BISHOP NELIGAN AND PAGANISM.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 108, 8 May 1908, Page 6

BISHOP NELIGAN AND PAGANISM.

ty Sir Robert Stout.)

i I have been asked si. or my opinion on the criticisms • supposed to have been made by Bishop Neligan on our secular system of education and the religious condition'of our back block \settlers. I suppose the fact that for the past 44 years I have been connected with education, as primary and secondary school-teacher. University lecturer, member of school committees, High School Board, and College Coun-

cils, and University Senate may have led to, this request being made. The only report I have seen of Bishop Neligan's remarks appears in the Auckland Herald's special correspondent's letter. I havo looked through some London newspapers, including the Weekly Times, and I have been unable to find any report of the sermon. In the report published in the Herald there are three statements to which exception may be taken. First : "There was," the Bishop is reported to have said, "real danger of the countryman becoming pagan." (Notice the phrase, not the townsman.) Second : The Bishop spoke of "the countryman in danger of relapsing into paganism." Third: It is reported, he Said, "Why should there be any danger of relapsing/into paganism? *There were three reasons. The chief —and mark it well —was a State system of secular education. 0, my God, if you could only see the heathenism which is the result of secularism. . .

If you could only live in the Dominion and see what I have seen."

It is these assertions to which exception has been taken. With .almost 'all the other statements of the Bishop as to the growth of New Zealand, and the formation of a new colonial type, etc., every thoughtful person will agree. Did the Bishop make these three assertions?. I think the public might wait for some further proof. The reporter may have misunderstood him, and for these reasons.

-First : They are a grave reflection on the late Bishop of Auckland and on the Auckland Diocesan Synod. Did the late Bishop know of heathenism, which was the result of secular education ? If he did he would most assuredly have brought the matter before his Synod, and if the heathenism exists the able men who are well acquainted with the AucklanH district, and are members of the Synod, must have been aware of the "heathenism," and so far as I am aware none of them have ever called attention to such "heathenism." Second: If the heathenism does exist in the diocese, and amongst Anglicans, the grayest reflection is cast upon the Anglican Church and its overseers. What has that Church done to cope with the evil ? And how is. it that its efforts have failed? Can it be that an Episcopal Church is unsuited for our Dominion ? Third :It will be noted thati the Bishop is reported to have talked about the back blocks settler "relapsing into paganism." This means that he has been pagan -once and is going back to paganism again. Unless the Bishop means this, "relapsing" is an inaccurate word to use. This also should make us doubt the correctness of the report.

Is it not, therefore, better to be>lieve that the Bishop has been misreported? Of course two out of the three statements are predictions. The

Bishop in making them—if he did make them—was clad in the prophet s mantle. -They are not statements of fact. The Bishop sees real danger in the country becoming pagan. Well, Oliver Wendell Holmes said that the inhabitants of one valley in Georgia were all Calvinists, because they suffered from disordered liver. The physical state of a person has much to do with his pessimism or optimism, and who knows but a London fog may not be the "fons et origo" of the Bishop's pagan outlook. 0r : perhaps, he and the Diocesan Synod may not have been seeing eye to eye on some ecclesiastical matters. And remembering past disappointments, and coming to London in damp, foggy February, after the bright" sunshine of Auckland, the Bishop may have become exceedingly pessimistic when he contrasted the roadless North with the streets of Paddington and the slums of London. We must excuse pessimism under such circumstances. There is, however, a direct statement, though it is of a vague kind. Our State system of secular education produces "heathenism," I say it is vague, for I do not kno,w what the Bishop means by "heathenism." It may be only an opprobious epithet, and no doubt it is often nothing more in the mouths of some ecclesiastics. Does it mrfan "non-Christian?" Would it be correct to say that Huxley and Spencer were "heathens?" If so, people need not be alarmed at the word "heathenism." Huxley and ! Spencer were very good men, and if all our back blocks settlers were as good as they were we might • well feel gratified. And I suppose Socrates and Plato were also, "heathens." Yet what possessor of the Chair of St. Augustine ever equalled such "heathens?" So far as I know, and I think I knW the Bishop, there is no "heathenism" in New Zealand such as is usually understood by that term. When we iriention "heathenism" we think of the doings of uncivilised men in Darkest Africa. We have, no doubt, criminality and vice in our midst, but statistics show that we have less of these evils than almost any country in Europe, less certainly than in London, and less certaily than in those States of Europe where education is entirely under the control of a-Christian Church. What, , then, does the Bishop mean by "heathenism?" The only illustration he gives is that after he had examined 43 children he found that only five of them knew the Lord's Prayer. He has not stated their ages nor where they were educated, nor whether they attended the Anglican Church. If they did attend an Anglican Church they must have had poor memories if they could not remember the prayer, as it is repeated at some services at least three times in less than an hour.' Further, it is a fact relatively to population- the Christian Churches that insist most on having Church schools have more persons in our prisons and in our charitable institutions than those Churches which are content with the non-denominational school. To such Churches the nondenominationalists may say. "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for us, but weep for yourselves and your children." What does the State' school system of education teach that can possibly lead to, "heathenism?" The children are taught order, morality, and literature. Good behaviour counts for much in our State schools. The scholars' whole reading and/tuition, are moral. lam in what is termed a back block district, namely^.. Whjangaroa. I got some of the school books they use and the School Journal, and I have read them all to be certain that no ' 'heathenism is inculcated. I could find none. It is true I found Cato's "Soliloquy on Eternity]" arid he was.a "heathen," I suppose, according to some ecclesiastics definition, but the version is Addison's, and the children react . . . If there is a P.ower above, (And that there is all Nature cries aloud - . ■ f

