CIHM Microfiche Series (IMonographs) ICMH Collection de microfiches (monographies) Canadian Instituta for Hiatorical Mieroraproductiona / Inatitut Canadian da microraproduetiona liiatoriquaa 1 TIM ImtitMtt has atiMnpiMl to ofeMin tiM b«t oriiiiMl earn WMUaWa for fNmini. fmtmmdlMn iMy to WWJafrapMMNy MiiqiM. wMek M of tiM taMgM m tht ra^rodHction, or wMdi may I mallMd of filming, ara 0Coleiirafl oewra/ Couvartwa da □ Covan Comartma □ Covan laMofad and/or laminaMd/ Couvartwa lattaufAa at/oo paNiaHMa □ Ce«ar titia miMiiii/ Utitrada« □ Cotoorad maps/ Cartas) HCotowad ink (i.a. othar than NHa or Maek)/ Enera da aoolavr (i.a. autra 4m Ma«a ou noira) □ Cotoorad platM and/or ilhmrations/ nanchas at/ou iHustrations an eoulaiir I I Botmd NTith othar matarial/ RaiiA avac d'aotras I ITi^itWndinfnMy alon|iniM>iormar|in/ U raUiira sarrte pant dtotorsionlaionadala or dtotortion Ida la D withinthatBxt Whanavar baan omittad from fUmini/ llmpaot^Maea r t ri nai lors d'una rastauration mais. lorsqiM a pw AtA filmlas. □ Additional eomnMnts.7 Commawtairas i Mpp Hm an u i m ; TMs itam is fNmad at tha raduetion Ca doewnant ast f ilni« ao taoK da 10X laiajrta. n'ont 14X «ndimi*cidaiie M i. IfX 12X IfX aox L'lnstttuta hiia*t*peisibla ml* I a □ Cotoorad papas/ Niasda< n as: andterlaminaiad/ •t/oopalicHMas orfoMd/ OM pi^MJii nzi 0ShowthroM|h/ Tran tp ara n e a □ Quality of print varias/ Qualit* in««Bla da llmpiassion □ Continuow papination/ Pagination eontinua □ IndudH indaxtas)/ Comprand un (das) indax Titia on haadar tahan from:/ La titra da I'an-tfta proviant: □ Titfapapaofissiia/ PiH>datitradalaii □ Caption of issoa/ Titra da depart da la livraison □ Masthaad/ Mn«riqua (p<riodiqua i ) da la livraison ax MX 30X 24X 2tX D 32X Th« copy filmad hf hM bMn raproduoMi thanks to ttM oMMTOtity of: National Library of Canada L'axamplaira fiim* fut raproduit grlca A la fl4n4roslti da: BibliotMqua nationala du Canada Tha imagas ap<»aring hara ara tha bast quality possibia considaring tha condition and laglbilHy of tlM original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spaeif ieations. Original copias in printad papar covars ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad Impras- ston, or tha back covar whan approprlata. All othar original copias ara filmad bagirming on tha first paga wfth a printad or illustratad impraa- sion, snd anding on tha last paga with a printad or illustratad imprasslon. Los Imagas suhrantaa ont «t« raproduhas avac la plus grand soin, eompta tanu da la condition at da bi nattati da I'axampiaira film*, at an conformM avac las conditions du contrat da filmaga. Laa axamplairas originaux dont la couvartura an paplar ast imprimto sont fHmte sn common9ant par la pramkir plat at an tarminant soft par la damMra paga qui comporta uim amprainta dimpraaalon ou dlHustratlon, soit par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas originaux sont filmte sn comman^nt par la pramlira paga qui comporta una amprainta d'impraaskMi ou dHlustration at an tarminant par la damMra paga qui comporta una talla amprainta. Tha last racordad frama on aaeh microflcha shaN contain tha symbol — ^> (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol ▼ (moaning "END"), whichavar applias. Un das symbolos sulvants apparaftra sur la danMra imaga da chaqua microflcha, salon la cas: la symbola -^> slgnifla "A 8UIVRE", la symbola ▼ signlfio "FIN". Maps, platas, charts, ate, may ba filmad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too larga to ba antiraly ineiudad in ono axposura ara fHmad baginning bi tha uppar laft hand comar, laft to right and top to bottom, as many framas as raquirad. Tha following diagrams illustrata tha mathod: Las cartas, ptanchas, tablaaux. ate, pauvant Atra fHmte i das taux da rMuetton diffirants. Lorsqua la document ast trop grand pour Atra raproduft an un saui cNchA. 11 aat fllm« i partir da I'migia supMaur gaucha, da gaucha * droita. at da haut m% bas. an pronant la nombra d'Imagas nAcassaira. Las diagrammas sulvants INustrsnt la mMiodo. 12 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 «««ocorr moumoN mr chart (ANSI and ISO TEST CHAUT No. 2) /1PPLIED IM^IGE Inc 16U Ea«t Main StrMt Roehmtvr, Nm York 14809 USA (716) 482 - 0300 - Phon. (716) 288 - 5989 - Fox Tn >t»vt ^NIAftlO "T""^ CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO BY JAMES MIDDLEMISS, D.D. Mm$rUu$ MinbMr of CluliMn Chiircb, Elow, TORONTO WILLIAM BRIGGS 1901 Obi /V7 5"V X Kntend •ooording to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thonaand nine hondrad and oae, by Jaxcb MiODLBifias, D.D., at the Department of Agriooltole. TO a»e fmmm eterge OP. ro$$, ccik. Prime Minister of the Province of Onti 'arto. To whose zeal, energy, and administrative ability our Educational interests oTve so much, this volume, issued in the hope that it may contribute to the furtherance of the Christian interests of the Province, in which no one can be more in sympathy with the writer than our Honourable Premier, is with his hind and courteous permission inscribed, with the highest respect, by f\ n THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. It IS contended, m the>,. place, that Ontario being a Chnst an province or state, and its people generally recognmng the essential importance oV the Sous ins ruction of their chUdi^n. its authorized teacheiT^^ cer^cates of eligibility as Public School instr^l^^"^ Mt^ 'I iT" ""'^ "" '^'" P«>^^'o» «^ - Christian f«th should be qualified and required to instruct thdr pup Is m the teachings of the common Christianity of t^e Protestant population of the Province, if, as we [h.nk it can be sufficiently shown, there is no objection Tthe r S'lr r^r"'? principle or practically insuperaW Tins mvolves the subonlinate contention that, wlSe the educational authority of the Province professes Tilr suasion tiiat " Christianity is the bas^ ofTur th^j system and that therefore its principles should^VaTT X^^tii'mirb'"^*^^"'"'^^^''^-'^-^^^^^ ad^uately met by an arrangement which the experience of many years has proved to be impracticable. We rZ to the relegation, by the Education Department of C^! Which suggests thenr dp g in the PubKc School room • PRIFACK. what they, with their helper., we alway doing, and wiU doubt e«. continue tc do, with more convenience of time and place, while it ha* no regard to the Christian inHtruc tion of those who are most in need of it, besides being, as we shall see, objectionable in several other respects. It 18 contended, in the m>cond place, that the hope, at one tmie entertained, of securing the co^ucation of the children of Roman Catholics and Protestants, by the exclusion of positive religious instruction from the school programme having been disappointed ; and our Roman Catholic fellowcitirens, who strenuously objected to the absence of religious instruction from the day school, having aecured as a conftitutional right for all time to come, the establishment of Separate Schools, in which their children have instruction imparted to them, by legally qualified and saUned teachers, not only in the doctrines which they hold m common with Protestants, but in those in which they differ from them, it is a matter of simple justice that the Protestants of Ontario should have equal privilege, by the introduction into its Public Schools of instruction m their common Christianity-instruction, that is, in what they believe in common to be the teaching of the Woixi of God. Leaving it entirely to the parties immediately concerned to determine the character of the Christian instruction to be imparted in Roman Catholic Separate Schools, let us here say that we plead for no Protestant teaching in our Public Schools except that which, while suiBciently posi- tive and definite, shall be strictly non-controversial. We would not, even though we could, allow of any reference in text-books, or by teachers, that might be offensive to our feUow-citizens of the Roman Catiiolic persuasion, or of any PREFACE. . '«t.on of tk. I,<^„i„^ .^^y £ d^ieT J^k T"" ""jorily, ^„ld „„t 4^, ^ j^ rJZrHt *^ iiija.H« vere u „„, «„. ,,„ ."*'"'"^ " » "T gi»vo lo » .;.„ •■ ° circoimtoBce. that hiive lerf believe, to the b«,t in^ rfT "" """"^ " "« oiti«„. <i^C^^Zr^ °"' "™" '^"'■olic fellow. well that H iiTd i^trr^Mrr'- •- *^ ^ » which Protestants «>-..•»! *"' "" """"'nM in . »l».^., been weU oontnW^^^'"- ^°T^^' " ■"" itj:2rtiro'"-"^'^-^rj= c„m,ton«« l„.ve resulted in the unprecedeZd «.1Z a subject of instruction, properly soK^Ued. It is only « ttt* "* wf "* ''^™*''"« '''^' *^«y receive certSte" P^feTto ^ i ''' ""*^ T"' ''^** ^'' '^'"^ ^l"** they ^rT- !? ' ^^ *^"°*** ^"* °»»J^« their teaching savour of Christianity they will not be rebuked for so cdnrbu rather commendecl. But to ^cA any distinctive do^ ri„e ^Chnstianity. not only however important in the view of Protestents, as. for example, Luther's article of theTtTnd mg or falhng Church, but however important in the vfet of I^man Catholics and Protestants aX. as. for eLr His death ; or, m other words, to present any of theL doctrines^ or the like, to their pupils as matted of fai^ because divinely revealed, is absofutely forbidde" nt^'J'T- """^"" '' '^'"^ "'' ^''-y -ho are not a utoftwlT:.^' ''' ^"^'^*^"^ continuance of a state of things which they cannot but regard as being i„ a high degree, discreditable to a Christi^ pn>vinl L^d especially to ite Proteste^t profession. The w^? ^t w«, ahnost from the beginning of his long minS^y tm after ^^ clo^ officially connected with the educalna m txtutions of his locality, has. from time to time S 2TZ l*'^: --*,^f -^«-^ to, and endeavoiiS^S meet the objections which some respected brethren offer to his views on the subje t of Christian instruction inte PREFACE. ^ made, though intermittently, for a „u '.1 * ' ^" not know how he can so well emolovT i .^"* *»« ^«^« retirement from the active 7nZ^\u^" '""'" «^ ^'« putting into permanent form ! """"^'y' «" »" unfr^quently in the pr^ L **", r* '> "'"^^^^ "«t Hitical feeling mn h^i;!^ especially at a time when the Education LZtS ',°""««*'«« ^^^h the action of bemi withoTt^TiTr^^vr t^'rr^'^"'^'"- were then pleading ho^fXf 1 ^"^ ''^ *^^ ^h« tian instruction !ntnr^^L«S^^^^^ however, renounce the hope thaf * », ". *'*""*'*' have so long and earnesTv nl JL' ^"''"^^^ ^''''*'^ «««"« marvellous ^rsistence ^^ ^ f ""''"'' ^^*"' *^^r hope is to hS «^^rsuSn i;\:rrr^^ ^" peraat in protesting aa.i„,t i. :„Z7 .. ^ *' ^""l only to which he, .JZly^Z^'J''' °' ^''"''• -Uch .e owe .„'„„ ,X^ »*•■» »' "». -^n pay the debt of the inestimable pH^Z Id '.L ""'°°'* '""" "-™ «.igio«.in.tn,otionrjXs°hoo?'T.°' ""' ""'«' toon, ehiWren. "o^^il^^^^],^^," "7 """^ remonstrance, and in the f,^ . "^f"""' ""d Mmcst th.t «. eduction L .tch^lr™"""'' '"-i™™ «pic«on, by its .b«noe,t no^™'^/""™"""" » ~n. TI»t the writer is tLj^ ' possessor. Ple^, as he purposes to do. for what hT u'" ' "^ ^nat he cannot but 10 PSIFACB. ^1 regard ai simple justice to the Protestants of the Provinoe! It can hardly as yet be entirely forgotten that when, some years ago. unworthy attempts, as he regarded them, were being made to prejudice the electorate against the Gov- ernment, in connection with the action of the Minister of Education, he was constrained to expose himself to unfavourable notice, in the hope that his note of warning, in reference to endeavours to allure electors from their allegiance, might not be uttered in vain. If the following contention shows that his views are, no less than they have always been, diflTeicnt from or (let it be admitted) opposed to the expressed views of the Min- ister who now worthily occupies the place of Premier of the Province, he is fully persuaded that his free handling of the views and action of the educational authority of the Province will not be regarded as inconsistent with loyalty to his party. Its leaders do not claim infaUibility ; and while they cannot but desire to know the mind of the people, and may be expected to give practical effect to popular conviction, in the interests of the community com- mitted to their rule, he cannot but think that the pleadings of one whose loyalty cannot be questioned will have more weight with them than those of one who is less pronounced in his political sentiments. Jahks Miodlemiss. Elora, aoth April, 1901. CONTENTS Chaptkr I. -^8chooI.-Ert.WW.«..„t of 8ep«.u. SohooU ^ 2^W.«fu'^ '^ ^'~*"'"»- • -P^W propriety SJ Chaptbb II. The g«at hir to the .„cce«of our oonfntion-The .p.thv of in«y and the opposition of some ^ ^ * ' • • • Chaptbb III. Opposition on the ground of Drincinli.— n^ii • Chaptbb IV. Pass 16 ») 38 60 IS CONTENTS. Chaptir V. Pmi The JoHrnaTa inconristenoy further exhibited— Appeal to Scripture in oppodtion to our contention— Referenoe to the Congregational ohorohee 7g Chaptkr VI. State of the qneiition— Objections of ChriBtian brethren en- dorsed by the etiucational authority— The one alternative 03 Chaptkr VII. Relegation of Christian instruction in the Public Schools to Protestants ministers an inadequate fulfilment of the obli- gation of the civil ruler, and otherwise objectionable . 1 12 Chaptbr VIII. IVaotical difficulties— I. Differences among Protestanta— High order of their unity, and their differences a trifle . . 124 Chapter IX. Practical difficulties-II. Charges of skepticism, defective knowledge and want of sympathy— A great injustice to teachers as a body-The Protestant Church is equal to the fuU perennial supply of Christian teachers . lag Chapter X. Review and summary of previous argument . . . .151 Chapter XI. Misapprehension of the action of Protestant ministers- Charges of clerical agitation in the interest of sectarian- ism repelled j^q CONTIMTH. J 8 Cbaptcr XII. TIi« MMntUI importuiM of parenUl intorMt— PtirraUl neg- lect an •rgnmeiit in favour of our oontention— Perma- nent valne of Chrietian knowledge— The Apoetle Paul'e valuation of ita diftiaion jgj, Chaptkb XIII. Specific objectiona to the uae of the Bible in the Public School —I. Allied indelicacy of some of iU utteranoea— II Destruction of the Canaanitea • .... 197 Chaptbb XIV. Instruction in the evidenoea of Christianity . . 2II Notes akd Addendum. N»»- 227 Addendum on the memorizing of Scripture by the young CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. CHAPTER L ^"^SlllTiSI;? u "«8*««»'«-»«<*ion feom the Common 8ohool.-Brt.blMhmeiit of Sopamte Sohook to b« nganled -^rjng to IW.nl*. "P^" P"P^«^y ^^ thTp^c Schools, „d cUimto inrtruction in them of th. common S T i ^ ^^"^-^^t^Jf" bJ^ne to b. . tached to Rom«i Catholic; butth* PuKio H"hool* not jurtly chw- Much as we may be dissatisfied with the present edu<»tional situation of the Province of Ontario and much as not a few cannot but feel that it is «Utly to be deplored. chanicteri«Ml as it is by its Ltenw > I^f^^T*"""^ '*u "!'^' «ecularity.. Separate Schools excepted, no one who knows anything of the histonr mg the blame of what we regard as its gr^t defect ^mubUity for a state of things into which, we beheve. the Province may be said to have drifted 16 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION unconsciously, and without due consideration of the possible issues of a well-meant endeavour to secure the co-education of the children of all denominations of Christians, and especially of the children of L'oman Catholics and Protestants. Up to the time when, fifty years ago, the Govern- ment of Canada West or Upper Canada (now Ontario) introduced the system of public education, whose steady development, especially in recent years, has made the Province rank very high in the matter of education, probably no one ever thought of the exclusion of positive Christian instruction from the day school. While the Bible was a class-book in almost every school, in many cases the catechisms of different churches were used in the instruction of the pupils. And even after the time referred to, the same instruction continued to be given, in accordance with the general desire of parents, who are always, with rare exceptions, more or less strongly in favour of religious instruction in the day school. But besides this, as many yet remember, the reading books that were in use for some years after the introduction of the present system, in 1850, contained a large amount of Old and New Testament Scripture history, and were not deficient in the presentation of the distinc- tive teachings of Christian morality. It could not, indeed, be otherwise than th Jhristian instruction should be the reverse of conspicuously absent from the Public School, as it is now, when the Regulations issued at the time say, " As Christianity is recognized IN TBE PUBUC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 17 by common consent throughout this Province m an e»enf.l element of education, it ought to Z J„ 2 the regulation, for elementary instreeti™ ^ to a nght apprehension of the meaning on the part o^ the pupUs; and for "weekly instructbn by the detv of each pernuasion.- These provisions were indef/ no -^ru^ndator,. but reco^nmendatary, L tfe' authonty to trustees to .rguire teache7to le E instruction to their scholars, as well as to^ln and century of the impracHcaf,uL of what tt '''P""*'°''« »' ^-^'f * fbestowal on clerfflrmen of a .~J i ^ T" *" '"^S'"''' *« ^^e (expecting them tfaTcent an i^V^" '"'^' P^vilege. per^^ i„ ionewholbe;on1"th?r^ ZliLC"* ''"' '"''''"^"* «'-»>-»» deprecating all severity of languaL an^^r"; '*'' '''"' ""**'•' [the outset, to avoid it in tZ Tu '^ "« '* "?*"> ''•'»««'f. at «ay that h; tr:erl'l;^„ ?;; "l^f. f^"*'""' "'" "''^ ""'^ fitted by our rulers, in ttl re okZ„ ^^^^^^ 'T "•"'''''•' •'' ^'""- I the day school to the members o/an^Z „r ^ '"■"'""''"" '" that such relegation is a full ,l!-!». 7 Profowion. in the l«lief 18 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION exclude religious instruction from the Common Schools, as the Public Schools were then called, appears to have been made. But, step by step, the great anomaly of the exclusion of Christian instruc- tion from the day schools of the Province reached its present height of entire absence. And now, for many years past, the Public SI teacher may not give Christian instruction to nis scholars, even to the extent of explaining to them a sentence of Scripture that he is permitted to read in their hearing; the Government, it seems, believing that its acknowledged obligation in relation to the Christian instruction of the youth of the land is fully met by its allowing the use of the school-room, once a week, to any minister of religion who may choose to give a Christian lesson to the children of his congregation, in addition to the instructions he is giving them on Sabbath and other days, as a dutiful Christian pastor. After a while, objection was made to the use, in Common Schools, of the Protestant Bible, the AutW- ized version of the Scriptures being so described by some, to whom it requires no little Christian charity not to ascribe the evil purpose of trying to make ignorant people believe that Protestant scholars are unworthy of confidence, intellectually or morally, in translating into the vernacular the Word of Divine inspiration. To avoid offence to Roman Catholics, priests and people, its use was discontinued. And the reading books above referred to (the Irish National) were superseded by others which, as many • L I» THE PUBUO SOHOOIS OF ONTARIO. 19 to pup.l» between mm and fourteen years of L, .„rf were certainly in marked contrast to the" nT^lv m respect of their poverty of the general Tnf«J wh^h eharacteri^ the snpe^d^ book JbuTmrr: especally ,n respect of the absence of distinct"elv i^tri-to-o^ryit^-t-^^^^^^^ i=^:trt;:^:SrortP°' t.onof thepupil. The result wr^aUndtthT^ PtlttrredttTallt."?"--^' T" f^nldy disavowed « being f^u^^ with 'T^: Lcceededt^ thet ° ?t^^ T^"' '"" *^''«<''' ^est) Aoe Act establishing them 20 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION declares, in its preamble, that " it is just and proper to restore to Roman Catholics in Upper Canada certain rights which they had formerly enjoyed,"— the refer- ence being, of course, to their having their children instructed day by day in the religious doctrines and practices of the Roman Catholic Church, by teachers authorized and salaried in accordance with legislative enactment. But nothing was then done, or has t a done since, to restore the same right to the Protest- ants of the Province. On the contrary, the Protestant contention f9r it has been continuously resisted. That in the circumstances, there should be, in some quarters, manifest indications of a persuasion, that the proper way of rectifying what many not unreasonably regard as a great wrong, is to renounce the hope of a natvmal system in which instruction in the common Christianity of the Province should be given its proper (that is, a 'prominent) place, and to resort to a denomi- national system, like that of the Voluntary Schools in England, is only what might be expected.* But, if we are not greatly mistaken, the general Protestant mind of the Province is strongly averse to any such system, and would, in accordance with the spirit of the times, as manifested th ^^e last fifty or sixty years, infinitely prefer, even at the cost of some sacrifice, a national and non-sectarian system, under which only the common Christianity of the great body of Pro- testants would be taught, as it can be, without even a suspicion of denominationalism, by any qualified * Reference is had to t' action of Lawrence H. Balwin, Q.C., and others. IN THE PDBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTAMO. 21 teacher possessed of common sense, <«, .very teacher « suppose! to be. In other words, we beUeve our Protestant people generally would infinitely prefer a system under which the civil authority a««me8 the resp„™,bd,ty, and asserts and exercise, the control, of the daily education of its youth, to the «rt«„a» system of the English VUnLry Schools under wh.ch every chui^h or religious bodf has M and all but exclusive control of the education given n .ts own schools, the Government contributing to their support as an obligation and a privilege. M the same time, we cannot believe they a« r^dy to submit to so great a s«=riflce as the entire exchfsion of Chnsfan ,nstr,,ct,on from the Natio™.l Schools. //«. , we are sure, they would regari as far too c«at a pnce to pay for their pr^ferenrof a nalCJZl <fc»o»,„a«™,„( system. Nor can they see tilt the d fences -mong them, in .natter of comparativly te-tents, and t,,e denial of which, they boliev^ Z bo defended only by rea«>.i„g in Hrcllo. Za\Z are, at the «ime lime, the occasion of .^ndering moZ conspicuous a unity of a higher order than thaf which cTtLt ""' '^ """' ^°""'" Catholic fello^ That there is, on the part of the Protestants of the i 22 CHRISTIAN IKSTRUCnON Pro^nnce. a general preference of a national system of education; and that Protestants generally see no reason why the system of their preference should be mamtamed only at the cost of the exclusion of posi- tive Christian instruction from their schools, is sufficiently evident from the fact of the incessant agitation of the subject by the three largest Protestant churches— Anglican. Methodist, and Presbyterian- with a view to the reintroduction of Bible or Chris- tian instruction into the Public Schools of the Province. These schools they reasonably regard as having become the peculiar property of the Protestant profession of the Province, in virtue of the legislative action that has given to Roman Catholics Separate Schools, in which their children are taught the dis- tinctive tenets of their Church, by teachers whose salaries are secured by legislative authority. Fully persuaded that the agitation referred to needs no vindication, we continue to take part in it, in the hope of its eventual success. It may be we cannot hope to rejoice in seeing the final extinction of what we cannot but regard as a great anomaly; but we cannot renounce the hope that the time will come when our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens shall no longer be alone in the civil recognition of a claim to the religious instruction of their children in schools, and by teachera, sustained and controlled by civil authority. No one, we think, can charge us with having given an unfair statement (however imperfect), in explana- k IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 23 tion of the present educational situation, much as we may be dissatisfied with it. And we trust we shall be credited with the entire absence of a disposition to impose on any party the responsibility for what we may regard as being open to objection and censure, in a)nnection with the educational arrangements of the Province. The present situation is manifestly one into which, as has been said, the Province has uncon- sciously drifted ; there having been no fixed purpose to expel from our Public Schools the Christian instruc- tion of earlier days, and no desire on the part of parents that the instruction of the day school should be exclusively secular. No one can say that the co-education of the children of the diflTerent religious denominations, and especially of Roman Catholics and Protestants, is in itself undesirable. Nor can we allow that the co-education of the children of Px)man Catholics and Protestants, except by the total exclu- sion of Christian instruction, is an impossibility For leaving out all such religious teaching as would not be acceptable equally to Protestant and to Roman Catholic parents, we would have left to us, as part of our school programme, "all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who hath called us unto glory and virtue " (2 Peter i 3)— all the lessons of Christian piety and good citizenship Whatever may be their differences, the teaching of all Scripture history, including the narratives of our Lord s ministry on earth. His life. His miracles. His moral teachings. His sacrificial death, His resurrection u i CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION Catholic, and S.t^e.r' A»d W " "°"»° But trial has sufficiently J^ a^ ^^ '" °PP°*<'- eduction oTproTiLT T» *'"' ■">«» »' "■» «>- unwuiiugT-t'trer'r' """^ """ -- »<" to be Th/ ^ '""' «='P«'tod it would prove matterof reiLV p„l, '^' ". '" »»* "'together a that tell iuTtr f " ""■"■"'""""^ •« not wanting primary schtr In -T™.'" "'"°'"'"' '» *•"« »hut our eyes to the f,^ .^ ^ '"'° "' "' "«"'"* co-educat on of E„,„a„ CatS„,^ Jj C^w in* That it is thu^ in ao„e obviou, aspects, not I— IN THE PUBUC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 26 undesirable that provision should be made for the separate education of the children of Protestants and Roman Catholics in the primary schools, or up to the age of the development of the generous sentiments of youth, should surely forbid the ascription to our Roman Catholic fellow-Christians of a claim to be so much aui generis in religion, that they cannot allow their children to mingle in the school-room with the children of Protestant Christians. But we have not now to deal with the Separate School ques- tion in the abstract. It is no longer a question whether, by the exclusion of religious instruction from the day school, the co-education of the different religious denominations may be secured. That ques- tion is permanently settled for Ontario. No one can now contend for an exclusively secular education in the Public Schools of the Province as a means of the co-education of the children of Protestants and Roman Catholics. The latter have succeeded in securing all that they can reasonably contend for mthe matter of the religious * education of their children in the day school. But unhappily, as we regard It, though, as is well known, Protestants generally are no less interested in the Scripture in- struction of their children than their Roman Catholic fellow-citizens are, their right to identical privile..e has, for many years, been practically denied, a variety of plausible reasons being pleaded in vindication of the distinction-reasons the insufficiency of which it will be for us to show. This, we believe, can be done 26 0HBI8TUN INSTBUOnoK Without reflecting severely on those to whom some may be disposed to ascribe the responsibility o! the present strangely anomalous situation. It is not for us to attach blame, as some do, to f^lToMK ""." ^^°« """^^ responsible for the failure of the endeavour to secure the co^ucation of the children of all the Christian denominations of the Province, sympathizing with them, as we do. in the persuasion that to secure such co-education, by the entire exclusion of Christian instruction, is to pay too high a pnce for it. And yet we cannot shut our eyes to the fact that the present actual educational situation, that has resulted from their agitation, is a Public School education exclusively secSar. and having succeeded in their contention for the estab- lishment of Separate Schools, in which instruction m the doctrines and practices of their Church is imparted by teachers whose salaries are provided for K, r'*T'''* authority, does it not seem reason- able that their condemnation and renunciation of the Public Schools, and the setting up of a separate establishment m their interest, should be regarded as making the Public Schools the special and^usive property of the Protestant profession of the Pro- vince and fully open to instruction in its common Chnstiamty J And yet. strange to say. Protestants continue to be told, as they have been for more than a long generation, that there are reasons why they cannot be accorded the privilege granted by statute IN TBI PUBUC SCHOOLS OF ONTARia «7 to Roman Catholies, and now seenred to them in the constitution of the Dominion. Bat while wo cannot attach blame to Roman Cath- olics in connection with our unhappy and anomalous educational situation in respect of religious instruc- tion, neither can we but protest af|[ainst the use of the strong language in which some have allowed themselves to indulge in characterizing the education given in our Public Schools. They are not "god- less " schools. No one can justly deny that they are really, and not in name only. Christian schoola The teachers are required to be Christians, in a well understood and not improper, if mitigated, sense of the tenn. The Lord's Prayer, or some other Chris- tian prayer, opens the school for the day, and a few verses are read by the teacher, either from the Bible or from the Lectionary which, after having been the occasion of much unhappy criticism and controversy, has been reissued in an amended and much improved form. And we presume the teacher will not be denied the liberty of explaining the Decalogue to his pupils, so as to aid them in the application of its precepts to their conduct in their rcla^-ion to God and to one another. And thus, notwithstanding the meagrenesa of anything that can with propriety be called Christian teaching, not a little good Christian influence is exerted by teachers who realize their responsibility as Christian men and women, which, we believe, most of them do. Freely and gladly, however, as we acknowledge the 28 CHRiamAK WSTRUCTION Christian character of our nrimiM^ ^k i constrained to ask Wl L « P""***^. *•»«>'«. ^e are «o„, he will „rfl^d i„T S °H "«"'"';»"""«- «ry, religion, iagtruotion i. imparted in tMnT H t°' ''T•r""•'"'^'»»'^T™t?lX ported «, winf rp;"eJ!^i'sru,r.''.:ui;';."- r^'tS r'"" ^ "«'"« " o-tTel Unit;! j^t™««ti:rdrtr^:^,';rp:2^^^^ common Cl.ri,ti.nity „f L J^vW. °' "" c.J::dt:iurr„r7br-T''*™--- ■ from thfiPn., "le aosence of Christian instruction irom cne Uonimon Tnow Pnl^Ii/.^ e«u i , "^wuu --» .aii/i-tni r • r 'Xi^-L-rt IN THl PUBLIC SCHOOLS Of ONTARIO. t9 Christiau reli|pon. according to their view» of it, by teftchers whose salaries are secured by State authority, it is surely becomo a reasonable contention on the part of Protestants, in which Roman Catholics may be expected to sympathize with them, that their children who resort to the Public Schools should have equal privilege in religious instruction accorded to thom, now that it is seen that the exclusion of relig- ious instruction has failed of its purpose. We may bo reminded that Separate School legisla- tion may be taken advantage of, in certain localities, in the interest of Protestanta But no one will deny that it was solely from a regard for the convictions and claims of Roman Catholics that the Separate School arrangement was introduced. This is sufficiently evident from the fact that while there are in Ontario three hundi-ed and forty Roman Catholic Separate Schools, the number of Protestant Separate Schools does not exceed half a score.* It may be that there are yet some who cannot be reconciled to the exist- ence of Separate Schools in Ontario, and would be pleased to see them abolished. We believe, however, that there is no longer a desire on the part of any to deprive Roman Catholics of the privilege, which they regard as a right, or to limit or curtail it in any way. At least, it may be regarded as certain that no attempt will be made in that direction, seeing that to make such an attempt would be to assail the consti- tution of the Dominion of Canada. 'See alao quotation from the preamble of the Act establishiuB Separate Schools, p. 20. * il V CHAPTEK II. Ontario, that while „L 2. ? f °°' "' Protestant action forbid rel ImfSo*? ^"""P'- "' "-tional institutions aidedCrbt " '" "" '"'"<"'""nal «ont™l, there .^ a^f°":( »"'' ""^r national instruction in JhZ,^^ . T !'" ™^' »' Christian P^-teatants, ^.a^^lot^'^! *" ''^ "'"='-'W- of -eek-day educati™ of 1'" ,T"="'™ "'"• «« Catholics. We are not „ "''"''" "^ «<»■""> difficulties. ButThile L TT "" "'««• ""''g-d them, we cannot alS Z Z r^ "' '""^ ■*«"» do. After many Zs j *° "'°'«'" "•»' «»»e unprejudieed ooLiSo„ " a:d 7"°' "■"' *»'■"-=• troversy, in which it has bl'e„ "1 .,°~"'™''' "»»- with candour and courte,v . I '"deavour to deal we differ, we cannot satlhaTret "^ '""" "''°- thing fitted to .ft«t our stir^ ^"" '".'" ""* ""y difficulties referred T at IHarT """.' "" insuperable. -^ '*^ f">'n being ao IN THE -rsuc SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 31 If. howey r, we cannot out attach little weight to the objectu.Ks that arc the commonplace, in the vrndication or the exclusion of Christian teaching fron, our Public Schools, there are. we regret tf say. hindrances of a serious kind to the success of our contention-perhaps. we should say. the only hmdrances which no merely human effort can avaU iwTT "^ P'*^*^«"J«'''y to the want of the part of a ew. In other words, to be more specific, we refer to the aj^thy of many of our people who the former due to the well-known inertm of ou; nature relation to the exertion which the promo- arisin. f^'"^ ^r^ ''"^ '^"•^"^«' ^^^ tJ^*^ latter arising from what we believe to be, a mistaken persuasion that infringement of general ly a^eptl pnnciples of national action is essentially invo'ed h inroad of being J ^ruIltX^^^^^ Referring to the apathetic inertia whiXuir^" necessity of the danrChn!.- -^T^ *"^ "'"^^"^ children <?«! ^la'^y Chnstian instruction of our tuuaren. bome may think fhaf ;« c^ , • young people „we «, „„eh in the way of Christian 32 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION instruction. But those who think so are greatly mistaken. For, though the Christian good of the young people of the Province is largely promoted in connection with the instructions of the different branches of the Christian Church, none know so well as the most devoted Christian workers do, that their labours, being for the most part confined to a small portion of the Lord's Day, are altogether insufficient to reduce the prevailing poverty in Scripture know- ledge, which is already grown to such an extent as to occasion anxiety in many minds, in view of the increasing' frequency of crime on the part of some who are highly educated in everything except the teachings of Christianity. None know so well as they do that many parents allow their children to spend their time in neglect of the provision made by the Church in their interests, and that many more leave the Christian instruction of their children to the short and inadequate endeavour of the Sabbath School teacher. And, therefore, they realize as others do not, and cannot do, that their utmost endeavours leave much to be done by other instrumentality than theirs, if an adequate and influential acquaintance with Christian truth, on the part of its population, is to be, what nothing else can be, the glory and the safety of the country. And here let us say that we cannot but rejoice and be encouraged in seeing, from time to time, indi- cations of a growing conviction of the necessity of giving to Christian instruction its former place in the •N THE PCBUC SCHOOLS OF ONTAmo. 33 onn.es .,L, tKuSr^rVtrf ""^ °' population, in the United S^^ """^ '° Great Britain is a^ri^ iT ' "* <=<"»P'"*<1 with ' after n-aki^^'j;, dTa^^ L"^ oTh"""'""' ■"^"' the aUsence of moral andAT. ' ™"'''' '» ".e Puhiie sehooi3™:fia?r:r:r\'"'" every one know,. „ho ia inter^ted 7nT^7 F-'' "" elementary education, not ol^r^l^H-'t''' d«t.ngni8hed for over three c^nturi^ wt ^" fence given in it« schn„l.T '=!°™"<» by the promin- in England while tTi^^ ^^""^ inatmetion; but «on p™mTn»,t^'^„: '„t r tf ad™"'" ™'™"- jtinge. as might he exZtV denominational Ibee^ made to "elude r^n' *°^ '"'^"'P' "•»' h"« V the Foster Act of 1 WO hThl !' "'"^""^ ftrennous opposition ,/?' ■""' "'"> «»«'> kd i, totaK^S Z "T .*'«'' "'<' ^g"* . kon. Leta^n;;n?r^/^/^"'f.-|y-«»lar!d„. State of Education irT 1 ?^^"" '^P"'' °^ tho ^Jeport of theTatM llf^^/^Pr*^ ^^ "' ""^ kbove), and he will W ?