JIZO, BUT NOT JESUS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2152, 19 May 1914, Page 6

JIZO, BUT NOT JESUS.

Sir,—l heard the first sermon that Canon Uai'Jiuid pf.uached in New .Zealand o.u the Biblo-iii-aciwok qus.si.felu I. remember him toiling us then that, though ills teaclwrn erf New feafcnti were sit to toll th&.i.r pupils nbrnit Mahamet or Confucius, they tlarad jwt liicntiOT the jin.'nc of tiod or of Christ I Such iK.rwan.ee of the real truth regarding a Stale systofu <rf oduraiioii wliitti'j the reverend gentile-mail lutd heeii spmiiSi.v retailed tin assail, seomcd eokrssa.l; but the statement was :i,\ia.dc at the outset at' his campaign, arid one hoped that with a fader knowledge would sOuio a greater fairntss.

But, after rending yew report af the CfUKjn's latest sermon., cum is forced to the conclusion that kc does not want to bo fair, and that Isc docs jitifc deom it beec.it}] iho .dignity of .his pos.itio.tt or of his cloth to act n-8 a easMst pwo and simple—tits special pleader—retained to prove his o»vn side right, Iho other side wrong, at any cost, Ttio serißott delivered by Canon Garland afc Northland last Sunday was based oh the fact that tiro Slay iWiv b.cr of tiio "Scltool Journal," 1914, I'arl t, -cioiUains n storv eniitlvd "Jizo, Iho friend of Japanese Chikii'cn." Tins is a« old kgend of Japan, done into smiple iaiis«ngi> for ttiildvcn ii» Uw Fii'st and Soc(itd .Standards. lam glad to see l'rmn J'our lwpurt that, as :i rcadiiUii lesson, the Canon appro yi>s of k. llut in; tired to lead, his congrcgation.as lie is trying to Joad the ynuho of Now /jcalautt, to believe that wWlo it is VKjnniasr'blo, in our secular system »f eciucaiion, to sjwak albont u k<gondary j;oa of it is not ipcrmi.s£'i;ble to sfieak about U6iJ or about Ciwist. Bo says: "We (tto aibk'-in-Seliottis Lciajjtte) are asking that the p.eopte of New Zealand shall be alioived to express tht'k opiniiMi as to whdtltar tiio tea&hiiig of 'ji//O ! is te .go on with all ■blio atttiiflrity. of the State, and -the liKickitiK o.f Jesus is iijouo to be debarred."

After milking due allowance- for prtftisiunshita, one tSw only qlwraetcrisa t-his as sht-'w nonsense. Is the teuefoing of Jesus aiOMo detered in our jniMie schools? Are the itantcs of God And of Christ unknown, rtile those of JJEo. Maiiomet, etc., aiHs as "femiiiar as household words"? "fto 1-oTlsnviwg vef* nrences to lessons taken from Canon (iailaijd's own paititmlar huntiiigKrouiid, tlio "■School Journal," "will -enaJ>ks your intelligent readers to miswer these questi-tms for themselves. X «ii\ quoti«R from tho "School Journal" for t'iie current yeaf,, copies ( of wliiell ivo k> bo femnd in .neatly every liome :•— I'art I (Standards 1 and 11), Pages i-ll).—"Tin* Story .of the Veitcrablo ■Bode"—telling, amongst 'Other tilings, ■how Bode wrote a book, from \vhieli wo learn how the Northern English -eamo tn know Christ iuul His toaolnmg,, aad, haw lie did the Gosne) o f St. John into S«#sh. Pages 22-2?-"liniie fto Cripple." A story from the Swiss, filled ivith the sprit of doti's gaotliiess for tlto weak and lowly. "Per c\'ory. man Goc? has his .plan." I'avt It (Standards HI afltl IV), ■Paces 27.31—"A StotJfc an a Movmtahi." A stery of the "Christ -of tlt6 Andes," showing how Ijy the c-fforte ef two lanso-licarted ltfifrsls, war w«s prevfinted- between Chile afid A-rgcivtiita, and a statoe of Cdi'ist, the BrJHKor, lras placed Wjjh iif> in iJi-iJ Andes to floniinranevatc Utis victory for Christianity, Pages 35-9S—"Tlic Story «j : Samuel Marsdoii, aiid the Intradiio' ticiu of Cliristiauity into Now ZqaJaud."

Part Til, l'ftges 4ts 12+-"'\\ , lr,it is a ■Gotden : Oco(l." An ©xc&nvt from Charlottp Ydttuge's "A Book ,of (joldwi Dneds,'''coi.Vtaihing; , a he'a-ttSfij.l eitpestlion of that greatftst and most diaraetßNstib Christian virtue—flic spirit oi Just .cam quotntiou <pa.so 10):—"Ttenfcs h* to Ood, thoro is enough cf His owß spirit of loi'o abroad on the oarHi to make golden floods flf »o such rare occurrence, and tiint tliej- aro of 'afl time.' Even, heathen days were Hot without than, ■■ami ittnv mash mo-.ro strotiH tlj.ej' not aWaild lyftor the words havo feeil •sDokeu, 'ftreato love hatli no man tha.lt this, tha.t he Jay downlys Wo for his friend,' and after tlio oiie groat dewt has been wrought that has consecrated jft.Tl otkef dcflfls of B(?li>saorifie(?."

Canon <!:>r!aml nnisl. hnv<> Itnown that these lessons found a place in the "Kt'liiiol Journal," yet lie says that tho ' State, by negation, iv-ith all Its M-insJ.it, ami Ibis doiio so far tliirivsovcTi years, iliat God—as Christian poflplc, tho Jtuglisii natira - ., believe in of iio wccosiiit." Surely a amse is i'h Arc Straits when its rever--0«d organiser iimsi: resort to the sup* fjresswn of inuh to prove Ms easc.~-T atn, cte., M'H.T.iAM FO.STRR ■ I'otono. Ma.v 12., JSH-i.