RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS.

Press, Volume XXXIX, Issue 5407, 25 January 1883, Page 3

RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION IN SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOB OF THE PBESS. Sib, —With reference to the letter of the Eev. W. S. Bean, may I say that the Church has never shone with more lustre than when her ministers had to work under difficulties far greater than any that she is called upon to encounter in this work of instructing the children in the State Schools. Only the very young and inexperienced can expect to have everything cut and dried for them. Men who are really anxious to perform any work that they have really at heart take readily and graciously the hours or opportunities offered them ; and all the labors of the Church or of good and Christian men and women on behalf of others that have been of real service to mankind have been begun and continued under circumstances of infinitely greater difficulty, and that required immeasurably greater self-denial with much bodily danger. The clergy who hang back from the work of instruction in our State schools may well apply to themselves the teaching of the parable that is to be read to-morrow in our churches. Those of us who have sufficient faith in our great Master, to see " the diversity of operations working under one and the seli'-same spirit," can perceive in secular education a fresh gang of laborers brought into our Lord's vineyard at a later hour to carry on a work that the oi*dained ministry have not been able to accomplish. What is called the triumph of secular principles among Christian people is but the payment to the laborers called in at the eleventh hour— may be the same reward that all receive who labor diligently under God to discharge faithfully and well the duties to which they are called. If the clergy are to remain first it can only be by aiding and welcoming and according the due meed of praise to the last batch of laborers. Woe betide us if we be found " envious because God is,bountiful," for if we be found so nothing will avert the sentence of our great Master and Lord. " Take that thine is and go thy way. I will give unto this last as even unto thee; so the last shall be first, and the first last." "Unbelief amongst professors of belief is at the bottom of this outcry against our public system of education. The same sort of unbelief that caused the Pharisees to say "He casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the prince of the devils." Ignorance is a demon, a demon of darkness. I think that our Lord is casting this demon out. I do not think Satan is. His kingdom would not stand if he did. Let those who in their haste and jealousy fling all manner of hard names at their fellow Christians, members of Christ's Church as much as themselves, calling the system they uphold when none other is possible, " godless," &c, be careful lest they re-echo the cry of the Pharisees, saying of Him whom they profess to trust with one breath but deny it with the next, "He casteth out ignorance and darkness through Beelzebub the prince of ignorance and darkness." Let us beware of that sort of unbelief which was tbe curse and condemnation of the Jews, the refusing to see the working of God's Spirit, unless it be in a way agreeable to our own personal prejudices. The Christian's faith rests on the assurance, "So I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." If greatrthings are to be done in the future, it can only be by attending to the little things of the present. Tours, &c, Z. January 20th, 1883. TO THE EDITOB OF THE PBESS. Sib,—lf the effort of Dr. Moran to obtain a seat in the Parliament of New Zealand serves no other purpose, it will, at least, have done some good in eliciting public opinion on the education question. Your columns have already been made the medium through which the partisans of both sides of this Bubject have expressed their views, and I think that there is yet a treat deal to be said about it. There can be no doubt whatever that the education and the moral training of the rising generation is a subject which inti- j mately concerns the whole of us, and we cannot afford to treat the matter with indifference. The destiny and future wellbeing of this colony will in the next age be j decided by the children of this, and it behoves all those who have the interests of the colony at heart to see that those who are to be its future rulers begin life with a due appreciation of the responsibilities of their position, and with a profound respect for the name of God, without which they can have but very little respect for the moral law, or any other law. Let us not forget that the children of this age will be the fathers and mothers of the next. How then are we to preserve for the future a proper respect for the moral law if we ebminate from the cursus of the child's teashing the duties of religion, the Commandments aud precepts of God and His Church. Keep these things but in the back ground, and the consequences may be sad indeed for the future of the colony. A nation without religion is a sad spectacle, and I am afraid that there are not a few amongst us who are untliinkinglyand unconsciously doing their utmost to bring about this result. We do not want, as one of your correspondents put it, "priestly rule." No, indeed, nor any other rule. There are a | great many in Christchurch, and I dare ; say in other places, to whom any rule or , restraint whatever would be irksome.

