AFTER-CHURCH RALLY

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 173, 19 April 1937, Page 6

AFTER-CHURCH RALLY

Anglicans, Presbyterians and Methodists EDUCATION AND THE SPIRIT An after-church rally of Anglican. Presbyterian and Methodist congregations in Kilbirnie and Hataitai was | held last evening in All Saints’ parish hall. The vicar, the Rev. D. J. Davies, B.Se., presided over an attendance that filled the hall. The object of the rally was to emphasise the esesntial bond between religion and education. Speaking at the opening. Mr. Davies alluded to the unity underlying surface differences found among all who recognised that a secular basis for education and society was inadequate. The Bible-in-Schools League was an evidence of the deep consciousness of a great need in all grades of education for the culture of the spiritual nature. The Rev. L. J. Boulton Smith, after referring to Westminster Abbey as having for many centuries enshrined the type of religion that had made England and moulded the character of British people everywhere, likened the English Bible to the shrine of the nation’s soul. The Bible ante-dated Westminster, and explained the spirit of Britain. “We are faced to-day,” he said, “with the intrusion of the secular spirit—life without reference to God—into all walks of life, and our aim must be to bring the soul of the young to this ideal shrine, the Bible. It stands as a sanctuary for the revelation of the Divine, as a power that purifies the dross from human nature, the means of the discovery of God by the human soul. That is all-important to the education of the young. Thinking carries us far, but a holy awe in the soul carries life higher than reasoning. The Bible also stands for vision of the realities of life, much more than can be seen with the natural eye. The present generation is largely without the influences of the good old-fashioned Christian home, and a paramount need of the day is to usher this generation into the true shrine of its life. The Bible opens the way. Speaking for education, Mr. L. F. de Berry said he was both a parent and a teacher. He would blend both in his remarks. Last night over the air, Mr. •Stanley Baldwin was heard to say that he attributed the troubles of the world mainly to the growing spirit of materialism. There was little doubt he was right. Science led to the conception of the importance of the material concerns of life, but more recently science had made the discovery that there was a great Something behind the machinery of the universe, but the effect of the materialistic emphasis had to be overcome. He considered that the two great spiritual institutions, the Church

and the school, had both been sadly astray in aiming too much at mere material advancement. They should get back to the great aim of education, which was something more than schooling, not merely a preparation for life, but rather something immediate, here and now. In one word, living. Life to the full was involved. Education could not be limited within certain channels. At one time in New Zealand mind alone occupied the field of education. It was almost a discovery when physical activities made for themselves a place in the curriculum. Now a new discovery was being made. It was the place of the spiritual in general education. The great leaders of educational thought knew this. The Rev. E. O. Blamires, secretary of the Bible-in-Schools League, under whose auspices the meeting was held, thanked the speakers and the chairman. Two other rallies of a similar kind are arranged for May and June in Miramar and Wellington Central respectively.