CURRENT EVENTS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 151, 27 June 1914, Page 11

CURRENT EVENTS

LEADERS' THOUGHTS THE CHURCH AND MARRIAGE, StFßOtf OUR OWN COMIfeSMNMHf.) LONDON, 16th May. , The Bishop of London, speaking at the London Diocesan Conference*.— " It is impossible to allow any .outside body— even if that outside body be tha Imperial Parliament—to dictate to a liv« ing Church the terms on which it is ,to admit people to Communion, or to say whether or not it is to marry divorced persons, or those who are not baptised.. I, have often said that if the Church is disestablished it will bo over tile marriage question, and not over the ritual question. But, personally, I see no reason why the Church and' State, with their very different ideas, Bhould not go on side by aide. The State has its own views about _ marriage, and its registry offices in which to carry them out. Tho clergy have no desire to domineer ove» our fellow-citizens, only to influence them as much as possible in a Christian direction. But, similarly, we desire the Bame liberty for ourselves,' We, too, have our ideas, and our standard, and oub consciences, and it is pure tyranny, which we must resist to the utmost, that the ideas of another body should be imposed upon our Church, . It ib one thing ta argue from a. Church point of view that the Eastern Church is right about the 'innocent party' and the Western Church is wrong, or that in the case of? the ' unbaptised ' that the unbaptised husband in a marriage is sanctified by the baptised wife — although 1 am afraid I cannot personally agree with eithe» contention^-but it is quite another thing: to argue that because a Bill in Parlianiehtf becomes an Act the Church must ipso facto change its ideals and practice. No self-respecting Church can possibly submit to that." THE VALUE OP iTHE BIRCH. Dean Inge on the " Duty and Discif* lino" movement:— " I do not think anyone can seriously, doubt that necessity of such a movement in tliis country. For many years past we haye i heard a great deal of talk about' • Socialism, and wo have been given to understand that the country, is advancing in that direction. But Socialism, in reality, if it be ever pos* sible, can only be worked by the exei> cisc o^ a > most abnormal amount of duty and discipline. Andy Bo fa* from out moving in that direction,' it 'seems to ms more than plain that we have been moving in the opposite direction— in the direction of anarcky and lawlessness. ' There will be no question that it is the auty of all who know the value of strict discipline and the old-fashioned ideas of duty to set the example to the resb of the country in this request. All ove» England one sees every year an increasing orgy of Bentbnentalism and indis-, cipline. In the council schools thaschoolmaster hardly darea to cane a refractory pupil, but I trust that, long, after that salutary instrument has been abolished in the schools attended by tho masses, the wholesome birch will still ba wielded by the headmaster of Eton. I am convinced that the disappearance o£ the upper classes in this country would be a tremendous misfortune, and that if that class is to survive, it can only, be by taking to heart the advice which St. Paul gave to Timothy: 'Then, therefore, take thy share of hardness as * good soldier of Jesus Christ.' " A DEFECT IN ENGLISH EDttXTA* 11I0N. Mr. Balfour, at the summer meeting' of the English Association t—"lt is a common belief — I do nob know whether it is well founded'— thato every French boy is carefully grounded not merely in the grammar, but in tho composition of his mother tongue, tb may be that French is an easier language to write in than English. Ido not khow, about that. All I know is that English is abominably difficult. (Laughter.) _ B also know that if French boys are n\». structed in the use of their own mother 1 tongue their lot is a very different one from that of English boys. When 1' was a boy I never was taught anything about my mother tongue. I never was taught its grammar, its vocabulary os, its style. All that was left to Nature and to any such affection as good ' British writers or English teachers could suggest. But I never, so far as t can remember, wrote a-n exercise in English .which was looked over by a competent master and corrected, and upon winch suggestions were founded for me as .to* the technique of writing prose. 1 think, tliat is a defect' in our education. .... There are admirable writers, and there' have always been admirable writers, but if you take up the ordinary scientific, article or the ordinary historical article, which is entirely concerned with ques- , tions of origin, and compare it with what the French can do, you must 1 almost admit, that, for charm and elasticity, the Frenchman has the best of'J it. We have a language which, difficult as it is, horribly difficult as it 18, is at aIL! events, the richest from many points, of] view of any language spoken and wiittetti 1 for civilised man." the scourr antidote.. Sir Robert Badcn^Powell : — "Thirty millions arc spent' by ou*| nation every year on training the mingi generation in reading, writing, and arith-. metic, plus a modicum of physical drill, i to become good citizens. This training! for the youngster lasts until he amves. at the age of fourteen, just when hist mental, moral, and physical powers am beginning to grow—when he is arriving^ at the cross roads where he takes thftj right or the wrong road for life. Att this critical juncture, education drop* him. He is left, unfinished and un-j guided,. to drift where fate may carry, him. How can tliis drain on our man*: hood and our pockets be prevented?. The men responsible for education ■are* hampered by limits of timo and opporj tunity, if they arc not also tied by tha fetters of traditional methods. lha Scout movement, as far as it can, comes to their assistance by supplying to tins boy, outside the school walls, the essen-t lial complement to his scholastic train-t ing, in the form of character trainings health development, handicrafts, serviced for others."