- These men do not want i 9 be: ruled even *- by God Himself, much less She priest. For c the most part we find that hone who can- ;' not rule themselves, who canno*fc curb their _ own passions, who prostitute the word r liberty for. license—nay, who would dethrone the Founder of Christianity Himself if it were possible, do not want "priestly rule" or "priestly thr-aldom." r Mind, lam notmakuigthisaCatholicor Pro- * testant question. I think the Eev. Mr I Mortimer has hit the nail on the head, t when he said, "It is only political dodgery j trying to make capital out of traditional - hatreds," which has given this turn to the 1 education question. In my opinion it is b entirely a question of infidelity versus f Christianity, and if the secular system be- *• comes once firmly rooted in the colony * the Christians of every denomination will [ have a long and arduous struggle before _ them. The Catholic Church has long been j aware of this fact, but the other denominas tions seem to be only now waking up from . their lethargy, Some of them saw it at * the very first, but they preferred looking r on while the Catholic fought their battle " as well as his own, They dared not side 1 with the Pope. The Catholics fought hard, ' and are fighting still, against secularism, [ and still the combat rages. But many of r the Protestants, although they felt that - the Catholic cause was a just one, refused i to enter the arena with their old enemies, or become their allies in any war however holy. For this they are now sorry. Their eyes are opening to the gravity of the ' situation, but if they had done in the l beginning what they are trying to do now, - secularism would never have gained any ground in the colony. i It is urged by the friends of the present ; system that if we go back to denomi- ■ nationalism again, we will have a recur- : rence of the old bickerings and the old , squabbles between the different sects. I [ deny tbat there ever has been bickerings or I squabbles between the sects. This calumny > has been so often repeated by the secularists, tbat they themselves have at length l come to believe it. But even if this were * true of the past, which I deny, tempora mutantur et nos mutamur in Ulis. What " might be true of the past conld have no ! application to the future. . If those who uphold the present system I of education are willing, for the sake of the s future welfare of the colony, to give a fair i trial to that system which seems to promise the greatest blessings and the largest amount of good to society, surely they ought to be prepared to make some conces--1 sions to a system which not only secures the same amount of secular knowledge but ' also instils into the youthful mind the love [ of God and of our neighbor, and cultivates [ all those finer feelings and virtues which . alone has ever made and ever will make L mm happy and nations great. * EaTHKE il/ENSIS. TO THE SDTTOB OF THE "PItESS. Sib, —I must try not to occupy much of your s pace, but perhaps some notice of several letters will be expected, if you will kindly allow mc the opportunity, notwithstanding your intention of closing the correspondence, to which I have been directed. I felt bound to protest, as an Anglican, > against its being supposed that our Eoman ( Catholic neighbors are the only communion i who desire to do their duty to the young. L I admit that we are lazy and inconsistent in this matter, but I hope and believe it * will not always be so. In England the i Church schools have made enormous strides i during the last twelve years, In ten years i (1870-80) their increase alone exceeded the whole number attending the Board schools, * and Mr Mundella has recently expressed his gratification at their marked success. There is no word of the two systems being incompatible. In this country,, however, we have shallow enthusiasts on one side, adoring '* one grand system "; on the other we have irate parents vowing that they will go to gaol rather than sacrifice their children to this red tape idol. With whom is - the clergyman to sympathise—with responsible parents or political theorists ? lam sure the clergy regard the teachers with esteem, but tins has nothing to do with it. Even anonymous opponents should be treated with courtesy, but their letters are ' certainly weak. After a marvellous definition of the word " Dissenter," " A Christian " implies that it is very wrong for the clergy to desire to gain an influence over ! the young. Morally speaking, it is ro longer a matter of choice. The discipline of the Eoman Catholic Church will always secure schools for their children. Are these to be the only Christian day schools in the country? I do not believe, that Protestants desire this, though thoy have worked hard for it. The fact is, your anonymous correspondents do not realise the dreadful gravity of the situation. It is silly for us - to affect any longer a Rort of verdant-green ignorance of the condition of society. The . country is chronically drunk and grossly immoral, and the State has, by the Education Act, put a prohibitory tax upon the i only