THE ELLESMERE GUARDIAN SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1891. Notes by the Way.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 953, 17 October 1891, Page 2

THE ELLESMERE GUARDIAN SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17, 1891. Notes by the Way.

JueaiNa from his address at the opening of the Syno 1. Bishop Juraui has changed his views regarding oar •jducation system. When he came here fir3t, his utterances lad us to suppose that he was m Favour of purely secular) instruction m puolie schools. Now ha is apparently alarmed at the evils ho r'oresces attendant on such a system. The mere fact of his having changed bis 'uind is nothing ; the oM proverb 13 nob ( complimentary to men who never do. 1 But the change is, unfortunately, not; ior the better, It is rather difficult to fully unler-, stand what is desired hy-the anti seculareducation party. If their catch word—: 'the Bible m schools '—were all, Jai.ut few would oppose it. It seems absotdi ihat children should ba taught the early history of Rome and Greece, and the records of the nation which has lett the oiO3t extraordinary, impress the, m a way,, most powerful nation of the r world, totallyignored. For a great portion of that history the Bible is th-3 main, or only, source, and we imagine the, most,, rabid s i freethinker would not- object . 'to'-bJs; children being taugliu the.; story.,. 'of , : th^: Jews, even if the historical book's of'litieBible were taken as, the texl; book, > /7{i^ ; In literature too, considered purely -as; such, raaoy of the bodki dE :; %ha 'BißJe show some of the; finest. ' specimens s of : poetical writing m the Edgliali tpngue; Why Spenser, Chauobu, PEA.RB, and the resD should bB cultivated,: and a magnificent poem like tUe Book of Job proscribed, it is hai-d to say. One. of the most e'oquent of England's orators, the late John Bright, tread to; 8»y that hti style was founded solely on' the Authorised Version of the Bible, and a purer or more poetical speaker it, would be difficult to find. .' ' ; : ' Bot the Bible as literature is not what the Bishop and the Bible-in-sohoola party want. They wish every child attend- 1 ingthe public schools to be forced; tq study; it m its religioua sense. '/How ' ; 6lipy, pose to carry out tlieii* scheme,- w,e,dpWt understand. Teadhe'rsi ;i r like sbtidlarsj, : ;v; f:r .ii:.vrfi ?! .Sen/ ate not all of the same Some of them can be claaaed araoiigsfc agnostics, and how an agnostic : is> to teach his pupils dogmatic theology is' ; ' a| puzzling question, ;! It wouldr be difficult [ too, to teach the children pf, /say,.' Sal-j vationists and of Jews m .the. same class' without offending the . religious feelings \ of one or other. - s The Bishop's complaint, too, •hasj another aspect. If this spirit of infidelity! is as much abroad as he seams to fear, it [ reflects but little credit on the duly; qualified ministers of the gospel. Child -| ren do not imbibe religious or atheistic! principles from their schoolmasters.' It j is m the home that such lessons are! taught and learned, ancl the confession; that such instruction" is heeded I "in The! schools is tantamount to saying that the' priest has no longer any authority orf influence over his adult flock. Lee tbej parents be brought to a proper .under-; standing firsthand tnere.wUl be no need, of religious teaching m the sohools.