MR. KEAY AND PROFESSOR MACKENZIE.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2150, 16 May 1914, Page 6

MR. KEAY AND PROFESSOR MACKENZIE.

Sir,—Professor Ifa-o'kenzte's sUppoel* tion VJfiit.l. nili one of gallon. ooitvcKs -is So utteflv \vntlioliJ Miiide-. Won that Jt liwi'bc talv-oft us sytniitoiiU atie of iniicil e.lss tli.at iifi w-fi-tos oil the-subir-rt of Bihlo in scltoals. Let , - mo sttf-to iuy .fqr hi-s odiiicittißii'-biit for tlio infftrhiStWir&f a faii}-*ib[J<?d :j)wbl.ic. . 1 li.avd cv.o.rj teasSfi to ostesni Oii.nan Garland's sv*rlc by ivJjW-i in iUistj-alia tie has brought a greater iTieiioftinc-ss behveon tli*} rafi-β-tts chwrclms and is Imaging atiout the Bflffiß l)*ro in New- Xoalantl; nevertheless, I -o-wo nrtlvtni; to ln'.th for wy riews--011 tho BiblMii-Sflwols (jrtestjflii, flhd it is ffhildbli of -the Professor to totvfl raised S-iicU a j)Wiit. il}'Lo!ig before -I cw l.ica.rd of th*s Cation 1 fl'a-s » pftpil » tli.n schools of Now Smith Wales.'.As .a pupil in "lift schflols, n.i;id as a- mjiiistci' ill tiro States,, I jicwr hoayil of..the bdgs's .itivwitcd liy PfitsffrsSol* irtncfctfrtiile a«(l % fir.iciitl.K..

*(;2'l As it iinnistcf of the tiojwl Chul'di 1 W priviltgdd tn give foligimvs iivglrttotlon in a- iWnvlSot -of ilie sftl.wffls ef the State, liiorcrMinfl aiij' sectarian kv\Mf op dffiowjty tfrth teiwtars, am} ecrtatnly iWt frfth 'fellftw ■ministers. : Qn tjio ciptttfavy., (lie vela* tiorn is to wlikli I wa/s lirouslrt *ith ffie inimstecs of otlicir Avrelies,, iufcl tlio consi'ioTntiou wliwlt I, * lujinste -<i.f a .piJiifWot -cJmrslt, rewived : fro:in tlicnt, isvakes me a Sftp : «M\ w . *!;.» strsiWth sf ni* boina, rtf tte S*itfu<v.a pMj&srf in ISetv fetoM, W tte RvMe-, wwscboAte cjocstioii slid jintliiiig tlse but bring nbmit i> ijeUwfcbte bctw*«vn»© cli«i%)i«B, it wowifl te wpll.wortl) We, arf thes*.-cluesw so-rn;Hod Cwisttiifls Si* ttc • enemas df.tlie CJiwHi, aucUlid wodMii tcjyreSejitafWes fit Hint .classJoens -had "a Lot to sa.y nbtmt. M Wio Stot up flio Kjijcdoni «f Go 9, niWilMB to eiit«f they use. .?voTy Hißniis, ia*W and tiiiWful. itesft who desire to Wilw," (3) TliC l.'ro'tesser "(■itrns asMo to fee ihe prea-iv sight." a nrtirfstw ol'jj.it J'ntoujkteiri; dweit Su-iTOrtuig si;sj) alt wniioiy jnrtwifc a-s srivint; tjrc Ribls .tij ■flip .voiHW Wfe «f i'Ms ■eputt-li'y. . Wliiit n sWt-sislttal iticWvTtJitrtl tlio T'l-ofcs.'s&i nWst hei, iw'l what a 4&>j' ■'vvfirM Ire ni.i.i's);. ■jjie'd iii. .1 cfinkl ijivo liini tlio i.iai.Vip.s of wows of Ure Ijfst of oifr iiien, ivift" iio Jess ii. person Hwu Pfuuvijtel, Actcney; at ihtih libiifl. ivlm bcliovfe iii tl)5 v BiSlo' in jiinj w) I aiii in a.cco'rtl WitJi the rwwsnT the CftnpfegaMoKnifelnijyJi all - ./Wstrciiiif, wliortt J nevor : ■meeting a ■m'Busttr or Lueinber ojSppß.Sd'