antidote known to us, the only means * by which parents in moderate circum- * stances can hope to rear a respectable family in the midst of temptations which cannot be described in the public prints. I ! say the Church cannot look on with indecision and inactijn much longer, nor can ; she pretend to be content with the bare : Bible reading compromise, the programme ■ of the General Synod will have to be adi hered to firmly, cant and lethargy and veri dant affectation as to the real state of . affairs will have to be cast aside, and we ; shall have to choose whom we will serve, i Of course I know that an angular incon- ; venient scrap of truth hurled into our ■ placid ditch water would stir up mud and I foam. Nonconformist correspondents need i not be angry, Wesley would have been de- , lighted to see the Church bracing herself s up for her work. Within the last twenty * years she has discovered the secret of human happiness to tens of thousands of > the very lowest strata of society in London ) and other dense populations. The law of L God has been established where the secular f authority was simply laughed at. Both are s acknowledged now. "Colonist" suggests ; that I am incapable of appreciating the ( excellence of the secular system. Of course 3 I am. I am brought daaly into contact ) with its results. Secularism leads to 3 Nihilism, the French journals team with i evidence connecting recent attacks upon 5 religion and property with Nihilistic orgal nisations. There it is religious education ) -jerstts dynamite; here we have a milder form of it—love to God and man versus a cold hearted secularism. We must choose. Is a country which has willingly drunk itself into ignominy to gratify an exchequer likely to make a happy choice? Hardly—not witho-it a steady -. hand pointing upwards. This is the 7 mission of the Church in politics, will she b or will she not fulfil it? The Eoman j Catholics have schools, tbe Church of Eng- . land must have schools, will she take the s trouble to ask for them P will she be true f enough to herself? Apostacyin laymen 1 is of course admired by s.jc__r_ts. Aposi tates are useful to political adventurers, their price is not high, and they are easily c flattered. The secularists will be ardently c backed by the " Freethinkers." All this - makes it hard for the Church; under the c circumstances the very justice of our claim - makes it harder. We do not ask for - revolution. A clever article in the "Ninee teenth Century" bears tartiniony again to t the excellent results of the dual system ; s and we only ask that so fan aa practicable, c our own money may be spent upon our c own children, in a manner not repulsive to i- our own consciences; but modern "liberty" - says, "No—heathenism for all hands—take i- it or leave it; anyhow you must pay for it; c it must be right, democracy says so, we r have counted heads." One third of these n heads were drunk; and were swept into •s the secular scale like shingle ba__rt. This c again is hard for the Church, but ehe must c struggle on. Who is prepared for a real n manly frank effort for love of God and ;e man. We shall soon have an opportunity _ to do something. I shall tiu__frdiy record i. any names which may b/e sent to mc of 1, those who will help to do it. In making d this offer I shall be told that humility is a n great virtue. Of course-it is, let us by all I means bear it in mind, no human agency st is much in itself; but shall our humility y be a humble trust in God, or a "humble" s- mistrust ? that is the question. r- B. A. Mo _"!___, o, Curate of St. Albans. a [We have yet to find tronoe for the letters -*- of "Anglo-Saxon" and the Dean of C_-*t-»r church; but after they are published this c. correspondence must (_o**t.—Ed.]

Mr ParneU's action in evicting tenants from his estates in County Wicklow has caused some comment. They were in arrears to the extent of £9000.. The Governor of New Caledonia is introducing a change of system. An immed"*_ augmentation of nearly 200 per cent, is to be made to the number of men employed upon road making, to be rapidly followed by an increase of four or five times the number, so that soon the convicts engaged upon tb« roads of the colony will number thousands insteed of 300 or 400. Less than forty miles of roads only have been made during eighteen years, nearly the whole within a few miles of Noumea. <_T J6l Fb_b G_-ts—The proprietors of Woi__*s A_o__tic Schiedam Schnapps to induce the destruction and prevent he improper use of their wrappers and labels, and thus further protect the public against fraud and deception, have enclosed in the wrappers, or under the labels on the quart bottles, since Ist October, 1878, and continue to enclose in kvebt hat's packing theot/ghotjt thk ybab, THEEE .£1 OEDEES, which are drawn upon the undersigned, and which w_l be cashed by their agents. Te secure these gifts, the public must be careful to ask for, and accept nothing but the Gbntjin- TJdolpho Wolfe's Schnapps, with our name up#n the top label. M. Moss and Co., Wynyard Lane, Sydney. Da_g_t_ and Compt., Agents, Christchurch.—[Advt.J