THE REV. DR BEGG IN DUNEDIN,

Grey River Argus, Volume XIII, Issue 1663, 3 December 1873, Page 2

THE REV. DR BEGG IN DUNEDIN,

The Rev. Dr Begg, one of Scotland's Free Church ministers and social reformers, has lately paid a visit to Otago, and has preached from several pulpits and spoken on the public platform. Last week :he was one among a number of speakers at a meeeing in Dunedin, and spoke on a variety of social subjects. We make extracts : — OTAGO. I may say that I stood at the cradle of this Province. I had much, conversation with Captain Cargill, and Dr Burns, and Mr;M'Glashan before they left Ediburgh, and at that time certainly I never antici l pated having an opportunity of addressing such a meeting as this in a Colony which then was only about to be founded. Bin I would say, moreover, that there are most delusive impressions prevailing at Home, some of which I shall try, if I am spared, to remove. (Applause.) One of them ia that you are surrounded with cannibals, and that in coming to this country a man is in danger Of being eaten. \ (Laughter.) And I would say it is a : mistake to send only such photographs of New Zealaud as have generally come to our country. They present a spectacle 1 of snowy mountains, wild gorges, or res presentations of nature in her most 0 rugged forms. That 13 all very well for a man who makes pictures, but is not very well for your immigration ' purposes, and I shall be extremely crlad to find you acting upon the hint,- . I take the liberty of throwing out — viz. , that you should represent your broad plains, your Taieris, your Tokomairiros, and your Waitaki Vallies. These are what I should be represented at Home, so that our people may understand that this is a land in which a man can live, and live in comfort. It is the land of mountain and ' flood ; and lam not sure but that it is the 1 land of milk and honey into the bargain. . • , It is the lani where, if a man chooses to \ behave himself, and work, he need not ' starve. Indeed, if a man cannot work, I 1 do nob think he need starve ;at any rate, 1 have seen nothing like starvation here yet. > COLONIAL CLERGYMEN. 3 There is another mistake of a serious kind which I have heard given utterance to. I have heard it said that this New Zealand is a sort of ecclesiastical infirmary : — a sanatorium for all sorts of invalid ministers. (Laughter and applause.) Now . there cannot be a greater delusion thau \ that. This is a country for hard work on the part of ministers. This is a country to which a man should come strong in health, ready to work, Let those at home l send B'ich ministers to New Zealand, and i they will be both welcome and useful. Keep your invalid miuisters at home. Then again, among the many delusions J that prevail there is another delusion; although, it is not peculiar to these colo T nies, ior I have visited the American colonies, and I see the same thing there.' There are ministei'3 unwilling to go to distant places, as indeed Dr Chalmers has I said — willing to preach, but not to go and preach. Distance does nat lend enchantment to the view in reference to some of ■ these ministers ; but they love this idea,, that when you onca get to these distant > colonies all the places are to be found with 1 '■ the greatest possible ease. It is said of an 1 ) Highlandman, that he went to the first ; i house ia Athol Crescent, Edinburgh, and asked, "Is this Edinburgh?" "Yes"wasthej r reply ; whereupon the Highland man added, j "-Is our Donald in ?" (Laughter.) Well, j a precisely similar idea exists in regard to! ; the colony. For instance, when I went 1 • to the American colonies I was asked to | ; carry letters to places as wide apart as to- ■ have rendered the delivery of letters. as ; 1 difficult as if a man residing at Edinburgh bad been asked to deliver a letter at St. ; i Petersburg. I had people waiting upon . 1 me, and talking to me as if Auckland i were next door to Dunedin. One man remarked, "I have some property at i Wanganui, and I hope you will go and ; look at it." "Is it near Dunedin?" I asked. " Well," he replied, 1 "it's in New ; Zealand, at any rate." (Laughter.) This 1 is another delusion, and it is one which I 1 hope to have an opportunity of endeavoring to dispel ; and I would just say, in ; dismissing the subject, that if I Can help • in any way — if I can, by representing the l case to the Colonial Committee — for lam come here as an individual, not as the i representative of any one— if, I say, I can i help you in any way, I shall do it with all my heart. (Applause.) Now, this is a > general meeting, and therefore I must not speak what is peculiarly Free Church, or ' altogether of ourselves. I certainly look back with interest upon the struggle to which our respected Chairman has referred. 