-° $" system of religious instruction in State Bchools I should bo standing entirely apart, from ray brethren did I take up any other attitude. When tho professor quotes his Latin, and talks or t me being singular as an independent minister supporting this wicked BibJo in schools measure, ho is simply talking without his book, and as tho little boy said of another who was in diffi--sß'*L M: ,. Hc don,t knmv wllore nc aro -" With a! his classic Latin the. Professor Boenimgly has yet to learn that "there are more things in Heaven and earth than aro dreamt of in his philosophy." it tJio learned gentleman will not listen to my testimony, will ho allow himself to bo influenced by the testimony of Intleponclont ministers all over Australia who state that tho system of the Bible in aohools works without friction and is an unqualified good to the country. And if that is not enough to turn the poor Professor from the error of his ways will ho listen to Principal Adeney, 7°( during his stay in Auckland, and at the annual meetings of tho Congregational Union, urged the ministers and' layment present to use their utmost endeavour to get tho Bible into tho schools; or am I to understand that the said Professor is so steeped to tho Jips m ignorance and bias on this question that he would not believe in it, /Vs Ti Dne shoultl riae froi ri the dead? (4) Professor Mackenzie seeks to bring out under the Southern Cross the prejudices which not unjustly exist against the Church , of England in the ■Home land. Hβ must be distraught for arguments against the religious instruction of children when ho tries to stir up those prejudices out here, where tho Bame conditions do not nxist. I ask the Professor does ho think Dr. Adeney would hove.advised the ministers and laymen as he did if there had been the least suspicion that the disabilities obtaining at Homo would bo found here? Dr. Adcnoy is quite as competent to judge on a matter of this kind as Professor Mackenzie, and porhaps a little more so. /

(o) What comes of all tho strenuous fight of the Non-Conformist passive re-sistei-s,. if the reverend gentleman's views aro correct?" the Professor asks. Our reply is just this: Nothing comes of it, simply nothing. "One swallow does not make a summer." One would imagine from the Professor's statement that the whole rank and file of Nonconformity wero "passive resistors." Many of them wero the worst bigots under the sun, and were anxious for the linioliglt of martyrdom. Protestant bigots, Anglican bigots, and Koman bigots there are in plenty, and ho s a poor specimen of a Christian who cannot find some good in his fellow's creed. But where are the passive reBisters to-day? Are all tho martyrs dead? There are hundreds and thousands of ministers and laymen who would rather have their children taught religion, at tbo hands of Anglican ministers than be allowed to grow up in tho fashion of this country,' "where tho mention of God in tho schools is banned, so that the silence of the school system about pod_ generates in the mind of the child just this: If there is God, well He doesn't count." and this condition is tha handiwork of tho men who put the Biblo out of tho schools, and made that grand system of free, compulsory, and secular education? The learned gentleman is hard pushed "for an argument when he tries to ■ find analogy between the condition at Home anf here in New Zealand. Thero is simply no analogy, and ho knows it.

On the criminal statistics I content myself with brief mention. The learned Professor turns his blind eye upon the statistics -regarding the abnormal decrease-in crime in New South Wales from 188o.to 1912.,! No, ho spends himself.fin watering away tho crime of New Zealand. It is not the league which has appealed to figures, : but its opponents! I do not believe : in judging religion or morality by the multiplication tabley no more than I would apply that to the rules of grammar. Figures, however, taken by. themselves, prove nothing or exactly what the person quoting them chooses. Tho position is that facts are not facts unless- , you take all the facts into consideration. The very fact that Professor Mackenzie has to explain away the figures about juvenile crime in New Zealand proves my contention, which is, that the Chief Justico's use of figures, baldly, without any explanation as to the facts, was scientifically unsound, and that if wo appeal to figures they could be mado to demonstrate -that crime in New Zealand has not diminished to tho extent claimed, while crime in New South Wales .has diminished to an almost abnormal extent. ■

The appalling ignorance of the Professor on the subject of Australian history could not be more fully disclosed than when" he speaks of Victoria having an equally "black patch on its history with Now South Wales." Any schoolboy in Victoria or New South Wales knows that there- never was a convict settlement in Victoria. Perhap3 it is such lack of information which accounts for the Professor's extraordinary excursions into imagination on the subject of Bible- in schools.—l am, etc., W. A. KEAY.

Newtown Congregational Church, Auckland, May 2, 1914.