A LETTER DISMEMBERED.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume V, Issue 224, 17 August 1877, Page 9

A LETTER DISMEMBERED.

(Prom the Otago Guardian.) As we deem it entirely desirable that the question of Bible reading in our public schools should be thoroughly ventilated, we give prominence to the following letter, which fairly represents some of the arguments that present themselves to persons viewing one side of the question. For facility of comment, we shall lake the liberty of dismembering the letter and treating its parts in succession: —

"TO THE EDITOR OP THE GUARDIAN. " Sir,— The following propositions occurred to me upon teadinothe pros and cons about the Bible reading in the public schools' Desiring to understand more of the subject, I should be glad if Bishop Moran will be kind enough to answer the arguments they contain." J

As we are not in a position to command the services of Bishop Moran, we shall take on us the burthen of reply, it being understood that we in no way desire the Bishop to be made responsible for our statements. We merely endeavour to look at the thin°- as an impartial mind would regard it from what we conceive to be°the Roman Catholic standpoint.

" The Bible is Catholic in its precepts, diffusion, and adaptation to mankind j therefore the Bible ought to be read by all men. If the Bible be Catholic, those who wish to exclude the Bible from the public schools are not Catholics— they are sectarians." Looking at this reasoning in the pure light of logic, we re°urd the syllogisms as remarkably loose ones ; but viewing it from the particular standpoint which we have taken for the occasion— that of the Roman Catholic — we utterly condemn it, inasmuch as we dispute every premiss contained. We presume that our correspondent by the term " Catholic," as applied to the Bible, means " universal." He says, therefore, that the Bible is universal in its precepts, diffusion, and adaptatidn to mankind. What object he hopes to serve by its being universal in its " diffusion " we know not for a very bad book might be universally diffused, and at the best, the distribution of the Bible, and its translation into almost all the tongues of earth, are but a testimony to the zeal of the British and Foreign and other Bible Societies, and to the strong belief of their supporters in its value. We dismiss, therefore, the " diffusion " part as proving nothing. With regard to the Bible beino- " universal " or Catholic in its precepts and adaptation to mankind* we suppose our correspondent means that its precepts are for all, and that it is fitted to meet the spiritual wants of all mankind! But we, as a good Catholic, deny this, and we say that without the interpretation of the Church, which has derived its authority from the very same source as the New Testament, the precepts of the Bible may be most pernicious to souls ; and so far from its beinofitted to meet the spiritual wants of men", the Bible uninterpreted by the authorised interpreters, may lead men into damnable heresy And this is a thing that is very generally overlooked by Protestants, who assume that only the first ministers of the Christian Church were empowered to deliver authorised truth. By what authority, we ask, do you Protestants assume this? You say that not only the Apostles, but Luke the evangelist and Mark and others, who probably never even saw the Sounder of the Church, spoke authorised and inspired truth, and yet you deny the power of the successors of the Apostles to do the same; while the Founder of the Church, in commanding baptism and teaching for all time, said, " Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world." By what authority do you hunt the rule of faith to the ministers of the early Church ? But whatever you do, you must bear in mind that we Catholic 3do not j and when you expostulate with us for not givin«- the Bible without comment to the laity because it is the Word of God, pray be fair enough to bear in mind that we Catholics consider it the incomplete Word of God, and that without the interpretation of its authorised expounders it is neither adapted nor beneficial to mankind. You Protestants are perfectly welcome to your own views but pray allow us to hold ours. If the Bible without comment is good for your people, give it to them by all means, but don't use the public funds for the purpose, and at least don't blame us if we Avon't allow our children to go to your schools, where the Bible is read according to your Protestant ideas. Our correspondent says

Therefore the Bible ought to be read by all men," but as we have smashed the " therefore" to bits, we say, on the other hand, the Bible, ought not to be read by all men. And our correspondent I? ii c-e -L says : " If the B f ble ba Catholic, those who wish to exclude the Bible from the public schools are not Catholics ; they aresec^ tarians. In the first place, we do not admit that the Bible is OaJiolic, in the sense put on the word by our correspondent ; and m the second place, even if we are " sectarians" in your sense, we are entitled to our conscientious views, we suppose ; and as" sectarians we have a right, in relation to a presumedly public system of education, to object to religious teaching which is a violation of our rights of conscience. tw" Sir L to emcidate tne above, three questions may be asked : 1. Does the Divine law of the Ten Commandments apply in principle to all men? 2. Is the offer of the Gospel or good news contained in the Bible made to all men? 3. Is the Bible translated into more languages than any book in the world ?" To the first question we reply that there are many Protestants who do not believe that the " Divine law of the Ten Commandments applies in principle to all men." Many, like one of the great Ketormers, do not believe the Fourth Commandment bindin* on the Christian Church, whether the Sabbath is the Jewish Saturday or the Sunday substituted by the Christian Church ; and others there are who utterly repudiate the binding obligation of tho3e or any other Jewish laws on those who are living " not under the law but under grace." To the second question we answer that we Catholics say " the offer of the Go3pel or good news contained in the Bible" is only made to men through the instrumentality of the Church so that any argument you build on the fulness of the offer in favour of the Bible being placed in everyone's hands is only reared on the basis of your own Protestant theory about the nature of those offers. As for the third argument, on the Bible being translated into more languages than any other book in the world, almost equal claim ml-um l-u yev c B l t up for the " Arabian Nights' Entertainments," a work which has found its way, it is said, into all written lan*ua<*es • bub we think that in the one case as in the other the argument that therefore they should be made school-books will not be deemed worth reply by any intelligent man. "If you can find room for the above in the G^arrfia»,perhaps more light will be thrown upon the subject by those who have greater opportunities than most men. — I am, &c,

T , . " Inch Cltttha." indeed, we have had much pleasure in " finding room " for ifc but more in taking its arguments to pieces, and if we have spoiled its effect thereby we beg to apologise. We think we have " thrown more light upon the subject," and for this purpose we placed ourselves in fancy on the standpoint of a Roman Catholic. We do not pretend that those are the replies which the Catholic Church would make, but rather those which would suggest themselves to a fairthinking Protestant looking at the question from both sides. The fact of the matter is, that this prayer and Bible-reading in public schools is just the tyrannical exercise of the power which a majority has to do as it pleases. We know that Catholics object to the reading of the Bible, and we insolently tell them that it will do them good, and that they have no right to object. We protest by all that is honest and honourable that we do a great wrong to our Catholic fellow citizens in attempting to force the Bible into the public schools of the colony ; and we fearlessly say that if this is embodied in the law of the land, the Catholic parent is a renegade and a traitor to his faith that ever allows his child to enter the doors of our public schools.