The Otago Daily Times. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE OTAGO GUARDIAN. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1879.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 5280, 21 January 1879, Page 2

The Otago Daily Times. WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE OTAGO GUARDIAN. TUESDAY, JANUARY 21, 1879.

The Committee appointed by the Athenceum meeting to consider the question of Bible-reading in schools will do well to take into view the various opinions which are held by the different religious bodies on the subject, and to disarm opposition by putting their proposals into the most unobjectionable shape. There is a large classs of persons who are opposed, for many good and sufficient reasons, to the indiscriminate reading of the whole Bible iv class, that would gladly see its main historical features and moral teaching brought before the children's minds. Is it better to leave the entire selection to each individual teacher, or to prescribe the entire course in lesson-books printed for tho purpose 1 We unhesitatingly answer that the latter is the proper plan to pursue. Facts have come to our knowledge with regard to the evils to be apprehended in certain mixed schools from the prurienca of badly-trained children, that we would put it out of the power of any child to find mateiial for ridicule or curious questioning, by omitting all those passages which necessarily, iv the minds of a certain class of people, produce evil rather than good results. A man or woman of any delicacy of mind passes over such passages without the slightest ill effect. But if it is true that " to the pure all tilings are pure," it is also true, on the other hand, that to the evil-minded and impure—and very many school-chil-dren of both sexes are unhappily suaii —nothing is pure. Then, as a matter of fact, tho practical teaching of the Bible is virtually, in our common experience, drawn from a comparatively small portion of its whole surface; and though, from a theological point of view, the book is to bo treated as an organic whole, it is quite common to treat it, and even for the Bible Society to sell it, in portions. Tho pure and noble teaching of tho book, and its most interesting stories, are condensed in various children's manuals which are iv every household, and we can see nothing but a certain superstitious reverence for what we might term the very corpus of tho book that causes scruples as to such selections. Wo hope the Committee will soo its way boldly to grapple with this question, and treat it in a practical spirit. But there is another point that should bo settled iv such a way as to claim tho largest number of adherents, namely, whether the Bible lesson is mcL'ely to be read at the opening of the school, or to be taught as part of the school course. If the former, very many will feel that it is a thing not worth fighting for, and that we had better not disturb tho present system for such a slender gain ; if tho latter, then it is doubly necessary that the course should bo prescribed, and tho questions in the lessons bo set out in manuals, so as to avoid all suspicion of sectarianism. If the logical objections to disturbing a strictly secular syMem. are to bo met, it must be by very practical measures that will at ouco meet the obvious and oftrejiontcd objections—on the ono hand, that Btule reading is far too little to satisfy ; and on the other, far too much to concede. We are a little afraid,

from certain indications, that there will be a mistaken fight for "the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible " ; and we venture to express a strong doubt, if that is the case, of the success of the attempt. The one source of strength of what we might term tho anti-religious secularist:", is £tho fact of the divisions which weaken the camp of those who regard religion as all-importanfc. These divisions give great cogency to the argument that it is impossible for the State to teach religion, or anything about religion, because religionists are themselves riot agreed. We believe a little giving way here and there would render a compromise quite possible ; but if there is not agreement on main points now, it will be almost impossible to carry anything in Parliament next session in the way of amendment to the Act. Eich religious body ought to fix a minimum that would satisfy them, and out of this minimum a practical working system might be framed. The current action of the religious bodies in Victoria will afford some useful hints. It is a very strong argument for something being done in the way of moral training that, as regards three-fourths of the children, the State in undertaking their education stands in loco jjarentis, —it occupies the whole time and energies of the child during five days in the week, and leaves actually no opportunity for moral and religious training \<y the parent except on Saturdays and Sundays ; and Saturdays ought in great measure to be devoted to physical recreation. Of course, in reply to this it may be said, " "We have already too much to do, and you want to thrust in another subject." Be it so, once for all it should be taid, whatever else is left undone the moral training must not be omitted ; this is a sine qua non: let all the rest go rather than that this one thing should be neglected. In the language of Matthew Arnold, appositely referred to by a correspondent, we want what is behind conduct — righteousness; and the teaching of the Bible " makes for righteousness " as that of no other book has ever done.