RELIGION IN THE BACK BLOCKS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 170, 11 April 1908, Page 3

RELIGION IN THE BACK BLOCKS.

,' 4 '>• . ; BISHOP NELIGAN'S SERMON. ; ,In a letter to tho " Auckland Herald" in reference to Bishop Neligan's remarks as; to tho religious outlook in tho backblocks, the Rev. 0. W. Scott-Moncrieff, the new Warden of St. John's College, states:—"The Bishop's point is surely obvious. With a secular school system and a dearth of clergy , in tho backblocks, tho settler is in danger of relapsing into Paganism-.* The Bishop is; not blaming the settler. • Ho blames tho secular education; lie appeals for moro. clorgy that its worst results may bo avoided. . Lot mo quoto from the Bishop's essay in ' Church and.Ernpiro.' 'It is impossible to find moro kindly, hospitable, responsive folk than our country settlers. It Avould bo hard to find men, taken all round, who,' value more highly tho opportunities— raro, in too. many. places—for worship and instruction.'. 'The average country settler thinks about, and wants to hear about, God.' Let mo quoto .from tho' Bishop's ' Primary' Charge' of 1903. Men who care are living. under, the awful apprehension of learning to do without God. ... ■ But there are hundreds who don't care, and never have had tho chahco of caring,- for the State schools inevitably, at present, create' an atmosphere wherein it', is almost impossible for men to learn to caro.; And yet, God caros for them so much, and, they—good, strong, honest men and women that they are, with tlieir wholesome, fearless, bonny boys and girls—would be so glad to caro if they only had the chance. "Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" That . is tho sort of cry tho great God is voicing to His Church, both at Home and in tho colonies.' Without education you have an ,ignorant people, and; without sanitary instruction an unhealthy people. This is just what tho Bishop has said. Ho has aspersed no. one's character. He has merely pointed out that, without pastoral care and a religious men 1 * and ■ women are in danger of relapsing into heathenism, and their children of growing up without the knowledge of God."