1 I was brought up in a manse, and always had a profound respect for the Established Church, as, I thought, rightly constituted, but none more readily threw aside all temporal interests with whioh it was concerned than I did when I found we cou.ld not have that liberty wherewith Christ made us free. 1 look back with interest upon that struggle. It has been of great advantage to Scotland. I had cause to pass through many districts of Scotland .at that time, and found 1 many destitute of the truths of the Gospel. They have received that in connection with that event. But I wish to fepeak more particularly — indeed I have been requested to do so— in regard to what maj be called, mere temporal affairs. I don't hold that a Christian minister, is. bound to confine himself merely to preaching. I have been preaching so much ;herethat I have not had the privilege of hearing any voice but my own. That T; regret ; but I hold tbaira Christian minister is bound tom - t'erest himself in, all that concerns man- ' •kind.. .-K.-i.u:,.,^ ... eh.-;

INTEMPERANCE. You have adopted here what I have argued for — a Permissive BUJ.v.- A Permissive Bill was adopted by your General Legislature, and it has always seemed to me that it is a most reasonable measure. I don't see howyou..ca.n- : cure.; : .a- : moral evil "by a physical remedy, but a great proportion of mankind fall into the habit of drink because they are tempted and drawn into a multitude of publichouses. There are so many traps and pit- falls. When I went to my parish at Liberton, at a period so, long ago that I would scarcely like to tell, there were 33 public-houses in that parish,, and I made a calculation : at : the time. 'It was then 1 possible to make a calculation, although tbe meana of making it have 'since been \ taken away. I made a calculation as to the drink • consumed in those .33-public-houses. I found by a return ;by the officer of excise that 9000 gal were! consumed annually in that parish with, a,, population of 4000, or more than 2gal a piece to every man,, woman, and child;:;', and if, I thought, there were added to that what some might also be 'drinking in their own houses, we should have had a pretty large bill of liquor, and have np : difficulty in explaining how; dome' of these persens.came to bo poor. I published this, and the landlords extinguished nine ; of those places at a blow. The number . was, further diminished, ; and j twenty., have been rooted out since that process of extermination commenced. But they have no .power to prevent licenses -tp-public-hpuses. A man : once very natu^ turally asked Mr Gladstone whether' he would like to have a public-house, situated near his gate that his servants would' be continually tempted to enter it. . The reply was in the negative. "That is exactly our case," said the other; " you are putting that at our doors, for our wive,s and children and neighbors to be -tempted to go into." Therefore, I think it is a great thing here the getting of ;a Permissive Bill, and I hope you will use it wisely and energetically, and do what you can both in private and in your family circles to prevent the increase of intemperance. ■;■■■■ ■■.'•:■:■ ■■ ; iv; EDUCATION. In Scotland, education is not a new thing. We have had it since .the days of J ohn Knox ; we have had it 300 years ; and we have had it: since the time !of the Revolution. Macaulay, speaking in the House of Commons on the subject: of edncation, referred particularly to Scotland in the following terms—" The Parliament which sat in Edinburgh passed an Act for the establishment of parochial schools. What; followed ? An improvement such .as the world has never seen took place in the moral and. intellectual character of the people, 'r Soon, in spite of the rigor of the climate, in spite of the sterility of the earth, Scotland became : a country which had no reason to envy the fairest portions of the globe. Wherever the Scotchman went— and there were few parts of the world to. which he did not go — he carried his superiority with him. If he was admitted into a public office he worked his way up to the highest post. If he got employment in a brewery or a factory, he was soon the foreman. If he took a shop, his trade was the best in the street. If he enlisted in the army, he became a color-sergeant. If he went to a colony, he was the most thriving planter there. . . . The cry was that wherever he came he got more than his share; that, mixed with Englishmen or mixed with Irishmen, he rose to the top a3 surely as oil rises to the top of water^ And what had produced this great revolu} tion ! The Scotch iir was still as cold-^---tho Scotch rocks were still as bare as ever. The natural qualities. of the Scotchman were still where they had been when learned and benevolent men advised that he should be flogged like a beast of burden to his daily task. But, the State had given him an education, &c." Now, it is : an important truth that there are elements in that education which must neVer be be lost sight of. In the first place, it was education which enabled men to_ rise, from the lowest ground-floor of society to its' highest elevation. The