MR. BURTON'S SERMON.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 186, 24 December 1912, Page 7

MR. BURTON'S SERMON.

To the Editor. Sir,—Tn the report of the Rev. J. W. Burton's sermon in your columns, he speaks of Canon Garland as having commenced a vigorous erusade on the subject of the Bible in State schools. This is ingenuous, Irat somewhat misleading. Mr. Burton surely knows that the Methodist Church in New Zealand has given its full approval with other religious bodies to take such steps as would secure the adoption of the system in New Zealand. As a nwmber of the conference, Air. Burton is himself a party to that resolution. Would it not have been well if Mr. Burton had pointed ou the length of time in which the Methodist Church in New Zealand had been engaged in promoting the use of the Bible in schools, long before the arrival of Canon Garland, rather than suggest that it was to an Anglican dignitary that this credit was due. In Australia, where the system is at work, the Methodist Church, both ministers and laymen, are absolutely unanimous in supporting the system. Mr. Burton is therefore at variance with his own Church, and because he has an objection to a part of the system, places himself in line with those who do not approve of an open Bible, and those who do not believe in the Bible at all.—l am, etc., EX ONTKNSIS.