„^;;f7 -/-'d to 34 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION Ontario, and by its showing that the practical English mind is (to avoid the charge of disrespect, let us say not above but) incapable of being affected by what it would doubtless regard as the needless apprehensions that sway the minds of some respected Ontario Pro- testants, lay and clerical, in opposition to the allow- ance of Christian instruction by teachers whose salaries are secured by the action of civil authority. But while ourselves humiliated, in no small degree, by the contrast between England and the Ontario of the last and the present generation, we cannot but be equally pleased and encouraged in seeing the deter- mination of England to give Scripture instruction a prominent place in its National Schools, while com- pelling none to receive it, and strjctly prohibiting even the least approach to denominational teaching. And in this connection, we shall surely do well to remind our readers of the striking testimony to the value of the Bible in public instruction of an eminent scientist, who could not be charged with being prejudiced in his testimony. We refer to the late Professor Huxley, who, speaking some years ago, as a member of the * London School Board, did not hesitate to express his conviction that the exclusion of that great " English Epic," as he described it, the English Bible, from the Public Schools, would be a great national calamity. In view of these and the like favourable testimonies, we cannot but be very hopeful in relation to the place that Christian instruction shall ere long occupy in the schools of the Province. Regretting that the popular IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 36 mind is opening so slowly to the conviction that there 18 a very serious defect-the most serious conceivable -mour educational system, we cannot but believe that It 18 opening. Nor can we but believe that the unammity of the three largest Protestant churches of the Province~a unanimity which cannot but compel the attention of our rulers-is of itself suffi- cient to warrant even now a forward movement, on their part in the direction of the introduction of distinctive Christian teaching into the Public Schools I of the Province. One thing is certain that the more Iprotrwted the delay in supplying the great defect of I our educational system, the more will the welfare of = the rising generation and of the generations following be imperilled. * In referring more particularly to the other hin- drance to the success of our contention, that, namely arising from the belief that the contravention of limportant principles is involved in the communica- tion of religious instruction by teachera. whose Uaries are secured by legislative enactment, we be- ieve we cannot be wrong in saying that it is perhaps, f not probably, the greatest of the hindrances that IV the way to the restoration of Christian instruc- or at all. that there is. to our mind, any difficulty in Jhowing that this belief is a mistaken one. It is Ihat the opposition of those who hold it so greatly Muces the weight and weakens the force of Protest- ant public opinion, which, were it unanimous, or 1 1 .1 36 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION inclusive of all the leading Protestant bodies, as it is of the three just referred to, could not fail to con- strain our rulers to yield to our contention. Speaking frankly, our reference is to the Congregational churches, Fedobaptist and Antipedobaptist, whose ministers, we have reason to believe, if they were polled, would be found to be, with few exceptions, if any, strongly persuaded that the communication of Christian instruction by teachers, whose salaries are provided for by legislative authority, involves an infringement of our settled principles of national action— an infringement of the principle of religious toleration, which is held universally by us, and of the voluntary principle, which, though not univer- sally assented to in theory, is understood to have full sway among Protestants on this side of the Atlantic. Well aware, as we may be, that we can entertain only a very slender hope of changing the attitude of brethren who have fully and publicly committed themselves in opposition to religious instruction in the day school, on the ground, as they believe, of great principles, we are not without hope that we may be able to satisfy the minds of some interested parents that those are in error who would exclude Scripture instruction from the day school on the alleged ground of the contravention of principle, and that the position hel' in these pages is the only one that is sound and safe— sound in principle, and safe in contrast with our present educational situation, which we can never cease to reclaim against as IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 37 fmught with danger in relation to the beat interests of our people. And may we not expect that if it can be shown, as we believe it can. that there is no insuperable difficulty in the way of the introduction of positive Christian instruction into what are now called the Public Schools, our Roman Catholic fellow- citizens. who objected to them and renounced and abdicated them, on the ground of the absence of such instruction, will, after having had accorded to them a privilege which they highly prize, sympathize with us and aid us. in our continued agitation for a privi- j^e m the interest of our children, which the great jbody of Protestants value not less than they do Itnemselvesi' CHAPTER III. Opposition on the ground of principle-ReHgious instruction m the National Schools not to be identified with the national endowment of reliffon- Red^ictio ad ab»,irdmn- Righta of majority and its generous regard to minority- An inconsistency of opponents. ■ We have referred to indications of the growth of a conviction that the absence of Christian instruction from the Public Schools of Ontario is the great defect of Its otherwise excellent and exemplary system of elementary education. These indications, endorsed as they are. for the most part, by the press in pre ' sentmg them, are no small encouragement to us in resuming our contention of former years, when 'we were called to defend the position that the objection made to Christian instruction in our schools, on the ground of Its contravening generally accepted prin- ciples of national action, is invalid_a position in which, we believe, the great majority of the Christian people of the Province are in agreement with u& Reference, however, has been made to the fact that there are some who are opposed to religious instruction in the National School, on the alleged ground that the 38 ■It L IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 39 communication of such instruction by teachers whose salaries are pair^ by money raised by the ejtion of civil authority, is equivalent to the endowment of religion. We have for many years been accustomed to hear that to require the giving of Christian instruc- tion by the qualified teachers of the Provincial Schools involves a breach of the principle of religious tolera- Hon; and that the payment by legislative authority of teachers who impart religious instruction is an infringement of the voluntary principle, and practi- cally equivalent to the national endowment of religion. And we are confidently warned that in rcjuiring, or even permitting or not disallowing, our teachers to give a Scripture lesson. howevcF short, to their pupils we ara paying them in the interest of rdxgim., and introducing the thin end of the wedge of Slate churchism, and of Ecclesiastical drnnina- Jimi, under the wgis of the State. Believing, as we do that respected brethren, who charge us with pleading for the contravention of our established principles of national action, when we contend for the introduction or rather, the reintroduction. of distinctively Chris- tian instruction into our schools, are entirely in error we are called, in the first instance, to show that those are under a serious misapprehension of the question at issue, who think that any contravention of accepted principle is involved in our contention There is such a general agreement among us on the subject of religious toleration that no one will plead for anything that he believes to be. even by the 40 CHRISTIAN IN8THUCTION remotest implication, inconaistent with it* And, though we are not all agreed in reference to the voluntary principle, we are, all of us, practically a unit in our opposition to anything of the nature of State endowment of religion in this Province. It may not be entirely out of place to say that the writer was, in his early days, strongly in favour of the voluntai'y principle, when, over sixty years ago, it was the subject of earnest discussion in Scotland — the country, above all others, of the discussion of ecclesiastical questions. But later consideration has led hirr. to believe, as many others do, that, as there were titncd in the history of Christendom, when the civil authorities of its several States could not do otherwise than interest themselves in the religion of their subjects, or feel otherwise than bound to see to the maintenance of the arrangements that were neces- sary, in existing circumstances, for their people's Christian welfare ; so there are even now conceivable circumstances in which the civil ruler may with pro- priety, while recoiling from the endowment of relig- ious institutions, give of the money under his control, with a view to the promotion of the success of Christian effort. But there is no need to debate the voluntary principle in connection with the ques- tion that is really at issue in our present contention. The simple statement of it should, we believe, go far to show that, while the communication of Christian instruction by the teachers of our Public Schools is *See next chapter, for charges of contravention of principles. IN THE PUBLIC HCHOOIJ4 OF ONTARIO. 41 in no way inconsistent with the most complete relig- ious toleration,* it cannot properly be identified with the national endowment of religion. Familiar as we are conl|ivMled to be, by constant reiteration, with the assertioakthat there is no difference in prin- ciple between the >%yment, by civil enactment, of teachers who give a pb^ion of their time to Christian instruction, and the supj^t of the ministers of relig- ion from the public trei^y, we cannot but think that the assertion is, to say thp least, an ill-considered one. For, assuming the soundaess of the voluntary principle— assuming, that is, not oi^ly as we all do, that the Christian religion has no need'^f help from the civil authorities, but also, as some do^l^t their inter- ference, avowedly in the interest of religion is alvxtya unwarrantable, and fitted to be only injurious to the interests of religion, as, all must admit, it has often been— admitting all this, is it not carrying the volun- tary principle too far, when it is held to debar a ChriMian nation, as such, /nnn making vse of its own religion Jor its oivn benefit 1 For this, let it be observed, is the real question at issue. If it is really so that the voluntary principle forbids the Christian people of Ontario, or, what amounts to the same thing, the great majm-ity of them, to employ their common Christianity in a way which, they believe, is not only desirable but necessary, in the interests of its youth, 80 much the worse, we say, for the prin- ciple. But let us frankly and calmly argue the * See pp. 51, 67. 4S CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION matter with brethren, with whom, to our great roirret we are compelled to be at variance. ^ mI!'Tll'° T'' *" """ ***^" ^^^' *»»« ™«r« «tato. ment of the real question at issue will be sufficient to Hhow that no accepted principle of national action is con ravene. ,n the giving to our common Christianity a place m the da.ly lessons of our schools, there are others who having, as we believe, an exclmive regard to the fact that our teachers are paid by what is called public money-money, that is. wised by tarn- hon-can, as wo have said, hardly be persuaded that there ,8 any difference in principle between securing by evil action a .decent maintenance to the teacher who gives a Christian lesson to his scholars and the maintenance of the Christian ministry from the treasures that, are u-.der civil control, or the endow- ment of religion Though to us. and probably to most others, the identification of the two things, is a manifest error, it should not excite surprise or oLsion discouragement to those who are seeking to further what they regard as an important interest, to find that there are others who are slow to yield to their pleadings If we confess to some disappointment in finding that our best efforts fail to further the design of them, and are, as it appears to us. quietly ignored by some, we cannot allow ourselves to be discouraged Rather must we persevere in our efforts, in the hope that eventually the reasonableness of our claims will be acknowledged. In this hope, we now repeat what we liave, from time to time, insisted on for many IN THE PUBLIC 8CH0OL8 OF ONTARIO. 48 yea«, but have not seen fairly met by those who have opposed us, ou the allegetl ground of the incon- sisteacyTour views with the voluntary principle. It is then, we cannot but admit, a simple matter of fact that, in the communication of Christian instruc- tion by qualified teachers, whose salaries are, as a matter of expediency, secured by legislative enact- ment, national hcrmage is done to Him whom we should and, we believe, do with few exceptions «„- cerely adore as the God and Father of our Ix)rd Jesus Christ. That, however, will not be regarded as an objection against it; neither do we plead for it on that ground. What is more to the question at issue between our brethren and us is. what is equally true as a matter of fact, that by such instruction, the hoM that Christianity has upon the community is greatly strengtiiened. This must, of course, be the result of the good effects of Christian teaching by sympathetic instructors. But if it appears to some that because Christianity is thus strengthened in its hold on the community, the payment by taxation of those who impart its lessons as a pari; of their work, is identical with or equivalent to, ita endowment from the national treasury, we can only marvel at, what seems to us, a conspicuous instance of the " turning of things upside down," or the confounding of things which caanot properly be identified. For does it not con- stitute even a radical and essential difference between the two things affirmed to be identical, that the support, or the maintenance and promotion of the 44 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION Chnshan rel,(non ,, not th object tlud i, aim«l at in part of the work of the Public School teacher ! The ..dmR of rehgion, but the pmmotion of the moml well-being of the youth of the community, by the le«>n8 which he « expected to impart to hi, pupila The interest of the Chrirtian religion cannot but be a."^' "'^, ■""•■" "«'-'™™enb.l in pmmoting the public welfare. But the fact that the Chrirtia^ religion i, u,cuUntaUy strengthene,! in its hold on justly pleaded «, a reason why the community should not employ It as an instrument in the promotion of any other instrumentality. We cannot allow ourselves to believe that our people generally, with the views they have of the design of Divine Revelation, and " th vaue of .t in relation to national as wdl as to m, .vidua interests, will permit themselves to be detemd from a use of it that is nothing short of dread of rendering an improper aid to religion. Thev have „„ thought of seeking to aid religion which Z U.ey very well know, has no need of aid f™m ih" S^e. and which, they may also believe, will TiZl better without it. They are seeking n<;t to a^Z to religion but to receive benefit from it-the benefit which, they are persuaded, is essential to the national . IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 45 I well-being, and which is not to be had from any other I source. And no one in this land of perfect religious lequality, who is unhappily opposed to its common jChristianity, and does not wish his children to learn jits lessons, need have any fear of their being com- Ipelled to learn what he does not regard as desirable Tin their interests. But more than this no one »rho is opposed to Christianity can reasonably lemand ; for more the principle of religious toleration iocs not require. No one can reasonably expect that majority— in this case, a very large majority— shall Drego what they regard as an important benefit, ecause a few think the majority are mistaken in leir appreciation of Scripture. To yield to such a equirement were to consent to the setting up of a Practical oligarchy— to make the few, even the Imallest few, the rulers of the many. Some who have been accustomed, without due insideration, as we think, to identify the payment by pivil action of teachers who give a few minutes daily k it may be, only weekly to Christian instruction, irith what is called State churchism, will probably |iere object that the advocacy of religious establish- buent and en.lowment by the civil authorities has Uways h'en grounded on the alleged easential de- pendence of the welfare of the nation on the religious character and practice of its people. And this, they may think, is sufficient to obviate our distinction between the aiding of religion and our receiving from religion ithe benefit that is essential to our well-being as a 46 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION nation. To this, we apprehend, it may be enough tc say in reply that, if the civil authorities had netei concerned themselves with religion beyond the em- ployment of it for the promotion of the welfare of the community, there could have been no reasonable objection to their actioa On the contrary, it would have been worthy of highest commendation. But unhappily, sometimes even for themselves, as was proved in the fate of the infatuated Stuart dynasty whose assertion of the divine right of kings " in all causes civil and ecclesiastical." after bringing one kmg to the block, drove another from his throne, rulers have l^een prone to go far beyond the legiti- mate and laudable endeavour to promote the welfare of their subjects by caring for their enlightenment, by mstruction in the principles of Christianity. Nay. rather we might say, indifferent or opposed to the Christian enlightenment of their people, they have baen prone, in the hope of making them submissive and subservient, to arrogute to themselves the rule of the Church of God, and cannot even yet be persuaded to renounce their claim. Following the traditions inherited from our heathen ancestors, tkey have demanded, under pains and penalties, submission and conformity on the part of their subjects. But shall we, while reclaiming as our fathers did even unto death, against the assumptions of "the princes of this world," the successors of those who "cru- cified the Lord of glory," disclaim and cast away our nght, as the Christian citizens of a Christian Province IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 47 Ito employ for our children's good the religion to the ession of which we owe all our most valued privi- leges ? Should we not rather rejoice that our rulers, iisclaiming all right to interfere in what we regard as Christ's own arrangements for the government of His kingdom in the world, are ready to carry out our Irishes, in the giving of Christian instruction its proper place in our schools, if only we agree among ourselves knd make our wishes known to them-? What need is Ihere to he keeping up an incessant cry of alarm of incroachment on our religious liberties ^y a personifi- ition named Ccesar t Not objecting to the figure, we ive surely abundant reason to be continually thank- al to God that our Ceesar is a fairly good Christian psBsar, who, while he knows that he has no place, as Paesar, in the administration of the affairs of Christ's kingdom, knows also that Christianity is the safety ^nd glory of his country, and that the surest way to aake his subjects good citizens is to make them good !7hristians. To those, then, who appear to think that the ob- ection under consideration is based upon a principle rhich has all the force of an axiom, our reply is, iat in pleading for the introduction of Christian struction into our schools, we are not asking our ilers to give aid to the Christian religion, which, we ^re fully persuaded, needs no such aid as the volun- iry principle objects to. We are not asking our alers to give a dollar in aid of religion, which not bnly does not need what is called State aid, but can CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION flourish and prosper in spite of the State's enmi< and opposition. We are" pleading with the sLte' religion of its people the aid which it proposes t Son i "'-t '' '^^^"^ ^"^ ^^- '^^^ Sa truly, but as we often sing, " It gives a light to every ape, It gives but borrows none." of Christ lanity by public money, but the promotior telity which ,8 believed to be. beyond all othe« e^nt^lJ^- 5"'^'"°P'"P^^ '^ ^ °°t^i"g «hort of essential to individual and national well-being. We are all agreed that the education of ite youth Llt^:'"''" *'^ «P*^«- °^ *»^« action of tie Stete. and that the civil ruler is guilty of a L^ PmL n^ ^^""^ '"^j^*'^' ^">"^ ^»»t Of fnX. ^ "°°' ^^ "P *o be men wanting i„ indulgence or immoral in character. But if our rulers cannot, as some aver, discharge their duty in olTchrTf t n^t"^ ^™"^' ^- -^-^^^e common Christianity of their people, it becomes a senous question, in the judgmentTth;«e who rluz! a co3 '' 1 ^"°^ *'^ '«««^^ '' Christiani" a conspicuous place in the daily education of their IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 49 children, whether it would not be well that our rulers should consider themselves incompetent to char^ themselves with the education of our children and leave it, as it was left till recently in England, to the voluntary efforts of the churches and their wealthy members.* But we must insist that there is no need of such action on the part of our rulers on any generally accepted ground of national action. That the credit of religion is advanced, and the hold that it has on the community strengthened by the gooi- that it does, beyond what anything else can do, can- not, we must insist, be reasonably pleaded as an objection to its being employed in promoting the good which it is the only sr y effective agency in the promotion of. The civil .uority (or the State), in assuring by legislation a uecent maintenance to tht ' 3acher who, besides educating his pupils in the ordinary secular subjects, gives them lessons in the facts and principles of the Christian Scriptures, is not, in so doing, seeking to rendei id toward the maintenance and diffusion of Christianity, although, doubtless, that should be the desire and aim of every one of us, in whatever position we may be placed in the Providence of God. If the interests and the influence of the Christian religion are greatly ad- vanced, as they cannot but be, by its doing the good which nothing else can do, no one can reasonably connect this result with the payment of the ttacher by legislative enactment. If the credit of the Chris- 4 •Seepp.21, 30. 50 CHBISTIAN INSTRUCTION tian religion, its hold upon the community, and its influence are even mightily increased by its being a power for good, in the presenting of its lessons by our teachers to their pupils, it cannot reasonably be said that we are, in our national capacity, guilty of the great enormity of giving aid to religion, by assuring a generally miserable pittance of salary to the men and women who are engaged in the work, which is in its importance second to none, that, namely, of the education of our children. The brethren who, we believe, should be with us in our contention, will credit us with the entire absence of a desire and purpose to introduce State churchism into the Province. ' But we fear they regard us as blind to the fact that we are pleading for its equiva- lent, when we contend for religious instruction by teachers whose salaries are ensured by State action. If so, we must be allowed to retort the charge of blindness, that, namely, which prevents their seeing that what we plead for is not to be identified with what they condemn whether justly or unjustly. For knowing, as we do, that the common Christianity of the Protestants of Ontario needs no State aid, we are actuated solely by the conviction of the State's essential need of the religious element in the educa- tion of its youth, and animated by a conviction, no less strong, of the inherent power of the Christian religion to promote, by God's promised blessing, the national warfare. We cannot but see that, while the religion which our people profess can dispense with IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 61 the aid of the State, and can even prosper in the face of the State's opposition, the State cannot dis- pense with the aid of 'religimi. Be it so that religion needs nothing from the State, the State needs cvei^. thing from religion, without which its very existence is imperilled. None of us can deny, what has been already re- ferred to, that civil rulers— "the princes of this world "—have, in times past, been prone to arrogate to themselves the rule of the Church of Christ, 'iind the right to enter into the domain of conscience, and to deny to their subjects the right of private judgment But that surely is no reason why the Christian rulers of Ontario, none of whom would claim any place in the Church of God, except that of subjection, as members or office bearers, to its divinely constituted arrangements, should be for- bidden to promote the welfare of the community, by giving the teachings of their people's common Christi- anity a prominent place in the schools of the Province. If the Christian religion is a peculiar power for good to individuals and to communities, must its employ- ment for good be forbidden, simply because by its doing good, its interests are incidentally and indirect- ly strengthened in public estimation ? Were not this to affirm that because of its divinely-given inherent power to promote the highest human interests, and by doing so to increase its own influence, it should be allowed no place in the National Schools ? And does not this involve the further impUcation that if the 51 CHBISTIAN INSTRUCnOir Christian religion were a morally colouriess thing, destitute of all power, like arithmetic, ete, to aflfept beneficially the best and highest, that is, the moral and spiritual interests of our children, there would be no objection to its having a place in our Provincial Schools ? And does it not seem like a reductio ad abmirduvi against our opponents, when it is made to appear that their opposition is not properly based upon the rendering of State aid to religion by the imposition of a moderate tax to keep the teacher alive, but upon the simple fact that Christianity can- not but establish itself more and more as a power in the community, by the good that it does as an ele- ment in the instruction of our children ? It will, of course, be understood that we assume the Christianity of the people of Ontario— an assumption which, we believe, will be readily allowed. It may *^^, indeed, that very many of us are conspicuously wanting in conformity to an ideal Christian standard. But no one will question our right to be classed among Christian nations. The great majority of us, whether more or less intelligently or " by tradition from our fathers" (and we thank God for both), accept the Christian Scriptures— Old and New Testa- ment-^as God's own revelation of His mind and will in relation to us, for our good. We believe, or at least we profess to believe, and our profession is not insincere, that our possession of the Scriptures is the outcome of His good- will, designed, as they are, to be our guide in the way of Christian righteousness, which, we film IN THE PUBLIC BCBOOLS OF ONTARIO. 58 belieye, is the only way of national prosperity, as well as of individual happiness. And it is perhaps at this point that we may most appropriately ask our readers to bear in mind that we owe it to the Scriptures that we have a system of government under which, while the interests of the people are supreme, it is a fixed principle that the majority sluill rule, but shall do so under obligation to God not to rule oppressively, but with a just and even generous regard to the rights and to the convictions and the feeling<} of the min- ority. It is reasonable, as it is necessary, that the minority submit to the majority : for otherwise, as we have said, legislation and government would be impossible. The majority may be in the wrong, as majorities often are. But the responsibility is theirs ; and sooner or kter the Providence of God will make the wrong apparent, the minority in the meantime dutifully submitting and using all proper means to persuade the majority of their error or their sin. In reference to what we have just now said of the rights and duti^ of majorities and minorities, we think we may justly claim on behalf of the Protestant majority of Ontario that, whatever may be the educa- tional difiiculties with which we are confronted, they have not been wanting in a regard for the views and feelings of the Roman Catholic minority. Owing to circumstances already referred to, while in the Separate Schools Christian instruction is given to the young, in accordance with the views of our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens, no distinctively r 64 CHRISTIAN IirSTBUOnolf li Christian, not to say Protestant, instruction is allowed to be given in the Public Schools of the Province by Its duly qualified teachers, although these schools have, by the establishment of Separate Schools, become the peculiar pn^rty of the Protestant majority. Being condemned, renounced, and forsaken by Roman Catholics, they are now open to the relig- ious instruction, which they never would have been closed against but for the vain attempt at co-educa- tion, the failure of which is, in the estimation of many not entirely, and, in that of others, not at all regrettable, considering the immense sacrifice at which it was made, and other objections.* And, strange to say, while we have ceased to hear of any charge against our rulers, on ihe ground of, what some would call, the endowment of the Christian religion in its Roman Catholic form, by taxing the supporters of Separate Schools, we are called to contend with our own brethren, in pleading for identical privilege as the right of Protestants. Silent in what they should, as a matter of consistency, regard as the endowment of what they may call Popery, and ignoring the action of our rulers in the establishment and maintenance of Separate Schools, they reserve their artillery for us, and launch against us the charge of urging our rulers to renounce their attitude of religious neu- trality, and to introduce State churchism, Cwsarism. and what-not into the Province. Of course, we are' • See pp. 21-24. i j IN THI PUBUO SCHOOLS OF OMTABIO. only calling our attention 56 I an tncoTisistency. For we trust it har been already sufficiently shown that the payment, by the action of the civil power, of the teacher who gives a Christian lesson to his scholars, is not to be regarded as the giving of State aid to religion, or to be identified with the national endowment of religion, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant That we have greatly erred in allowing the pro- gramme of Public School instruction to become, and to continue for more than a generation, so intensely and exclusively secular is, we have reason to believe, becoming generally more and more manifest in the judgment of competent observers. Reminding our readers of references already made,* we quote now from an article in the Toronto Olobe at a time when circumstances compelled attention to a condition of things not creditable to our boasted civilization. Re- ferring to these circumstances, an unprejudiced public journalist bears testimony in the following words to what appears to have been, at the time, a growing persuasion, accompanied with growing anxiety, in relation to the absence (by authority, be it remem- bered) of Christian instruction from the National Schools, the Separate, or, as we may without impro- priety call them, the Roman Catholic, Schools alone excepted : " The thoughtful both in the United States and in Canada seem of late to have awaked somewhat * See pp. 33, 34. CHRISnAir INSTKUCnON suddenly to the coMciousne« of a very grave defeet in their hitherto much vaunted Public School ays- tern ; -the "grave defect " referred to being no other than the absence, by authoriUtive exclusion, of Chnatian instruction. We cannot but rejoice and be encouraged. ,n believing that the gr^t majority of the people of thU Christian Province, while they cannot see any force in the objection that has been dealt with are becoming more and more uneasy, in view of the evil results which "thoughtful" men a«nbe to the defect referred to in the last quotation, and in the weighty pronouncements to which atten- tion was called in Qur last chapter. What,- we often aak ourselves, can it be that pre- vents our rulers from seeing that it is only by their making instruction in the common Christianity of Pro- testants by properly qualified teachers, a constituent part of the work of the Public School, that they can adequately meet their obligation in relation to the education of their young subjects? Hitherto our contention has been unsuccessful, except in so far as It may have contributed to supposed improvement of the arrangement which originally permitted ministers of religion to give an hour's Christian instruction, once a week, within the walls of the school-room, to the children of their own congregations. This arrangement, however much there may be. in the opinion of some, to recommend it and to oblige Pro- testant ministers to accept it 08 a boon and a privilege, will, we believe, be shown in the proper plL. to be IM TBI PUBUO SCHOOLS OP ONTARIU 67 essentUUy anreMonable and genenlly impraetieable, and beyond the puawbility of being rendered oiher- wiae ty any auppoeed improvement After years of diacttflsion among ministers themselves, and of re- peated endeavour in various places to take advantage of the arrangement and to make the best of it, there can now be but few who regard it as anything but an etKuion of responaihUity, instead of the meeting of an obligation which, as we shall see, is freely and in the strongest terms acknowledged by the late head of the Education Department (now Provincial Pre- mier), as it was by his predecessors in office. It can hardly be doubted that the relegation (hy permisnon) of religions instruction in the Public Schools to Pro- testant clergymen, was thought to be an unexception- able way in which an acknowledged obligation might be met, without contravention of any accepted principle of national action. But could not an ordi- narily subtle-minded voluntary object to the arrange- ment on the very same ground on which religious insti-uction by the teacher is objected to? For, if religious instruction by the teacher is objected to on the ground that his salary is secured by State action, t.«., by taxation, it may, with equal reason be objected against religious instruction in the school-room that it is built and maintained by the same State action, or by taxation. In reference to the fact that, notwitli standing his party attachment, the writer is conHtrained to differ very seriously from the late Ministt. of Education, as 58 oHBiraiiK msTBtrcnoN wUl appear in the course of hi, pleading for Chriatian My that he behevea it will be generally aereed th.t aide the ephere of politic, and that nothing eonld Z n.or. to be deprecated than that any in,po^Ted«! c. bona mtereet ,l.onld become a party queTon 7r . pohfcal ,M„e. And while he ca^ot think tU ^ mere change of Government wonld «Ivancru.e c.«« he ..trying to plead, he c«,not reno»" Z hope that the time will come when both pa^rsw! ^ually acknowledge the jnetioe of hie'conltb^ demed to a majohty. Reference hae indeed been made* to a time when the advocate, of Christian in .tmcfon by duly qualified Christian teache™ Td to deplore the almost daily utterances of the e=ri~^i« wh^fhe': L ?,r "T-^ ^*^ 'o -j"- 'he c^r" wh,ch they had been hopefully labouring. That time h»a paased away, a, we hope, never to return. Zd toeaynothmgof thehard worts applied to us »d others when we sought peace in a Time of tr^uWe p..y we not hope that, in view of tho impTtant interests mvolved, we shall see .11 parties unK tual d,fficnlt,e. which confessedly stand in the ™v t.vely Chnshan, really «, well a, nominally ? There 'l^^y^uchjomake^^ Now that Roml • See pp. 64, M, 133. IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 59 Catholic Separate Schools are regarded as Provincial institutions not to be meddled with, the difficulties referred to are, we hope to show, neither numerous nor formidable. If, as a Protestant nation, we give to our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens beyond what our co-religionists look for, and are content to receive in Roman Catholic countries, let none indulge in vain regrets, or in worse than vain recriminations. For, if anything is Christian, it is a generous regard for the weaker party— such a regard that they cannot doubt that tlieir interests are as safe in our hands as they cf M be in their own. But believing as, we are fully persuaded, the great body of our Protestant people do, that while our common Christianity needs no State patronage and no help from the public purse, the welfare of our country demands that all our children be early well instructed in its essential principles, let us both as Protestants, and as Christian patriots, calmly and patiently persist in pressing our reasonable demands. CHAPTER IV. *'''"?1k' '^" ^"^^^^ ^<«*".