Yesterday – To-day – To-morrow IN NEW ZEALAND

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 66, Issue 5600, 2 April 1943, Page 4

Yesterday - To-day - To-morrow IN NEW ZEALAND

(By

BENJAMIN DAVID)

CHAPTER HL Giyen this system of election by direct representation, there remains but one thing to rigidly safeguard, namely, the character of the individual inhabitants of the country.. .Knowledge of truth, and force of character to apply it, are the essence of stability in a nation. “Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”— (Jno. 8.32.) How this can be acquired is known to those who have studied life and its'laws.

Such should be one of the principal aims in our educational system,, for without it no nation can stand secure.

There is one source, and one source only, from which sound character can spring—the living Word of the living God.

Yet, strange to say, our vaunted Christian New Zealand has deliberately and stubbornly set itself out to teach her children, per medium of her compulsory educational system, that materialism is the greatest essential in life, or, in other words, that Mammon comes first and God afterwards.

Then, strange paradox, when the world is staggering through the worship of Mammon, the people set up the cry, “ Lord save us: we perish,” whilst still clinging to the golden calf. Somewhere in Scripture it is written : ■ “ He that in the Heavens sitteth shall laugh.”—(Ps. 2-4.) Let us get down to earth without ariy beg-pardons, and dig for ."the truth. Only the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth can be of any value to us. All else is Satan’s camouflage, which ends in wars apd rumours of wars. We are thus forced back to give our attention to the question of education.

It has been aptly said that no jnind can easily assimilate them, ignorant of the Word of God.

God’s Wprd is written in language that a child can easily ccmmit tc memcry, and sc many cf its mest precious and ennobling truths are set out so simply, and clearly that a child’s mind c an easily assimilate them. Therefore a child should be encouraged, as .part of our educational system, to commit to memory selected texts from the Scriptures. As the child grows up, and its mind develops, the beauty of the Truth of God’s Word will, in its true setting, evolve in the growing mind, till it culminates in a manhood and womanhood ennobled, enriched, and stabilised in character, sound and reliable, and which nothing can undermine. As for interpretation of God’s Word we have the assurance of Christ Himself ere He left this world:

“ Rut thp Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name. He shall teach you all things.”—(Jno. xiv., 26.) And we know how absolutely reliable is a promise of Christ’s. Before He speaks He knows what He is going to say, and when He has said it He knows that God’s character is such that His spoken Word can never change: “I.awi My Father are One.” Vie can therefore boldly, and with fullest confidence, train all the children of the nation to commit to memory by repealing, daily in the class at least one Golden Text per week, preceded by saying together the Lord’s Prayer, that essence of perfection as a guide to men and nations in their daily life and conduct. A Golden Text per week would aggregate approximately five hundred Golden Texts embedded immovably in teh minds of the children during their school careers-—seed sown in good ground to bring forth its fruit—- “ some an hundred-fold, some sixty-hundred-fold, some sixty-fold, and fold,’ ’and some thirty-fold.”—(Matth. 13.8.) Train up a child in the way it should go, and when it is old it will never depart from it.” (Prov. 22.6.) Therein lies the foundation of character. finder this mentality, wars apd rumpurs of wars would be an impossibility. It is well that here we should recall sojme of the experiences of Bible teaching in some New Zealand schools. The waiter can give first-hand knowledge of the resplts at the public school at Havelock North, Hawke’s Bay, qyer a period of ten years. AJJ the failures in the annual examinations came from those children who did not attend the Bible Class which was conducted by the local clergy for half an hour daily before the school syllabus began. Year by year the results were minuted by the School Committee, until at the end of the ten-year period it was deemed unnecessary to further record minutes of same, as it had been established as an axiom that success in the secular teaching was decidedly stimulated by the Bible teaching beforehand.

There is unquestionably food for deen thought in these results. The same results were obtained over along period by schools under the Dunedin Education Hoard. The records are so voluminous that they fill a large pamphlet entitled “ The Lost Bible in Schools ” published by the Outlook, the official organ of the Presbyterian Church of New Zealand, it woujd do good were this pamphlet re-published. " -Return unto Me and I will return unto you, saith the Lord God of Hosts.”—-(Mai. iii., 7.) “ Without Me ye can do nothing.”—(Jno. xv., 5.) “ The nation and kingdom that will not serve Thee Shall perish.” (Isa. ix„ 12.) CHAPTER iy. Given the above-mentioned conditions as to character-building, and frule by a Parliament of Counsellors, it Must be obvious to the reader that bur objective of “ Peace on Earth, Goodwill toMMe•• Willn ’’••Will -be nearer to solution thit would, be the case under th* cbfiiifiUftce 6i the filtely

so-called, Democratic system of living.

The basic principle of true Democracy and the basic principle of the British Constitution are one apd the same, namely, “ Justice and eqb. jy as between man and man, and in the eyes of God.”

The basis of the “ Justice and Equity ” there recited is the Bible.

When the South African Native Chief asked Queen Victoria, “ What is the secret of England’s greatness ? ” she took the Bible and said, “ This is the secret of England’s greatness ! ”

Throughout the British Empire any law placed by Parliament on the Statute Book must conform to this Basic Principle or it becomes null and and void.

It is the prerogative of a Court Judge to set aside statutory enactments and decide a case on the basic principle of “ Justice and Equity as between man and man, and in the eyes of God.’’

Some lawyers translate the basic principle into “ Equity and Good Conscience,” but do not say who is to determine what “ Good Conscience ” is !

But when we refer to the Bible — the Authorised Version of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments —there we find an unchallengeable rendering of the principle, and this is the basis of the principle of the British Constitution. which applies throughout the whole British Empire. ♦

A Magistrate’s decision is subject to appeal to the Supreme Court, then to the Appeal Court, and then to the Privy Council, which has the final word. Here, incidentally, let me state that this link connecting us with the Privy Council in London is a very vital part of our existence as an Empire, and our existence as respective Dominions, and should be jealously safeguarded in any future negotiation between the Dominions and the Motherland in matters constitutional. It frees us from the destructive results of local prejudices, and secures to us continuity of that principle of just liberty and freedom for which the Union Jack stands. .To-dayin our land, when the Supreme Court is in session, that flag must be flown from the top of the mast attached to tbe Court buildings. It is the guarantee to every British subject throughout the world that in these Courts we shall have the right to obtain “ Justice and Equity as between man and man and in the eves of God.”

And it stands to the credit of our New Zealand Judges that the measure of justice meted out in our Courts is of a very high order. So much is this so that no citizen need fear in approaching our Courts with a ust cause. Nor, for the same reason, need any citizen fear any illconsidered, party-prejudiced, or unjust legislation or regulation which mav be placed on the Statute Book in violation of the basic constitutional principle of “Justice and Equity as between man and man and in the sight of God.” But how can this be obtained and maintained ? Certainly not by the system of Party Government which is a vicious, selfish, self-seeking principle; but by a Parliament of Counsellors elected direct by and directly representing the people who elected them. If this principle were put into force all over the world, there would be no such thing as wars and rumours of wars. (The End)