CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XVI, Issue 5127, 11 September 1895, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

* RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS. "If //ley hear not Moses and the Prophets, etc." [TO THE KMTOII.] Silt,—ln tlio Ghrch Chronicle for. August (Wellington Diocese) which I have only just seen, there is a letter from the Rev. A. C. Yorke, of 'Mastodon, on which I should like to offer a few remarks, Mr Yorke I appears to take up his position as an " Anglican," (how I hate the term), • and to desire religious education iu schools for the purpose of giving distinctive Church teaching. It seoms to me and to many other true r( and attached members of the Church ~ of England, that ho is fundamentally S wrong. It is the earnest wish of (i thousands of us, that the Education Act should bo so unloaded us to provide for religiouß instruction in schools, Mr Yorke wants some guaranteo that the character of the instruction will bo "Christian for r Christians," Tlio phrase is not a . happy ono. How could religious instruction, with the Irish National g Sehool Book of Scriptural Lessons ai s tho Teit-book, by whomsoever imparted, nii-christianize Christians p . It conldnot, certainly un-christiauize the large number of children who are practically heathens. Tho pharisaical tono of tho 4th paragraph of Mr Yorke's letter must be offensive to the school teachers; and the snoor will strike, A as unbecoming, thoughtful men who may know as much as I do of Anglican clergymen. Why the sneer? ' Do the teachers a 6 a body compare ; ; unfavourably with Anglican clorgy- 0 men, oven plus their Apostolical succession ? Is tho teacher inferior in . intelligence, or education, or manners, or morals, or usefulness, or _ adaptability to his work ? A razor is a much more imposing tool than a paperknife, and sometimes sharper, but if you want to cut the leaves of a book, one tool will do • its work effectually land the other will makd a moss of it. No wise man puts thoroughbreds j : in his plough to break up fallow Q . ground, or cultivate it afterwards. a It is true there is no apparent or h necessary connection between ritualistic clergyman and good breeding. Mr Yorke say 6: "If the clergy - " whose duty is suoh education have " not succeeded as they ought, why " should it be thought a secular 1 " teacher should be more successful -J "in this f" The English is Mr ] ( Yorke's not mine. There is ovid- „ ontly, no hope for the children : " if p " they hear not Moses and tbe Pro- o " phets, neither will they be per- d " suaded" by a mere lay-figure, who j 1 has not even " apostolically sue- *;. ceeded " from St Poter, i Without doubt the Bill teWsocuro t | religious intruction in cases which „ tho clorgy cannot reach. Mr Yorke denies this, and. he asks, " How if o "the teacberß in such schools avail "themselves of tho Conscienco ri "Clause?" We may aßk as usefully, c " How if they do not ?" , It is idle to suppose that the State j schools over will, or ever can, impart <\ what would satisfy "a thinking Churchman" as religions educafion: s religious instruction is all that can he hoped for. Mr Yorke says tho reading of the Text-book without comment is not religions instruction, t What is it then ? Is it irreligious instruction ? Mr Yorke alludes to Mrs Be6ant's f contempt tor undenominational Christianity; does ho really attach any J importance to the opinions of Mrs j Besant? It is surely a sound dictum , that "it is lawful and expedient s " for men to unite in an association j "for the promotion of a good "object, though they may differ i "with respect to other objects of ( " still higher importance" Taking « even the lowest view of the matter, I we say that an incomplete system " of roligiouß instruction is preferable l to complete secularism. j To say that none but an Anglican t priest (or presbyter) is oapabla. of imparting religious instruction to the children of members of the Church of > England, seems, as Macaulay 6ays, as unreasonable as it would be to proTide that nobody who was not alnem: bor of the" Seoiety for, promoting Christianity amongst the Jews," ■ should be a Trustee of the Literary Fund. Religious education, properly so called, like other real education, I should be impartedathome. Educa- ' tion is a prinoipal ond of the parental ' relation. For this the Great Task- ' master will hold the parents respon- , sible. The cleitgy of the Church of ; England have their part to do. But ,

" theGhrch," thatwondorful attraction, as apart from the wholo body of Christ's faithful people, conveys no meaning except to an Anglioan. All history shows that the fitness i of Governments to propagate religion ■ is by no means proportioned to their fitness for the temporal ends of their . institution. This would still be true i if all Governments were perfect; but no Government ii more than comparatively good (except, of [ course, tho Seddon Government), and how ate bad Governments to be made good? Are Governments i fitted to distinguish between truth and hereßy P Are our rulers orthodox ? and what connection haß qur •representative syßtom with theologi--1 oal truth? Mr Gladstone, when a very young 1 man, wrote :-*•" The Government is 11" incompetent to exercise minute and |" constant supervision over religious 1 "opinion," The truth of this is 1 self-evident. Ido not, believe that , Mr Yorke's views aie consonant with ' the views of the majority of sober' minded members of the Church of \ England.. To borrow Macaulay's words again, the majority of us do not believe that "the Church of 11 England is -the true Church be. " cause she has the apostolical sue ' "cession; and that she has the " apostolical succession bocausesho is '' "thetrue Church." Mr Yorke is , certainly no' ultra-Protestant, yet he lets his churchmanship protest too much.. Wo must make the best ', compromise we can: it is not necessarily one of principle.—l am, etc., Nemo, ■■. Masterton, 9fcli September, X 895. ■