«i-I„co„si8tencj-The question m«apprehended-Unr««on.ble apprehension. Some may think that enough has been said in refer- ence to the error, as we regard it. of identifying with Stote churchism the communication of Christian instruction by tea9hers whose salaries are raised by d!!l ^^^wv" ^ ' *°^ *^** ""^ -"'g^* °«^ proceed to dea with the practical difficulties that are understood to stand in the way of its introduction ir/o the Public Schools of the Province. But we must be p.tientTwe would hope to convince or convict of errir those who have been, perhaps long, accustomed to regard their conviction as being based on the impregnable vock of auimportent principle which, while it is to them axiomatic, others who do not so regard it are nS should be a warning to us lest we ourselves be guilty of the same tenacity of error which we condemn i^ others, if we find that while we need no argument in favour of a conviction which we have long held, with- are others who adhere to the opposite conviction with to IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTABIO. 61 a tenacity which cannot be easily overcome, especially if the conviction is believed to be based on the rock of axiomatic principles. We trust vm shall be par- doned if we say we can hardly but think that such is the mental attitude of some with whom we are in conflict, in relation to the subject now under discus- sion; so that we cannot expect that they should, without great difficulty, be led to divest themselves of a persuasion which they have very long cherished, and perhaps been accustomed to vindicate by voice or pen. We must therefore be borne with in prolonging our argument, adapting it, however, to particular styles of representing our contention by its assailants. In doing so, without being sanguine in the hope of con- vincing of error those who have been long accustomed to vindicate the exclusion from the Public School, of Christian instruction by its salaried teachers, we may at least entertain the hope that we may quiet appre- hensions that can hardly fail to be awakened by representations that are being made from time to time, as they have been for the last five-and-twenty years or more, of the tremendous evils which may be the result of allowing Christian instruction to be com- municated by Christian teachers, whose salaries generally very inadequate— are secured by moderate taxation, instead of being left to the uncertainty of school fees. Before proceeding, however, we cannot but refer to the unpleasant fact that there are some whose utter- ances upon the subject do not, we are grieved to say. r i li 62 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION call for serious treatment, except, it may be. some will thmk. m the way of stern rebuke. For. when we are charged, as we have been by teachers, at meet- ings of the Provincial Association, with "proposing with ruthless hands to lay sacrilegious hold upon the sacred ark of our liberties." and being « the clerical representetives of the stake and fagot." etc.. etc.. it 18 evident that the utteren, of charges so extremdy foolish are. for the time being, outside the pale of reason, and not open to conviction, by any reading. They may pride themselves, as probably they do. on their gemus in the fine art of vituperation, which occupies a place in some of the older logical treatises under the caption of De Vituperando, but has not for a century or two. been regarded as a proper sub- ject of scientific instruction, though the pracZe of it has not fallen into desuetude, and is not likely soon to do so. because of its convenience and value as a substitute for fair argument. But so long as they allow themselves in the use of such improprieties of language aa we have quoted, they must be regarded fnends to administer to them appropriate reproof and counsel, we would confine ourselves to giving whTll'^'^i^ "^'''''' ^y '^'^""g ^^'^ that thosf who. hke them, are doubly entrenched in conceit of themselves, and in contempt of their eldew-especially clencs-cannot be reasoned with till they haTe un- learned the evil habit of composition by sound with- out regard to sense, and have learned that the use of IN TH« PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 63 "great swelling words," whose sound is their only recommendation, is not only outside of logic proper, but very bad rhetoric. Their vituperation, like the abuse of the counsel who finds he has " no case," can influence the mind only of those who have no mind ; it cannot fail to discredit its utterer in the estimation of all whose judgment is of any value. There are others, however, whose utterances de- mand serious consideration: because they are the expression of the convictions of those who stand deservedly high in the estimation, not only of their own denominations, but of all Christian people who know them. We have already referred to the min- isters of the churches of the Congregational order as being, many of them, if not generally, opposed to the views in which, we believe, the great majority of the Protestant Christians of the Province, as well as our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens, are at one with us. Indeed it is, with rare exceptions, only from brethren of position and name in those churches that utterances have come from time to time strongly vindicating* the exclusion of Christian instruction from all schools under Government control. Some years have now elapsed since, towards the close of our ministry, we took our part in the public vindica- tion of the right of instruction in the common Chris- * We moan, on the ground that, as they believe, great principles demand it. There are those who would exclude Christian instruc- tion from the day school because of their aversion to Christianity. But our present contention is not with non-Christians. It assumes the Chriatiauity of the Province. 64 CHRlsnAN INSTRUCTION defect „, Z °L:^tZ sy 'Z-a d^f ? Tt tian P^vinee, and L^Tll^'l"? t^ 1^™; .nteresu The j;o„™„,*h„ ^J*^' ^^ ''» ^^ thfu2„f"f •' ''"' •"""'■«• *l>»tever maV Ibe A iriul l'».';fP'r°'««<'h »f our contention. '^ .fter e,p^' ^ ^^L^^ 74"-"" «.e waiter, opinion tha, whl^.t";,t,t'f ™ " °"' " "" IN THE PUBUC SfBOOlS OF ONTARIO. 68 ••syly surprised and perplexed," His surprise and perpl«,ty are not to be wondered .t. wher^s^e tels h.s r^ers. he believes we .re -adv^T> e««ts .-T /"^"''^ --^pul«^ devotional exercises, compulm»y use of the Bible," " <»m»„Z ««•* rel-gious inetruction " ; and we are thus p1S„t for the contravention of the principle oTreS toleration in ffeneral anH «f *k i . *«"giou8 exmeasinn «f * K / ^''^ "^^^^ **» inadequate It fsTr. K T'*^'"''^'"'^ «^ «"r contention ot Ussa on Pelion. we are. in an unholy war, crowninf wK;«k u . ^ ^'° ^'^ ^^® ^squipeiialia verba which we have already referred f-. L .^. '. ^' ,'^'' th«. Who indul, J,erre':^rttT- wp^uot^iTuVa'vC^;;;'"^^:^' Christian gentleman Tho* u ^ respected allowed to'prevent L d^ S wUhT "^ w^bwere,^^,,, ,,«^™^^-;^oW^ rewonable The proprieties of controverey forbid that we should characterize them in ter^ Ztt -«.e unght regard appropriate. But thereli Wo 66 CHSI8TIAN INSTRUCTION impropriety in the retorting of the expression of sur- prise that brethren who are justly held in the highest respect should be so terrorized by the bogey of State churchism and its mate. Ecdesiastical domination ; especially when we are pleading for the use of the very best means of rendering our experience of these things impossible. But the charges referred to, being not a mere tirade of senseless vituperation, but the calm and not uncourteous expression of sincere con- viction, call for respectful treatment, and shall, we trust, be dealt with by us not otherwise than in the way of fair argument. For this, we think, we are now sufficiently prepared. Courtesy doe^ not forbid, and candour requires, that we should, at the outset of our reply to charges such as those of the Journal, frankly say that they are based upon a total misapprehension of the ques- tion at issue, as indeed may be already sufficiently apparent to the considerate and candid reader of the previous pages. The Journal, from which we have quoted, as repre- senting in words big, bold, and brave, the views of respected brethren, who believe that the success of our contention carries with it the most tremendous public evils, and involves violence to individual con- science, quietly assumes the question between us to be, " Is it right or is it wrong, that our rulers should compel a teacher who may be conscientiously an imfidel in relation to Christianity — an agnostic or an atheist — publicly to offer up Christian prayer, and to impart 1» THE WTBUC 8CH0018 Or ONIiKIft 67 OirirtUo instruction to his pupil, and «*,,( »i. th. minisfr" (i». „f Eduction) "Ivte SL7f wy Willi ail emphasis, That it i^ nnf ♦!,« ^ x- -d that it is nothingness thJ^.^ve^J^ ^eT^T' etur, of the i.™,„ involved in our Zn^^ Td' r,;";':r^'di^r;:frtir^^^ -.r^^inCsrireitor?'"^ S^eeted-tfrth-r^^^^^^^ 68 CHBI8T1AN INSTRUCTION careful to appoint only genuine ChnHtians. It would seem, therefore, that it is only the civil ruler that niubt have a delicately tender and supreme regard for the interests of the agnostic or atheistic teacher. He must, on no account, as he would not infringe the most important principles of national action, require a religious profession (Roman Catholic or Protestant) as a qualification fur appointment as a Public School teacher ; but no legal eligibility is to l)e had respect to by parents or trustees in the appointment of the teacher, unless he is, besides being neither an agnostic nor an atheist, "a broad-minded and true-hearted Christian." We cannot, of course, but admit that, if men and women were compelled by coTiscription to be teachers, as men are, in almost all countries except firitain, compelled to be soldiers, such a question as that of the Journal might reasonably be propounded. But so long as a man is at liberty to choose his own voca- tion, he cannot reasonably reclaim against the con- ditions which, according to the mind of the community, qualify him or unfit him for any special calling in its interest To propound, therefore, the question that the Journal does, is simply to set up the proverbial man of straw. The question with which we have to deal is an entirely different one, as we shall endeavour to show, believing that we may do so without unduly trespassing on the patience of our readers, who will, we believe, see that the adaptation of our argu- ment to the charges of the Journal is far from being unnecessary. IK THi: PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 69 rJZ^'^''' ***^"; ****** •*"'"« "»^^ '»»« Ro"*" Catholic mmonty. for whom, in deference to their determmation to be no parties to a system of educa- tion exclusively secular, separate provision has been made, and constitutionally and permanently secured the remaining majority of four-Ji/ihs of the popula-' tion of the Ph>vince are properly classed as Chris- tians according to a well-known and not improper, f mitigated, use of the term. That is. they'acTpt the Christian Scriptures as the divinely given guide m the way of righteousness for man in all his relatione To an extent that some will regard as surprising, they are at one in their views of the ^hmgs of Scripture, the commm Christianity of 5J^c«n/ of the Protestant profession being that of the well-known Presbyterian catechism, which conUins over four hundred sUtements of Scripture truth and duty, all of which, with the exception o" three or four, are the expression of the views of faith and duty held by the larger Protestant churehes -the Anglican Methodist. Presbyterian and Congre- gational (Pedobaptist and Antipedobaptist). These all. we may further assume, believe that practical conformity to the teachings of Scripture is"e the elevHion of the individual and the exaltation of the nation, and that want of conformity to tJ. m whether from ignorance or aversion, is the sure road to individual and national degradation and ruin. If ^e Protestant people of Onterio actually stood related to the Scriptures otherwise than we assume they do 70 CHRISTIAN INNTRUOTION we could not. of oouwe, expect them to desire the ChriHtian education of their children, either in the day Bchool, or in the Sabbath School, or anywhere elee. In such a case they would have to be left to the consequences of ignorance of Christian truth or of aversion to it, whatever these consequences may be. But our assumptions being granted, the question between us and our respected brethren is. On what ground can it be regarded as wrong in principle that the lessons of Christianity should be imparted under the authority of the Christian Government of a Christian people who, with a view to the moral wel- fare of their children, would see to their advancement in Christian kAowledgo by skilled and sympathetic Christian teachers ? Or, more briefly, on what ground or principle is a Christian nation like Ontario forbidden to promote the best interests of its youth, by the teaching of its own religion, in its own schools, by properly qualified teachers ? The reply, in the first instance, according to the Journal, is that when we plead for Christian instruction in the schools of the nation by its legally qualified teachers, we are asking a government whose Minister of Education, the Jov/mal supposes, may be an agnostic or an aiheint, to compel a teacher, who may be also an agnostic or an atheist, to teach in opposition to his own personal beliefs or convictions. We cannot, of course, deny the possibilities affirmed in this reply. For we can- not draw the line beyond which it is impossible for the depravity of our fallen nature to cany a man. / tN Till PUBLIC 80H(X>L8 or ONTARIO. 71 be he a minister of His Majesty the King of Enj;- land, or a minister of the Gospel, or an instructor of onr children. Nevertheless, the reasoning of the reply must be regarded as unsound. If the Oovem- luent of a Christian country is anti-Christian, it is what it ought not to >\ mid what we trust the Government of Ontari > n. .-'i .\!!i he. And were a Christian Govemme*)t to a^n ,>int \q ii, ;del a6 head administrator of its K.]iici>tiou Depart: ■ it, it would do what it ought not U lo Ai\o ihn hi ae is true of the selection ami appoi'ai'i-.'tit :>^ our teacher.^ not less being the impiicHlio'>, \vl))n the Journal, before the ink is dry in the pen tiiut ch; ^os us with plead- ing for compv4aory prr^v i compulaory religious instruction, and other grusu improprieties, counsels Christian ministers and parents, and trustees as repre- senting parents (by legislative authority) to use their best endeavours to prevent the appointment of any teacher who is not a " broad-minded and true-hearted Christian." With all due respect to brethren who are in our judgment seriously in error, we submit that the question under discussion cannot depend for its settlement on the mere poaaibility of the Govern- ment, or its Minister of Education, or the public teacher, being what none of them ought to he. Surely we are not to forego the employment of an instrumen- tality that is in itself replete with nothing but good, merely because of a possibility of some unworthy hand taking hold of it for an evil purpose. Cannot we protect ourselves against such a possibility ? Is 72 OBMSTIAN INSTRUCTION ii ! >t not the duty of a Christiai, people who u in Ont.no have the appointment of tS™le» inThdr own liande to »ee that the national adminiatr.^ . Chnefan baeed, that is, „„ Christian principled conducted m accordance with then, f If our 'Hl^r ahem' forbid, our laying it down aa a rule that a tTn?^" "■"">' honestly exp«« Chriet™„ c^n. «! tone should not, however otherwise quali8ed he allowed a place in the legislative body\f theP™^ v,n.» or should not, at the least, be e«lud^ f„" with our political sentiments in the expression of our conviction that, the gr«.t body of our peopklLr Christian, Hs Government should, as a wMe be Z tinctively Christian. No one, we think, c^n rZn ably dispute the assertion that it, ruC a^te teachers as well, should represent and ^fl^t Z ing^ti^::itr rt i^^- r^ <>' '^'»- upon our rights and privileges must be guarded place and its dutie^ Or^f ,T ^"T *"' P""^' Wing in this res;ct.l;jL"reS\iXt IN THE PUBtlKKfiQJOOLS or ONTAlflO. 73 rule is a service in their intere^thMsif he will not be admonished, they can replace him by*^»»ther who will promise to conduct himself with proprSb^ their faithful and devoted servant-the servant Tf the Christian peopla For it belongs to them, under our Scriptural form of government, to see that their nilers. whose service is. or ought to be, a ministry in their interests, are men whose public action is regu- lated by the principles of Christianity. And not less 18 It their part to see that the education of their children is committed to men and women who frankly accept the Christian Scriptures as a Divine revelation for man 8 welfare, individual and national. This is not only admitted but strongly urged by the J<yumal, m fi» far as the appoiiHment of teachers is concerned And we may presume that objection will not be made to what we have said respecting rulers. For surely no Christian will now say that the State, as such should heatlieistic, and should have no respect to the coming of Christ into the worid. or to Kis teaching, or to His investment with all power in heave- -nd on earth. We have long ago-sixty years ag^-i,, the days of heated controversy, heard assertions to that effect: but we do not expect ever to hear them again. With the Jam-nal'a admissions and counsels its charges of c(ytnpiU»ion and of the invasion of the ter- ritory of conscience vanish as a vapour. There is no comp^ds^Mn in our people's requiring, whether directly or by their trustees, or by their rulers, that the 74 CHRISTIAN INSTIll'cnoH twehew of their children shall be qu.li«e.l. by know- •ny more than there i, compulsion in the reoui^' ment that aChristian mini, Jshall teaeh an/XTh m accordance with the d«,trinea of the ChureHn whose teachings he has professed his belief ^Vh^ condition of his «ception into itsmfnis^;'' Tsl one .s compelled to enter the ministry of a^y chLT «. no one is under compulsion to be . tealer l^d our |»«pe»"rely have the right to dete^tae what quahacaions are indispensable in the instructors of the.r children^ Beyond all absurdities wouldTthe ^kwng of the teacher to determine his own q^Kfl! cations. He may, of course, teach on his own IZ. «b.hy,„„ one forbidding him or requiring ^ the shght^t recognition of Christianity either W prayer or by instruction. But our content on hi bility, but to his occupancy of a portion in which the nation m responsible for his teaching. Thi, bdne well understood, we cannot but think th5 the /ouZl expresses the general sentiment of our oppZX when It even strengly insists that it is thed^tyS parents and of tmstees, as their representativi^ to see that none but a "true-hearted Christian" te lnd"if h. i"' ""■' °' ""'' «"'''''*■''» '■«'™«tio^ And If, besides seeing that the teacher of their require what it is equally their right to require, that he shall give them Christian instruction, Uiere is to IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 75 express it mildly, no propriety in saying that a teaeher is, or may be, compelled, by that require- ment, to teach what he does not believe, and tempted to act the hypocrite. Either requirement, by whom- soever imposed — whether by the Government as re- presenting the people, or more directly by the people themselves, through their trustees, who.9e authority is conferred by the civil ruler — does nothing more tlian shut out the unbeliever from the occupancy of a position for which he is not qualified, in the judg- ment of the Christian people, whose property the schools are, and who have the chief interest in them. The exclusion from eligibility as teachers in our Provincial Schools of those who are opposed to the common Christianity of the Province, or out of sympathy with it, may be reclaimed against by some as a hardship to honest skeptics. And some may raise a cry of intolerance, and denounce us, as pro- posing to bann and prosecute men on account of their sincere religious convictions. But a charge of intolerance is equally baseless with that of compulsory Christian teaching and compulsory Christian prayer. For, as we have said, the interests of our children, whatever these may be in the convictions of their parents, are supreme in this discussion, and not the interests of those who think to make a livelihood, for the time being, by teaching, or who, for any reason, desire to enter the profession. The law, as it stands, licenses only Christian men and women. The Journal and, we presume, those whose views it represents, 76 CHBISTIAN INSTRUCrriON would, as a matter of course, or rather of consistency h«ve the law altered in this respect, so as to admit of the heensinif of the agnostic and the atheist But such a change would only aggravate the greater incon- sistency to which we have already referred. For while it la pleaded that the door should be opened wide to agnoatict and atheists, parents and trustees are earnestly counselled to exclude them, in spite of their legal qualification, and to be careful to appoint "only broad-minded and true-hearted Christian teachers" We uphold the law as it is, believing that it needs no vindication. And we contend for the removal of the inconsistency which we cannot but regard as being the great blot of our otherwise admirable educa- tional system. Our reference is, of course, to the fact that notwithstariding the homage that is done to Christ in the requirement that only those who profess to be Christian men and women shall be regarded as qualified to teach in our Public Schools, Christian instruction is not allowed in them, except in so far as a limited permission is given to others than the legally qualified Christian teachere to do what the experience of many years has shown to be impracti- cable. And, what will not unreasonably be regarded by some as the most glaring incongruity of all the Protestant Province of Ontario is, in this disallowance of Christian instruction in its schools, denied a right that IS freely accorded to its Roman Catholic minority and permanently secured in the constitution of the Dominion. IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 77 The views maintained by the Journal and others, including the unreasonable representations, as we cannot but regard them, of the evils to be appre- hended from the civil ruler's practical recognition of his responsibility for the religious education of the youth of the Province, cannot, considering the interests involved, be dealt with too relentlessly. We, therefore, devote another chapter to an endeav- our to show how untenable these views are. And we shall close our argument in relation to the objection to Christian instruction in our schools ou the alleged ground of principle, by dealing particularly with the expressed views of Congregational brethren, with which the late Minister of Education appears to be largely, if not entirely, in sympathy. We trust, in so doing, to combine entire frankness with Chris- tian propriety of expression, believing, as we do, that we have to deal with the sincere convictions of those who are, in our judgment, dominated in this instance by Beanom error, fraught with evil to the community. CHAPTER V. The Jin,ma/'« inconsistency further exhibited-Appeal to Scripture m opposition to our contention-Refewnce to the Congregational churches. If we could not but greatly regret that the Educational Journal was editorially committed to the exclusion from our schools of Christian instruc- tion by the authorized teachers of the Province; and If we have still to regret that the weight of some greatly respected names is cast against our conten- tion, we cannot but be pleased and encouraged, not only by the sympathy that is accorded to us. but by the highly important admissions that are made in ieference to the character ^nd qualifications of the public teacher. Not only is it admitted that the teacher of our children should be a Christian, in the highest sense of the term; but all parties concerned m the education of the young, with the sole exception of our rulers, are counselled to exercise the utmost carefulness m the appointment of teachers. Chris- ^ n^misters are counselled to impress upon their people the great, the incalculable value of religious Character in the teacher." Parents are counselled to 78 IN THE PUBUC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 79 "see to it that trustees are selected who rightly appreciate this first and highest of all qualifications." And trustees, who represent the parents, by the authority of the civil ruler, are counselled " to show the same appreciation in their appointment of teachers." They are told that they are "not only at liberty, but in duty bound, to seek teachers of the highest moral and religious, as well as intellectual qualifications." As to the character of the teaching, all concerned, we are assured, may "trust broad- minded and true-hearted Christian teachers, when appointed, to build freely upon the deep foundations of Christian morality." Without offering any stric- tures on what some would call the high-sounding, but which we would prefer to call the high-tmied, character of the requisitions of our quotations, and without retorting charges of intellectual error, or expressions of surprise and perplexity, let us deal soberly and patiently with the inconsistency of demanding of the civil ruler that he shall not disallow the eligibility of the agnostic or the atheist as the teacher of our children, and of requiring at the same time that all the other parties concerned, Christian ministers, parents, and trustees, shall on no account allow the appointment of a teacher who is not a Christian in the most unmitigated sense of the term. We may assume that one so Christian in his senti- ments as the writer whose views we have placed before our readers fairly and with suflScient fulness, is persuaded that all to whom the Gospel is preached I 80 CHRIMTIAN INtiTRUCTION ought to be Christians ; and that God, who knows, ttnd has provided for, all difficulties that may be in the way of the acceptance of Christ by those to whom He is preached, will hold no man excused, who in the midst of such light as we have, rejects Him, or fails to receive Him. He believes, that is, as we assume he cannot but do, that all our people without excep- tion ought to be Christians, in the highest sense of the term. At the same time, we can hardly doubt that, with the views he has of the essential elements of personal Christianity, he may feel constrained to think that comparatively few of our people are what they ought to be — genuine Christians. Be that us it may, however, <pr judge as he or we may, one thing will be freely allowed, namely, that if we ore not a nation of genuine or " true-hearted Christians," we are entitled to be regarded as a Christian nation, the great majority of us accepting the Christian Scrip- tures as a divinely given revelation of the mind and will of God for our welfare as individuals and as a national community. In view of all the admissions referred to — that is, we being, though many of us far from being the Christians we ought to be, at least a Christian nation, the great majority of us accepting the Scriptures as a revelation given to guide us in the way of righteous- ness, and of individual happiness and national pros- perity ; and being all of us under obligation to see to it that the instruction of our children is committed to none but "true-hearted Christian teachers" — as IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 81 parents caring that Christian trustees are selected beoiuse "such only can rightly apprehend the first and highest of all qualifications." and, as trustees carrying out the views of those whom they represent -in view, we say, and in the face of all these admis- will think that only unusual subtlety of mind is equal to the task of reconciling all this with the insistence that our rulers, who equally represent us and whose ministry is a service in our interests in accordance with our convictions and wishes, must do no less than forbid the communication of Christian instruction by teachers qualified in accordance with their regulations. They may, we presume, see that the teacher is addicted to no immoral practice ; but beyond that they may not go. That they may not see u 'i^ i^" ""^^'^''^ ^^* **^*» * ««°"inc or "true- hearted Chnstian." no one will dispute. For that clearly were to go beyond their province, and to trespass on that of the Church. Defence, however of the apparent inconsistency is not wanting It is contended that, while Christian ministers, parents and school trustees are bound to use their utmost endeavours to prevent the appointment of a teacher who 18 not a "true-hearted Christian," the civil ruler may not, m his control of the education of the youth of the nation, concern himself in the religious senfci- mente of the teacher. That he is an agnostic or an atheist, it IS contended, should be no bar to his receiving government sanction as a qualified teacher 6 ' p 82 OHBISTIAM INSTRUCTION eligible for appointment to a Provincial School. It ia insisted that it is a contravention of our accepted principles of national action, that the teacher's reli^otts sentiments should be taken into considera- tion by the civil ruler. And seeing that the civil ruler may not refuse to make the skeptic or the infidel eligible for appointment to a National School, and that notwithstanding all the carefulness that ministers, parents and trustees may exercise to pre- vent his appointment, he may succeed in obtoiniug an appointment — in such a case, it is contended, it would be nothing short of oppression of the poor skeptic or atheist, who is supposed still to have a conscience, to require of him to impart Christian instruction and to ofier up Christian prayer, and " e<ym,pd conscience, interfere with the solemn rela- tions between Qod and the individual soul, and put a premium upon formalism and hypocrisy." However great a hardship to the agnostic or the atheist may seem, in the judgment of some, to be implied in our contention for the introduction of Christian instruction into the Public School, there must surely be some great misapprehension underly- ing the flagrant inconsistency of denying the right of the supreme educational authority to refuse to license a man whom all other parties concerned are told they mur^t. on no account, allow the appointment of as a teachor of our children. To say nothing of the obvious fact that it is the agnostic or the atheist himself that is guilty of the nprnov fevdos, in IN THE PCBUC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 88 representing himtelf to be » Chrwtian when he knows nir ."°*';* r"» "wonable that if. m our oppo- nenU insist, the instruction of our children should be ««nmitted only to " true-hearted Christian teachoi,." we should beg^n at t}^ b.jinning, by using appi^. priate means to keep all others out of the piSes- 8.on. Surely it is reasonable that. inst«»d of li<i„sing th^ whom parents and trustees are counselled tS reject, and thus increasing the difficulty of a proper selection, the chief authority should withhold liceSIe from tho^ whom, it is said, trustees should re! gard as disqualified, and should therefore decline to appoint, of course, sh we have said, not pi^! Burning to pass judgment upon the Christianity of the candidate or license, but accepting as since^ his p«, ession of a Christian faith. Andft is owZ that while according to our views, were they carri^ out there would be no c<m.puUi<.^ to teach'^Zrl to a man's beliefs, but simply the limitation of Ws choice of a profession, the temptation to "form^ism and hypocrisy." with which our contention is Zg^d would be equally st«>ng. so long as parenrfnd trustees act as the Joumai in the stro^ge^t ter^ ^T^l^r *"^ ^'^ responsibility w^ouldtnT^. be shifted from the Government to the parents and trustees, whose refusal to appoint any but o^e whom they regarded as a "true-hearted Christian" wo^ld^ no less a temptation to formalism and hypocrisy ban he requirement of the Christian ruler tl^TthfpubHc ^her shall be a Christian and impart the I^ns of ' Chnstianity to his scholars. ^^ MICIOCOPY RBOlUTiON TKT CHART (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) /1PPLIED l^^<3E Inc 1SS] Eott Main Strtct RochMttr, Nm York 14609 USA (716) 482 - 0300 - Phon* (716) 288 -5989 -Fan 84 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION But. it i8 argued, the civil ruler goes beyond his province in requiring that the national teacher shall Z\ Christiai and impart Christ a„ mstruct.on. Parents, it is said, have a right, and it '« their ^ify. to see to it that none but a Christian teacher shall be in charge of the education of their children ; and trustees, as the immediate representatives of parents are bound to carry out their wishes But the cm ruler may not interfere with the religious views of his subjects, in tl,e wiy of disqualifying them for any official position, or for any position of which he hi control. Although he represents the Christian people as much as the trustee does, and is as much bound to carry out their wishes a« is the trustee who, be it remembered, represents the parents only by authirt-ity of the civU rvier, yet an appea is made to Slripture' in the belief that it authoritatively set les the question under discussion. That the civil ruler, or the Government, whether legislative or executive, may not do what parents or trustees not only may do. but are bound to do; or that he may not con- cern himself about the religious character of the teacher, while to parents and trustees hat shouW be the "first and highest consideration, is said to be expressly forbidden by our Lord, both when He says " My kingdom is not of this world." and when He 'says. "Render unto C»sar the things that are Cwsar's. and unto God the things that are Gods And we are reminded that history proves what eviU have invariably resulted from C»sar's meddling witt IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 85 the things of God, or, as it is explained, with the religion of his subjects. We must be permitted to say frankly that it is entirely beyond us to see the bearing of those inter- esting and important sayings on the matter of our present contention. We presume that, when our Lord says, "My kingdom is not of this world," adding immediately, "If my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight," etc.. He means that His kingdom, which is, as the apostle says, " right- eousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost," is not established or maintained and extended by force of arms, and that its aims are of such a character, that so far from interfering with the exercise of legitimate earthly authority, it recognizes it as " ordained of God," for important ends, which, as we know, cannot be so effectually promoted by any action of the civil authority, other than that which is based on the recognition of the principles of the Christian religion. And when our Lord says, " Render unto C^sar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's," He cannot, in view of the circumstances in which he replied in these words to His hypocritical tempters, be supposed to have meant anything but that they should submit to Caesar and yield him a willing service in all his legitimate demands— i«., in all requirements not contrary to the commands of God, or obedience to which would be sin. To pay tribute to Caesar were no sin on their part : for Caesar had the power to enforce his demands ; and if his ^^^ I I fz 86 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION demands were unrighteous, the responsibility wouk be his and not theirs. But if Csesar should demanc their denial of Christ, or disobedience to His conimanc in anything. His disciples must die rather than obey We can therefore see nothing in our Lord's words, at an argument against Christian rulers taking upor themselves the responsibility of Christian instructior m the schools of a Christian nation and in accordance with the wishes of its people. It is, we must bp allowed to say, very inconsider- ately assuHjed, and by implication charged against us, that we are proposing that the things of God should be rendered unto Csesar. For are we not rather proposing that Caesar himself, having learned his place of subjection to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, should render to Him the things that are His ? For when Caesar says, as in effect he does say, when he indicates his determination that all his young subjects shall have full opportunity of being instructed in the principles of Christianity by well-informed and sympathetic teachers, it cannot reasonably be said that the carrying out of that deter- mination, in accordance with wishes of Christian parents, involves the great enormity of rendering to Cfesar the things that are God's. Is it not rather, we repeat, that Caesar himself, being Christian, ha^ learned dutifully and cordially to render to God the things that are God's ? And why may he not do so ? Is there any necessary opposition between the king- dom of Christ and the kingdoms of this worid ? Are m THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 87 the latter essentially departments of the devil's kinc- dom of darkness and sin ? It cannot be. for are we not praying continually that "the kingdoms of this world may become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ"? And do we thus pray without believing that the promise will be fulfilled in actual experience^ Do we not already see its partial fulfilment, however slow, we may think, the advance towards actual ful- filment has been ? Surely we are. at least, warranted to believe that there is no essential antagonism between God and Caesar. Do we not believe, and do we not actually see, that Cfesar himself may be. as he ought to be, a faithful subject of God, making God's Word the law of his rule as well as of his life ? Is it to be no concern of his that his subjects should have their consciences informed and enlightened, and their ives regulated, by the inspired rule of righteousness, the Word of God ? May he not be-ought he not to be— wise enough to know that, while Christ's king- dom in the worid does not allow the exercise of his authority in its afiairs, and does not need his official support or assistance, the knowledge of the Christian Scriptures and practical conformity to their teachings are essential to the welfare of his own kingdom ? If these questions are their own answer, on what prin- ciple, we must persist in asking, is he forbidden to see to It that his young subjects, with the exception of the very few whose parents may be opposed to it shall receive the instruction which, he believes, will more than anything else secure their growing up to CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION be good citizens, though he may not look toanythin higher ? Or, in other words, casting away the pe: Bonification once for all.on what principle is a Christia nation, like Ontario, debarred as such, ie., in actio through its chosen rulers, from the exercise of i< inalienable right of self-preservation, in so far as th knowledge of Christian truth may contribute to it Let it be granted as indisputable, and as a principl of essential importance, that the kingdom of Go« in the world— His visible Church— and the civi authority, the divinely appointed order for ih protection and promotion of men's temporal irter ests, has each its own distinctive province, an '. tha each must keep within its own sphere anr/ prose cute its own objects. That principle caniot justij be said to be infringed, when a nation as sue! —acting, that is, by its chosen rulera— sees U. the promotion of its own well-being in the train ing of its youth in the principles that exall nations. The interests of Christ's kingdom may be in- cidentaUy or indirectly promoted, as no doubt they will be, by the daily or stated instruction of oui youth in the lessons of His religion. But we cannot see that such instruction by the accredited teachera of the nation, or by the authority of the civil ruler, can reasonably be objected to as involving any encroachment on the province or privileges of the Christian Church, or any interference with its aims; a* we have seen it involves nothing compulsory in connection with the religious convictions of any one. IN THE PUBUC SCHOOLS OF OMTAtttO. 