The Globe. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1874.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 125, 24 October 1874, Page 2

The Globe. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1874.

The Synod of the Anglican Church baa been discussing the question ot E lucation, and we are sorry to notice from the tone of the debate, that its members have resolved to place themselves in antagonism to the present Education Ordinance. They profess to have the utmost desire to further the education of the people, but are nevertheless content to occupy the position of obstructives. They find that the power, which under the former Ordinance they possessed, has passed away from them, and so, heedless of the consequences which may follow, they have resolved to raise an agitation against the existing state of things. In this they show a strange want of knowledge of the spirit of the times. Experience might surely have taught them that any such appeal to the people as they contemplate, can only end in removing the management of education still further out of their reach We all know what has happened in Victoria. There the opposition of the clergy to a national system was s'> great, that after vainly end>'awmring to devise a scheme which, while being national would still permit religion being taught, the people resolved at last to exclude religion altogether from the public schools. \nd we warn the Synod that the same result v\ili most certainly follow here, if they continue to oppose the will of the people. The truth is, there is an immense amount of humbug in the cry that the o'dinance is a godless one. It gives full permission to Ihe clergy of the various denominations to visit the schools a* fixed hours to instruct their children in religious subjects. Of course the local committees have to be consulted, bur in almost every case the requisite permission has not been withheld. If the clergy would only divest themselves of the notion that thev are a sacred and exclusive body before whom the laity must bend in bumble submission, they would have fewer difficulties thrown in their way. But to call the members of the school committees, as one reverend gentleman did the other evening " coteries " of" tinkers and tailors and uneducated men" is surely not the best way to secure their co-operation and assistance. The beat proof which they ''an give of their earnestness in wishing to impart religious instruction to the young, is by taking advantage of every opportunity placed within their reach. But, unfortunately, such is not the case. It is a notorious fact that in several schools where full permission has been given, a clergyman has scarcely ever made his appearance. It is this strange lack of zeal to make the best use of the facilities the present ordinance affords, which makes the public so thoroughly sceptical of the purity of the motives of those who wish to upset its provisions.