CANQN GARLAND'S VIEWS

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 131, 30 November 1914, Page 2

CANQN GARLAND'S VIEWS

CONTINUANCE OF CAMPAIGN. DESPITE PERSECUTION. A sermon in support of the pastoral was delivered by the Rev. Canon Garland, national secretary of the Bible-in-Schools League, in St. Peter's Church last evening. The preacher took as his text the 33rd verse of the 6th chapteir of St. Matthew : "But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Canon Garland said they would recognise ihese words as coming from the Sermon on the Mount, and they at once brought to mind the statement that was made that the Sermon on the Mount was incompatible with modeira conditions and with civilisation, and that they could not possibly be made to fit in with each other. Well, his answer to that was: "So much the worse for civilisation." He went on to urge that if, instead of allowing ourselves to be consumed and absorbed by the things of this world, we sought the Kingdom of God and His righteousness first, these other things would come into their proper place m our lives. It seemed to him that there were times when it was the duty of the Christian preacher to point out some of these first principles, to speak of them in no uncertain tone, to speak of them not matter what the consequences might be, no matter what might be said, and no matter what motives might be attributed. "POLITICAL SERMONS." They knew perfectly well what had happened in this country. Let a man advocate the reading of the Bible in the State schools, and all sorts of evil motives were attributed to him. The gutter press would criticise him as well as the press which could not be called the gutter press, but which vied with the othei in its vilification. The clergy would be told that they were preaching political sermons and they would be called names in the streets of Wellington. That had happened to him in Wellington, the first place in the Empire in which he had been so treated. Tliink of that ! Perhaps it was evidence of the necessity of something better being taught oi\r children in the schools. No matter what might be said of them, they would continue their campaign. Their opponents could not put them into prison nowadays, they could not crucify them, but they did what t.-- ;_^ild. PARLIAMENTARY • COMMITTEE CONDEMNED. Where, he asked, were the Ten Commandments, which were part of the com. mon law of the Empire," taught to the children in our schools? Where were the precepts of the Sermon on the Mount taught the children in our schools? We substituted the precepts of Confucius. "Just think of that," he exclaimed. "Is it not time to speak out when the principles of justice are imperilled?" He went on to condemn the Parliamentay Committee which sat on the Bible-in-schools' question. Parliament, he pointed out,, was supposed to be a judicial body to which every individual had the right of appeal. It was referred to as "the High Court of Parliament." But what would they think of a judge who came down off

the Bench and brought witnesses against the case for the plaintiff? Yet that was what, the Parliamentary Committee, who were sitting as judges upon the petition; had done upon the Bible-in-schoolß' question. But that wa& not enough. One of tho members of the Committee had approached the Rev. G. S. Cook, and said that he was surprised to find the Metnodists being dragged at the heels oT th*» Anglican Church. And then, he asked, what would they think of a judge on the Bench who declared nis verdict before he had heard tho evidence? Yet that had been done in the case of members of the Parliamentary Committee. Did they not think he was right when ne said that tne principles of jußtice had been subverted? Even Mr. Massoy himself had said that life was aehamed to be a member of Parliament. One more instance. Seeing by the temper of the Committee that it was of no use bringing further evidence, he suggested that the chairman of the Committee should write to every school teacher in Australia, asking hie or her opinion^ and he guaranteed that they would abide by the result. It would have taken only half a sheet of notepaper and some envelopes t«5 have carried out the request. How was that received? It was received with laughter. Was it not time that they set out to put the Kingdom of God first? The principles of justice had been denied to them, mainly through the encroachments of a noisy few. They claimed that the great majority of the people of the Dominion had always been dissatisfied with the banishment of the Bible from the State schools, and that if they had been consulted at any time they would have restored it. They said that Parliament through a noisy few had prevented tho people from being allowed to express their voice on the question. It had listened to two priest* of the Anglican Church as against the whole and to seven Presbyterians ac against tho whole of the members of that Church. The came applied to the ilethodist Church. " Yes," he said, " there is a little more. There is another Church concerned — the Roman Church. And Parliament said 'Yes' to that. What they had to bear in mind was what the Parliament of this country had done; it had let it go out to tho Empire that -when the churches representing 75 per cent, of the people asked for something from Parliament, merely that the opinion, of the people be ascertained on a particular question, it paid no heed. In other words, it flouted with contempt the great body of Christian opinion. Again, he asked, was it not tune that they put ,Qod first? H© pointed out that when it was granting an increase in the number of days' racing no difficulty was raised by Parliament. It eeemed to him that almost any society excepting those representing the great body of Christian opinion in this country could get anything they wanted^ but the Christian people could not. In travelling about, he proceeded, he had been told of the evils of the pact Government's twenty-one yea?& of ad ministration, and likewise the evils of allowing the present Government to remain in office. He did not take sides one way or the other, bi/t he said that when they had Governments which were so unsatisfactory to them, it was because they had Tbeen thinking too much of the 2^d parties. New Zealand was not going to collapse whether Sir Joseph Ward or Mr. Maesey remained in power. But the country would deteriorate unless those principles which had built up our Empire were impregnated into our whole life. In Parliament, the home, the school, and the church, perhaps — he would say more than perhaps, hewaseure — if there were things during the past quarter of a century that should not have occurred and. were occurring, it was because- we preferred this man and that man instead of God. If we had thought wisely, instead of putting this man first and "that man first, we would have ..put .God firsthand then all these things would Have come unto us. In describing "all these things" the preacher referred to purity of administration, etc.