89 If any objection is made, it cannot reasonably be made on the ground of the rendering of an improper aid to religion. It can only be made, as has been already shown, on the ground of the inherent power of the Christian religion to increase its credit and influence, by doing the good which nothing else can do, the implication being, as we shall see more fully in the sequel, that but for this inherent power for good — the highest good— no objection could be made against its being taught in our schools. In closing this chapter dealing with the views of the Educational Journal, which are still the expres- sion of the mind of some Christian ministers and people in relation to the introduction of Christian instruction into our Public Schools, we cannot yet close our argument against the error of those who hold that Christian instruction cannot be communi- cated in our Provincial Schools by legally qualified . teachers, without contravention of acknowledged important principles of national action. If there are readers who believe, as we cannot but think many do, that enough has been said on the subject, and that we might now, without further delay, proceed to the consideration of the practical difficulties that stand, or are believed by some to stand, in the way of the introduction of Christian instruction into the schools of the Province, we trust they will have patience with us in our dealing, in a separate chapter, with the views on the subject under discussion, as they appear to be largely, if not generally, held by the r i I I i ' 90 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION ZTlTf-I .^"S^K*"™*! churches of Onterio - ^on If „„ opposition to thcso views is exDr3 Cr"*r'"^ '" »'-«'-s,;is7„^ rTold Tr W^""* °f "•' ''«'■ "««" » which e noia the brethren from whom we differ and . m,mster of .Imost un.ppreach.ble eaer^ ™d par ^yaity. TJie present stote of th ing, is to us views m^'ntained hv f h« n ■ ^"""^'"S expressions of the B.P« (Ant^MoS; .."S3"nr '"^'■"•"' *"" -' '- ized to state in Sv t J«f km ^^'^^ ' *"** *'"*' *»« »^ •"thor- ali-ts in th^ir Sde forTh^ -. •y'npathize with the n.ea.ori- we decline to ^ttl ^l^f^ ^^^7 °' *'^ ^°""^ Ist. By the present lawMTh/nKT-* ? **"" Allowing reasons: Schools. and^^J^™ iis Lf V"'*'^ '° "•"^'•'^''» our Common school building fo;T""«"™ ^ '"""^*«" °^ *he Gospel to use of those allottS to 1„W ? °' ""«""' *™*'» '" •»«"" outside -w-o, re^io"sr:;j:rr;Th: L^tire; r r^*" II. The C««arfr^:S/ref;ri'«?oT. °' Church and State. » prescribing such religion., exerZsl. 1 .V"''"'* "' '^«'^'*''«° ^or;.£-^r~-^^ - legis^tionTn rSeitrt^^jt:; ^^.^ Ji/;:;- IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 91 galling in the extreme, especially when we think that to those who regard it from without, it must appear to be in a high degree discretlitable to us as a Chris- tian nation. It may be that there is a casuistry that will not quail before the glaring incongruity more than once referred to, that, namely, of denying to a Protestant people what is freely accorded, and con- stitutionally secured, to a comparatively small Roman Catholic minority. And it may be that the circum- stances in which it originated forbid our appropria- tion of responsibility for the unprecedented anomaly. igaimi it, gives what we may regard as the prevailing view of the Baptist churches in the following words : " We deny that it is any part of the duty of the Sute to teach religion. It is unquestion- ably its duty to secure the best possible moral training for its future citizens. But the two things, moral training and religious instruction or observance, are clearly distinct. We do not doubt, nay, we hold most strongly, that the Christian religion affords the only reliable basis of morality. If the grand facts and principles of religion arc not known by the pupils, the teacher has no fulcrum on which he can rest an effective moral lever. But surely both the teacher and the Slate have the right to asmnu. that the parentx, the Sabbath School and tht Church have done their duty." Unhap- pily such an assumption is contrary to facts, so far as many parents are concerned, who disregard the provision made by the Church for themselves and their children. But of this we hope to treat in its proper place. Meantime, may we not ask what difference there 18, in principle, between ffiring Christian instruction and hnilding upon It, on the assumption that it has been given ? And if it is the duty of the State, through the teacher, to lalwur in the erection of the superstructure, how can it but be its duty to see (not merely to amitne) that the foundation is mfficiem, i.e , neither entirely want- ing nor essentially defective ? The obligation to erect the super- structure surely involves the obligation to lay the only foundation 9S CHRISTIAN INSTRUCnOK But ihore is one thing that can hardly be questions and that w, that the Government could not resist th force of public opinion against the indefensibi anomaly, were it not that its weight i., so seriousl reduced by the opposition of some excellent Christiai people, whose opposition is mainly founded on wha we regard as an unreasonable dread that, to intro duce into our schools instruction in our commoi Christianity would be to plant in Ontario the gem of State churchism, and to bring us back to ecclesi astical dominaiion. We say mainly, because. a< will be seen, their opposition is fortified by theii sympathy with one or two minor practical objections which, we hope to show, are far from being of a formidable character. CHAPTER VI. State of tho «iue8t!..n-Objectioiw of Christian brethren en- dorwd by the eduoatiunal authority— rhe one alternative. It will be aeeu from previous references to the views of ministers of the Congregational churches of Ontario, that we regard their opposition to the authoritative introduction of Christian instruction into the Provin- cial Schools as being a great hindrance to the success of our contention in favour of it. And if we consider the fact that the views of the educational authorities appear to be largely those of the Congregational breth- ren, we are probably not far wrong in regarding this united opposition as the greatest of all the hindrances with which we have to contend, and perhaps the least likely to yield to any endeavour to show that it is not justifiable on any reasonable ground. For it is an opposition which is avowedly grounded mainly on principle ; and although, we believe, it can be shown that no accepted principle would be infringv>d in the success of our contention, it is, as we have said, well known that, when we have been accustomed to regard ourselves as impregnably entrenched against ail- ment, on the ground of a great principle unquestioned 93 •• OHBI'iTIAN nVSTRUCnOK if not unquestionable, one neta himself to the hardc of all tasks, who would endeavour to persuade us th we are in error. But however much we may regret the opposition . our respected breth«„. endorsed as it ap^ to by the educational authorities ; and however unhop< ful any attempt to convince of error either the on or the other may be regarded, we who believe tha they are in error, and that their error is a very seriou Z;^^"^ '"^l'^ ^'^*^ *^" ^ *»»« community cannot but persist m our testimony against it, and i our endeavour to expose it And we believe w. have the full sympathy, not only of the minister, of what „ay be called the largest P,x>testant chun^hes but of the great body of the ProtesUnt population ol Ontano. whose convictions, if we are not greatly mis- taken are strongly in favour of stated Christian in- The discussions of some years ago, which have been ah^dy referred to. though not altogether finiitless of good results, failed to issue in thf success of the strenuous contention of the time for the introduction of religious instruction by the national teachers mainly, the writer believes, because they happened to be contemporaneous with the approach of a general election when unhappily, as in war. everything being supposed to be justifiable that may contribute tf party success, the Minister of Education was made the butt of aspersions that had no ground except in IN THE PUBWC SCHOOLS *0F ONTARIO. 95 the estimation of the heated spirit of political parti- zanship. Those discussions, however, placed in a sufficiently clear h>ht the position occupied by the advocates of Christian instruction in our schools by qua . lied and sympathetic Christian teachers-their ready admission of the difficulties alleged as standing in the way of the success of their contention; and the grounds on which they persist in the hope that the time will come when the acceptance of their views will be considered essential to the welfare of every Province in the Dominion. Those discussions showed m particular, that we have no call to vindicate the essential importance of the Christian instruction of the youth of Ontario. With rare exceptions-with the exception, that is. of the few who are anti-Christian m sentiment-all are persuaded that early instruction m the facts and principles of Christianity is essential to the well-being of the individual and of the com- urgently demanding an early and conclusive settle- men has respect to the responsibility of the Govern- '^i K-i^ ^^^T^'^^on of religious instruction to the children of the Province. Assumirg not only the obligation of the Christian Church and of ite parents in the matter of religious instruction of the young, but also, what is freely admitted, that « Chris- tianity being the basis of our school system, its pnnciples should pervade it throughout." the ques- ^on 18 whether Christian instruction in theory school shall be imparted by Protestant ministers, in 96 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION 'I ^ ' i accordance with the regulations framed by the Education Department of the Government, which thus assumes no responsibility for the religious in- struction of the young, beyond the granting of the use of the school-room for the purpose ; or, shall Christian or Bible instruction be regarded as a con- stituent part of the regular Rchool programme, and be imparted b}' the authorized and salaried teachers of the Province, the educational authority thus assuming the full responsibility* of the religious instruction of the children of the Protestant majority, in what we may call the common Christianity of Protestants, as it is already responsible for that of the children of the Homan Catholic minority, as well in the distinctive teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, as in the doctrines common to Roman Catho- lics and Protestants — a privilege or right, let it not be forgotten, secured to Roman Catholics in the Constitution of the Dominion. We cannot conceive of the possibility of any one objecting to the teaching of Christianity in' the day * It will surely not be charged against us that we plead for such a responsibility as is assumed by the State, when it gives pecuniary aid to the clergy of a particular denomination, or, as in France, to Roman Catholic and Protestant clergy alike. We simply plead that the particular character of the religious instruction being that of the determination of the parents, the civil ruler shall assume the responsibility of insisting that our children shall be rdigimidy educated, and of providing, as a matter of expediency and pro- priety, oy mwlerate taxation, for the decent maintenance of the teacher, instead of leaving him to the uncertainty of school fees. \i\ IB THE PUBUC SCHOOIS OF OOTARlo. ffj Khool M » matter and an important part of Ai./»r« -4.n/.no„'Corre t™:^rrt:,» cmirof 1 "•".•'.ghost deg„» to a P™test„„t «nde„LdT«," to .?; "''•"^':''? " """I"' «» ^^ t/,ri,..i t . "•'X'''" the mere statement of the hii toncal facts of the Christian Scriotures U,t 7 . teai>)iin» ftf *i. J- .. . o^-ripmres, but to tlie teaching of the distinctive doctrines of Protestant Chnstianity, with the view of earlv insfHir ? the .id of our chi,d.n the V^iT^^^ their safety against the evils that make for 7h a .nteresta It ,s argoed that l^canse this is the work of parente and of the Chnreh, it is a work in w Jch b^ rrtfo^ ^'f Tz tz ttrr-^ rtohr^^tro ■ f Therui*" ri-"" ^-p"- — that\isat'otl":Uln1trdtrof well « to th.' T " !'''" ' ""^"^ »» ""e m„ra( Z well « to the matenal interests of his people, and « 98 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION M I their chosen representative to care that his young subjects do not grow up in ignorance of the religion, the knowledge of which is essential to the welfare of the nation under his rule. For let it be granted as unquestionable, that the sphere of the civil ruler has distinctive respect to temporal interests — the protec- tion oi' the person, the property, and the good name of his subjects — the security of these interests depends very largely on the information and enlightenment of the consciences of , his people, or, in other words, on their moral susceptibility ; which again, as is admit- ted on all hands, is most effectually promoted and secured by being based and built on the principles of Christianity, as they are understood and accepted by the people of Ontario, with comparatively few ex- ceptions. While, therefore, it pertains to the Chris- tian Church and its parents to instruct the young for the higher end of spiritual edification, it cannot rea- sonably be denied that it is the duty of the ruler of a Christian nation to promote and secure the inferior interests committed to him, by employing, with a view to that end, the most effective of all means — the knowledge, namely; of the common Christianity of the nation — not therein, be it remembered, having any thought of aiding religion, which, as he ought to know, needs not his aid (though some may not repu- diate it), and can even dare and despise his opposition, but whose aid in the promotion of the ends of his own rule he cannot afford to dispense with. In all the discussions of the past, on the subject of In ™ THE PU...0 «,BOOlS or ONT«.0. 99 ted to the Toronto Mini!, • , / ' ' '"P" «"''■»!*- wh„™ du4 the .«rL» x™;j:rr^ " strained our hitrhesf .«* ""^ "ve years, has eon- 0.ng«gati„„., "oir hatll^" J»™t" "' ""^ tian instruct In tyZ !^ ."f f""""* °«'"»'" ChnV of the Province. CrnTend "'r'*"'^ '««''- -ferred to, that s„cT ^^0^ " '°""'' **"« P^l-' eiple-contnuy that i, t ^ ■" ""^"f ■» P"-- eiple, which, if aTt held bvi an ' ""'r"'^ ?"- Ontario. It is aeserW that , ' " " ''''"' '^°« '" struction by teadT^ t ^ ""•"" ""gio"' i"- 'a..«on,i/^'z:r4::„thtb,"" -""'«' "^ give it national or state .iT . ^ ° """"y- •>' *» of the New Teet:n,:„? I 'r^^ *° "l" '*"'°'""« «cept secular in the day schl "r/"^,'!"'™*™ o' may be, compelling JmTCLT T' " "° '"«"«^' -t of a rehgio^ in IS ^e^do t't 'Lr'^ '■"'''■ «>Sument that would iustifv „L •." "^'^^-an tion, some portion of wh^VK ^ "PP^'fon to all ta,«. aud Its parents. This nf ^ ' '^ ^^^'^ ^^ the Chur . -^ utterly „pu2«n,1hru,X:tf-^p.^^^^^^ 100 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION I I ^i ! which, whether expressed or not, is improperly assumed, viz., that it is Twt the concern of the civil ruler. We cannot allow it to be assumed that, though the teacher is, during school hours, in loco parentis, the one thing in which he must not assist the parent is the religious instruction of the child, because, as is asserted, his doing so would be the same thing as the endowing of religion with public money, seeing his salary is secured by taxation. The identity of the two thingL a we* have said, we cannot see. And willing as we are, though not voluntai'iea in the abstract, to admit that the Church is not, in the Dominion, to look to the civil ruler for help in its work, but to depend exclusively on what "individuals may give of their own free will," we cannot but insist that; in urging our rulers with all earnestness to assume the full responsibility of Christian instruction in the schools of the Province, we are not asking them to aid the Church or help religion. We must insist that we are not pleading with the State to aid the Christian religion, and that it is not doing so in assuring a pittance to keep alive teachers whom it requires to devote a small portion of school time to the Christian interests of their pupils. Rather we are reminding the State that, while the Church, or the Christian religion, is more than independent of its aid, the State is not independent of the aid which the Christian religion can give and proposes to give it ; yea more, that it cannot dispense with it. In other words, we plead with the State, or the civil ruler, not to aid the '" "" """" «"•«<>" OP ONTABIO. 101 •" it. power to extS t butt"?'"!; "" "*^ penty and exaltation ^ *'* P'^^" with Ihem that th »„!. • .^ " **"' *« "^''eve P«.vi«ei.l Soh»,X?™'jo-~» ■■■' "■« certified and ^„red iTT'^ ?^"°- ^^ *^^'" of the civil powr^,! '"■ "'""'^ ''J' "" «tion voluntary „S; I '"^ <»nt»vention of the spicuonatherille!^!/.'"'"'' "»"« it rende™ con- --.»nnotr:^,---;--».ed 102 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION ' M of any Church as well-grounded. It is to the effect that, should the Protestant majority of Ontario insist successfully in their contention for the introduction of instruction in its common Christianity, another majority elsewhere, or at another time, holding dif- ferent or opposite religious views, having equal rights with our present local majority, will be "justified" — so it id pleaded — in the exercise of those rights. Of course, they will exercise them, even if not justified, which they cannot be, if they are in the wrong ; and they will exercise them, too, whether we exercise ours or not. It were vain to expect that, by refrain- ing from the exercise of our majority right, we shall induce other majorities to refrain from the exercise of theirs. Apart from this, is it not unreasonable to ask a majority to denude itself of its right and privilege, and to throw off its obligation to do what it believes to be essential to the welfare jf the community, because another majority may, in the exercise of its right, as a majority, introduce erroneous teaching or do othe; wrong, thereby bringing evil on the com- munity ? Under our system of Government the majority mtiat rule according to its convictions, while, as we have said, being careful not to rule oppressively, but with a generous regard to the con- victions and feelings of the minority, both parties leaving it to the Providence of God to justiiy the action of the majority, or to show that it is wrong and of evil effect. Again, contrary to what may be expected in a » THE PBBUO SCHOOL O, ONTARIO. 103 body not behind othere in libenilitv „t .• brethren appear to be of h, • ^ "fnt'ment, our ti.n in,tn,«ion Z^Jl't T'°" """' " '^*'"'- commend to their dud«. .h!T.- '*""■ P"'"'"" *° «ve™l den„mi»«^r tuh ttf^^u T"' "^ ""■' .nt, differing ve.^ mn^fa "ir'' ""'• "*""«"■ wives, the la^d would "S fl^J r."' """"« "'™- In this obieotionT •^""^ "'"'sectarian strife.- Dcpartmenra^rdLrr""""""' "" ^•■»«'»' dacid., term,T;^'°«Lt;rfZ'rj'ir' bwie of our school .,..,!„ j.""""y " ">« Principlee ehou^d ' r^a^t"; T "",.*' '!''"'°" "' that he is himeeif'^.lt^nlt 7'^•' ■ "^ '^^' the promotion of Phi .^ • ^ ''P'^ ""««8tcd in P^m'ote it rthe u^m"o:t rm;:^^''- T' '^^ '» But he goes on to ^thTu • "^""^ «°thority." -Ponsibiiit, of S:n?.4 dtSver^Ch""' their rep^^^L'^ XZ^'Z" f ■jr"^"" " "serious obieotions tn r.r • ^' *" *"' ■»■"<', 104 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION objection on that ground, some may think, is implied in his reference to " the limits of official authority," But he objects, in . particular, that " it would be impossille for a teacher to give Christian instruction without more or less frequently giving his remarks a denominational tinge." Referring now specially to the views of the Min- ister, we must admit that there is, on the part of a small percentage off the Protestant or non-Catholic profession of the Province, such a wide divergence from the common Christianity of Protestants that the teachers' instructions could not but seriously con- flict with views which Protestants generally regard as very erroneous. We cannot suppose, however, that it is to this that the Minister refers. In other words, we cau at suppose that he argues that the great majority of the Protestant profession are to be denied what they regard as a most important benefit to their children and, as they believe, to the com- munity at large, on the simple ground that there is a small minority, as wo shall see — not more than one in twenty — whose views are abnormally divergent from the common Christianity of Protestants, and whose children no one will think of compelling to receive the teachers' religious instructions. We suppose, t \erefore, that he can only mean that it is " impos- sible " for a teacher who belongs to one of the five great Protestant churches of Ontario, which together include 93 per cent of the Protestant profession of the Province, to give instruction in its common W THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 106 Christianity, without "tmeintr" nr a • . i^tructi.™ with ft, dJnXf .«:h,i':rhL^ '" opiuioa .h.?tLrcr -Tot r""'"i "■• with the tMchiiu? of fhrw V ° owordMCe Methodirt ChS 1h ru ?^"*»"'«'t; that*, Cho«h. there are i^ ?""'•" '""^<'<' <" «>« ASSESS?- h« been found t rewU tL're^"^ "' •"° '""'°"'*y o.a.. with thel^rl^ree^intuT rXS'; .™n«en.ente in ,871, n.neh Ie« .houMthtt ^y 106 CBRIStlAN iNSTRUCnojl difficulty in the introduction into the Public Schools of Ontario, not only of the religions teaching of the English Board Schools, but of a religious teaching embracing the whole of the common Christianity of 93 per cent, of the Protestants of the Province. Referring to the danger of tilling the land with " sectarian strife," by the introduction into the Public Schools of religion^ instruction, we propose, further on, to deal somewhat fully with the matter of sec- tarianism, and with the difficulty supposed by some to be involved in the differences among Protestant Christians.* Meantime let us remind our brethren of the significant fact which is patent to every one, and which we all gratefully acknowledge, that, with the exception of a small percentage, the Protestants of the Province are homogeneous in their Christian beliefs and sentiments to such an extent that the ministers of the different churches not only co-operate in Christian effort, but occupy each others' pulpits without exciting a suspicion of the denomination to which they belong, so far as difference of doctrine is concerned. What then can there be to hinder a teacher, however firmly attached he may be to the church of his conviction, from imparting instruction in the common Christianity of Ontario, without being guilty of the folly of even flavouring his instructions with his denominational peculiarities ? Once more it is objected by our brethren, and it may be that the late Minister sympathizes with them in ' See Chapter VIII. I» TBI PDBLIC SCHOOtS OF ONTAIIIO. 107 the objection „ we know «»,« other, do ; th.t the« "e tho« m the r.nk. of the p«,fe«ion who " ann^ ^on"^-^",- "" ''-f^''l"""'mn^i'»iZ Proynml te«her. who. if not oppc«d to Chri" t»n.ty.«, jgnor^tof ite tewhing^'^^ «, f„™ they know them. a« .keptici or o^ of .y,„p,thy " «l.ho„ to them An objection of thi, kind C^ Z ^mSke'liS.?*? 'r'- ""r '""' *• '"^ ""P-"'"" to make light of it, or to underestimate it. a. will 2Z17-' ™""' "" ™P»t»~. we come to d«l,^th ,t ,n a separate chapter. But me«,time. tt^!?* "' °l"""™ " '»«<''''"y' ">« evil i. one ^ 1 JL"" ** "^''^^ '«■' »"«'>' *o be reme- ied, altogether apart from the int«>duction of SctrChlSr"™.'"'""' "■=*"*^ '^"'o school tiTtL S\""T'™'™«"<"'<»»oCa.ri8tian inetruc- .trongly masted on by those with whom we are now at .ssue. « no ph«e for the .gnostic or the atheist.I theideal of the Journal, is not at least an honest behever m Christianity. If. as cannot be doul^ eome of our legally qualified teachers an, not in aympathy with the common Christiamty of the P,^ vince or are. in plain terms, infidels in relation to Chrafanity. their position ia an itt^i one. By^ cealmg their sentiments, they hZ, under a fX 108 (THRIHTIAN INSTRUCTION avowal of » Christiftn faith, crept into the profewion or entered it surreptitiously. For it is only as avowing a Christian faith— Roman Catholic or ProtesUnt— a faith which includes nothing less than a frank and honest acoeptonce of the divine origin of the Chris- tian religion, that they are licensed to teach in th< National Schools. We are not called to enter, ir these pages, on a formal defence of the law on thii point, believing, as we do, that it needs no defence oi the part of -Iny one. And besides it is held by tho8< with whom we are now at issue. " that Christianitj being the baws of our school system, its principle should pervade it throughout" But accepting th law as It stands, we cannot overlook the existenc of an evil which ought to be firmly dealt with unti if it canno*. be entirely suppressed (as what evil can ' it should be reduced to a minimum, and, when s reduced, kept down by constant watchfulness on th part of all concerned, not by the action of pareni and trustees only, but by that of the Educatic Department As to the charge of intolerance an persecution, grounded on the exclusion from the pp fession of those who do not accept the Christii religion, or are hostile to it. refutation of it is supe fluous. Our people, as we have said, surely have tl right to determine what qualifications are essenti in those to whom the education of their children committed ; and no one is justified in raising a c of intolerance on the ground of what is simply t limitation of the choice of a profession, by the dema «f TBI PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 109 Of a qualification which, in the judgment of p»,^„te .. e«ent,al in the intere,t. of S chihlr^ A TZ r. "l^' * "^*"*'*^ * '^^^^^^ other ways than by teaching. Nor i, ho hindered from doing lo by teaching, if. believing that teaching is his voZ J^lZJtl' \ •" • "^"^ ^"^*^^-"' « - <^o^t bihty^^ thousands have done before, who ha!re. on Ztlu" "tr V ^""^'' ^*" ^"•''^^'^d disc,u«litied to teach in the National Schools. It is more than likely that some will regard the ZaTl 1 '^:J^'-« P^ - unnatisfactoo^' It may be that there are those who can by no anZ ment be persuaded that Christian instruction, suchas we contend for is not w«,ng in principle. But w^ «hall not have laboured in vain, if we succeed in con! firmng some m the persuasion that no accepted prin- ciple of na lonal action forbids our rule.^ Jo assume the responsibility of the Christian instruction of thi ati ' h''' ir'"" -' '"' ""^^ - ^^^ «>»t-ry. i •: at once their duty and their wisdom to make suitable and adequate provision for such instruction by quali- fied teachers ; and that their delaying to do so involves the continuance of a great anomaly, which is far from creditable^ us as a Christian nation, and whicH Catholics, who are not a large fraction of the popula- tion, are constitutionally and permanently secured in I T'i"^ w ''^ """^ °°* ^"'P^^^^^ continue to be denied to us, so long us not a few of us ! ! Ill i; 110 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION are only half-hearted in our contention, and some even opposed to it. We have yet to consider, First, whether the obliga- tion resting on our rulers and. as we have seen acknowledged by them, in relation to the religion, instruction of the children of the Protestant popula tion of the Province is adequately discharged by th( permisdon which, under certain regulations, relegate to clergymen the Christian instiuction of the youn] in the Public Schools; or whether the arrangemen referred to is not essentially unreasonable and unwisi as being generally impracticable and, as we shall sei seriously inadequate, because of its making no pre vi ion for the religious instruction of those who ai most in need of it: and. Second, Whether the pract cal difficulties which, it is admitted, stand in the wa of the communication of religious instruction by tl accredited teachers of the Province are such as to insuperable, or whether they are only such as may 1 more or less easily and sufficiently obviated by re sonable endeavour on the part of those who have « interest in the education of the young. If it can shown as we believe it can, that to expect Christi. ministers to undertake the work of religious instri tion in the day school permanently or otherwise th; provisional^, is to expect what is unreasonable a impracticable, and that there are no m upera obstacles in the way of its communication by t qualified and salaried teachers of the Province, c alternative only is before our rulers. Either th IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. HI must assume the direct responsibility of the religious m. ruction of the children of the ProWnce wTtn isters of religion by simply asking them to do n.ore for their own children than they are already doinj or they must resolve that, so far as they are con^Zd ionl'n'r "' ''^ ^""" '' *^« PrLstant p^lt: «u3n shall be. as it is now. conclusively secular^d sibi .ty of the instruction of the children of Roman Catliohc parents in the distinctive teachings of Sr Jf Protestant ministers cannot accept as a favour from our rulers, the permission to teach UieTrchuZ once a week in the Public School «,om they tui doubless continue to do their dnf^ i ' ^^^^ 7»^' With ».„. eonvenienee oft: at^p,^, 7X'2 llTl'f "o ,'««'«' 'heir instnacUonJ A^ «ithtt^e,rhdpe«,„ the work of Christian inatrac the moral degeneracy which only the knowLt of Chnafan truth can effectnally ^^tmin. But'' o»1 l^lZltT"' "T ^'^'^"■'^y <" the continued Ignorance of many whose parents, prejudiced aa tl,»u ■nsCufn f : "'!"• "=''''^™ ^e^ei'e Christian UvelTforbidd™'. ""^ "'"• "" ■""" "thorita. lively torbidden to impart it.* See Chap. VIL, pp. 117,119. rr== I h CHAPTER VII. ^™trL oivU r»l«, .-d «.her,i» „b,,ct,on.l.l.. We propose in thU chapter to deal frankly »ith t SLnt which give, to Christ,a„ «.n«U under'' certain regulations a Perm«»v«. t^ .»p religious instruction in the Pubhc Schools of I SK-vtoce. This is a subject in regard to «h iU^usidered statement, have, from ''■»» ^ *" aoneared in print, being perhaps for the most p ^rrTteachers- meetings a„d by the younger m. C of the profession. Speaking generally, we ^o^s^ how ft can. after due oonsideraUon te q, L„«l that the arrangement .a an unhappy^ Instead of conferring a pnvdege on a minister J'r^him an opportunity of doing good wh.c Cnot alread/orotherwise VO^-^^^J his doing what he not only can do. but is proo n^w a^tLly doing, at a more seasonable hme :"«. W' convenience in other -P^t^. ^o' Timif and toothers. The more wet^n„kot.t^ our own point of view, the more closely .t appea 112 IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 113 US that we have, in the relegation of Christian "»truet,oninthe.lay school to the mi^te™™ " n;::prirrr "'"^'""^"''' "•» "-^^otz d^termine the duties !l it^rXts ""^'"""^ '» The subject is one in regard to which a difference of opjn,on could hardly fail to manifest itseirZrt » to be regretted that utterances should tei^tW on either side fitted to excite, if not to jusWyTrrita mfai,? K °*r- ^"^ ""'"S''' - ">» -rite be r,t ministers have been more sinned acainst t\ZZ have sinned, in the strife of wordsTh C Wn J • ^jed by their pi^tically ignoring tht a™„» ment, instead of cordially and gratefully «.eenti^"Tt «. aome msist they ought to do it would "Tmaftlr of wonder if none of them had even .^ken l^t Regretting .ny unguaried expressions Thich he mal wmt hf td"^ "''' "»""'' -' •» 4 «-,'« wui be his endeavour now, while protesting against iderarrr""' r' ™"''™»« ^'■»' 'h«^»n. .■derate condemnation of hie brethren, to say nothintr inconsistent with the respect that is due ^iTZl cannot see things in the light in which he Werth™ that has for years been given to the ministers 7l tions have recently been in a h.rge me^ure wHh- drawn. m the hope of making it lesf objection:bir::;fd 114 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION unacceptable. But if we do.it is chiefly, if not< tfrely.Lause we regard it as an official and authc tative testimony to the great importance of jom, ChriBtian instruction with the other lessons ^f | school, and as an acknowledgment by the a authorities, of their obligation to see to it that W youthful subjects are well informed in the pnnci] of Christianity. And could they be persuaded make Christian instruction a constituent part of work of the school, ministers would probably be s willing to give their services /or a tvme, in vie. the fa^t that some time must elapse before teac • generally could be expected to be fully qua hfied f work that has not hitherto been required of them is against the permanent-not a provi8imal--vel tion of religious instruction in the Public Schoo the ministers of religion that we are constraint protest. Apart from its essential unreasonablenei being the occasion of inconvenience which is n be measured by the amount of time required, sue arrangement is. as we shall see. very objectional other important respects. A little consideration si suffice to show that any permission that the law gives to ministers is not of a kind fitted to pre the end that our contention has in view. It over the evil that we are seeking the abatement of. pleading for the introduction of Christian instrv into our Public Schools, we are told that we mii] are at liberty, not only to instruct our ^n ch out of school hours as formerly. I..- to wai IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. II5 arrangement with the trustees which will nr^.- „ give us a portion of th« r«„.!i 7- T Practically that even 1 TnislL of ^^^^ ^A^ ' *^"^« ' '^^^ ^re now permittedtl t tl'tnt^^^^^^ among themselves, that each of them ^1^"" instruct the children of fh« «*i, ^ ^" *"™ own. the ,,.at obj^ ^'ht ^^wT, 7™ "-f '/ and nothing is sugcrested in ♦hi r i , '^^* °^' chief „.4 orTreCtl "ri ^^fj?-""^- than any other makes i,« -rT u • ^"'**' "'^^^ ofthe/™vi„e;"^r„; rz:t/^^"r Public Sohc^l't^Cinst^nf 1" """■ f' 0" All be avowedly leaCd with rh •?—.'" """'' «re not unaware of thl t . , Clinstianity. We nent pl«,e in the loof or Walbwln^ "f- " '?"""■ common Protestant ChrsCitv of th.p'''' " "" made a part of th, «.l.™r ^ ° Province to be of all th^ TOib c«ep7 o^T"""":' "'■ "- ^«"=«« pressly objL'to ■ X '„ ^-J-^- ^'^^ e.