Through all her works) He must delight in virtue, And that which He delights in must be happy. But if there is heathenism, let it be plainly stated what it is, and then we-may be able to know what the term means. What, then, can the Bishop mean by "heathenism." If it means merely non-Anglicanism, then it is a mere name, a. dyslogistic term and as Sheridan said when Mr Rose called his son "William Pitt," "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet," We know that some Anglican bishops do not consider the persons who are in New Zealand sometimes erroneously called "Nonconformists" to be Christian Churchmen. The Primate, in referring to these Churches that are neither Roman Catholic nor Anglican, called them "bodies," "associations," but did not use the term Churches. And has not the Roman Archbishop contemptuously called the Nonconformist churches, "conventicles?" The Bishop may mean

"heathen" as a word not meaning more than non-Anglican, and if so, what does it matter? But even if this is so I do not think that the State

secular schools make "Anglican" children ''Nonconformists." To prove the Bishop's assertion, if he made the statement, I would like to see a list of the children iir our State secular schools that have become "heathens." Let us have their names, ages,' and their residences. And if there are any in New Zealand who think the Bishop is right, let a list be at once published, so that the statement can be tested. New Zealand is, considering the population, less criminal to-day than it was 40 years ago. The general conduct of the people is no worse. I think it is much better than it was then. There is less alcoholic drinking, less brawls and more consideration shown for our neighbours. I believe, to our secular system this progress is due, and I know our children are better trained than they were and I have been, a teacher in a school, where the Bible was read and a Church catechism was taught. / One word more. Reading the report of the sermon it would be gathered that the aim of the Bishop was either to get a good collection for home mission work among the back block settlers, or to rouse Churchmen to oppose the Imperial Government education proposals. If the report is correct we must allow for the excitement occasioned by his efforts. His calling upon the Deity shows his excitement. It is a pity that the Auckland Anglican Church is so poor that it has to seek aid from London. London has many social evils, and these surely need some missionary effort, but Paddington may be a wealthy district. As to the attack on the Imperial Government's educational efforts the sermon may be an aid in bringing about the secular system in England, for it is opposed to the proposed Government compromise. If this is so, all persons who desire to see England better educated shcaild rejoice.

I have assumed in my comments that the report is correct. I hope, however, it will yet appear that it is much exaggerated. Perhaps the unconscious bias of a reporter may account for the "paganism" and "heathenism" to be found in the sermon as reported. \ [With regard to the accuracy of the i report of Bishop >Neligan's sermon, as published in the Herald, we may mention that the se2-mon was specially reported for us by a thoroughly competent shorthand writer.—Ed., N.Z. Herald.] . . ;:- . | Mr H. C. Anderson, Acting-Direc-tor of Agriculture for New South Wales, addressing a meeting in Sydney, said that over £2000 had been raised " to, commemorate the wonderful heroism of;. Mr.,"Noble as a cricketer." .A man died two years ago who did more for Australia than all the cricketers ever did, or would ever do. He propagated new wheats, one of which, called " Federation," was going to make Australia known, throughout the world. That was William Farr, who worked patiently, and at small emolument, till he suddenly died. It was decided to have a scholarship^at the Agricultural College to perpetuate his name, yet they had not got £150 for it, although I every farmer in New South Wales had got the benefit of Farrar's splendid work. A London newspaper says:—"So great have been the ravages of the influenza in" London lately that scarcely one of the 'stately houses,' not -even excepting Buckingham Palace, vfe^,s been left urivisited by the scourge. The King himself had a touch of the malady previous to going to Brighton, where His Majesty was fortunately able entirely to shake oft its effects, and although still troubled with a slight cough, is now practically well again. Such numbers of people have fallen victims to the fashionable disease that many intended entertainments have had to bo put off, and one hostess has been sending out her invitations with ' influenza permitting' written m the corner of the card." Happily the virulence of the visitation seems now to be steadily on the wane, and the '". influenza deaths " have diminished from 1 50 weekly to something more like the v normal rate. But "the number is legion" of ex-victims who htill. suffer severely from general weakness and nervous exhaustion.