifts of a mind eager to find any excuse for shutting ■•its eyes to the patent fact that the Bible has proved itself the potent factor everywhere in all that ameliorates and advances, the human race. Witches have been burned, and the conclusions of geologists have been doubted, because 'men have misunderstood and misapplied the Bible, just as many other good and •useful things have been misunderstood and misapplied. As men come to understand the Bible, thpy neither burn witches nor dispute the facts disclosed by geologists. Is "Reason" not aware 'that many of the ablest geologists have been the closest students of the Bible, and the most ardent followers of it as the Book df God, finding its Great Author to speak to them a'ike in the record of His works and the record df His Word 1 .Ts he hot aware also that while the Bible alters not its teaching,'those very geologists who esteem that teaching the least are continually altering their teaching as geologists, ever acknowledging that they have been 'mistaken. And as to Evolution, of which he thinks so highly, why it is a mere theory, not, however, like Newton's law of gravity, capable df demonstration and illustration, in Newton's time apd, ever since, but admitted by its author and all who embrace it to be absolutely incapable of demonstration or illustration. . We see everywhere proofs of thedry, but where f do we see proofs of the theory of Evolution ?— a theory that does violence to the personality and perfections of Deity, that destroys all sense of moral obligation, establishes the reign of selfishnessas the paramount principle of humanity, makes man a creature of time only, and •destroys every principle of religion. We do not wonder that one who adopts this theory, which can never, prove itself to be in operation, and which, necessarily leads to such results, should, have ceased to take the Bible as God's "word for his guide. But as tbat Bible, has outlived many other theories that have sought to exalt themselves against it, so shall it outlive the theory of Evolution. That theory will not do for i '"Reason" what the Bible can do, make him wise for time and for eternity, and furnish him for every good work, if he will only willingly follow its heavenly guidance, even as it tells him he has a. higher origin and is a nobler being than " the descendant of a mollusc. ,o ••■••'*-' The following resolutions were moved % Mr "Macandiew in the House of Representatives, on Wednesday evening:— (1.) That," with a view of opening tip the inferior and outlying districts of the Province of 'Otago, and of pro riding for tho beneficial occupation and settlement thereof, it is expedient " i %bat the undermentioned lines of railway be con-

structed forthwith, that is to say : From Awamoko, up the valley of the Waitaki, as far as the land suitable for agriculture extends ; from Palmerston to Waihemo; from the Mosgiel and Outram line to Lake Wanaka,. via Strathtaieri, Naseby, Clyde and Cromwell; from the Main Trunk Line to Catlins River; from Waikawa Harbour to Wyndham ; from Waipahi to Tapanui ; from Gore to the Elbow ; from Invercargill to Seaward Bush ; from Otautau to Takatimo • from Orepuki to Waiau. (2.) That, inasmuch as by far the larger portion of the lines hereinbefore-mentioned must need 3 pass through an extensive area of available country not yet alienated from the Crown, the sale of which will realise much more than will cover the cost of the whole, and the settlement upon which will increase very materially the general revenue of the Colony, steps be at once taken to survey such lands into suitable allotments, a large proportion of which should bo withheld from sale, pending the completion of tho respective lines. Also, that provision should be made for regulating the area of allotments, so as to enable and encourage those who may be employed in the construction of such lines to acquire and settle down upon land contiguous to the works upon which they may be employed. (3.) That a respectful address be transmitted to His Excellency the Governor, requesting that he may be pleased to give effect to the foregoing resolutions. In the debate that followed, the Government opposed the resolutions, and intimated they were bringing in a bill to give facilities for the construction of railways to any district able to pay for them. Our readers are deeply interested in four of the lines proposed by Mr Macandrew —viz., Main Trunk Line to Catlins, Waipahi to Tapanui, and Waikawa Harbour to Wyndham, and from Gore to the Elbow. It is evident if any success is to be gained by the present effort, Mr Macandrew's hands must be strengthened by action upon the part of the people; and we would suggest that public meetings be at once held in the various localities, and petitions adopted and forwarded to the Assembly praying for the construction of these lines. Much excitement prevails elsewhere regarding the construction of branch lines. We trust Baiclutha, Catlins, Tapanui, and other centres will wake up, and let their united voices he heard upon the subject. There is now no time to lose, so that what is intended to be done should be done without an hour's unnecessary delay. j .