- of the povertv in f ho i, i / *"® increase poverty m the knowledge of Biblp fnnfo j principles which is already prevail^ fn k senous and alarming extent. ^^^^'^'''^ ^ «««h * n— ~ . ' i ! lie CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION When, therefore, we are reminded that we may i each of us, into the school-room once a week, and th. and then give a Christian lesson to our young peoj and when we do not manifest a cordial appreciat of the supposed privilege, it should save us fr reproach, that it is not about our own children t we are ma=nly, if at all, concerned m our pres argument, ^here is no propriety in our educatic authority saying to us, as in effect it does. If ; think the children of your congregation are receiving sufficient instruction in Christian kn ledge from their parents and their Sunday Scl teafhers, you may have the Public School roon which to give them another lesson once a week. our Christian rulers persuade themselves that should content us. as proving that they are j=ea for the Christian education of our youth, they very much mistaken. It does not content us bp ing freely, as we ought to do, but yet with all respect that is due to our present rulers, not officially but personally, we ^»«°t^"\.'^g«;^. relegating to the ministers of religion the Chn instruction of the Public School, as the evasion responsibUity, and not the dischirge of an ol tion, which is cordially admitted i^ string term. viously quoted. When we are told that the s( room is open to us for an hour's instruction o own children every week, it is forgotten tha great concern dees not respect our own chi They, of course, are our special charge and care. E i IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 117 as • matter of fact, thei, religious instruction is com- and with much greater convenience of time and place hours. W e know, mdeed. from the experience of our own early years an the parish school of our native da^ Christ" '• '^:'"'"^^' ^^^'"'^^ School, that the daily Chnstian instruction of the Public School would he. great benefit even to them, but only as an addi- rZ/l „% '°'^''7^'*^^ they already possess. Tliey are not in need of it and dependent on it as many others are. and to send us to the Public School t«givea«,,.aZinstruction to those who are le^ in need of instruction, and that. too. at the very time when those who are most in need of it. but are denied It. are perhaps amusing themselves in the play- ground, would, to say the least, very possibly only our own young people might join cordially, or not benefited by ,t. they would not improbably if not veiy certainly, yield themselves to unpleaint feel- It a Lr°Jf ' ?k''"^ '"^^'"^ '"^^^ »P«" them, their ^^dom^" ''''' ''''^'-''''^-' -- -J^^W We have refemd in a passing way to an arrange- ment m which Christian ministers could cordially acquiesce, and m accordance with which they could believe, they are as willing, at least, as any ither 118 CHillSTIAN INSTRUCTION i ijll class to serve, and that without any thought of pec niary compensation. Were restrictions withdrawn, perhaps let us rather say, were our rulers, recognizi their obligation to care for the education of th young subjects in Christian principles— Protestant well as Roman Catholic— to determine on maki Christian instruction, such as has been indicated, a o stituent part of the daily or stated work oC the sch< Christian nrinisters would, we have no doubt, regi it as their duty and their privilege to engage ii jyroviaionaUy and temporarily, to the full exteni the requirements of the public interest For al the exclusion of Christian instruction from schools for more than a generation, it could hai but be expected that seme time must elapse he teachers generally could effectively imparii instruc on a subject, an acquaintance with which has n< been required as a qualification for their office. present arrangement, we have seen, is not fitte< promote the end which is our chief concern, in tending for Christian instruction in our Public Sch It makes no provision for the religious instructic those wlio are most in need of it. It contemp only the further instruction of those whose oj tunities of instruction arc already, for the most more or less sufficient. While these would douV receive important benefit from a general exerci religious instruction in the day school, they coul we have said, hardly be expected to take well i exercise exceptionally and, as they might t IK THB PltBLlC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 119 unnecessarily curtailing their freedom. And add to this, that we speak from knowledge when we say that there are parents who either cannot or will not give their children Christian instruction, and who will not place them under the influences of the Church, but who would willingly, or not unwillingly, hare them receive such instruction in the day school where it is now denied them, though they are above' all others in need of it. A great inconsistency ! it may be said. But our nature is full of the most flagrant inconsistencies, and most of all in relation to matters of religion. Ministers would gladly instruct all who are willing to receive their instructions. But, unhap- pily, there are those who are prejudiced against min- isters and churches. This probably goes far to explain the inconsistency referred to. and suggests another argument in favour of committing the religious instruction of the day school to the qualified Chris- tian teacher. Upon the whole, we cannot but think that to one who will take a careful'and candid view of the matter in all Its bearings, the arrangement now under con- sideration should appear, even on its merits alone, to be an unhappy endeavour to meet a felt and acknow- ledged obligation. Even if it did not impose on ministers of religion a duty which is to a great extent or in many cases impracticable, the arrangement we must be permitted to say, is essentially unwise, how- ever well intend .d it may have been. Some, no doubt, will be disposed to maintain the contrary opinion. It m 120 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION may be well therefore briefly to show how much it would, in many cases, be entirely beyond the power of the most zealous of ministers to do what the arranjj^e- ment contemplates. While Christian ministers are, as a class, not unready for service in the public interest, we are well aware that there are those who think otherwise. There are some who are not able to understand how ministers can get their time disposed of, having so little to do, six whole days of the week, or how they can ever be at a loss to find time for anything. Con- siderate people, however, see that this is a very great mistake, easily accounted for, indeed, on the well- known and largely accepted principle that, as those who have no children know best how to train them, so those who are outside of a profession or occupation know best what its duties are and how to fulfil them. The writer's own case may be referred to as not an uncommon one. It has always, for near half a cen- tury, been a pleasure to him to be engaged in public service, and before his retirement from the active duties of the pastorate, he had, for over thirty years, not a little to do in connection with the local schools, his interest in them involving a considerable expendi- ture of time. But, however willing he might have been to add to his other duties that of giving stated religious instruction in the day schools attended by the children of his congregation, he could not have done so without serious encroachment on the time required for the proper discharge of his duties as a them Unit h^^^^T ' "'' """ *" ■"" ™« »' •irangement ia ne th.t „• • . "" P'**"' only feo- parSi^ly .^^dwT" ~"" ""^ »"' w highly. ""y »PPn>»e of it ever t.kt tato 1^ »" 'IB^n-ent in relation to . n.i,. .n instructive il J,ll"n "f ^,^i ««'™>*r«I « of even Christian r^.. onhappy tendency to act aalf Cte™t:,„lrr' """"^'""^ -^ wt:h^nri£=r--— ^ rt hC^ S^'^^^^^^^^^^^ "cijopem the sequel to oonieirla.. *u' \ more fully Rut m^o«*- consider this charge *""^. cut meantime we aslr To ;* „,- ^ O'Terence, are in o„ eati„„tion of a trio^'tu^l lit CHRISTIAN iNnrRucnoK If ;!ii II !ll' For when ministers are asked to go into the school- room and to teach their own children and them only, is it not implied that they may be expected, as they are given the full liberty, to teach the (liatinctive views of their several (Unominationn f And what is this but the introduction of seetai'ian instruction into our schools ? And can any one say that it is any- thing but unwise ? Is it not unwise to begin so early to teach our childiten to say, " One, I am of Paul, and another, lam of Apollos"? While we are charged with agitating for the introduction of controversial and sectarian teaching, the least consideration will show that our aim is the reverse of sectarian. Surely no one can justly describe as sectarianism the giving of lessons in the common Christianity of 95 per cent of the Protestant profession of the Province. On the contrary, it would be a striking testimony against sectarianism: whereas the arrangement which we are denounced for regarding as unwise and impracticable is essentially sectarian. It may be said that this sectarian aspect of the present arrangement would disappear wpre ministers of the different denominations to agree among them- selves to teach in turn every one the other's children together with their own. In reference to this, we can only repeat that if, on the understanding that Christian instruction is to become a rerognized por- tion of the school programme, ministers are asked to engage in it provisionally and temporarily until teachers shall have become generally qualified to be m TBE ro,uc 8CBOOU or ommo. 123 •ntnuted with it, they will we iir.«.~ i- t , wi'H„K to «>„.piy with'whJ- t:;'rr± j"::,"^ «»~n.blera.,„e.ti„ the intercfof the^rll Bi .four educational «uthoritie», believin. rrhlfr «t.«. .how. they do. th.t their young .„,S^'^2 he wen ,n.t™et«J in Chri,ti.„ principlei^hou^St Xch2.y- r'!"' • ~"'P«"«ncy tocommuni. prp::^;rtrh:::re:r,ri:irj;^^^ 3n:,it-i:rwt£r-4- cnnot but think that te Zk the^ ^iet^for : :nrwrnKfl':sru;:-r;i;:t^^^^ oj„:iirto^;"f;'Eu-!s:irnr:h7 P"P.1». Already the n,o,t of then, ™ e h^lil""'" « made a necessary qualification. ^ '* ■ i ! 'u: ',1 CHAPTER VIII. Practical difficulties— I. Differences among Protestants— High order of their unity, and their differences a trifle. In taking up, as we now propose to do, the fuller consideration of the practical difficultien that stand in the way of the introduction into our schools of in- struction in the common Christianity of the Protest- ants of Ontario, we are, as will appear, not disposed to belittle them, unless the pointing out of the error of those who inconsiderately magnify them be regarded as a belittling of them. These difficulties are chiefly two, and have already been referred to. But in view of the fact that some speak of them as if they were insuperable, and as if a simple appeal to them ought to constrain us to drop our contention, a fuller examination of them is necessary. One of them, which will fall to be considered in our next chapter, appears, at first sight, we freely admit, to be of a very serious nature. But there are some who certainly attach undue weight to both of them, and who appear to be indisposed to deal with them in a hopeful spirit, though, as we believe, neither of them can reasonably be regarded as unsurmountable. 124 IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTAkiO 125 closely. S„.h . difficulty ifSTrr" 77 jn the. Wew. of t ee'LlV^X^lrX ll^?: of the ivoLtaCrjL^r P^:ri!rr the wild human intellect. restrain The difl5culty arising from divergence of nn.n,- • them and equally re^ardpH Kv fi, 7 , ^^ But should anv fh^nffi! ^^™ "^ fundamental ^^^_*«3^ *hink otherwise, we need not dispute "Cardinal Newman: " Apologia pro Sua viu." tSeep. 23. il^^i 126 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION the matter with them. The Roman Catholics have succeeded in their contention for the establishment of national or government schools in which their children are daily instructed in the distinctive teachings of their religion. It may be that we cannot say that the establishment of the Separate School system entirely removes the difficulty arising from diversity of view in relation to the teaching of Scripture. But we do say that it reduces it immensely and, as we shall see, goes far to remove it entirely. The utmost that they can reasonably desire, in the matter of the Christian education of their children, has been permanently secured to our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens by legislative enactment. Provincial and Imperial. And it can be shown, as we shall see, that the differences among Protestants— that is, the great body of them — are really nothing in view of their higher unity. For such they regard their all but unanimous cordial acceptance of the great truths of the peculiar gospel of our salvation. If so, as no one can reasonably question, is it not a grave injustice to the Protestant profession of the Province that, on the ground of their not being at one by what they would regard as a renunciation of their manhood, they should be denied the instruction of their children in their com- mon Christianity by Christian teachers, the payment of whose salaries is laid upon them ? That in addition to the few who may be opposed to Christian instruction, wherever or by whomsoever imparted, there may be a small remnant of Roman IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 127 Catholics whose children, as a matter of convenience or of parental preference, resort to the Public School cannot reasonably be pleaded in justiBcation of the denial to Protestants of a privilege cordially granted to Roman Catholics, and secured to them in the con- stitution of the Dominion. For can anything be more unreasonable, not to say unjust, than that after cor- dially yielding to a minority a privilege which they regard as valuable, the majority should be required to forego equal privilege-the privilege of Scripture instruction, which, it is well understood, Protestants value not less highly than Roman Catholics do ? We are far from attaching to the Roman Catholic minor- ity the responsibility of the unprecedented anomaly against which we reclaim. We have no reason t« think that the Roman Catholics of Ontario are un- wilhng to submit to the disadvantage common to all minorities— that, namely, of not having the rule of the majority. Having had accorded to them by the Protestant majority a reasonable respect for their convictions and feelings, we have no reason to think that they would have the majority to denude them- selves of their right to rule. If the responsibility of the continued denial of Christian instruction in the Public Schools of the Province is to be appropriated, unwilling as we are to appropriate it, we cannot but ascribe it largely to those who allow themselves to be dominated by the groundless and false persuasion, or rather let us say, imagination, that while Roman Cathohcs are one in doctrine under their spiritual 128 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION sovereign, Protestants are, like the early Christian community in which every one was saying, " I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Peter, and I of Christ," so divided among themselves that the children of one Protestant church cannot be given religious instruction that will not be in conflict with the teach- ings of others. And let us say that candour forbids our acquitting our rulers of participation in a per- suasion which, one, would think, cannot well be enter- tained by any person of good understanding and intelligence. Let us therefore see how much, or rather Itow little, the difficulty before us amounts to. We look upon it as beyond all question that far too much has been and is being made of the differences among Protestants, as being a bar to the religious instruction of their children in the day school, which does not exist in connection with the Separate School. When duly considered, these differences are a very nothing, or, as it is sometimes expressed, a bagatelle, in comparison with the extent to which, as Christians, Protestants are at one. We speak, of course, of the great majority of Protestanta There are professing Protestants, whose religious views differ very widely from those held by the great body of Protestants. While of these we would not say an unkind word, we must be permitted to say that we cannot divest our- selves of the persuasion that it is barely possible for a man frankly and cordially to accept the Scriptures as the divinely inspired record of God's revelation of His mind for our good, without coming, on a careful IK THE PUBUO SCHOOU or ONTiBIO. 129 and unprejudiood study of then., to coDclusioas !„ th. main, at one with those held hv tk. "='"™";'. "> the the P^testant profeTon if n ''''.«■«' ""'Jority of There are inLT ... "*""" """^ elsewhere. ^ their^wrdek™ tit^' ZITXT' ^^ t»re to ascribe to its ».!»««, ":Cu;^ Tn.^: of^r:tLf::i:f:i!:tt'Sintrt ».s are, hyV^e ^^^ItioTfri^^^ ! tt n operabon to lead astn.y fro„ tb. wa/of Truth "nd righteousness, we cannot but reioiee thJ™ T. favoured l,in,1 ti.„ "joice tJiat, in this ofehe^pj^t^fp-.,— xrtt^i: tenan and two Congregational-.nd the,; S : 1 rt:i'rpir •'"°" f r^™ ^^^ ■=" »c irrocesiant profession of the Prnvinoo ti ""i-'^'^fi^'-efi^rentchu^ 180 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION do, with a single exception, occasioned, it is under- stood, by legal obstruction) occupy each other's pulpits without any feeling c5 restraint or fear of giving offence, in declaring what they believe to be " all the counsel of God " in relation to man's salvation. If so, there cannot surely be any great difficulty in finding a place in our schools for all the fulness of Christian instruction that can reasonably be desired. But though no one can but accept our reference to what is now a common practice among ministers of the different Protestant churches, as sufficiently justi- fying our assertion that the differences among Pro- testants are a mere nothing in comparison with the extent to which they are at one, perhaps the strongest and most striking and impressive illustration of the extent to which Protestant Christians are agreed in their views of Christian doctrine, and of the compara- tive insignificance of their differences, may be seen in the fact, already adve-ted to, that the churches referred to, comprising, be it remembered, ninety-five per cent of the whole Protestant profession of the Province, would all of them cordially accept as the expression of their views of Scripture teaching, the Westminster Shorter Catechism in use among Presby- terians, if only a very few clauses were omitted from it. And many would be satisfied with only the mod. • fication of one or two expressions. That catechism is understood to be a very complete and comprehensive system of Scripture teaching, expressed in terms directly contradictory of the principal errors that ™ THE PUBUO SCHOOLS rr ONTARIO. ,3, the fulness of itete^h,^ f ^"' ""'"'""tanding i. »ot held t eo^l^ t"rS° '"^ '''"' "«'' —>y anything, InTed'^',^:: "J^Tf '"- respecting infant baptism and tl^*^ lu "»'*■"<'»' eions ,..hich characteS ^ ? ""^' <"'P"'«- vinistio composition ByL^p^ l^'""''"' » ^al- than five or six „„t of moreZn ^"'^'^""^ """^ ments of Christian trut^d'te^Te mi tl "'"'*■ catechism that would be ac-centabfe ,?„ * V" ' of Pmtestants, and that w^d «lt Jr^Tl'"'^ invaluable air) in .t ■ T text-book, be an Not thaw* would '"''™°'T °' ""='' ">"''■•-• formulation of the LroTSfr '•'""''■■ '" "'« testants of Ontario for Th *^''"*"»»"y of the Pro- Public Schc^h ait'h™, i ■. P""^ "' "struction in -ay, thettiim "ialLTu''"'^;:'' "^ "■" Schools of the Meth:^r'Si:„r:nVo:h'"''"''' of the Shorter L!^h .""u ^^'"-^oW edition theological and ^l""'"' "'""h, Wng an English EnglisSbi:l:"S ^rr ""V""' """*'■' ingofwhat is beTtTn tl^.T"'*^"" "'«""''<- generations, sho^d nevfr o^l'*""""^' '■" ■""^ 132 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION Presbyterian, to have their common Christianity formulated anew, for the purpose of instruction in the Public Schools; as the common Christianity of the Free Evangelical churches in England has been re- cently formulated in a new catechism which appears to be acceptable to them all. It has long been our hope that, if our children could, by any suitable arrangement, be secured in the privilege of daily or stated (at the very least, semi- weekly) instruction in our common Christianity, with the addition, as they are becoming qualified for entrance into the High School, of instruction in the Evidences of Christianity, those of us who are not greatly advanced in years might live to see unmis- takable indications of the happiest results. We cannot but believe that such instruction, especially if im- parted by skilled and sympathetic teachers, could not fail to prove to many a security against the unbelief and the delusions of our time, and a means of saving them from the ruin which numbers of our young people heedlessly bring upon themselves. The writer was, for over thirty years, officially connected with the schools of his locality, first, as Local Superintend- ent of Common Schools, and, when that office was abolished, in 1871, as chairman of the High School Trustees, till the infirmities of age compelled his retirement from public duty. He has, for many years, maintained publicly his present contention, as he had opportunity. And now, notwithstanding the continued exclusion of Christian instruction from the >» THE PUBUC SCHOOLS OF 0«TAR,o. 133 Public Schools, he amnot rive wav .., Hi not «ei„g any i„,„pen.b,f ^jS"^ ''«°"".B«n.ent. thercslizationof hiThn™ "™™"y "> the way of » kis day. While he ^^i ., *^'' " ""^ »"» '»"«' oomp.«tLly WeL'r ^r""^"" ">«'• "!"> Pn.vincede.i^treS"'!'' ""t ^■«'«"«n'» of the tion into our «ho^| ' Tl"'''"°" f •^''""*'-' ™trHc. tHe™ are -I-lttd Sl'lTr "T "' quite inconsistent, both wIthTh ^ ^'«'''" """ « -bj«t and with tt inw I'tT'*"" T' """ Iwve in it. But »ll tiJ '^"y ?«>'<«» to -led, .ga^i:!" t x^-'of 1 '^r- ■'"' - to be dealt with in due ti„,„ T °' *"«•* "gilati.m, an active and ontaMen a^r^'™" *« stir np "train even an nnw^li„„f ' ""'' " "ay ""n- the wishes of ^^^27"'^*, *" ^" '"^' ^ has been attach^ TT. o "^ ■*"?'"• »'»"•« »« the hte S^r of M-'^"""'""' '"'' "'•^'■""^ »he„ some, who LVd ^Tt'?l ""'' "■« "«" »" him in reeren^ to th' "* »' ™"ance with Christian inst^tio*: toV^t^tfc,""^*"'™ »' ta^Ives constrained, at fc n^k'^'T"""' '"' csm, puWicly to defend hL • """^ "="»■'■ believed to be nnbstiS ."^'"" "*'" 'hey a»we believrnX tt th"''rT''"". ^'''^ believed »>ay be fnlly Ti^it^ It^ .f''""='«™ Department 'be Wishes of t'^^^" ^''t'' f" ""^ "•" place of ChriWJor. • "unpeople m relation to the Were the .^'f tCll" d"° t ^'"'•' «"■««'- «tionof the fe^ww^^^tro •■*"'""' "P""- ifuarawn, no Government could 134 CHRISTIAN msniUCTIOM resist the earnest pressure of a united Christian people, OS, we believe, no Government, Liberal or Con- servative, could entertain a thought of resisting it. It is in this persuas on that we now renew the con- tention that, with others, we niaintaine<l in the press some years ago. This we do by putting before the public, in permanent form, the views which, for many years, we have striven to mainuiin, in the face of not a little opposition. H we cannot now hope to see what we have long laboured for, wi' cannot renounce the hope that the Christian Government of Ontario will sooner or later give effect to the claim of its Christian people, to have Christian instruction statedly given to their children bj teachers who are not merely nominal Christians, but in full sympa- thy with the religion which they profess. But to close by returning to the practical difficulty proposed for consideration in this chapter. We trust it has been sufficiently shown that, so far from being insuperable, there is really nothing serious in it. Our Roman Catholic fellow-citizens have, as a body, been fully and firmly secured in their po-saession of a privilege, or as they themselves would rather say, a right which, we assume, Protestants generally value as Roman Catholics do. It cannot be questioned that the intelligent and consistent Protestant values the Word of God and its teachings not less than the intelligent and sinceroly pious Roman Catholic does. It is true there are reasons why we cannot expect the same unanimity among Protestants in regard to >N THI PUBUO SCH00L8 OF OKT«,a 131! right, but felt by bin, Tt . , '" I-"*!'""'"' "trance to sav aomA ™.„ r .... ™' nimaelf, as, Pn.te.tontwie^e hZ„ J T '"''* ^•" "I"" ("X"rjttetf"'"'v'»'^--^^ ^-ge^ytheyareag^. Wby.tKolTh^t: ra;xrrtbr;wiSe:':r^^^^ tianity ? Why ahS p*^ -^ T °°'"'"°'' Chris- exclusive privilege and ^.^7^17^^^'''' •■^truotion of tbeir cbildren by te«he« "ir of judgment "„^°'™' '"'"'^ '■y 'he submission _i;fg::f;i^;;d_ o°nse.ence to their «iknow ledged 136 CHRIilTIikN INSTRUCTION head, the Roman Pontiff, and which cannot otherwlM be secured ? Such a thought we can repel only with the apostolic Mrf yirotrn, Qod forbid! Speaking frankly, as we are called to do, our rulers ought to know that, as Protestants, wo claim a far higher harmony and infinitely more voliiahle, secured not by our renunciation of the attributes of our humanity, but by Divine guidance promised to the sincere and earnest seeker, who " has an unction from the Holy One, and knows all things" "that pertain to the life of godliness." Contrary to what some may aver, there are no previotis questions to be settled, wViether questions which occupy the learned, or questions aboi t funda- mentals. Happily our Christian people are not dependent upon a priesthood of learned critics, or upcp ,'\ny other priesthood. They have the Bible in I... r hands, and have no suspicion, as they need have none, that it has lost its inspiration of Qod by being translated into their vernacular. And there- fore they can nourish themselves on the "sincere milk of the Word," and feed on " the bread of life " without having to wait till the critics are unanimous; and, while no one can draw a strict line between fundamental and non-fundamental in Christian doc- trine, the general agreement among Protestants makes any attempt to do so altogether unnecessary. Let the common Christianity of the great body of Pro- testants, which can be formulated without any diffi- culty, as it was in the birthtiue of our present British liberty — civil and religious — be taught in our schools "-"try d«n,„d. it 2d u«i*t "'"""of o„, •«cl.e« whom o«r «h«i it? ' ""^ ""' ""•"•<' »1>V generally .re, rtWu„ Jf "" """" ^ •'<"""' of the leru, Let thlTi "" ""y ''Wh^-t «n« -ent of the wTo "the ct T .'T"*"* ''"P'rt- in.i8ted on. For no'wn" t?'"" '""''" ■='"« t" ^ « more oon.pic«o„, .^5' ."t •«""•<'«'. «>uld be ,«j^on.ofo„~t" ™ Crtr I' "" ledgmenfc of the error of th.i " "'® ^"*nk acknow- ■n. that the ..WrroaKTuL'tfT""/" ^ - one hour in the week t„ „ T° ««''Ool-rooin, »l.o„ldbe«s.riedr.;t, ^^'"" '='"^"'«» obligation in StTontthe^K''""'*' ^""'»"'» »' ">eir young subjects- °°'°""'' '«''«'o»« instruction of their «-n,f„ itJlTnn^In'Z'^T"' T""'"'"' "' •■»" P-i,yin,p„„rbZ -rw:":;^''^ f^m the respect due to our te«he J v!'- >•=">«««"« >ng authoritative decIai^L ^T.^' "^ ^'"«» ""»<'- Christian instructirnT t- "■ """"'"»« to give '-jno^nce or wtf sym-lZa'"" ""'"''' '~"' o/o»«««. .««. manifSgiSe^inTh"? '" " T"' able to give Christian t..»k- *""■■"" being *i'b it tfeirseve^rnora'tla";!"' -■-'''■■'•'■' CHAPTER IX. Practical difficulties-II. ChargeB of skepticiam, defective knowledge and want of symimthy-A great injustice to teachers as a body-The Protestant Church is eijual to the full perennial supply of Christian teachers. Referring to what has been said in our last chapter, we trust we may proceed in our argument, on the assumption that, while there are differences among Protestants, and while a small percentage of profess- ing Protestants hold views that are widely divergent from those of the majority, there is a common Chris- tianity, embracing a wide range of Christian teaching easily formulated, which is the valued possession of the great body of the Protestants of Ontario. And, considering that Protestants so largely outnumber the Roman Catholic element of the population, we may even speak of it as the common Christianity of the Province. Instructiop in this common Chris- tianity with the addition, as has been suggested, of simple lessons in the evidences of Christianity to more advanced pupils, ought, we cannot but insist, to be introduced into our schools, as a matter of even- handed justice to the Protestant population of the 138 m THE PDBIIO SOHOOIS OF OHTAIUO. 139 ftovince; but, apart from this, and above all .^h.in„ ne^ry to the welfa,* „f tke co.,™„„Hy " taUy appreciating, as we do, the difflcultiee of the TTT^L "' r """^"'^ "'»°"«l fo' every indiea! t.on of the advance of public opinion in favour ofTn .rrangement, who«, int^IncUon cannotrr^flj «sues of Its absence, which are already Bs^ra^t And If, m our contention, we are giving expZbn a. we behave we are, to the convictfon IdZZZ of the great body of the Protestant profession TZ Prnvmce we cannot but feel that a Lo^ lust t « being done to them, in the continued exc!u,i,rftm tt..r schools of the instruction which, they M^" the r children's good, in common with he welltZ' of the community, requires. There is, .s wV^v! -e^ no need to settle any question tha irof"nte«^; to Scnpture cntics. And as little is there any n?^ to wa,t for the determination of what is ^ZmZ fundamenu.1 in Christian teaching Our 3 ^n e»Uy accept the Scriptures as the^trustwoS tS I i 140 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION minority, whose convictions and feelings shall be treated with all due respect, is at some disadvantage, as a minority must almost always be. But, if the more we consider the differences among Protestants as constituting a difficulty in the way of the introduction of Christian instruction into our schools the less formidable it appears, there is another difficulty of a much more serious nature, and in view of which the differences among Protestants cannot, however magnified by some eyes, be regarded as worthy of consideration. We refer now to what, we apprehend, is regarded by some, and not without apparent ground, as the greatest of all objections, if it is not their only objection, to Christian instruction by our Public School teachers— the difficulty of making sure that the lessons of Christianity will be taught by those who are in sympathy with them. But even admitting the impossibility of our securing, by any means, that the instruction of our children shall, in no case, be committed to a teacher who is not a genuine or (as the Edibcatwnal Journal has phrased it) "true-hearted Christian," we think it can be shown, as we hope to show, that the difficulty, great as it is, may be largely obviated, or reduced to a very small minimum, by the concurrent action of all parties concerned in the religious instruction of the youth of our country. In the first place, we beg that it may be borne in mind that the school law of the Province assumes that our teachers are Christian men and women. W im PUBLIC SOBOOIS or OKTABIO. i« f^h!"? '*'"; '?''^' "« «'"' " «^d by other, atheistic sentiments Rnf *u^ 4. u . "6no»"C or *i,^ n ""'"enw- iiut the teacher's contract wi*h of theR„„a„ Ctholio or of the P,„tesU«t faith f My tether magine, th.t the e;ipreesion •- Protestent tae rerord of Divme revelation, we apprehend that in fldr,f : I ^ r''' "■ ■'<•"«" Profiion of h^B law tak«, the expression (Protestant faith) in itxt *«^W meaning of thr« hundred and Z "« ^t'r:::;r "*"' "-^ "^-'^ *» -"^ » '■-"-^ tia^^''I"""™''« ""' '" <«"• teaehers are Chris- t ans, ,n the «,nse and to the extent above indicatd 11 "A ' Z1^ "' ~°*''»'=y that all part™ »n acceptance oTtentf ^t i^le^-''-''^ ScHooIb Wk *k "* *"® Provincial W^ •• rJ w" °' °°' *'"'' '"= 8»">"e °' "true- ^carted Chnsbans is, of courae, not within the mine, although .t „ a competency which ministers. 142 CHBIOTIAN INSTRUOnOM parente and tr«8t«» »re, .» we have "»• "O""*"^ Car oppononte, « represented by «>« •{»'"^f ' *" extreme topropriety of these Pf' » ^'f K*^-^., selves up » judges of the j«ahty «'*«". Christian profession, one thing may be very safely « namely, that a teacher's derided ^tU^hmen^ to a particular denomination may well be ^^'^f'^ » r^Lmendation of more value than a «ore of eer- tiS We ne'ed not, in these days, trouble onr- s^rJTtith the fear that he will take advantage o Tta ITtion to te«=h anything that is not a part o^ t^^mmon Christianity of «» P~f «* "' ""{X ' „hen such teaching is committed to "«»• ^f J' Trust the time is not far distant when f'J. ' ''^; teachers will be wanting in the recommendaUon .m Slna man's intelligent and sincere "tt^h-nent Jo th7ch»«h of his convictions. As to the ent.re and u'u? exdusion from the profession <>' *- "^^^ out of sympathy with the common Ch™t.amty of the P™vh>ce, we have already referred to the mis- taken Jotion of those who fancy that .t mvolves a c^nt^entionof the principle of religious tolerat.on. A In'! religious convictions are not interfered w, h areTs held-to be disqualified tor "-e pos'*-."'^' National School te«!her on the ground "-at he is an Lostic or an atheist, or otherw»e opposed to the agnosuc o country. To say nothing of common religion ot nis couuvrj. j the fact that such a man's «ceptance <^ the Uga^ certificate, by which he professes him«,lf to be a IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 143 Chnsban p„renta, that are the suprel and deter- MMher. If ,t ,„ believed to be in the interest of n„r Chr«t,an,ty should be taught in our sehook »^nta mparted to their children by teachers both „.n .nfomied in them and in fulUymX wth t^et V. K've unristian instruction to their nunils Tf +», 1^ 144 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION But. however serious may bo the difficulty tlmt is now before us. we cannot regard it as be.ng .nsu^.r. able. Even, if we should with some regard it as being the greatest of all the practical difficulties which at the pr^ent time, stand in the way of the introduction of Christian instruction into our schools, we cannot believe that the Protestants of Ontario are less cap- able of dealing with religious difficulties, or any other difficulties, than the ProtesUnts of the home lands from whom we' are sprung, and whose endowment^^ including force of character and power to grapple with difficulties, we inherit We admit the serious. * ness of the difficulty now confronting us^ But i< cannot be insuperable to those who would, by propei means, take it out of the way of the accomphshmen of a groat and good purpose. If as son.e appear to believe and do not hesitate t aver the evil referred to is not very rare and excoF tional. but so prevalent as to warrant their i^gardin^ it as a bar to the permittingof our toachers to imp« Christian lessons to their pupils, there must he son cat^ to which we owe the e^stence of an evil th^ in creatly to be deplored, as being m a high degn diSTdiUble to the character of a profession which second to none in its bearing upon the interests of tl :_ity. It cannot but I. the effect of ^ cause. And surely no one will say that it i? owi to the fact that the young men and women of Onto who enter the profession, are excephonaUy unpri cipUd in the matter of religion, or that they are m< '" "' -"»"'' «»•«>« OF „NT*n,o. U5 it 1« »i<i that our tZC „ tl>o ^. p '?'; ^'« «'" are low coranoteiit thr„ .T , . '^™'<»''»'>' faith " we h.vo no h':^L«iTrjw r'°"- .°"' '»"'-• « »o,t «„j„»t imputation w2'r ""^' ""^ ''"" "' • Wy, in co„„«,tio„ with The ' r^ "° "P"^' "» evil, for tho o,i.to„L o irt"" "",'"' '"'««' are responsible in H... ourselves alone 'e»..y ^nJ:!"*;^" "^,- -J-^'". --.ve heed- religions instruction Tf our .hiu ^"""^ "' "'<' School. A refer-nM tf ""*" '" ""o ^"Wic ..ou.h^h^^rrnZzSehr'"-"'^ to our want of vigilance thJZlT u '" '''^'"*f of an important privHel «. ^'' *^'" ^^^'f"^"'^ are finding to be amlH "'^/^^^^'•y «f which we But if hitLl pL":^td It "*r"' ''^'^''y- ee^Hful. we cannoTa ^w o„«f ^e^^^ "T. ^^r""^- lost privilege is irrecovlmbr T ^7" ""*' °"' not allow oui^lvesTThink that'^thr u" "f "^"■ proposed for considemtion n *K u *"^*^^^ *^"' dimensions as s^me 1 ,U k "^'^P^"' '« ^^ «»«h scholastic P^fTron^t'a e%X ^ /^'^^ personal knowledcrp ;„ . ^ persuaded from leading bLcCof tho «\^P*'«»«'"' *nd the five the Pi^virceln f urnih ^'^**/«>t««^nt Church of ply of teXrwtit a;:f,r^p^"""^^^-p- «fen«e of the temT ^^'^ *" °° "^^*^g»<*<l 10 146 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION of C«38ariHm. State c*^""'^^^"^; f^' ' "^'^^^eording to U„g results which at ^T^^^:^ riuowing logic, oiujht to be the ^timate i^ue ^^^^^ Christian lessons to be given by a salary is secured by '^^f'^'^^'l^Z'^^;:^^^^^^^ this dread dispelled, as it may well ^. »"J ^ ,, of us, resolved to -t-e the steps t^^^^^^^^^ as into our unhappy P^^*^«";^':P„''T^tUe Provinc ♦1,0 Ur^e Protestant bodies of the rruv. were the large rrutc absenc •♦^ ;« thpir call to have an end put w \>m » our contention could not be for off^ „ be needed to f»"r:'"f '"p^tiu^ But the oth common Chrietiamty of the ^"""^ . " hap. tl tianity, which we - 'UPP-J ^ J^ „ cannot but «.met.me. betray 't ^^ serious, even apart from the qu the ammntmmt of teachers should be careful X^Ce-hearted CbHstians" be ap^-Ud.^^^ ♦here are those who speak as i£ it were »"F^ s^lTsupply of BUCh teachers-teachers, th. «ith any o„n,f„rt of oS IT, °^ '"'"''' "»' ""»k th»t our t««=he™ »ro 1 it^n • TP"""'™ ""'"S i»g in sympathy ^m, tlTT .u"^ "' """"• « "-"^ «ivin, then. ChS'n tt etT Vh """" '" when pleading with breth»„ 7 . ' '""°' «»<"' in favour of „„r contentt?! .'"'"'*" *'''»'«''«> «hort by the »„„rtZt r' '"^ ""■• ""B-n-^nt cut fooli.h eimpliar^Z^nrtt ?'' '''»"'«' »" are. we are assured « ♦ ? T ^^ cornea, who -^^.nin.Crofli^p^pr'^ """ "'» general insinuation, aret^de"f th .'^^;'"'» "'»«' entrusted with the r^Ii^„t • . """"'"=* *" *« schoh.