A MUCH-NEGLECTED BOOK.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 171, 19 July 1907, Page 3

A MUCH-NEGLECTED BOOK.

(To the Editor.)

Sir, —Mr. Symon, of the Health Department, in drawing tne attention of our sanitary officers to the fact that present day precautions and the consequent regulations in dealing with disease have their origin in the Mosaic laws as laid down in the Bible, has done us a public service, and one which it would be well if the large number of Bible expounders should tak« to heart. Were it iaore generally known that the Bible is a practical book, dealing with the difficulties and problems of our earthly existence in very real fashion, there would not, I think, be the neglect of a book which is well worth our attention altogether apart from- any reference it may have to theological or so-called spiritual matters. 'Tis a pity our teachers have so often used God's Word merely to point their own theories, and enforce their own dogmas, until the average man has come to believe there is little of interest.in its pages for him. May I suggest a change in the way we handle this book? A public recognition that the study of the Bible conducted on a commonsense .plan, with a view to getting from it guidance and regulation for earthly life, rather than to ascertain how to become one of a small chostu few, would do more to render it of service to the general public in a few yeaTs than generations of use for the promulgation of

"isms," and often the condemnation of minds strong enough to dissent from such narrow interpretations. The fear of it as a text-book in our schools is not an objection to the Bible in itself, but a perfectly just contention that our public money should not be spent in subsidising the mere theological and ofttimes illogical teaching for class aggrandisement of a noble literature intended for the uplifting of the nation. Verily, this narrow use of a world's gtmev: fat to rob us of ah ih■faluable heritage. Let our professional teachers of morals consider these 'points. —I am, etc., IMPARTIAL.