The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1892.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 181, 1 August 1892, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

MONDAY, AUGUST 1, 1892.

For the cause that lacks assistance, For the -wrong that needs resistance, For the future in the distance, And tha good that we oan do,

A session of Parliament would hardly be complete if it did not include in its business some effort in favour of the introduction of the Bible into our public schools. Year after year the^ House has received petitions on the subject, and each year tbe interest awakened seems to become more ianguid. In the North Island especially, the fire of enthusiasm has burnt low ; but in Otago, where rigid Calvinism is the predominating element, the annual petition, rather sparsely furnished with signatures, is forwarded with monotonous persistence. In response to it, the few members of the House who are in favour of Bible-reading in schools met last week. They seem to have been unable to decide on any definite course of action, and adjourned till Tuesday next, when the matter will again come up for consideration.

The question of Bible-reading in schools has been so long before the public that people generally have ceased to take any active interest in it. Its advocates are usually those who from a professional standpoint ieel bound in honour to insist upon its importance as the foundation of moral teaching. They consider it obligatory to have the Bible introduced into schools, and are not particular as to restrictions, so that the general principle is admitted. It will be observed by those who read the discussions that take olace in Synods and Conferences that "the zeal for Bible reading in schools is mainly confined to the clergy. The lay members —as a rule — either do not think so highly of the results that would be produced, or are so conscious that the scheme is impracticable, that they do not think it worth while to press it.

Occasionally, as at All Saints' Church yesterday, a clergyman launches out on the subject, irom a sense of duty. But it must be confessed that such exhortations lose a good deal of their point when it is remembered that the existing Education Act provides for religious teaching in the schools by voluntary effort, and that there is nothing to prevent the five or six clergymeifwho are stationed in the Ponsonby district frorti carrying out a system ot regular religious instruction in the public school if they believe it is of

such supreme importance to the rising generation.

In stating what we believe to be tbe true facts of the case, we do so without any thought of reflecting j unfairly upon the clergy; nor do we doubt that they are sincere in their: conviction that the withdrawal of the Bible seriously affects the morals of ; the rising generation. They are not rendered the less eager in their contention from the fact that the adoption of the secular system is regarded by their opponents as a triumph. The restlessness of modern society, and the disposition of young people to give ihemselves up to amusement, as weli as the increase of gambling throughout the colonies, are all somewhat unreasonably ascribed by some of the clergy to the fact that a chapter from the Bible is not read every morning in our State schools. Losing sight of the many causes which are working to modify opinion with regard to religious as well as social subjects, they argue as if the) seriously believed that an acquaintance with the text of the Sacred Writings is all that is required to stem what they are pleased to term the " worldliness " of the present time.

Some of the clergy assert they would be perfectly satisfied if a chapter from the Bible without note or comment were read every morning in the State schools. They would be quite willing to leave its selection to a School Committee or even to an individual teacher, and so long as it was contained within the covers of the Bible, would not quarrel with the choice made. In advocating such a measure, they are acting consistently with the Protestant tradition, that the Bible should be placed in the hands of everyone, and that every part of it is suitable to be read alike by the child and the theologian. The theory is that the Bible is its own interpreter, and that the unaided understanding must always benefit by its perusal. In practice, however, this view is widely departed from ; no church trusts to the Bible as a rule of faith unless it is read through the medium of creeds, articles, and confessions. Men shape their creeds according to the tone of the age in which they live, and then go to the Bible for an in.: primatur. Thus, Bible-reading in Sunday-schools is supplemented by the catechism, and the exposition given by teachers. In dealing with heathen tribes, the Bible is placed in the hands of the people, but it is made to utter the "shibboleth" of their instructors. Thus, the Melanesians understand by the Bible the system of Anglican doctrine, the Tongans believe it represents Wesleyanism, while the Saraoans, following the lead of their religious guides, see shadowed in it Congregationalism and Roman Catholicism respectively.

We do not think that if Bible-reading could be introduced into the schools to-morrow its promoters would be satistied with the results. Everyone who remembers theolddenominational system knows the style in which a chapter of the Bible was scampered through each morning. In some instances, no doubt, where the teacher was interested, an effort was made to secure reverence and intelligent observation, but iv many cases teachers and pupils hurried through the allotted task as fast as they could. In? national system ot education where Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and Freethinkers are all eligible as teachers, we could not expect on their part anything more than a mechanical compliance with a duty in which they took no personal interest, and to which some of them felt a distinct aversion.

With regard to the pupils, the only hope that they could be benefited from a floral or educational standpoint would be if a table of lessons were drawn up embodying the chief events in the Old and New Testaments. Even here the teacher would be trammelled by the jealousies of Sectarianism. In giving a lesson in history or geography he enlarges upon the subject, and by means of judicious comments impresses it upon the minds of his pupils; but what would be the feelings of an Orangeman if he heard that a Roman Catholic teacher had been explaining the text, " Upon this Rock will I build my church," from a Papal standpoint; or what would a Baptist think if he heard that an Anglican, teacher had been defending baptism on other than approved dipping methods? Why, not long ago we had a Wesleyan minister publicly declaring that he would not let his boy go to an Anglican day school where the Bible was read because the lad might be taught to take High Church views of the Sacrament. Regarding, therefore, the many difficulties in the way of introducing Bible teaching into schools, and the small good to be expected from it under a system of limitations, and the manifold inconveniences that would result from its adoption, we think Parliament justified in steadily resisting all attempts to tamper with the present Education Act. Until the clergy are agreed upon some feasible scheme, it is unreasonable to expect the Legislature to interfere with a system that so far has worked well, and gives every promise of continuing to do so in the future.