idea of Knox was — and any man who looks at society properly will have the same idea — that talent is not to be found in any'particular de-; partment. It is found amongst the lowest ranks of society, as well as amongst .the highest. To do justice to all society you must have the ladder of promotion standing as it were : hear ' every man's cottage door, so that his son, if he, have energy enough, may rise from that cottage to the highest place -in any land. This was the idea that prevailed in Scotland when we founded onr parochial schools. We Were anxious not to teach simply the three ;"R's," but to give a good, sound, common education, The result, is that from our schools scattered over the whole kingdom there is sent up to the universities a much larger number of students, in proportion to the population,- than is sent to the two English' universities. Some may say," If you make' a man learned he is useless for practical purposes." No siicli thing! Why? Did not Dr Murray, ,down in Galloway, read the letter of the King of Abyssinia when all the men of, Oxford and Cambridge did not, do so 1 They found him a common shepherdandploughman, writing letters with a black burnt stick upon a board, and when no one else could read this letter, he volunteered to do so, and did it ! The truth is, if you give a man an education of the highest possible kind, instead of doing- him harm in any, department it does him a world of good. Then we have added to our system what is of great importance, namely, normal schools. For a long time it was supposed that any man could be a teacher. Generally, if men ; did. ; not succeed in becoming ministers they became teachers. I have no objection to that ; but to make, as was often done in Scotland, the weakest lad in a family a minister, and make those who out of this section did not succeed schoolmasters, was just : about, as bad an arrangement as you could possibly imagine. The art of teaching is a very high one, and requires training. I believe not only" have. they done more good ihan. anything else, but the training schools of Glasgow and Edinburgh have been regularly sue- . cessful, and have turned out teachers of j value tothe country, and Who hadelevated the standard of public instruction. Therefore I will commend this -features roost earnestly' to your attentioni No doubt the question ; of religion: i in:^connection with education hap been very much decreased, but in Scotland I: am glad to say we have not considered it proper tp'per- : rait what is' called denominational teacn- : ing, though we give, Scripture instruction. I Denominational teaching is teaching the peculiarities of ' tho different sects into

which the Church of Christ is unfortunately divided. This is never done in the Schools, but on the other hand the Bible has been taught, and T have no hesitation in saying that the teaching of the Bible in the schools had been the main element of success.in ourScotch-edueation. --(-Applause?)'' ; - , s e-'.'w-j ! THE' BIBLE; ' ; ' Macaulay.says iiaJ^Scc;tohjQe^|jse like oil to the surface • butiFis not because they are cleverer scholars. Mr Caldwell, : your highly:respected.gaoler,-will-tell you that he has men, capital scholars, under * his charge, but that the fact that men can read Greek and Latin: is no . security that they may be good'members of the commonwealth.. What a -magistrate should look jtp' is': that he should get good subjects and citizens ; and the. whole, experience of .the world proves that, it ia impossible to ' make good citizens unless the consciences of the' children iare instructed in .the Divine Wbrd,iwhicKisthe'rM foundation of the lawsiof >Ehgland,';as Blacksttfrfe tells us;! -Blot^but thsi#ble, and you blot out its vital pe'culKrity — jin.fapt^thereisn^law thatiistentitled to prevail, '.except. : ij:, is] in! 'accordance with r this .higher^.l&^v ,Queen{j^ictpma, when asked,' " What is thei^andatioOipljEngland's greatness ?" poiuted to the Bible, , ,and;said,, r :"jThisis^he real foundation of ; ;England's\prosperity; " This > question has i <beenrfully discussed in f the 1 Uhite v d )( States in a recent case which ar6's6 at'OMb',' and ■•• was decided ibythe'Suprenie Go'urVjudges ; a^'Giriciniiati.:' ;Th'ere ;I Si?aai'^' 'deliberate ! ' : pufp6se ' on; the/pa^ol-the^Sctfcmil-B'oard ' to shuf^ut tße_ J Bi6le in 1 "tfie schools'.' The question was raised, Was .it lawful in accordance^ with^the ; 'C6hstitutib 1 n to df thej JJnited Spates?. and the ;deciision was that it was unlawful in accordance with that Constitution to shut out the Word of God from one ; of the public schools ; .and some ' 'very^ interesting fact| .caio^e out "in, the , course of this discussion! For example, " itwas a 'law '""of the Puritans to the effect — and that law,, was .still binding — that while they mighrconfiscate or sell a man's property to" satisfy^his debts, they must neither confiscate nor sell his family Bible. ;, ;His" ; family Bible was" sa T c'red[ -iana 1 could not be touched; to satisfy his debts/even in, the 'jnpst, Extreme : case. / Not. only; was • it ; so, "But' every apprentice in ' Anierica 1 must a copy of the BiSl'e^bh the ; completion of his apprenticeship', and : every prisoner, mtrst also be provided with a copy. ..In -fact, it is so interwoven with : the principles of the American Republic that it ,is impossible, ..unless .jit be.completely changed, to eradicate ' it fromithsfc Constitution.. , I am. extremely a glaa to find that a proposal was made here some time 'ago, "arid I' 'should strongly advise 1 you to consent to it, because'it is common i groundiupori which toj stand. ' >I 5 see that ;. .BishopSputer^speakingin 187lj-.