™. Whil-iti.r?, -netruction of their l«.'oany^te*tenf?'^'^"'''"«"""'y»hould arietian d*^le tt^'T «°^ ky i«no»nce of that their p^.f^t^-f 'T^-My be doubted of Ood, is, ;ith ^S, "'° ^'"^ " «>« Wort 'he« ar. exception? TC"' °"""'^ "'"«««■ " of the „r^ of'^aluC for IZ T *"""' " " O"' *^ of h« solemn comp«,t with the 148 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION I i II edacational authority of the Province, as to endeavour, either directly or by insinuation, to discredit the Bible and its teachings in the minds of his scholars. But even supposing it be admitted as an undoubted matter of fact that, while some of our teachers are insufficiently informed as Christian instructors, there are also others who cannot be trusted to refrain from endeavouring to insinuate anti-Christian sentiment* into the minds of their pupils; teachers fully quali- fied in respect 'both of Christian knowledge and ol sympathy with the teachings of Christianity, will ii time, perhaps not a long time, be found in sufficiem number, when such qualification is looked for an( required by legitimate authority. Distinctively Christian teaching has now no place in our schools and even the place of the Bible in them is scarcel; more than nominal. Our people, therefore, whei choosing a teacher, have ceased to concern themselve about his knowledge of Christian truth, and about hi religious Hcntiments. When, for more than a genera tion it has been no part of tl.e teacher's work t present to his pupils distinctively Christian views c God and our relations to Him. of the person, th mission, and the work of Christ, and of His Spiri and of the responsibility lying upon us, because < "our possession of the knowledge of Christian trutl the wonder is that our teachers should be so genei ally more or less well qualified, as we believe they ar to impart Christian instruction. If, under the lonj existing state of things, our teachers are generally i UL " TH. rn,uo «Hoou or okt«,o. ,49 w. not „p«rt when Chr. ''*™"«»"y. "hat »..y when the ability t„ i^JTrt ?» Jii ??"' *"'■''• "»'' .Wemtion would .fe > ''t""^ "■"'" ">»■ ;t. enti« e^ti-ct'ior Buu/IKh'T"^ ">-' t'on shall have been n,nV Chnstian instmc work, it would be ill^r J '*^ "' ""» '<«<=''«"» '■"o the p«f«d„n ST. .P"™"' "■« «■"»■'«> .y^path/with^Tri^ j;° J^° -"^Ot »»' •» » profewon of it, there „Z iL ''"■*"* " ""«■■ « lack of te«ehe™Tf„,|1,LTK "PP"''™'™ " to •» fihriatian inrtruo^™ /hXf 7'"" '^"^ ""^ '".eP^vince, whichT* no . .T^t:!: "'"'""'" °' tions would lead mod1« J ^r P*^^* «pi«enta- opposed to one LS i .^ '°™' ''"^-eilably Christian doctrinrbnt "" *" "'""*' '""y «' one in thdr vlw r*! "^ •""" «"■• «'«rely «Won to two irr^^Slt?."""'""'"' ''""P' '" ""tter of forbe««n« C h! ""^ "•"' "^ '""''« fn>n.year toyear T'J. ^ '"^"^ '" '"™'"'' ""™ and won-eH'^" ^"J""** '"PP'^ "^ «>««„ work of in.part^^to^!!'".''"™'* ""emaelves to the tion leaven^ wHn ^hn^'.? ^"'~«-»« " «>"<=«- ^ «.".!«« whel l^'dtS;"-:^- /" '-' ''" "■"" uignity of the school teacher's I II! ii! ! ^ !! 160 CHRISTIAN IlfSTRUCnON. profession RtutU be recognized, and his work remuner- ated in accordance with its value and importance. He will then, as he should do, Uke rank with the members of what are called the learned professions ; for it will then be seen, as it is not seen now, that the man or woman to whom the community entrusts the education of its youth should, intellectually and morally, be second to the member of no other profession. Al CHAPTER X. K^-d of principle « C on^ • -""'r "» "" th. qu«tion at inae .„T^ . """PP"!""™™ of rule™ to «»u„e th. I"" ~^«""«''«n«l, were our •bility to imnart it „ . '»''on»l teacher an ««atthechie"p,«,t J H^ ^^ "»«°™"y P«.ved ted, stand in theTatt "' 'f "'''''''• " « "d-it- «on in our ech^rr^rjfThe'"''?'^'"" »"™'=- ™te«l of relegatiLTto Th ?* "' ""' '^''"' •fer allowing «e telt t^'^T" °"'""''"- "-*• i ii m Ii 1 MM ti! 152 CHRlStlAN INStRUCTlOK of those who have the control of our educational interests and arrangements. Though there are other misapprehensions in con- nection with our contention that call for considera- tion, and which we propose to deal with, it may bt well, before doing so, to review the ground we hav( already travelled over, thus submitting to our readen a summary of our argument up to this point. It will be remembered that we set out with a refer ence to the circumstances which, near half a eenturj ago, led to the exclusion of religious instruction fron the Provincial Schools, and to the establishment o Separate Schools, in the interest of the Roman Catho lies of the Province ; who, taking their stand agains an exclusively secular education, have had such sue cess in their contention, that their children have acces to schools in which Christian instruction, according fc their views of it, occupies a prominent place. In yie^ of the fact that our Roman Catholic fellow-citizen have won for themselves the secure possession c what they and we alike regard as being an arrange ment in the interest of our children not to be dit pensed with, we have not hesitate 1 to insist that th Protestant profession of the Province ask no moi than simple and equal justice, when they contend fc the religious instruction of their children by con petent teachers. Admitting that there are difficulti* in the way of securing for the Protestant portion ( the community the advantage of daily religious ii struction, which do not occur in connection with tl ™ THE PUBUO SOHOOIS OF ONTARIO. 153 education of Roman Catholic children, it ha been onr from being .nsuperable. A«,«,ning that the^ body of the Protestant profeeaion of Ontorifare tZT- t\ '■''™1"«"™ of religion, inst^ctf™ nto their achoola, becanse it ia ncceaaary, as they I^ oomman.ty, there ,8. so far as we can see. no good and C"Mur" V"'^ ""^"'''-^ shonSt d" layed. Much as has been made of ..hem, the differ- ences among Protestants may. as we ha;e seoriL well r^ed as of little or no acconnt. There a« « we have alsc. pointed „«t-.be«.use it is overLkS by «,me-g«Kf reasons why we cannot expcTt^ «me unanimity among Protestants, in regard to Scripture teaching, as among Roman CatholS^ As from differences among oui-selves is far more that compensated for. by the invalnable reaul of '^ exe„iseo the God-»nfer™l right of private judg! men , to denude ourselves of which, at the call ot pnnce, pnest, or pope, under whatever claim or pre' fence were, we believe, to nn,nan ourselves It may be that there is a small pereentage whose viW^ diveilje more or less widely from those of the g^It majonty o Protestants; and of these we ».y „oSZ uncharitable or unkind. That the peiJuCr" ctlibk ^ ^f'V-'ioned our statement of it a. in! credible. But to us who accept the assurance given I I I 154 CHRlSHAN INSTRUCTIOIJ by Christ, John vii. 17, and who believe that the care- ful and prayerful study of the Word of God, by the man who " is willing to do the will of Qod," will issxu in the attainment of a right apprehension of saving truth, it should be no surprise to find, as we have said that ninety -Jive per cent, of the Protestant professiot of the Province agree in accepting, with two or thret exceptions, the whole teaching of the smaller West minster Catechism. And we believe that were th( larger catechism, formerly referred to, not fallen oJ recent years into general desuetude, it would be founc that, with the same two or three exceptions, its whole teaching would be cordially accepted by the greal majority of Protestants. In view of the fact that the Protestants of Ontario who constitute four-fifths at least of the whole popu lation, are agreed to such an extent in relation to th( teaching of Scripture, we ought to hear no more ol our differences as being a hindrance to the introdue tion of definite religious instruction into our schools And if, in our pleadings, we have been giving expres sion, as we believe we have been doing, to the grow ing conviction and desire of our co-religionists of th( Protestant faith, is it any wonder that we cannoi help feeling that a grave injustice is done to us, ii the continued exclusion of Christian instruction fron the day school ? To say to us, as our Educatioi Department has long been practically saying, " W< are nut excluding Christian instruction from th< Public Schools ; for, if you wish, we give you accesi IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 155 I-" amply den,o„at™tei. We Ld not 1T""T of taking U upon\htS^^%7~'„r;;' ™'««'' :^;rir^Lre.rpe-r:tt'r„i weari JTC ^- ^ *^ P"*""" '''>» have no wgard to the religious interests of their children -n^ wh«e unhappy prejudice shuts them "„ ,"„, a,t reasons mstniction, except such as may bTlt" "" *' ™« P'«« "here it is authorilafively C ; ! 156 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION bidden to be given by those from whom it would V received.* Again, we have seen that the school law of th Province assumes that all our teachers are Christian! and that in the case of teachers of the Protestant pw fession, it will not be satisfied with mere negation or with anything short of a faith that accepts th Christian Scriptures as the record of Divine revela tion ; or, in other words, will not recognize as bein of the Protestant faith, one who is merely not Roman Catholic, and is an infidel in relation t Christianity. And notwithstanding assertions an insinuations to the contrary, we have, as has bee said, good reason to believe that our teachers an with rare exceptions, Christian in their sentimenti and generally anything but "poorly qualified," a some say, to give instruction in the facts and prin ciples of the Christian religion. We need therefor liave no hesitation in being fully assured that, whei Christian instruction shall have been made a con stituent part of the work of the school, our churche will be able to furnish an adequate supply of teacher fully qualified to give instruction in the commoi Christianity of Protestants, free from all taint o denominationalism. We need hardly repeat that, all things considered we cannot but regard the present educational situa tion as altt^ether anomalous and indefensible. That i profession of Christian faith should be required of al • See page 116 and next chapter. »«.« tin... the te^hetZr r.!""' """• ■" ""e Jf pupil, Ch„X\tt™etr^*''°""' '"«''• them to rei^l the ScriBta^ * ' '"'■ '"'" '" ''"h •tiding the PtaibHiti^ b;thior •r^'.r"''''- the anomaly be.W all H,„ i ' " defended; ">e f«t that R-micaT >""«»"''»"■«''»' teaohe™ are under „„™^"""'".*l»™«» School priesthood, as they 'J^ "L '^T''"^ '' to the in«troction to Prol^tZt^^- ^""^^"t Christian •uomaly, aa we hT™ ^„' ^Z T ■"*"• '^''■' » history which explZ 'it °°^ '"f P'"*'''''- » has «pe.t But our t^'- ^j"';''*, »« »«rf not having p^tested ^ZZ,y S^t " '*>'-«-» ane«lusively secular day ih3 1. T^ P^'*" <» •Its will have themselZ 7u! '^"«"""'. Protest- anomalous state of th,^^a l^T. ■■' "" P"«nt ■»ther, the blame w U Xl T^ *" ""'"'""• «' hold themselves J„f f^*" ."f """* »"«' "PPose, or Protestants, which, ^w^ have iT""' ''™'"«' »' could resist, were t nol forTh ""• "''■ "•""""■ant "ud the apathy of oth°™ °PP<«'t.on of some .*a'"thr^':^,X':r;?r'':'""^'«-^^ i» f«vour of the mawl!. 7 """^tion is strongly -.Ohr.tian,r^-f-:--n.^£ i li ! i 158 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION on the part of not a few, no inconsiderable degree apathy, and on the part of others, a readiness magnify obstacles in vindication of their pronouno opposition. As we have seen, there are Christii ministers, and no doubt, people also, who seem to unable to divest themselves of certain suspicions fears which, they believe, are warranted by the we known meddlesomeness, present as well as past, the " princes of this world " in the religion of the subjects; and who cannot think without a measu of serious alarm of the possible or probable evil co sequences to our civil and religious liberties, shou our rulers impose a tax upon us for the decent mai tenance of the teachers of our children, except < the condition that they be forbidden to give distin tively Christian lessons to their pupil& And th they cannot believe that, from what they say thi know, our teachers can, as a class, be trusted with t religious instruction of the young ; some of them, is alleged, having no sympathy with Christian trul if not being even skeptical or inRdel in relation to and those of them who have Christian convictio being so much under the power of their sevei denominationalisms, that their teaching caimot Christian without being, at the same time, denomi ational or sectarian. We humbly think that the apprehensions have been sufficiently disposed of. \ think it has been shown that the dread of "Sta churchism and Ecclesiastical domination" is entire groundless, and that the fear of denomination of derive knowS^i:!™'- 7'«»«™ "''^""^ -e Wievo that, in Ccttah : r""?'^^'"'""'^' synpathy, they are to L^ 7, ,"'"''"'«'"'°'' "f <l"alified to imBarr.t ,^ "'° '»""'• W^y well their pupil. 'Ztut ZT "' '"'™'--^'^ '^ '» «)"«1 to that of ZJ^ZrST 'l"»''«<atio.. nots„perior,.,iteertai„lH,T* *"''"' '*'°'"'™' 'f after forty yea«. excl„l„ of T^, 1 "'•^'^ That, P-blic School, of Ontar ° °* '•'~'™ '«>■» the "ell qualified tohuZ. tl?" ^'"" "'""'''' ^e » ■•» at oace a matter^? thaoT/ T "" '*""" "-"y «■•». ex-und for expecting thaT t^-'rt '"' ' '"««■»' Province will be f^nd a„ ^ Christianity of the "We", a pe«nnial rp,y"'oft''"''' ""-^ '«>". ■Mtructow may be drawn „b """Petent Christian ■nspin-tion shall hav^I^/t^" ! Book of Divine °">- »ch«,ls. A„d J^ ^° «■;» -ts proper place in fo«aibleen,phasis,_we^' ftt-.lT?.' ""^ '""' »" have been fed to firraofTh. t "" ""' »"™ate we allow ou^elves toXli :« tha^T' "' ""'"'"-■ for attaching such a suspUn to ^ " '"" «'^°"<' the permanent relemtionnf i*"."'™ «« to justify ""« Public Schooirt til *^T '™'™"«™ ■•» Professioa ^ "■» '"'"'bers of another iili ii i I 1 :;!•;• 1 ii CHAPTER XI. MiMpprehendon of the action of Protestant mumtera-Charg of clerical agitation in the interest of sectarianism repeUed. Thoooh we believe that what has been ftlrea< said* sufficiently shows that our rulers are at fai in thinking that the obligation which they recogni: as lying upon them, in relation to the Chnsti education of the youth of the Province, is adequa.tt met by their giving permission to Protestant mm ters to give a weekly religious lesson in the Put School room to the children of their congregatio in additum to instruction which they are alrea receiving, there exists so much misapprehension the minds of many in relation to the views a actions of ministers that further consideration them is far from being unnecessary. Blame is attacl to them because they do not gratefully and cage accept the permission to teaia in the day school i precious boon conferred upon them by a genei government; and very ungenerous insinuations made respecting their motives an d aims in seet *See Chapter VIL 160 "" '"""O SCHOOLS OR omwo. Ig, time as an aDoIoffv fnn ^ !. "™*'® ^ean- endowed in comm„„i,^„;;' IT. „ """t""*^ ''°' that very false i,„„Z^ ° P"*"' "'"«'> 'how -i«tinV»rai:r:r",i":r'''*'''""' '^ ■»'"^- their ge„en.I n«n-^pu,^rrf l" ~"°'*""° "'"' ferred to and th.i- ™. . ^ ? "" P«™"'Mion re- Putting an end to Z pr^nl 1''"*^ "'""'"'y "' 'hinge, by .naking JZ^Zl forT "" '""* "' lion of instruction in ,."^""""' '" 'he communica- Province by rie^aSvt°?^7" Christianity of the tliat we can be actn»tJ^ k ^ '''''' *" conceive t«befreed,„„ ir^,,>,ry''''ng t"' the de,i„ onr own b^ZyZJ^ ^T **"°'' " ""'"sively othe™. to- ItTiJ :T^'^'"t r^ »° allowance for the inaMitv of th *' ^""« "" -"uo of our p^feseion rdefite''ort:u J i^Tr'""'" beheve that we can satisfy . » Ti ''"*™' "« «te«, in taking ^„ti" T "^ "''°'' """ ""'- 162 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION to them — are doing nothing to warrant the ascri tion to them of anything except a sincere regard f the welfare of the coinniunity. To state the issue briefly and definitely, the prese school regulations forbid, if not directly and e plicitly, at least by clear implication, the commui cation of Christian instruction by the teachers of o National Schools, the late Minister of Educati c ipressing himself as being strongly of the opini that they " cannot with tafety or prop ne^y be charg with the resf^nsibility of communicating distil tively Christian instruction to their pupils." B Christian ministers are permitted and given facilit to instruct in the teachings of their several church the children of their own congregations, wh( attendance they may secure for the purpose, in t school-room once a week, out of school hours, accoi ing to the original permission. By a more rec< permission, ministers of different denominations the same locality may enter into an arrangeme according to which the children of each congregati may have the benefit of the instructions of the otl ministers as well as of their own minister. A farther, also by a recent regulation, trustees may n shorten the regular school time, with a view to \ communication of religious instruction by ministc without unduly burdening the scholars. But notal all responsibility, on the part of the educatio authorities, in relation to such instruction is ca fully guarded against. They decline to exercise tl '"'•"' ""x-'o ^cou or osr,„o. ,63 autliurUy in the w. t fe^iTO wlioge work i, „... V """"'«"" "f u pro- leswn to their own children W. I ,*'""*•' •""""•• "o ".ore th.„ the «c„b,™1 / '"'' '"»" »•".• ™le™ tl.ey .re „„,,,, . iSL^T "' ':™P""«'"«'y which C.»h„lic», bnthitL^ tt™ '" "" *=»" "' ««"•«» «l'ow identicj priW?e,^cl T ""^ "■"'■• ""y '» Pn>t.«t«.,t, in the^ „I3 of »^'""" ^'*"'°"" ""J the Primary School" «"•"» i^tniction in P-t-tant, to the n"i"lt ^Tre."?""^ "«»"'«' " "that it diould be c^™^?;^'^°'''°""»"'«ntion »>«ried te«=he« of X P^ ^ *■"= '"»'"'«' -"d •«ai-MtitebeinKDenL.„ .,,"'*• ^^ "^Jlain. >-» of .nothef r~~ ir^'^' «» fe „e™ r '• »" the time ^ Sr dil^" Tf' '"' ""^ ■»<«' "o™ «,d efficient di»ch^'*;?r '"' "" ~°«i«°- ^ "e have «id, wc do ^t „h 'TT" ""'^'^ ''"«»»■ of provisional a,^d IZ^Tr. T^ *° ""^ """ieriag 'Je authorities, haWng^T^ f.'!'^ *?y"-. »"'" ?he iaterest of the com^'ij' t '^ ^'' ''■"^' '» ■nstruction a constituenr^rt P T''' *^''™«'"' «~ran.e, the teachers .K iiT °' "" "^hool pro- I«W to bo,afterX loL . "*" '""">' »« «' " ''"'S-Pn'»n«>ted exclusion of 'Ill 1^4 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION wriUr U not rione or .ingolor in h»».ng hi^ f«H«en S^liev. that .ny of hU brethren «,uld feel o^« lerwi« in the --'--^t na^S rrwmnTii-«-T'^--rtr^: • ^hlmatter of Christian instruction in the d. live Christian inBtruction even to the met ad,an< "' CSne «. we cannot bnt do, the chajK. tl Repndiat.nK^^« insinuation, is brought agai perhaps generally by insm j,„ti„u, b; Lr:rHgrc^^w^^-:rjL^r ^'•'«^-""ron:sr^^-.^"-««-' * '^'""f thXlTarTeaihers' As««i»«on,« "'"''"''ulS r Utendanee «as very r ::i::d :~tassub.itted,anda^^^^^^^^^^ during whieh foolishly and pamtully wild lang '» THE rUBUO «H.H>U „, „„„,^ ,jj <««*«« to give «^,'-, . ""'"'«>»''«« to require mini...™ K '^r VtrS^ rt. ""'^»'" mi-ion .hove ref.ril^?^^"'^ "•en.wlve.of theper- for . ch«^ rouiTt i"^ T"""" ™ 'heir p.. t mo^ri'r^'t 'rr^t •"■"^ "■■«" ">i. mind of ».„y 2e™ " t ,?•" '"P-^-e »f 'h« gene™, „i„d^„, IXl^o^ ««P.--ive „, the Wieve. But whether ,J . ^'°"- This we do not able to d.ow tM he%t,ruer' t ' "' '™" »» >« examin.UoB.'^ ''«™""»"""'' ""natruction, hear »'«ady e«,wded p™Xre ™f T "^"'^ "^ "" »'n.chon, it can haXT . ""'^ *■"»' in- exclusion of ChriWJ«« • ' . ® ^ong-continued 'f only as layL a„ Jjr ^J*^ '"Production We would ceLlnlAe^f r 'r'^^" °" *^-- fore glad to have Jon STurJ^;,"" T '^^ *'^«^- occasion referred to d"dTnT *' ''^^ ^°^ «° *h« "^'^ "^* ^^Pr^™ the sentiments 166 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION I I-. nil I! I li iii ! of the majority of the teachers of the Provinc< ami that the resolution would not have been carriei if the attendance had been full. We cannot, howevei trust to such assurances. Nor can they hinder ou expressing our extreme surprise and regret that a association of intelligent Christian gentlemen shouh even when reduced to a small remnant, commit itsel not to the preference of one arrangement to anothe in connection with Christian instruction in the da school, but to insinuations and implications in refe ence to clergymen, that are at once ungenerous an unjustifiable except to a mind splenetically perverte And what shall we say of those to whom ungeneroi reference to the members of another profession wl take the deepest interest in them, has become second nature ; so that they can hardly let an oppo tunity pass without indulging themselves in unwortl insinuations against the clergy, simply because th( differ from them, and as they believe, not withoi sufficient reason ? Referring to the charge of unreaaonahleneaa in tl resolutirn above quoted, we have no hesitation saying that there is not the slightest ground for su a charge so far as we, i.e., ministers, are concem( It is not we who are unreasonable, when we contei that the lessons of the common Christianity of t Province should, if acquaintance with them is believ to be essential to its welfare, be imparted by accredited Christian teachers ; but those who, wh admitting the essential importance of Christian ecome a >» THE P„„UC .>«„«„^ o, ONTARIO. ,«? struction, would relesato it tn Pl.„- .• ■f it were their excCvlK^?™'"" """'"»"'• " to do with inHtnactfolTthr""™ ^''»^<' '"y"-"'*? O-Iy let it be ,r.„tZ. I t T;!; fl °l '*«'^'"'- ciently proved that « • , '"'^' ^^en suffi- -tru^tiL ir^'theirs'": 'zt ^"™«'"' -odemte toxatiou of L7.2 i "''""' '»''' ^^ ■»n.e of re«o„. should^rnot I^' '"" '"'• '» "" -kUled in^truct^r, tTro L thteT'"';''^,,'" ''"'' young people nam in =„ • ^*"^» »" our ceptibCiiaT^he"; wrwhv"""? "!• "■<«' '- of reason, should our L»!t u ^' '**'"• '" "'« """e the eye, of thrp„p H^*";" *« »"«■ 'o subn.it, in ".d.^p^^ch of inr;t ;,^srua;""''"'''"T to ■■"part the most important „7., ^ '°°"''' And, once more in the nX r "" "nstraction ! highest !r.oatCjtLHt"oitT ^^T "^ "•» coramunieation of the 1^1° '^ '""''■ """ ■" ">« •nity of the Province ^ ° """""o" <^''>Ati- trusied to ref«^"?2,'^ """!"' "'^t'> »fety be t-eir p„pi,3 ttitrr r^f t"'' ™"f °^ nominations; tosaynothingofre/ntic'T"'' *" timents which some nf ti, fnti-Chnatian sen- view of the f«rtT.. .^ "* "''' *" ™'"^i° ' In -n^wer, we may ^khtT Tf"' -"^ ">«'> "^ instruction shaH Cve W • n*"""^"-' '">» C'»-M»n and all our teXZ^^uT"'^'^'"'^y '''^"'<i<^. "o inipart it, TZ hfnl oTL^""' '""^ '>"'''""' theira to secure Tb». • ^ "^""^ "o Htted as secure that ynoranoe of the facts «„d 168 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION ■m ill principles of Christianity shall be exceptional, ineteac of being generally characteristic of the people o Ontario— the inevitable result of the error (or wha some would call the infatuation) of the entire exclu sion of religious instruction from the schools of tb great majority of our Christian Province. There are, however, two special implications of th resolution quoted that call for more particuia consideration : I. The supporters of the resolution are not alone ii the insinuation that the endeavour to secure fo Christian instruction the place in the day schoc which, we believe, the national welfare demands, i confined very largely, if not exclusively, to the minii ters of religion. Not unfrequently our contention stigmatized as clerical agitation. While it is vain i expect that this style of dealing with a subject wi ever be renounced by those who, knowing its powe have become habituated to it, one cannot but regr( that a respectable body of gentlemen should, in tl name of one of the most honourable of professior allow itself to be responsible for the insinuation th the ministers of religion are worthy of censure, being the chief, if not the only, peace-breakers und a present happy state of things. Admitting o prominence in the discussion of the subject, that is i reason why the agitation should be referred to snee ingly, or disparaged in any way. The judgment the minister- of religion in relation to a matter th concerns the religious interests of the community, contempt mrteadTwith W . "" '"»«™K« »' government j«™,a„ us the ^ of tl. k ".S^"'""' «"ay« giving „ot only ZLj^ wh.ehwe.^ other days, we are beWn! , , ^^^^ '"'* "» not accepting the ^^SoHta" if isT" f ^ »p.«ng a privilege and neglecting .il W t" this censure is for th. ™ » * ^- "° doubt, «clerati«.. But ht are tW 'T '" """' °' «"- not care, or are notTblet' l'"" ""'"'PP''^ ^o treat Christian profio„ anr**"' ' '""I^"-™ to meaeure of gene'r.: ^ Jn ttr"''" *'"• " **»' should surely have thriib^rty'^^'Tj"'"»f«. we '"Kout the unreasonablene^Tu^ °' P°"'- obhgation, in connection w^ t'T"? "^'' "' » tion of our children thTt !?„» i^™""" ™'™-=- Kenemlly imprecticab e Ih r^l'?' "'^'*^' " " « '^'.done toal^te th^ev^r^' ^Tst? ' ""'^'^ *" ^- wh<« Ats in^rx/nr-r -;t :! 'I ill li I'liii Mil 170 CHRISTIAX INSTRUCTION Christian instruction, and who will not subject then to the influences of the arrangements of the Church but would not object to their religious instruction ii the day school. But, secondly, the subject of the religious instruc tion of the community is one in reletion to which bot our knowledge and our interest are such that w may be reasonably expected to take a lead in urgin the employment of every legitimate agency that he in view the reducing to a minimum of the presei prevailing and increasing poverty in the knowledg of Bible facts 'and principles. The efficiency of oi public ministrations depends very largely upon oi hearers' knowledge of Christian truth; and tl special design of them, namely, Christian edificati< in its highest sense, would be far more extensive! accomplished were it not for the prevailing and groi ing ignorance of Scripture truth. We cannot but s that other agencies in acklition to those that are nc in operation, are necessary, if our people generally • all classes are to be distinguished by an adequs acquaintance with the religion which they profess such an acquaintance as may qualify them to val the ministrations of the sanctuary, and to be profit by them. But it is not to be lost sight of that, wh we know, from our own early experience, that c own young people would be greatly advanced Christian knowledge by the daily lessons of i Christian teacher in the Public School-even far mc in many cases, tha2 by the half-hour weekly lesson , are now '" ™^ """" »«H<>0.^ OF OVTAKIO. 17, the Sabbath School—it i. „„f « • . »o».e«tion ha. chieSyia .tJ Z^"""' "«" °" one knows ali«i.H„ ~, ^ '^^ "«■ "» every oialiy for tbow whose d«™„1 i P'""' »"?«■ instruction, but ..T^JT^ ,r^^"* *'''''■ ''«gi<"« "ceivo religions w"t,""".'"'"5 ""•* ""^y "I'onld have r^nTlZT^T '^ '"^ *'"«'■ *^ in the fact, which w J 1' at" " ''°"''°'f ^g"'-' that in the Loudon Bo^ Si ' /""P"* '" """y. the children in attend!^ f^ ' P™'=««'"y «« tion that is givl " ll'Tf^' ™»-^« ">« Bible iuatruc of thousaucb of child^n ''*^' '^""""-i' and tens elements of Chri^ttn'^uJ:^!."" '""""="»» *» '•>« wi»e<nj,w„piu"hXt i;::lt.'^''° -Id other- ".^-s of the gr^t bTXTe: """r .'° "' "-' «'e, as we have said mTn England. But there do not themselves^' "™? ?^".'' "^ 0°«*rio, who children, and who wretrelT"' ""'""'"" '» ">»- ference. do not dL fh f" P'*J"'*''» <»• 'ndif- Ohurch, but wil?'„Tt ^Z:tT t""™*^ "' ">« Christian instructions of »,. ^ T ^'°« "»*'■ ">» -oh paints wilfrC'ltat'd ^•'"'?^^''»^ " '8, we believe a r«l tt" 1? ^^'^ "• ^or P»«nt Wishes his" hiid™: L^'^JltC '""'""^ grow up m Ignorance of 172 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION i 'V religion. Our authorities (we say it with all respec and deference) would do well to listen to us, when w remind them that there are many of their youthft subjects, especially in the cities of the Province, whot we would gladly benefit if we could— if, that is, the; would receive from us and our helpers what we ar ready to give them; but who will certainly live an( die deplorably ignorant of everything Christian, un less their religious instruction shall be secured by ai agency which our Christian rulers have the full con trol of, and which, as we have seen, no principle o national action) forbids the employment of. The; know well that our work in the instruction of thei people is promotive of the public well-being. Am they ought to consider that we should be presumed t< be competent beyond others to judge correctly ii reference to our own methods of dealing with thoS( who place themselves, or are placed by their parents under our care and that of our helpers. If instead they listen to the counsels of spleneticism, prescribin| our methods, and representing us as agitators, actuatec by a desire to lay upon others a burden which w( ought to carry ourselves, the results can be nothinj but disastrous. It ought to be known to all that W( have no desire to do less than we do, and that, for th< most part, our work, with all its cares, anxieties an( disappointments, is a pleasure to us and to many ever a delight. But we see clearly that another availabh agency in addition to ours is necessary, if Ontario ii to claim the honourable distinction of being a com munity whose ne l 'he Prindplea otZl^LTT"" "'"■'"'o^^ in "hioh « coMpicuoMlv r I f^ P">'<»»-» religion «>•' no prinoipie Sd» H *^'*"'* *'«' ««nK «n>s misunderstood "ndl,,, *r°* "^ """''^ «"d be regarded « doingrnaMr'^'^"'"'' "' ""Sht to ^ obviate the practLl d^ffi t.tl^T;""- »» -k by some to make it all h,,/; 5 "' *■* supposed >'"e.«l teacher shouW ^ '^'.'''' "■•' "•» P™. "•e work Of Christ::!' X:«r '"'"*--''- in If some, however n~ j- j '••den.telyand nnkindr^tn '"u""'"'' ■''«'■'■ o»r position, there are we .r2 *''' *" "■"«™'e understand us and svmZth^ """."^ "'""' "I"' will the language of the g3 t" T"" ""' "''«"• "»■« "ight of a great hlrvr J T r' "° "y ««" ""! '"■BelypeHsT-ingCu^'- 7*?^ f"-- the sickle, and "ouree of .nuch*^ ™ Z^"'^'^' «»'*»-'. '" • though no one in this rh^.^ , " " •" that. f"".I«kof knowledge. ittt:" '?"" "-^ "Pe™h heeause they will not rece'vl ,t^ '"^'" """ """y ''o. Christ fre„ th<«, who woaM *""* ''-""'edge ot ;«1 they allow their cTi^dlrr""" """»■ "o- from thc«e who are not a ,„we. t """^ "• '■=«=?' "•e .«.y. •■ Then let them ^rilt ^h '"'1,''' "■ ^'""' 'he.r ehildren with them^f si n "'"""""^ »■"' deavonr by every lemtim., "° '">' ""her en. -.-vietims^fTi:r:;rSyn:r:/r Xf^ 174 CHRI8TIAN INSTRUCTION 1:1 '^ii- i! ! ■ 1 I I ! rather, in the language of the parable, compel them (the word, of course, being UHed figuratively) to accept what they most of all need ? Shall we not. that is still pursue their children's welfare, and seek, by othei agency than ours, to save them from the ignoranc* that is fatal to it ? And what can possibly be th< hindrance that is efTcctually barring the employmen of that agency— an agency that has been notorioush efficient for good, as is proved abundantly by the ex perience of over three centuries in countries tha have been wise to employ it? It is not surely tha the exclusion 'of Christian instruction from ou Protestant Schools has become, as we fervently hop it never can become, a political isswe. And yet. i the Government, convinced, as it is. of the impoi tance of the Christian education of its youth— a coi viction that is, we are sure, equally held by the part in opposition-continues to shrink from the respons bility of introducing the only arrangement that is ; full consistency with its conviction and obligation, < that can be expected to reduce to a minimum the pr vailing ignorance of Scripture, which is sappmg tl morality of the community, how is this hesitation be accounted for ? We cannot think of any explar tion, except what has been more than once alrea< suggested, namely, that the Government, besides 8< ing opposition on the part of some— ministers a people-cannot be blind to the fact that Protestar notwithstanding their general desire to see Chnsti instruction introduced into our schools, fail largely ■t IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. Hfi evince such determination in battlin«. f»r th • • u convictions, it hesitates to carry tliem™^. • ?* lative or official action an^t L„ Tl '" *"" general «... decided pubiirpiLor "'" '""•"" "' .nothefch^Il'l:::!"'? """'«' ■"»'« ^--te. ^^ r '■^'^oot'tert^^ versv" I, -^ V "^ '"^^ '""■ ««<«»•»«« contro- "ork of the te^h^r T P™?""""ie "nd of the Hon of >^^ZZ" '"^."«"i''« for the introduc ;xt.oTr^^^"'-f"t- 176 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCnOll in our opinion, an aasumption bo gratuitou* and unreasonable can hardly be conceived. Of this, al the risk of the charge of a little repetition, we hop< to satisfy the candid reader. Wo have already hat occasion to show that the "present system" »i Msentiidiy sectarian* There is, indeed, a sense ii which it may be said to be non- sectarian. It is non sectarian in the sense that Christianity is practicuU] nowhere in it, though it may be nomivally Christiar Our rulers decline to take the responsibility of admil ting definite phristian instruction into the scho( programme. Rather, they authoritatively exclud it; flattering themselves that they have fully du charged their obligation when they give pennissio to the ministers of religion to give a weekly lesso within the walls of the school-room. And thus tt " present system " is non-sectarian simply by bew non-Christian, ministers, meanwhile, and the helpers, instructing their children at a more coi venient time and in a more suitable place. An while our teachers are, for reasons already referr( to, declared to bo incompetent and not to he truste there are some, as is well known, who assume, as i unquestionable principle, thnt instruction cannot Christian— we may even .say. religious-witho being sectarian, and that therefore we cannot be ft from sectarian teaching, except by the exclusion all teaching; distinctively Christian or religious. Th however, is not the view of our r ulers, if we m •8«e Chap. VII., pp. 121, 122. »- TH. PUBUO aCHOOU o, OHT.„o. ,„ our yooth. thoOKh we h.lif„ i . "" """""'on of »^»i«» with whicro„ " " !?'"""" '" "■. «o. Pven to cl.,»,„en to t<Ih J' T^ P»™i«io« ' '-P'ie. the peiS^^";- "^' "^ '«»<'.ncy , the <iw(i,«,(.w views of hi.ZZ ^'"'"' '"'^h -« it „ot that the .tw. in'r""- ^'x' -me, h« been amply pO'tn J •'''^"" "» our «hool. might preint th„ ^ ^. "npreoticable, o'ericl zeal e/pen/eTCX in""'?"'''' "'«'='«'' »' prejudice oar y™„„ 'S • !»''~™"™ fitted to alienate them '^trol' ^t^l ««"• »">«■ "d to "■oet import«.t of human int^'" ""T"" "'* »ny considerate person Ih- » v ^° """ ""ind of 'f yield to the Sin iT^r '' ^ '^ '"'«'y For. apart f„m thellTtSrh. """' "" «'<"®'"'<» « being at least no m"«,^' ' .""^ "'" *« *"»»«<» iter, is there not allluT.!? T^""" "»■" ""« min- '"ia- teaching, by th" i^S^" .T"'^ '«*'■»' ««■ it. in thecse ff Z ^he" w°M T """'""'"' »' i no Undrance tominist^,!' T '* ^" '» "iMolutely to their hearts' c^nU^tf ^ '"* *»'' ^''arianisni MKKKOrr MKXUnON TBT CNAIT (ANSI and ISO TEST CHART No. 2) Itt lit 1.1 123 lU IM 140 123 2.2 A /1PPLED IM/GE I t6S3 East Mom StrMt RochMtar, Nm Yorti t4609 USA (716) 403 - 0300 - Phorw (718) 288 - 5989 - Fox m 178 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION of the law, judgment, mercy and faith," it would not the teachers but the clergymen. Referring farther to the assumption that we t seeking to introduce sectarian teaching, we think has been sufficiently proved that instruction may Christian without being sectarian. Far too much, repeat, is made of the differences among Protestan because in reality they are hardly worthy of not in view of their general agreement m all the ess tials of Christian teaching. That the great majoi of Protestant Christians are so largely at one as tl actually are. is at once what might be expected fi an unprejudiced study of the Word of God. an matter of great thankfulness in so far as it is ind tive of such study. We need not repeat what have said, in a former chapter, in reference to sufficiency of the Divine provision for our being to a general agreement in relation to the substanc the teaching of the Christian Scriptures. In ^ of the many misleading influences which ope by Divine permission, for important ends, we not be greatly surprised when we see men, eve high intellect, committing themselves to egrej follies in religion-even preferring Buddhisi Mohammedanism to the teachings of Chnst or pu singular constructions on the teachings of Chri not « wresting the Scripturea" But if, having r( to the promise of Divine guidance, the marvell general agreement among Protestants in relati the teachings of Scripture should not surpns '" "•"= ""■"^ ^H«»" or ONT.H,o. ,r» ■"atter of surprise vJ. t ' '*«»•"''" was a then, can it be oha^^ ^ ^/^^ '° « •»"• How. to make sectarian tou-hT ' "' "° "™ ^^k'ng Public Scho^, X^w L' ""^ ?' ""^ "-"^ "f ">e teache™ shall be ^uZZ """ ^ ■"'""^ '*"" <>•«• common Christian.^/rfi-nHfJv'e"""™"""" '» "" "ho have a peculiar n!^,!.!.. P"' ''"^ of tho«, of the PmviC-lS''^ "■ "" ''"''"'= S'"-""' setting up of a J^ . • "° ""*»• '" "irtue of the 'hat our unity in^wtrjl™ "'^'' "' *«««" Christianity i, a „X""^.'^^ S""' «sential. „f our Rom«. CathX Cow J'? °'^"' "«'■' """ °' -Oive^nee intm^H^rC ~"*-'?"« Pos-ng too heavy a tax unonTh j " **" '"■■ feel we possess h, our hiT" ^'"."