(says : — s " Long may Otago flourish.Jby: the reading k of the Holy Scriptures in the public ) 1 schools ; they, must, not, ,aud> they need • not, be made arenas of controversy or [■ proselytising ; but the motto of Christians, i at least, should . : be,;.-'jS.uffer7othe little . children, to come unto? me, and forbid 3 them not,- for. of suc&'is the kingdom of t heaven.' < We: read'the r Bible in schools, ' because, if parents read^ifa^Kome; they . at least will bethankful to be helped by t the additibnal- Sciidy bf it by their children 1 in achppl ; and, if from ignorance, or any t otfier cause, children do not read _it at ; home, then we hold it to" be" more thau t ever a duty and^priyflege forthenr to ba_ j taught it aV.scßSplfr^t au * events, we r Episeopalians^andT;||jg|byterians are at ) one on . this "pom^w^T 3 , wish r the .Bible . read ' by ' our children. Are l vre ! to |be L ref nsed ,this ? If so,7where is ouFrboasted L liberty atyl ' toleration f I think 1 this is 1 a very .gopd, thing j l indeed. : .-.The i [ thing • seems to me to. be the. happy medium ! between teaching the, peculiarities ofihe : different denominations, which nbtreasdn--1 able man would;: attempt.; ira 0 ~ an^ i shutting-out— the- Scriptures" -frour" the l common r "sch6bls. : Depend upon 1 - it, so 1 long as |he world stands, we must choose >' one of two alternatives \' 1 If' 'you have i no religious instrnTctipn, if your children 1 are not. trained m,' a^knowjbdgei of i Scriptures, 'you will find ; them y grownup 1 without" conscience/ and therefore '■• far • more trouble , in attempting .'• -to;; control i; .them if they, have,- not been taughdthe •i principles of religion. .-/sup &vj& 1; _I amjßxtremely thankful to GodrthaOß ij have been permitted ; tp t .execute the puri' pose which I ; long entertained of visiting 1 this country. I rejoice that -I" .have seeir-— s it,' and I am prepared to. depart under a i deep impression of its vast importance^ : tha.t it is; a great nation: ini ife infancy:; of its vast resources and comparatively s excellent climate-^-a land which'is-destined to stand prereminent in the world's ; history. X :; a"gree entirely that' thVdiftgrbnt s Australian colonies; should; hive'aii:un- • derstanding amongst "ttem~in~fegaT3L~to 1 common questmnsj 'but ; at '-the same time ; I rejoice to see a Scotch colony rnanifesV 1 inglsucb'wonderful-yigbr'and eheigyafte'r \ such a brief existence'.^ I rejoice to see l another thing among ypu —so many Highlanders* occupying^ such pre-etaiiient ; places, "both in , Ohhrch . arid ' Stat^.',!'.! . rejoice^tdsee ■ the M'Nabs,^ the M/Intyresj ■ the ! v M'Leansj ':'., the ,M. c KelfMS^;'an4K!t|ie Campbells!" It has! been said that the ; Highlanders never succeed at. home, but i they *iaye_ not always had_the..opp.ortxmity. through want of 'country pi their "owm But here I. find s that" things are very , different. The greatest hospitality-pre-vails here. One instance I may give you^ 1 and that is of a Highlandman in the l?r.ctt vince, whp,-!when; hejgoes. away from his home, is ' s.o anxious to prove himself : hospitable, that he ' puts up a: notice. .over his-door, ".Walk^in, ,|riend, randiihelp! yourself." He leaves ; his .table ready, spread, and all ivho go^td his' jplice in His 1 absence can be accommodated'' with' foodv* Buton onefoccasion he .was"; very b^-» fore returning, and he.,, then- found thata; traveller had fully availed^ Mmiself of the. f invitation, for he was sriugly ensconced 'in _ my, friend's bed. (Laughter.); All thesethings are extremely encouraging, -ka^ showing the jhpspitalityj andj the-/pppor^" tunities for Hospitality, that'exist in this country. If you'liaye a'great confedera- . tion oKthese r colonies you willyet^prove^ [ yourselves a great natipn.l Stand fast and true by the princ^plea, qf. v relMon, and continue/ pecpt'e "■'■"'oi tp sjfiqw, ag you have shown' Mtl|erto,'fh^t'f3^ f ai!e npt ashamed of jourprinciples| and you may brave aMarid' still' say, 1 ScManttior,e.yer ! r for she is a noble country, and can point..* to every ~ part^of^th~e~*fw6rTd" "whlajfe fer " ;hardy ; Bons are scattertd:- the grace^ i of God ypu shall .be an .illuminated,foftvy tress^bf truth, $&g¥Wlsat Ito illumine the -ntVe^mtoat-^arts of the earth,