^'"""^ "hieh we can be accordwi th^ • i ^"^<'*' before our unity 'heRomrCalh^rtleT "'"" '' *«=°«'«' '^ time to come. It L suL t T^ " * "«'" " »» differ seriously t: Z Ztl "r "" '«" ""<> PfUed to receive the lesCtrr'^ ""'^ '^ '»™- t'anity of the Und. """"«"' Chris- I I' 180 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION There is, then, no propriety, or rather there is a great impropriety, in meeting our contention, as some do, by asking, Shall the teaching be Calvinistic or Arminian ? High Church or Low Church ? Baptist or Pedobaptist ? or by ridiculing the idea of making the Public School teacher a theological tutor. Such questions are, spe tking mildly, the reverse of perti- nent to our discussion ; and we no more desire the teacher to be a theological tutor than the pious parent is, who faithfully instructs his children— with this difference, however, that while the parent has the right to indoctrinate his children in the distinctive tenets of his own Church, the teacher is to be abso- lutely forbidden to utter a word outside of the gen- erally accepted, well understood, and easily formulated common Christianity of the Protestants of Ontario. Nor is there an intelligent and judicious teacher, be- longing to any one of the churches which comprise nearly the whole Protestant profession of the Pro- vince, who would find it in the least difficult to give instruction in all essential Christian principles, doc- trinal and practical, without introducing into his teaching the peculiar tenets of his own denomination His intelligent attachment to his own Church, be i\ ever so strong, will be no reason for distrusting him Rather, it will be the best of guarantees of his trust- worthiness as a Christian instructor. It may be we cannot yet say that sectarianism ii an evil entirely of the past. But we may safelj venture to say that, when all our teachers " of th( IN THE PDBUC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 181 i~°I; '■""■""" I"""""' "<' -I"!--' to give ™ rachon ,„ our co,„mo„ Christianity there wilTu little occaaon to restniin excess of denominstiiri 7r -c^.n «al on their part Free of alU^p^^Len, o„ on that head, under the system for whoi Im^' " X:: Tit' T"'i ""' ''"' i^ -^P^^^^'n ?orrn^r;i:tt,--t.:::-^ us when „e hear of any of them being chargeTwith tahng ^vantage of his position to .fve a -Menli ZX^' "^ 1;'' '-•''■'«• O" 'He eontrr; th«r faithful and honourable abstention from M emphatic demonstration of the truth that . higW -mty .s attainable in the independent and «vere,!t h f :L iT°t^ °' ""^ "•^" '' attainable il,?:;' di^ZT'.u ?""""' '■«'' "te""* »»d of great dmlecfcal subtlety, think otherwise and prefSto I Ij ■I m CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION. entrench themselves in another unity, which they regard as a safe stronghold against the temble vagaries of the wild human intellect, while we are far from envying them, we do not judge them, but leave them, as we commit ourselves, to the judgment of Him who alone cannot err in judgment ii'iii 1 CHAPTER XII. Ihe essential importance of parental interest—Parental neg- lect an argument in favour of our contention— Per- man-mt value of ChrietUn knowledge— The AposUe Paul's valuation of its diffusion. We propose in this chapter to deal frankly with the error of those who. on the ground that the Christian instruction of the young is unquestionably binding on certain parties, argue that it should not be committed to the teachers of the Public Schools; and also to consider the serious failure in duty on the part of many parents, as constituting an additional and very strong argument in favour of the contention of these pagea We are being continually reminded, as we need not be, that the communication of religious instruction is the duty of the Church, its ministers, its parents, and its Sabbath School teachers. We do not object however, to our being kindly and faithfully reminded of our duty. We are sure, at least, that ministers do not. It does us no harm. What we seriously object to is the implication that is intended to be conveyed in these reminders, which is nothing less than that, 18S 184 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION I ' I becaiute the Christian instruction of the young is the duty of the Church, its ministers, parents and Sabbath School teachers, it is not tlie duty of others besides them. To say nothing of the breach of the elemen* tary laws of reason, involved in such an implication, the duty of these parties is not in question. The question is, whether besides these, there are not others who ought, in the best interests of the community, to be engaged in the work of Christian instruction. It is not a question of the transference of work from one party to another. Far less is it, as some represent it, a question of the transference of a burden from the shoulders of those who ought to bear it, to the shoulders of those who ought not to have it laid upon them. The question is, we repeat. Do not the interests of the community— the State, the Province, the Nation, for the name is a matter of indifference — require that in addition to the agencies referred to, anoilier agency shall be employed, to the employment of which, as we humbly submit, it has been shown there can be no legitimate objection, or to the employment of which by the civil ruler there is no let on the ground of any Scripture principle ? It is a grief to us to see that there are those who seriously misapprehend our motives and our purpose and aim, in pleading for the authoritative introduc- tion of religious instruction into the Protestant schools of Ontario— the Public Schools. Speaking in the name of the Protestant ministers of the Pro- vince, who, we believe, with the exception more than once referred to, are almost universally in IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 185 sympathy with us. our contention does not look as acme inconsiderately and ungenerously insinuate.' to the transference oi an obligation or. as they prefe; to phrase .t. a hnrd^ from themselves to another class of instructom We do not need to be told that it is the duties of mmisters. parents and Sabbath School teacher to instruct the young. For minister^ w can safely say that there is no class of men. taken as a whole who have more pleasure in the work of their calling than ministers have in the instruction thooH u ^^'.'^'^' "^^y ^ ««'d «f Sabbath .choo teachers, as is sufficiently manifest f«,m the fact alone that their labour are gratuitous We ^Id f"f .'''"^*" *" "^^ ^'^'^ '"^-^ -"-y parents fail to realize their responsibility, and are theT 1-M ''' 'n'^ °' *'^ ^«''^«- insLction ; their children. But all the more do we. for this very reason, eaniestly contend for Christian instruction by the qualified Christian teachers of this Provincf were It only as a means, urgently required, of mitigat-' mg the evilissues of parental neglect. We have no Idea that Sab^th School t.ache« and dutiful parents will, when Christian instruction is imparted in our schools, do any less than they have been doing we shall see before we close this chapter, that they wi 1 be under the necessity of doing much more, but not without the hope of ample reward for their increased labour.* * See also last chapter. 186 CBRISTtAN INSTRUCTIOK Ready as we may be to labour in our mm.. • y to the utmost extent of our ability and oppoi inity, we cannot but believe that there is another class of instructors, whose agency in the communication of Christian knowledge, if it could be made avail- able, would be of immense value, as an addition to the agencies that are now in operation. While it would be a great benefit to those who are now receiving a modicum of Christian instruction from the workeis of the Church, it io nothing short of a necessity to many of the young people of the Pro- vince. We cannot but see that there are many whom, from whatever cause, the present agencies fail to reach ; and the sorrowful fact cannot be denied that the employment of what is, in some important respects, the chief of these agencies, viz., the parental, is far from being the power for good that it ought to be, and that it would be, but for parental neglect of Christian duty. Even with the present agencies at their best — that is, generally as well as faithfully employed — the daily communication of Christian instruction by skilled Christian teachers would be an unspeakable benefit to our children of all classes, as witness the results of it, in making Scotland what it has been for more than three centuries, placed in the van of nations in the intelligence and energy of its people, and in their love of freedom, civil and religious, conscientiously loyal to the infatuated dynasty that persecuted them, and by their " resistance unto blood," a prime factor in the securing of British liberty. IN THl PUBUO SCHOOLS OF OKTARIO. 187 The writer may be allowed to refer to his own case, m illustration of the value of the religious lessen, of the day school. Looking back more than «xty years, to the time when the Sabbath School was in Its infancy in Scotland, and when there was yet no Sabbath School in connection with the conirre. gation to which his family belonged, he believes that, notwithstanding home teaching, he would have been anything but an adept in Scripture knowledge but for the daily Scriptare and catechism exereise with which every day began in the day school. Saturday forenoon being sometimes wholly spent in the revisai of the week's religious lessona And though, as has been said the master of the school at which he received his early classical education, was at that time required to be a member of the National Church a whisper was never heard of sectarian Uachfna' though the children of three dissenting congregai ^ attended the school, two of those congregations b^mg of the Jirst secession, and the other of the sfcv»fi -h- Relief aeceaaiou, to which the family of the » .«• belonged. No doubt there was a full accorda* , the part of all those congregations in relatit* Scripture doctrine. But we have shown that, if w. ^ accordance of the great Protestant bodies of Ontari. 18 not absolutely entire, there differences are of m. a«x>u„t. in view of their unity in all the essentials of christian teaching. Bnt the writer has further to say. that when later he attende<l the Etlinburgh Normal School, which was at the time practically 188 CHRISTIAN INHTRUCnON I; under the rule of a then diHtinguished amateur enthusiastic educationist — a Scottish barrister and county judge* — who was a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church, with a decided leaning to Armin- ianism (which did not prevent the Kirk Sessions of Edinburgh, under whose control the school was placed, from accepting his valuable gratuitous services), there was the same freedom from all suspicion of sectarianism ; and, though the Scripture lessons were felt by many to be unduly onerous, many others besides the writer, had they "remained until this present " 'time, would freely acknowledge that with- out those daily Christian lessons, which occupied a prominent place in the work of the school, their Scripture knowledge would have been comparatively very slender. And who can seriously think of the entire absence of Bible and definite Christian teaching from the schools of Ontario, without being so impressed with the inadequacy of the present agencies, as to fear that an increasing ignorance of Christian truth will characterize our otherwise highly educated classes, unless a prominent place shall without delay be given to it in the lessons of the day school ? Referring more especially to the parental agency, so far are we from thinking that the instructions of the day school can be an adequate substitute for those of the home, that, on the contrary, we are, in our pulpit ministrations, continually reminding parents that, however helpful any other agency may be, no • In Scotland, Advocate and Sherif-Ihpute. IN TH« PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 189 agency, however helpful, can be expected to neutralize or compensate for the evils of pare^l neglect Thai good «.ulta of the highent kind should I the frutt of the Chnstian instruction of children whose parents are md.fferent to their religious or spiritual welK be.^ barred by the paints' unbelieving dL«^^ of Scripture promise, which assures the ChrisS l^hever of the success of his endeavor to bring ^r,^ chid "n the nurture and admonition of the Lord " But yet much may be done to compensate for the ZJS r"!?'""' '^ P"^"^' •» '^' ^«y o^ storing the mmds of the young with Christian knowlecjge i^^ZT' ""t *^'"''' "*" ^"P"^ ^^^ ««««r«on that the add, ion of stated day school Christian instruc ChrisTu "'°'' '^^'"*"^ '^^'^ ^"^y °f ^he other Christian agencies m reducing the present appalling unacquaintance with Scripture truth, and in inking an adequate measure of sound Christian knowledge Uje general, and all but universal, possession of the peopleof Ontario. And in view of the possible and such knowledge, who can overestimate its value ^ Not to speak of its value as an intellectual endow" ment. the Christian instructor who has been grieved to see all his endeavours neutralized by Averse home influences, has. from time to time, reason to rejoice m the changed life of one who has. perhaps for a long time, followed the evil example of the home. While we labour to counteract the evil effects of II' ll I I 190 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION parental nej^lect, which its prevalency requires us to do incessantly, it is because we can never forget that the parental agency in the religious training of chil- dren is so indispensable that no other agency can compensate, in the interests of children, for parental indifference, to say nothing of evil example. Other agencies may store the minds of our young people with Christian knowledge, an inestimable possession which, through the plenteous mercy of Qod, may re- sult eventually in the rescuing of their souls from death. Put if our children generally are to devote themselves early to Christ and to lead Christian lives, we must above all things, direct our attention to parents, in the hope of rendering their Christian interest in their children less exceptional than it is «t the present time. We are mourning over the slender results, moral and spiritual, of the much earnest en- deavour that is being put forth, in the interest of our young people, by ministers and other Christian wor!v- ers ; but probably we do not at all sufficiently realize the fact that all our endeavours must be compara- tively fruitless in this respect, when parental influence is adverse or unfavourable. We complain that so very few of our young people are giving indications of a disposition to lead a Christian life ; but that, on the contrary, very many of them, and of our young men especially, make us fear that an evil future is before them, even in respect of the present life ; inasmuch as they are manifestly averse to that godliness that has attached to it the promise of the life that now is, as IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 191 well as of the life that is to come. But are we suffi- ciently alive to the fact that, in the multitude of instances, the great hindrance to the present and immediate efficacy of the influences brought to bear upon our young people, is the spiritual torpor and in- difference to divine things which characterize their parents ? We may have all the machinery of Chris- tian instruction in active and ceaseless operation • but all will be of little avail in awakening a genuine and effective interest in the minds of the children, while their parents are not acting in such a way as to com- pel the belief that they are actuated by a supreme regard to religious interests— deceiving themselves it may be. but not their children. If parents give oc^- sion to their children to suspect the genuineness of their religion, by their lukewarmness in relation to the great realities of the unseen and eternal world while they are all life and earnestness in relation t<i the interests of sense and time, there may indeed be an occasional conversion, thus keeping up the «uc- cession of true piety in the church, without affecting to any appreciable degree the general reign of spiritual death. But not until parents generally manifest a type of piety and concern for their children's spiritual welfare that are now comparatively rare, can we reasonably expect a general movement toward Christ on the part of our young people. In referring, as we have done with some warmth, to the essential importance of the parental agency, and to prevailing parental indifference and neglect,' 192 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION we may possibly be reminded that we have forgotten that we are not preaching. If we have erred in this respect, we trust that some leniency may be extended to us, on the ground that, with the views we have, it is hardly possible that our spirit should not be stirred within us, when we not only have to deplore the partial or entire neglect of many parents, but must perforce submit to a system of public education char- acterized by the idolatry of the material and the secular, with no room in it for intelligent Scripture teaching; our rulers declining to acknowledge re- sponsibility for the Christian instruction of the children of Protestants, beyond telling their ministers that, if they think their children are not receiving enough of religious instruction, they may go into the school-room and there give them another lesson once a week. Our reference, however, to the parental agency has respect to the fact that our expectations, as well as our motives and aims, are so much misunderstood. Enough, we trust, has been said to satisfy the candid mind that there is no ground for ascribing anything to Christian ministers, except the desire and the hope of doing more work, and of working with more suc- cess as the community advances in Christian know- ledge ; and especially no reason to think that we are so foolish as to indulge in unreasonable expectations in reference to the results of daily or stated Scripture instruction in the Public School. But while, as has been said, we have slender hope of results of the » THE PUBUC SCBOOZ. or OKT.B,0. ,93 v.l«e of the «ri/3,^',r; ™»"ot.ove«,sti,„«te the not only in resoL^r « *^''™"»" knowledge, Chnstjan comforter access fT/h ^''^ ^° *^« the day of distress and r it t ^"l '^"^ ""'^^ '» could not have in the cTe !f on^ f ^'"''' ^'^^'^^ ''^ the eJemente of ChristiaTll "' " " " '^^^'''^"^ «^ One word more at this noinf in * strange notion of our deLT . ''^''^"'" *° ^^^^ imposed on others It ? ?"' ^^''^ «^°»'^ »>« desi. is ascribed to us' h^r^X^r ^"^^ '^ wters,and that the more in^.ir T ^"^'^'^^^ min- 'nore careful we rZ^e tot^'"' ""^ ^^^^^ '»^«' the the pulpit. And tho, 1 ^^^ Preparation for "the laying on of the S T *'^^ "'^ ""'« ^-'"^ to feel as Lu^re of our « A^^^^^ f Presbytery." and Roman Catholic pr^st t^^"^l «"«^«««'°«" as the Anglicans can do'^^t ^rell f ''^"^^ ^^^"^^ with our people hat dc^s noT fol^T ^^ ^"^"^°^« the instrumentality ofT,./^^/ "" ^''"^^ *^«>»«»» »nd as much as ours *^l'"*^^^^^-theirs as well advantage of treiri^„. ' °° ^^«'^« *« take reading and kindrl^ ^® ^^® attention to V I n. i 194 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION profiting may appear to all," we believe we cannot acceptably serve our Master and His cause by " that which costs us nothing," The time indeed was when, having completed our college studies to enter on the work of the ministry, we assumed the general possession, on the part of the people, of a fair measure of Scripture knowledge. But after a while we found that there were not a few, not children in years, to edify whom it was necessary to descend to the commonplace. When it is considered that this necessity is largely owing to the little attention that is now paid to religious instruction, compared with what was given to it in ther days, and especially to its absence from the day school, it cannot be thought that ordinary candour will ascribe to us any but a reasonable motive in agitating for the reduction, by all legitimate agencies, of the prevailing poverty in Christian knowledge. But to bring to a close the discussion of the im- portant subject of the present chapter. Surely when in addition to the present means of instruction, " Holiness to the Lord " is written on the doors of our National Schools, and the fathers and the mothers of the rising generation are generally interested in the religious welfare of their children, the hope that our land will become a "garden of the Loi*d " among nations is no vain one. There is indeed not a little to discourage us ; and, as we have said, not our least discouragement is that there are Christian brethren who, under an unreafjflable apprehension, as we "■ '■" ""«•'« «'"»0" OP OKTAmo. ,9S which the greaUpoatlervI^fi Jl'.T^''"' <" but rejoice in it. diffl„iore»en ^„f ' ' """ "°* Not that he rejoiced in e°'vt L ,Lf '\'"'? ""'«•" he could not but, with Til rt • .• ' "''"''' '"'l'"' B"t he rejoiced, « wf dot ttT^-' ""^'^^ ■""•»■•• '«Ige, the P«»e«iorof which *f''°''°''''°''»°''- ■"ore likely object "f Twnl '? P<««»«.r. whoieig„„„„t^f^^»;;°« «™« "«» 'he „.n ■•".-ipne th.t « th?c»r:fhf j"t""""' ■="> -« Chrietian in^trucX^^^r^lll »"^»«'- »' erapiro. without makinTif! "'\«''ool8 of the th«o who objectern TjTK"^ ""*"« »» would h.vep^testedlli'^t i 'r,^ °' "•'"""""S' being . eontreventionTj^! 1?" . «"""<" "' ''» of My othe.- principk of „L- ■'"'"^ P"""'"''''- or be «id th.t the ™f„„, "!"•" ,""™ ' " -y cepted principlee. dH™ . .tSSt^ T'' "^ Ml a comp«»tively recent time a,. , . ^'^'oP-e-' bered, we are fully aauriL; f "V '"* ""»<"»- in oar LoH's teichfaT^ ""^ '' »" ^e-m q«oted.a.„id tol»°f'„°JT^ "•»' have been though... w. Uve «idT '""f °"~"'^-''"'"'; blindne*. .ee why TcZl^^' ^"^f '" "ur -— ^[V_a^Chnrtmn Qeaar ahould not 196 ' CHRISTIAN INSTRUCnOH. hinwelf " render to God the things that are God's." or why he should not use his power and the money he receives from his people, to promote the Christian welfare of his subjects. We cannot think that Paul would have protested against such action, though he would surely have objected to coercion. And we think even that we cannot be quite sure that he would have objected to the Emperor's doing some- thing, in his official capacity, for the support and comfort of the Christian ministers of his day, so that they might not have to labour night and day for their own support, at tent-making and other occupa- tions. But those, it may be said, were the times of the morning twilight of some great principles, and some may think that, if Paul had been living now, he would have objected not only to the.pubhc endow- ment of religion, but to the allowance of Chnstian instruction in the schools whose teachers are secured in a decent maintenance by the action of the civil ruler From this, however, we must dissent. We cannot but humbly think that, while the great apostle seems not to have highly relished the receiv- ing of money from those to whom he was preaching the Word, although his doing so was in accordance with a Divine ordinance of both Testaments, we may be very sure that he would have rejoiced m seeing all Christians cordially united in the desire and determination to give Christian instruction a promin- ent place in our National Schools. CHAPTER XItt "■e proper woA^IL ?^''.°' "" ''«>"-». •» knowledge of (bTfZ. T^^ ""! ' '"'■'*' ""'" «>« ■eholws a retreat .nH i • "'° "'»<'« »f k'' « the Worf S Q^ '°"°« "^"^ 'o-- the Bible, their «.n«ien«, iL WuT " *^ «'"■»«» "t may be exnected t^ T?T P^e'P'ea And he eei^iallyTe^ ^r^^' '»V«'™e«on, to bear thi. connection e'tZ t if'i°""*' '^"'"'- '" there a« those whoX TJ- '^ 'P'**'" t" «»»«, the nee of thTBTw! inlTT'^,"T^^' "'«««''■" '» which, were they vl id tin " **«"-ebjectione 198 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCnoN reprobation. Two of these objections especially call for particular consideration, on account of their plausibility, appealing;, as they do, to the best and finest feelinfp of our nature— the one to the senti- ment of pudieity, and the other to that of compos- sum, which includes in its kindly sweep and embrace even those whose criminality requires their suffering, it may be, even unto death, as a protection to the interests of the community. I. While there are many other sins afrainst which our young peojAe need to be constantly and solemnly warned, such as profanity, dishonesty, untruthfulness, intemperance and unfilial conduct, there is perhaps no class of sins, the deadly nature of which they more need to have deeply impressed upon them than that of sins against purity, the Bible references to which some profess to consider so indelicate as to make the Bible, as a whole, an improper book for use in the school. Now, we cannot but hasten to say with all possible emphasis that, if anything in our present controversy calls for outspoken dealing and flat con- tradiction, it is this objection to the Word of God, which, as we have said, applies to the use of the Bible in the Sabbath School, including the Bible- class, as well as to its use in the day school. In dealing frankly with it, therefore, as we are called to do, we do not hesitate to say at . the outset, that we take the ground that, not only are the references objected to no reason why the Bible should be denied a place in the school and concealed from our young n' THE PtTBUO 8CHOOUI or OKTAHIO. ,9» Pwple. but the absence of the«e r«f. our judgment, be a seriL T? "^f""^ ^ould, i„ Pwfeases to inform us o7Z • *?' i" * *^^ ^^'^h *o our duty, and to the dVirT** ^^ ^°^ »» "^•"on which prci;ed f^j^L^r^'^'ir •"'^ d««»quencie8 our fallen naturl"! ^her Z^^i fn^ ^^^^ ^^ of •" • proof, amonir manv «!I .u ' ^^^ w^erencea uttemnce <^f Q^? ZZ t "' *^** **^« »»>^« « the convincing uaorlur I ,^"'' ''^'^ *^« <^««'^ of '^ AndV^rer^';:^^^^^^^ •rgumente/or and agal^ltTtul T?? ^»*o ^^e without objecting to T^tLf . ^^'^^^> and dr«n. we must protest^i*^ ? .f "^ '°' ^^^unger chil- Bible by a Lect^n^ X^ch VT "^''°^ «^ *»»« be the omission of The vi^,' ?'^ ^"''^"^^^O" would that are objected to 1 Z^^ ;"*^'^"' "^^'^nces «y that we^earth^eThe^t^^^^^^ "^ ^"^'^ part of many, altoirether ^ • ^delicacy is. on the q-stionedthluhe^at CXdi l'.^ T^' ^ because its 'teachin;. is of l»T u ^^'^^ *^® ^ible. them tremble in the c^l "'^* '^*«*^^' «" ^o make would pe^uade thems^r^'" "' T "'^^'^' *^«^ while the ve^ menS^*: D:::^^''^' ^"^^ of them is an intolerable bre^h S nl^'^,^'"'^*''"" No one will hesitate to ^thJ^''^*'^' estimate the value of thl ^ . """ **°»ot over- relation to the purity oMhr "'"* '' P"^'*'^*^ - indeed say that itl thl .K r^"™""'^^- ^e may PJ;^5^i^^ of social — — :::i____j^nwmch the power of o^^z::^ ir^t^- ^^«-^- soo CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION oonacienoe is so slender a restraint against the indul- gence of irregular desires. It is therefore important in the highest degree that we should, not only care- fully avoid everything that might tend to weaken, but do all we can to foster, a sentiment apart from whose powerful influence, wide as is the prevalence of what is called the " social evil," the condition of the community would be infinitely worse than it unhap- pily is. But we shall be guilty of a tremendous folly if we imagine that the sentiment of pudicity can be a substitute for conscience ; and we shall be justly reckoned Its the worst enemies of those who come after us if, under the plea of respect for it, we decline to use our best endeavours to enlist the youth- ful conscience on the side of " purity in heart, speech and behaviour." Granting that the matter is one that requires delicate handling, a person is not fit to be entrusted with the education of the young, who cannot deal with it in such a way as shall tend at once to promote tenderness of conscience in relation to sins against purity, and to strengthen the senti- ment which is the only safety of many, and which is a defence which perhaps not very many can afford altogether to depreciate or despise. We are surely not mistaken in believing that even Joseph was dominated as much as any man ever was, by the divinely strengthened modesty of his nature, when the mighty and irresistible power of the tenderest of consciences constrained him to exclaim: "How shall I do this great wickedness and sin against IN THE PUBUO SCHOOLS OP oOTABIO. fOl dcf^uioTSlS Tthr r*^' ''""«' ""■" taw view, in rl^Tr " !" •n'oreement of Scrip- S.bb.th School • "^y *■"«' " ■■' "'• Ood. ind L^t^l'^''' "■" »««*'»« 0* "» Wo«f of th. «il re.^1. ^f ^^ "T "»"" "" *«"<'er mmd t^e -.^;~.lt^ro:"o?^'Tj:i:'r,i to enforce tL^^ ^fi^"''; '" «■«" <«««"» th„ It« undeniable that muX^ thf ,1te« „w ^l"'' current nnder the name of phyefofo^v „ ^' " pernicious influence n„ .1,. '. ^'""'"B'' e»reise« a H is, whether d^^^'j''' "',::,»•»' "T' ^"^ « meat of h„.„an cj^ ^IiJLIT "T" ''P"*- foster the belief that tL f T "'""»«'«'■. "nd to «8»in,t in — ^'witCiaXh'''"*-'',"'"' t™nq;re«,ion of the mom h.t „f tJtjl °' "'" Of fo,«ettin« that eWI rJi:' „^- 'Z^^-'Z fOS CBRUiTlAlf INSTRUCTION physiological laws, be the natanl penalty of anire- •trained indalgence of natural appeteneiea. Though we might subject ourselves to scorn in properly characterising the teaching to which the literary power of some men of name gives currency and popu- larity in our day. all the more does such teaching need, as an indispensable counteractive, the plain home-speaking of Scripture, where the needful and only effective counteractive is to be found. Men will range the encyclopaedia of human knowledge in vain for a moral power, fitted to appal the transgressor of the law of punty, such as is contained in a single utterance of Scripture ; and that because it is instinct with the breath of the living Qod and pervaded with the power of Him who is the Lord of conscience, and " is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity." To say nothing of the direct and dire denunciations of the Divine displeasure against im- purity, not only of life, but of heart, where, in the whole compass of human literature, shall we find a sentence weighted with such a power to affect the conscience, as that which closes the simple and faith- ful record of a great king's violation of the Divine law of purity, and his criminal attempt to conceal it., " The thing that David had done displeased the Lord" ? But for Scripture, and having regard only to standard works of profane history, we can with difficulty avoid the impression that princes and other great men, their associates, are reasonably to be regarded as exempt from the obligation of the Divine law of purity. But « nw TOBuo 8CH0OU or oin»mo. ms "0*1 » no nqwter of p,»on„" ud while dl """f" 1. <1« to th. virtoJL pri^ who fa mJrf W nm b.w« of „t.ni«g in . fooIi.h . J aipZ^ w.y to the „n of D.yid, in.»«ul of trembhW K gnmion of the law of God. or of rejoicinir with tram bl.j« g»t.t„d. for th. «^ ««» hi. Wepl ;t t™ th.'^iS'- """"■ 'r^^ "'»■«*'<» to the a« of «» BiWe in o«r whool.. which ells for bmZ.1., Itraehtes to exterminate the Canaanit«. ««^ ♦« ^«rUnd. which Ood P«,n.S3T ^^.^^3 MiVM ppactiM the idoUtricB and the wiekad .iv,-,: "tioo. ««ci.W th,«with th. nc^t^""!" »u needful, it is because some time a«) we haH rv.^« !:!!_!lf!!i!!^!!^^^ of four wtrst •n'riz'r^ rCacitthr''" j^^i^i^ii;^^^^ th«t of David's fallandiUU^KU °'''***P'" «"»* victory. «„d «ii.ple«u™. And i^l „?J^^ conjequence-the fruitof God'. 204 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION a local newspaper, in reply to attacks made by a teacher against the use of the Bible in our schools, on that special ground. The objection, while it is plausible, as seeming to appeal to the best feelings of our nature, is really based upon a very erroneous impression respecting the guilt of heathen men in the sight of God — an impression contrary to the teaching of Scripture and entirely inconsistent with right views of sin ; and an impression which, we may also say, by the way, largely accounts for the apathy of many nominal Christians in relation to the great work of the Christian Church — the evangelization of the heathen world. We trust, therefore, it may serve a good pur- pose to endeavour to dispel this evil impression, by an appeal not only to Scripture, but to the axiomatic utterances of the human conscience, in relation to sin. God's thoughts of the guilt of men as sinners, like His thoughts of other things, are very different from those which, owing to human depravity, men them- selves are apt to entertain. Men are apt to be greatly mistaken in their thoughts both of their own sin and of the sin of others, and do in fact often err egregi- ously in their estimate both of others' character and of their own. There are those who are " clean in ''■■ ir own eyes," but are "abomination in the sight of God " ; and there are those whom some may regard as hardly to be charged with the gnilt of sin — to be pitied and not blamed — but who are deeply guilty lO TH. PCBUO SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 206 tte r;St^'' r^"\»' «"■■ ««"^ think heathen m^ who^Tn! r'"''"'^' "■•« «tt«ch to the i.«ht of C:.7,::j::'"^a m:' •"■ -'•■•"" if not ineffahlfl u,;.^ ° *"®'^ superior, better tr.Uh";i^,74ri:"' f,'^""" " '- instead „f havL onT^i t .w' 'f '''"' '~°°™'''- i-p.rt.ng ««.pef Cht^W t eTtjr .","""• "^ And yet it may be t™ly said o^.h .^*^ f'"™" ' i. nothing eom^^a "1 he 1 T^ ' .""' u"" "Ood hath spoken by hi, sL" ^ ?" *" "'""" tinne impeniU But ikethe ' " ", ^.''' ~- Sodon,. they may be « 4ked and °{ ,'"'"'"' I-rf exceedingfy... anllt t "e"" ^7 ""' «"evou8," aa „aa the wiekedni thTl ""^ hundred ye«, before, called f^rth.' .^.■°'" '"^ universally cornmt h., •/ extinction of excepted. "^ ''"'"'"'"y' "■» f-n'i'y only of Ood isa^ing tor^rr-'":' .^'j-'^-"™' like the men of 8:?„m.'™Nt isTdiffl "T """ ™" ground of 0«J. righteous jud^n It ft" 't™T, ""^ are questions in relation d sir^hich « K '"! =:;.Xro:-i/£rr-- of 0«i. whether^htthe:" .'chS'lf T pendent of all questions ^apectingte ..S^'n^tf 206 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION sin and God's penniasiou of it— its origin and diffu- sion, the long-continuance of it, and the wide extent of its prevalence, and of the fact that, reasoning of these and of kindred subjects. Of Providence, foreknowledge, will, and fate ; Fixed fate, free will, foreknowledge absolute. We find no end, in wandering m m lost : independent, we say of all this, heathen, not less than Christian men, in all their sin, are and do or leave undone what they know, or otight to know, they should not be and do or leave undone. The men of Sodom ought not to have been the wicked men they were. They were wicked not by any physical neces- sity, but solely because they preferred and chose to be wicked : and they did wicked things, because they had pleasure in the doing of them. If it be said they were wicked because their fathers were wicked, and all their surroundings tended to make them wicked, so that they could not but be wicked, we must repel the attempt to excuse them. To allow it were to allow the contradiction that they were wot wicked in being wicked. We must therefore hold and affirm— what needs no argument to sustain it — that they ought not to have been wicked because their fathers were wicked, or because they were tempted by their environment to be wicked. The very fact that presumably they were not all equally wicked, as men never are anywhere, is of itself sufficient proof that they were wicked, not because IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 207 they could not but be wicked, but because they cho^ no^^l^X V°"'' "^™ -^-<^ thatThfu^ not all equally wicked, all the inhabitants of the cify were more or less on the side of wickedne^ w tt the one exception of Lot. who "vexed his rigCus aoul from day to day with their lawless deeds." Cer- tto"u5h Arr^'u""' '''' "«'^'^°"« «^ «»«* kicked, though Abraham began his intercession on behalf o AndTfi^ V^ '"PP^'"^ '^''' ™'^»^^ ^ fifty. And If fafty. why not five hundred or five thousand . Nay. why not aU of them ? Only because th^v chose, and that freely, to be wicked ^ ^ We need not quote the terrible indictment of the aix.tlePaul(Rom.i.21-ii.li)againstthemosth^^^^ civilized peoples of the ancient heathen world We oZ Tp'' '"*"'^ ^' ^^^P^' A-y"a. PeJa Greece and Rome, that his arraignment; which wiU It IS simply necessary to remind those whose objec- tion we are now called to meet, that the apostle without any hesitation, affirms that those whoThe' ness. How could they be otherwise than inexcusable when, knowing what was right, they preferred ddng the wrong-the very wrong which, the apostle says they condemned in others ? And then, as all know wh? rr 5^".' ^"' '■""«*"-« ex'ceptions--men who abhorred the prevailing wickedne^^. and who were e„,,„ent examples of what other, ought to be ^nd to do. but freely chose not te be afd tTdo 208 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION There have been discussions, sometimes very warm, respecting the final destiny of those illustrious men. But that is a matter which we are not called to con- cern ourselves with. It is enough for us to know that, in relation to them, as to all others, the " Judge of all the earth will do right," and that " he delight- eth in mercy," the mercy-seat being His " dwelling place," We have not bei as yet called to be at variance with any one who (questioned the justice of God in the destruction of Sodom and its neighbour cities, when, their inhabitants being past reclamation, they were, we may well say, in mei-cy to others, as well as in righteous judgment, blotted out of existence by fire from heaven. When, three Ox four centuries later, " the iniquity of the Canaanites was full," their extermination by the sword was committed by Divine injunction to the children of that same Abra- ham who had pleaded so earnestly against the destruction of " the cities of the plain "; the injunction being accompanied with the solemn warning, again and again repeated, that, if they defiled the land, as the doomed nations had done, with their abomina- tions, it would surely "also spue them out, as its spued out the nations that were before them,'' as it possessors. This injunction is now objected to, as making the Bible an improper book for the instruc- tion of our children attending the schools of the Province. The implication involved in the objection is that such an injunction is not within the Diving '» THE PUBUO SCHOOLS OF OHT.,,0. 209 « relation to ,m. whetl, J » ? •""■gement >»«" or the paX of U "i^T^,,,"" ?'«'».*- puniahW and in Si. T"*' "■"J""' '«"' ■" »» the Divine eon,~Lv L -. .T'^ ■"" '»»» ""«» Can the civil n.lerX^i^ttll'^r '"" '""^-■ to remove an enemv „f • . '^•"**««'«'«l Hin«.f employee Lm!^^^' ""■ '="""°» ««<i n"i«nceandacu«e? N^r^ te^ u*^' "^" " «> fitted to in.pr^ n, I'SoT w S^° "'^^'''"« .wful wickedne^ of tho^^l^Ss^^", ",°* ° ''"^ ance of their own rn;« • . ® **'®°»° assur- o^theaWe':hj^„l;r:^-^»^-;^e»^^^^ be regarded as out or place or nnn '" ""^^ oo.. add that the. a^z;;,rs:^:-^' 210 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION. l! antagonist, some others, as we know there are, thoigh very few, unless we are greatly mistaken, who .Save the same views, and whose confident and flippant utterances indicate their persuasion that they could rule more wisely, justly and beneficently than the Christian believer's God— the God of the Bible. If some regard our discussion as out of place or uncalled for, we are not without hope that it may tend to confirm the conviction that the teacher who does not see that the Bible record of the Divine pro- cedure, whether in the Old Testament or in the New, is fitted, as it ii# designed, to be the most effective deterrent from errors and aina which are the ruin equally of the indivicual and of the community, is to be regarded as not qualified to be entrusted with the instruction of the children of a Christian community. CHAPTER XIV. '°"''"*° '»"■•»'*"«. of Chri«i„,,^. impressed with TZv^ ^'^H ^™"' '*°" "° <'«Ply inatruction of the yZ. t th' "T'^'* »' «■• ««.ity, that he h Jr«r" Z"'*^" °' Chris- tnnity. to „^ iuTm^Zr::''; ",'■» l"" '^'■ n»n»try, ^d on other Chrtn '*"'"'' '» "" «»• of the fl„t, if not „"""? "»'">■>»»". And ""e-pt. in Oh^tln ItCr^ "" "^^ "' k" J"". -Ko. under the tiUe of ^a" Z ^ I "'"'^ Instruction in the Evidence of nK ™- " ^"P"'*' «»not doubt that tm^ • '^'"«'«'ity" He I«.Xely owing to the flo l^'T '"I"^ ^^ "« ".e older pupi,, Zll ^L '""° ■" "«« »« of -pecimen of 1 ScottLh p.^fc'"!"^" "" » ■»«'»1 was formed for the study^^he p ^'•"'"''"•' " <*« b°ok being Bishop Cby pt^^'I'T' *'"'«'■ Pale/s work on the suWe^t „ "' adaptation of WRher schools of Cwl/?'*?^ '"' "" » "-e 1»' ha. long been oT^C^^'^^'^X '"^' '^k- aince been pr^nared t^JT' ""'"«'' o*'" have America fo?th^„ -^l^^'^/^e » Bntain and pu^, we have not met with 212 OHBISTIAN INSTRUCTION !m one that is not wanting in the simplicity that is desirable, and in adaptation to the purpose of properly fyreoccupying the minds of our young people, ill view of their having soon to confront the objections to Christianity that are involved in the issues raised by infidelity. These issues, while immensely important, are much less numerous and far more simple than is perhaps generally supposed. And as will, we believe, be apparent in the sequel, they involve mainly, if not entirely, assumptions which foreclose the adduction of the proof of the facts of Christianity, and which practically imply the unmaking of history. In view of the importance of the issues referred to, no one who realizes it can say that our young people should be left to hear, for the first time, from the lips of the infidel the objections involved in them. Surely, instead of first hearing of them from those who would dispossess them of the simple faith of their early years, it were infinitely better that they should hear them from the lips of the intelligent Christian teacher, who will, at the same time, show them how they are to be met. Left, as for the most part they are now, to get their first knowledge of them from those who would lead them astray, they are, some of them, more than likely to think that they have been imposed upon with fables, and to resolve that, being no longer children, they will assert independence of mind by casting away the faith of their childhood. Surely then it is, to say the least, in a high degree itr THi TOMjc scaoou or ontaeio. sis beyond «.»ve,yt"th: sj'j^re'^r.rr.:^ of «|, co„«iene, .„d the .ymp.th,„ of ™'^ TOP men is the time when, in relatinn *^ *k • referred to, their mind, miy bo^ ° uir !. "*"" pomessed on the side of oL .• """«"««''% P»«- -ot,«inJ.Ho„V'JL°t!a%"m' L^'^hTh ".any suceumb «,me falling Lver H^^f^n '""'"' »a\^™p;:rreitrj:„^rire""f"'^^^ »d irresUtihie evideneeTllriitU"^^^^^^ Chn t,»n.ty « whati, called the in^'er^, evdcnce Bot the force of it, in the experience of the indiWdnal' depends ewentially on his m<^ condition while the UMerstanding, Reason may compel a man to admit I! ' I i "li !' J: 11 214 CBRISTIAN INSTRUCTION conclusions which are his condemnation, and which therefore he would gladly reject if he could. It is in reference to the internal evidence that our Lord speaks, when He says that if a man " is willing to do the will of God," he shall know that His teaching is of God, or shall recognize it as the voice of God. And without any disparagement of the external evidence, we cannot but regard it as a conspicuous illustration of the wisdom and goodness of God, that a full con- viction of the Divine origin of the teaching of Christ is attainable otherwise than by the careful study of the external evid^ucea For, in the first place, this way of the attainment of a full conviction is a way that is open to all; and, in the second place, the con- dition of its attainment ct not justly be said to be anything but reasonable, for, if there is any one thing which is more than all others binding on a man, it is a willingness to do the will of God. Nothing of all this can be said in relation to the external evidence. However sufficient it may \e to produce in an un- prejudiced mind a rational conviction that Jesus Christ was a teacher sent from God, its force can be appre- hended only by one who has a competent knowledge of history, and is more or less familiar with the prin- ciples that determine historical questions. This is not the place to go into details on the large subject of the Christian evidences. It may be enougli to say that the Christian teacher should be qualified to give his pupils such instruction as shall make them understand the subject in both departments referred tn THl PCBLIC SCHOOLS Ot ONTARIO. UB to. We cannot think of anv brariAk «r ou • a- . jJ^Hioo «^ h« been UiZl'^tl'^^Z only „ary p«„|i„ t^^^ ^ ^ a»Sal^Z .1 eveo; d.-.«„cUv.,y Chri.t,«. dn7rd;^'.^-t pUoMblo r«»oninp, but the mort anwarmlhu would rob It of the wpernatuml element which ii,.k» .t .t«.d .lone « the religion which i. "■ the ^wer «1 God anto «lv.tion." Th.t there h« beenTverv «r,oa8 neglect in thi. department of ChStL 17 .truction cannot, w. think, be denied. It m^^thtt" n.tract,„n n the evidence, require, a clo^r Vpit than he ordinary Chrietian inatrucUon. That, how aixument in it. favour, inamiuch a^ apart from i^ intr.n«c importance, it could not fail L bT. vZbk exerci* of mind, .uitabi. to the mo«adv.nXlih m the Sabbath and the Public School,, and^S School pupil,. I, „„, comparatively few could be expected to make a thorough ,tudy of the eutrect it » not only po^iible but, we thint'Lot at .1 difflcul to convey to our young people generally of twelve or bo of great and permanent value to them ' It cannot ^y be difficult for an intelligent and eympaThet^ te«her to convey to the mind, of pupil, „f twelve or thirteen year, a distinct appreheneion, firrt. of thI 216 CHRISTIAN IKSTRVCnoN way in which the facto of Gospel history are proved in common with other historical facto, and that by an amount of evidence far exceeding that which can be adduced in proof of other universally accepted facto of ancient history; and, secondly, of the way in which objections of various kinds, whether inherited from former times, or peculiar to moderr. times, can be met to the satisfaction of a mind that is not preju- diced by invincible disaffection towanls the author of Christianity. Referring to the issues raised by the current infi- delity, to mention only the more importont, and to say nothing of objections in detail that have been sufficiently met hundreds of times, and that would have little or no power to unsettle or perplex the mind oi f r:e who has, in some good menaure, appre- hended the force of the Christian evidences, we cannot see why an intelligent teacher who has. by previous training, made himself at home in that department of Christian instruction, should find it at all difficult, or should not find it one of the most genial of all the lessons with which he is charged, to make his pupils see clearly the right and the wrong in connection with those issuea For example, he should not find it diffi- cult to show that, if we can at first glance recognize the authorship of a writing of human composition, it M no more than reasonable that there should be on the part of some, though not of all. a capacity to recognize the voice of God, when He speaks to us. as we believe He does in. the Scriptures. We say same Ill THl PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF OMTARia Il7 «id not aU ,• becau«.«a it ui«,me only-tho*,, namely, who are familiar with the style of an author-who can at once recognize it, while others cannot ; so it in mme only who can recogniase the voice of God whon He speaks to us by His Son-those, namely, who as Christ says, are " wjlhng to do the will of God." If a man "; n . » *!^ "**" **"«^^* ^ ^' " ^»"'°« ^ do the will of God then, notwithstanding present slender know- ledge of It and shortcomings in practice, his willing- ness, shown m his endeavour to practice according to his present light and to obtain the increase of light constitutes the moral condition which is the one esin-' tiai to his recognition of the voice of God in the teach- ing of Jesus Christ And could anything be a more powerful incentive to carefulness in moral practice on the part of ingenuous youth, on the eve of the development of youthful passions, than the divinely given assurance that such carefulness will be their security against the temptations which they are soon to encounter, and which, if not met by a fixed desire and determination to do the will of God. may lead to the shipwreck of faith." and of all the virtues which It sustains-the inevitable issue of not « holding a good conscience." or, in other words, of not being willing to do the will of God. Again, referring to the external or historical evi- dence, and assuming that, in dealing with the super- natural or miraculous .. testation of the Divine origin of Christianity, attention should be largely concen- trated on our Lord's resurrection, as of itself suffi- 218 CHRISTIAK INSTEUCTIOK ciently proving the Divine authority of His tea* aing. it should not be difficult for an intelligent Chr Jti in teacher to make it plain to his more advanced pnpils that while our Lord's resurrection is of the essence of the Gospel— so much so that apart from it there is no Gospel and no salvation— it is a fact not only whose acceptance carries with it the acceptance of all that is distinctive in Christianity, but on which the light of historical evidence shines more fully than it does on any other fact, whether ordinary or miraculous, of the Gospel history, or on any fact of the history of ancient times. Nor can it be clifficult to make it plain to the more advanced pupils of ordinary intelligence, whether in the High School or in the Sabbath School, that the famous argument of David Hume, which, strange to say, continues to be implicity relied upon by almost every assailant of Christianity, is based upon the false assumption— silently, if we dare not say con- sciously, sophistical— that all kinds of testimony are of eqwd value ; or, in other words, it attaches to the very highest testimony the suspicion that belongs only to the lowest. No respect is had to the fact that our confidence in the testimony of a man, even should we know nothing else respecting him, is in- versely in proportion as we see that his own interests nre promoted or imperilled by the testimony which he gives. That is to say, in reference to the testi- mony of the apostles and the other early martyrs, thou(!h their testimony, being not only disinterested. IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 219 but given at the peril of every interest of a temporal nature, is the highest kind of testimony possible, it must, according to Hume and those who accept his argument, have laid upon it all the suspicion that attaches to the testimony of witnesses of the most discreditable character. And besides this, Hume is guilty of what is called (no doubt, not consciously) begging the queation, when he says that a miracle is contrary to universal experience, inasmuch as the very question at issue is whether the experience is universal, or whether there is not an excepti<m to its universality in the experience of the early Christian witnesses, and, we may add, of others— a question that cannot be settled by a sophistical assumption which is a begging of the question, but only by show- ing that testimony is dead against the alleged facts, which, we hesitate not to say, is simply impossible', except by sapping the foundations of the l)est accredited facta of history, ancient and modern.* Again, it cannot surely be difficult for the trained and skilled teacher to make it plain to the under- standing of the boy or the girl of twelve or fourteen years of age, who is not exceptionally destitute of capacity as a learner, that the primitive Christian martyrs are not to be classed with those who, in all ages, have evinced their sincerity by suffering even unto death for their religious opinions or beliefs, whether right or wrong; but that they suffered as wxtaes sea of a fiict respecting which, according to * See Note A on Hume's Argument, in Appendix. 220 CHttlStlAK iNSTRUCmoiJ their own showing, they could not have been mis- taken.* Nor, again, can it be difficult to show to the ordin- ary understanding of our elder scholars, the unreason- ableness of the universally current assumption of modern infidelity, that any reported fact of a miracu- lous nature, such as the resurrection of our Lord, is to be discredited and set aside, tvithout any condder- ation either of the evidence that can be adduced in proof of it, or of the possible end which it may con- ceivably be designed to subserve. Surely it requires no pains to coAvince the mind of ingenuous and unprejudiced youth, that such an assumption involves nothing less than that of man's competency to sit in judgment upon God, and to determine the procedure proper for Him in all possible circumstances; whei-eas, repudiating an assumption full of horror to a reverent mind, the Christian apologist's assumption is simply that of our competency to judge of our own human nature, by the knowledge we have of it from actual experience and observation— a knowledge which, including, as it does, a knowledge of the laws which regulate human action, fully warrants the affirmation • This distinction, imporUnt as it is, and, one would think, suffi- ciently obvious, is persistently and, we may say, sometimes very eloquently disregarded. It is easy to bury it under a heap of elo- quent verbiage, as is done in a book, published some years ago, under the title of "Supernatural Religion," whose author was surely not conscious of the distinction ; because to charge him with willingly ignoring it were to make against him the most serious of all charges. IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OP ONTARIO. 221 that the falsehood of certain kinds of testimony, or of testimony given in certain circumstances, is infin- itely more incredible than the event in whose favour it is fifiven is extraordinary and improbable. Only once more. It cannot surely be difficult to make it plain to the ordinary understanding, at the period of its most rapid development, that it is unrea- sonable to expect, as the current infidelity insists, that God's revelations of himself should be accompanied with and attested by such an amount of evidence as shall carry conviction to the minds of all men indis- criminately, however their minds may be affected towards Him ; or, in other words, such an amount of evidence that it shad be imposaibU far any man not to believe, even as it is impossible not to believe that the sun is shining in the cloudless sky at high noon. Whatever may be the literary name of some who so insist, assuming, as they do, that their confident asser- tions have all the weight of the mathematical or ethical axiom, and are as little in need of proof, we cannot hesitate to charge with boundless and in- excusable self-sufficiency the man who is so foolish as to say, as one does, "There ought not to be the least shadow of a doubt whether a given book is from God or not " ; or, as another says, " If the hand- writing of Jehovah in the Scriptures is doubtful "— that is, to any one—" it cannot be Divine." Let it be that men and women who are in high reputation as literary geniuses, such as Frederick Harrison and George Eliot, professing^ympathy with Christianity, 222 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION V, make themselves responsible for utterances which are the acme of presumption and absurdity, we cannot but accept as final the word of Him who has declared that our acceptance or refusal of Him as the Teacher whose word is the voice of the living (Jod, hinges on our willingness or unwillingness to do the will of God. It may be asked how we can presume to call in question the willingness to do the will of God of those who are models of virtue, though they cannot see the sufficiency of the evidence of the claims of Jesus Christ. Qur answer is that it is not by gross immorality alone that men's unwillingness to do the will of God manifests itself. Men, if they only knew themselves, would be self-convicted of their unwill- ingness to do the will of God, and would see that this unwillingness, and not insufficient evidence, is the root cause of their infidelity in relation to Jesus of Naza- reth. If we would find the fullest development of our native unwillingness to do the will of God, we shall find it, plain as the sun at noon, in our instinc- tive desire and determination to be, each of us, his own god. The presumption of prescfibing to God His duty, implied in the quotations we have given, is of itself evidence sufficient of conscious supremacy, in- consistent with submission to the will of God. It is not necessary to go further into a subject so painful. Only let us close it by saying that, to a man who is not altogether ignorant of his own depravity and nothingness, no presumption can exceed taat of the man who, by committing himself to such IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 223 Msertions as those which have been quoted, does no less than commit himself to the baseless and wild assumption, which he mistakes for an axiom, that the attainment of full satisfaction of mind in delation to divinely revealed truth cannot, in any way or in any degree, depend on man's murral ccmdUion ; whereas on the contrary, any mind not hopelessly blinded by invincible ignorance or prejudice cannot, we think but clearly see that most important purposes mpy be' designed, and actually are. as we see. subserved by God's giving us jmt so much light as He does give and no more. To say. as the objector does in effect say. that God. if He speaks to men. ought to speak to them m such a way that their moral condition or the way m which their minds are affected towards Him. shall count for nothing in their forming of a judgment respecting a professing revelation from Him, IS to usthe greatest of all possible human follies Having stated the leading general issues between the Christian apologist and the present-day skeptics we surely cannot be charged with asking too much when, in the interest of the rising generation, we ask at least that the Christian principal of a High or Public School of this Christian Province, should be able to present those issues to the understanding of his pupils so clearly that their minds shall be intelli- gently prepossessed, as, of course, their parents pro- perly wish them to be, on the side of Christianity and that thus they may be proof against the assaults to which they might otherwise succumb, and be also Hi 224 PHBISTIAN INSTRUCTION helpful to others For ourselves, we cannot conceive that there could have been such a prevalence of skepticism as characterizes the present time, had there not been a long-continued neglect of the instruction which we are now urging the general introduction of, in the interest of those of our young people who are sufficiently advanced to take it in. An incalculable amount of good could not fail to be the result of such instruction. Were the minds of our young people generally, before leaving the school, made more or l<»ss familiar with the Evidences of Christianity, in their principles and outlines, and in moderate illustration in detail, they would, we can- not doubt, be so impressed with the force of them that objections which are the stock of infidelity, and are daily reiterated, notwithstanding frequent refutation, would have little power to perplex and unsettle them. Those objections, of whatever kind— naoral, historical or scientific— will appear to them of little or no weight, compared with the strength of the evidence. And they will see that many of them are groundless, or founded on misapprehension, while others can be so explained as to fortify the Chris- tian position. Even the great objection in which the unbelieving mind has revelled in later times— the objection drawn from speculations in cosmogony- can be so handled as to strengthen the proof of the inspiration of the Mosaic record.* But to conclude. While we cannot but see that * S*» Appendix, Note B. IN THE rUBLIC SCHOOLS OF ONTARIO. 225 the evidence Of the Divine origin of Christianity is not inUiscnmtnatdy demonstrative, like a proposi- tionm geometry, as some of our very wise men ns.st that at ought to be. befor. it can he consid rIS sufficient we hold that the wisdom of those wise men is foohahnesB, and that the loiadom of God is oanspicuously manifest in His determination not to a« shall cory,^ all men to believe, whatever may be they are willing or unwilling to do His will. If as It IS said, with an unfathomable depth of siraifi cancy. the God who so gr^iously r.L^, himsel? to us m His wondrous Son. "is a God who hideth him- sd/ no one should be so foolish as to complain of His doing so. inasmuch as Ho cannot be supped to do so without a great and good design. He^ures us m eve^ page of Scripture that He is to be found of them that seek Him. and is to be known to the joy of aJ who seek to know Him. Can any one who would justify his claim to reason ask for more ? Can a man justify himself at the bar of reason who win insist that m the matter of finding and knowing God. He ov^htU> make no difference between the man who is anxious to know Him and find Him. and the man who is utterly careless ard will be at no pains to find Him ? And may we not r peat that fording to all experience, to the man So makt' God his supreme quest, the proof of the Divinity of Chnst s teaching will appear to possess such a strength 226 CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTION. that it cannot be Mt aside without discreditinfr all history, and compelling the withdrawal of all coufi- dence in every universally trusted record of s/icient times, none of which has come down to us with a hundredth part of the evidence we have for the purity, genuineness and authenticity of some of the New Testament records, if not of all of them ? And again we repeat, let it not be said that our young people in the High School or in the Bible-class are not capable of a conviction, rational as strong, that shall be proof against the objections of skeptics. Without referring again to his experience as a pupil, when over sixty years ago his school-master formed a class for the study of the Evidences, the writer may state that he has had no small degree of satisfaction in handling the subject in his Bible-daas, some of its members showing a remarkable aptitude of appre- hension, even in connection with the study of such a book as that of Isaac Taylor on " The Transmission of Ancient Books."* * The reference U to a later edition in which the two works, "The Process of Historical Proof," and "The Transmission of Ancient Books," are combined. NOTES AND ADDENDUM. ^ot« A, page gl9. it ia contrary to univeraal anT^. i! ^ "** *^*«' *'»«*' *»>«« should ooc^, itTnTte .„ 2 T"P""""'**'"**»^1« lleged miraculous fact) l^d S^tl^^'T/. t H' "'/"^ no testimony can have such to^JlTrlr^ \t ^' ''**"''*'*' » miracle. Hume admit. thaV^fK ^ ""* '""^ occurrence of or violationa of the ud^L P T^ ^'"^ *"» ™'"«"«' «t™it of proof Tm^trn'^t^rr-tr'''''^-^^ iitttaiice, whUe he think, no .uchinT ^' ? ""PPoses .n reconi. of history But ha n^"! T^"^ **" ^ '°"»'l '" the with fuU fo««S.inft *miZ! *'"'^ ''»••«»«'««* applies of reliKion. Int^ 1 '^^ « connection with any system not only to be rejected biitTL ^■' * '^^'^ ""^^^^ « .tion" of any Jtl^'bT^^j^ .^^-^^"-thout «"'"- . However plausible thJl ^ ^ supported, difficult to find tX ;ZT' r T^'' "* ^^^'' ^ falUcycompres^Kiinto'sTsliU.^^'"'*^^ "" '"»-"^"' It 18 to be noted in general • 1 Tli»f ,* *u -ound. it must apply nniZaUy ^f . "l" '"*""""'' " 987 228 NOTES AND ADDENDUM. beoauM auoh » deugn ooiutitutM • miaon for the miiMl*. 2. The ftigument is not Against the poutitUity of » miracle, but •gainst its eredibUity ; it does not say (as who can say ?) that a miracle is impo$»ibU, but that even if a miracle did occur, its occurrence is beyond the po$»Qnlity of being proved. The unreasonableness of this position is exhibited in his own clear and vigorous style, by Hugh Miller, the eminent Scottish geologist of the century now dosed, in a chapter on the Staring of the Experience Argument, in " Footprints of the Creator." But, apart from the above general considerations, it is to be noted, io particular, that the argument involves two faUaeiea, technically called: 1. Petitio principii, or Begging of the qiut- tion ; 2. Sophisma ddieto leeundum, quid ad dictum $impliciter, or reasoning as if what is true only in partieidar eirctimttancee were true universaUy. The former fallacy is evident, without using a syllogistic form, if it be considered that the univerMlity of experience which is affirmed is in reality the question at issue ; that question being, whether there is not in the experi- ence of certain persons, t.e., the early Christian witnesses, an exception to the general experience. To say, as Hume does, that the experienice is uniform and uniteraal is the same thing as to say there is no eauxption to it ; or, in other words, it a$aumea what has to be proved. The second faUacy, which is the one first referred to in the text, is apparent, if it be considered that, while it accords with experience that human testimony may be false, every kind of testimony is not equaUy liable to suspicion. Whatever suspicion may attach to testimony given in certain circumstances, there are other circumstances in which testimony may be given that place it above all suspicion. We may suspect the testimony that a man gives, when his giving it is seen to lie in the line of his own interests, but we attach weight to his testimony given in a matter in which his own interests are not concerned. And we are warranted, from what we know of human nature, to hold that the falsehood of testimony given by men, with no NOTES AND ADDINDUll. £29 prespeot but tlut of evil in i»Utinn t^ *k action of ChruL we h!v!^. ^ witneime. to the re-ur- unt^-tworth; r :; izrr H^T'" "- ''^ "•-' of «,phi.try of the highert o^ "* '^'^ " •" '"•*•»«• ^oU B, page $^4, impor^. .. boa. , ^ "".."I wlS^jS"',r 230 NOTIH AND ADDINDUM. mind bj the Deity would Ulie «hkpe aooording to its mnge of ltn<»wlt)dge, iiiodee of tiiuught, and une of Ungiuge, unluM it w«*re, »t the Mine time, "■upematunUljr gifted with the pro- found knowledge and wtidoiii adequate to their conception ; and even then they cuuld not be intelligibly expreaned, for want of words to represent them." After showing the oorrespnnd- ence between the Mosaic order and that deduced from science, Profemor Dana concludes : **The record in the Bible is therefore profoundly philosophical in the scheme of creation which it presents. It is both true and divine. It is a deokration of authnnihip, both of creation and of the Bible, on the first page of the HAcred volume."— "Manual of Oeology," pp. 846 et aeq. The other extract is from Professor Haeckel's '* History of Creation." "The Mosaic history of creation," he says, "has enjoyed, down to the present day, general recognition in the whole Jewish and Christian world of civilization. Its extra- ordinary success is explained, not only by its close connection with Jewish and Christian doctrines, but also by the simple and natural chain of ideas which runs through it, and which contrasts favourably with the confused mythology of creation current among most of the other ancient nations. First, the Lord Ood creates the earth as an inorganic body ; then He separates light from darkness, then water from dry land. Now the earth has become inhabitable for organisms, and plants are first created ; animals later, and among the latter the inhabitants of the water and the air first, afterwards the inhabitants of the dry land. Finally, (Jod creates man, the last of all organisms, in His own image, and as the ruler of the earth. " Two great and fundamental ideas, common also to the non- miraculous theory of developement, meet us in this hypothesis of creation, with surprising clearness and simplicity — the idea of differentiation, and the idea of progressive development or perfecting. Although Moses looks upon the results of the great laws of organic development as the direct action of a construct- ing Creator, yet in his theory there lies hidden the r uling idea of NOTtS AMD ADDBNDUli. tsi • progwMive development and » diflerentUtion of the origin- My Rimple nuitter. We can therefore bestow our just and uncere admiration on the Jewish Uwgiver's gmnd insight into luture, and Iiis simple and natural hypothesis of creation," but the Professor adds, '• without discovering in it a so-oalled divine reveUtion."-"History of Creation," pp. 37, 38. Haeokel's not "discovering a divine reveUtion " where Dana •nd others see it, is owing, of course, to the fact that his mind w previously made up that there can be no such thing as divine revelation, and that his "scientific materialism," to use his own words, "positively rejects every belief in the miraculous, •nd every conception, in whatsoever form it appears, of super- natural processes." His first objection against the reception of the Mosaic record as a divine revelation, viz., that it ,u>ertB (so he says) that the earth is "the fixed central p..int of the whole universe," one would have thought too stale for wpeti- tion in our time. The second objeccion, that man is repre- •ented as the premeditated aim of the creation of the earth, might be expected from one who sco^Us JimU cmises, and exclmUa aU pitrpoae from the order of things. m 282 NOTES AND ADDENDUM. ADDENDUM ON THE MEMORIZING OF SCRIPTURE BY THE YOUNG.* ITS IMPORTANCB AMD ADVAMTAOK8 WITH SUOOBSTIOMB AS TO ITS BXTKNT AND THB DUTY OF PAKBMTS. Thb subject has been chosen under the persuasion that its importance is, at the present time, far from being duly realized. Indeed, we cannot but think that it is greatly underestimated. The subject is, " The Memorizing of Scripture," or the storing of the mind with Scripture truth in the very words of Scripture, or in words which, though not the actual words of Inspiration, are the nearest equivalent to them that is available to those who are not adepts in the original languages in which the Scriptures were written. No one who believes that the Scriptures are the writings of men who " wrote for our learning, as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," can consistently question the importance of our having saving truth lodged in our minds and treasured in our hearts, in the very terms in which God has communicated it. We should, of course, be careful in relation both to ourselves and to those whom we instruct, that the words are understood, for otherwise, our Lord tells us (Matt. xiii. 19;, being in the memory only, they penetrate not beyond the surface of the mind, and, so far from being fruitful in any g<K)d, cannot even germinate in .the soul. While we cannot expect that our scholars should be able to fathom the depth and appreciate the richness of teachings, whose depth and richness only time and experience can evolve or reveal, great care should be taken that the memorizing of Scripture should, in no case, be only a learn- ing by rote. So far as he is capable, even the youngest child • P»p«r prinUd flom9 yean 1(0 by reqawt ol the Centn WeUington Miniaterial AMOctoUon. NOTES AND ADDENDUM. 283 should commit Scripture to memory as »n exereise of intelli- gence ; it being understood, at the same time, that the memo- ming of Senpture by the young is chiefly the laying up of matonal for future use. For the great benefit of the memorildng of Scripture, on the part of our children, does not accrue to them in immediate connection with the exercise, as the benefit of preaching does to the hearer, but is subsequent, often wmotoly subsequent, to it. But when the benefit does accrue •s It does so often, and sometimes when all hope of it has died away, it is unspeakably great, as it is permanent. Our young people themselves cannot be expected to appre- ciate the good they are treasuring up for themselves, in com- mittuig portions of Scripture to memory. The value of the acquisition that is made by a young person whose. mind has become h»rgely stored with Scripture, can perhaps be fully appreciated only by those who have occasion to deal with per- sons of mature years, and especially with aged people, in relation to their spiritual mtorests. Every one who is caUed to deal with those whom accident or sickness has awakened to concern about the future, knows the difference between ministering, in such cas^, to those whose minds are st«.red with Scripture truth, and ministering to those who have grown up in ignomnce Of It. In the one case, it is a comparatively easy thing to mmister with good success-to bring light and peace to the suf- ferer, thehghtand peace of intelligent trust and enlightened penitence ; whereas, in the other case, it is often next to impos- sible to impart, to the mind of the suffering or dying manTa nght conception of his moral rektion to God, and of the way of salvation. It seems as if the constitutional legalism of the mind has become so inveterate, that the «>ul is inaccessible to any i^hgious Idea beyond regret for the past, and purpose to do better, should hfe be prolonged. nJl^J'*" ''^^' "*' ^ **^°" °" y°""8 P~Pl«. i° the providence of God, we cannot, when labouring to store their minds with Scripture, calculate what good we are doing in 234 NOTES AND ADDENDUM. making provision for their salvation, edification and comfort, in the time of their extremity, when they are in deep distress, or when they are dying. And although, as we hare said, they cannot be themselves expected to appreciate the benefit, it is possible to impress them, to some extent, with a sense of the importance of the exercise ; and, knowing ourselves its impor- tance, we do weU to persevere patiently in using all the influence we have with them, and all the power we have over them, to keep them from becoming remiss in the practice of memorizing God's Word. For it is important to remember that it is neces- sary, in the interest of our children, both that they should learn much beyond what they see or are capable of seeing the value of, and that they sheuld commit to memory much beyond what they can understand. They wiU be grateful to us afterwards that we insisted both on their learning many things whi ii, left to themselves, they would not have learned, and on their com- mitting to memory, much that they can grow in the understand- ing of only as their minds mature. Were we to be guided by their appreciation in the one case, or by their capacity of under- standing in the other, we would lose the very best opportunity of storing their minds with the knowledge that is of the most importance to them, in connection with both their temporal and their spiritual interests. The Sabbath School age is the time when the mind is most susceptible of the information and im- pression that are to be its permanent possession, and the time to preoccupy the mind with good, which, being iU first pos- session, is most sure to be its last. The Scripture knowledge early imparted will be the mind's permanent possession. It will be the last to be forgotten, when the memory of other things has passed away, and even when the mind has become, it may be, an utter wreck, the words of God will be remembered. And in the numerous cases in which early Christian instruction is, at the time, instrumental in no saving good, the mind's pos- session of Scripture knowledge is an enduring ground of the hope of a time when it will be the means of a saving change. NOTES AND ADDENDUM. 235 Numerous instances show that we should never despair in rela- tion to the conversion of those, in whose minds the good seed of the Rngdom has been early sown ; whUe, on the contrary, as already indicated, there is comparatively little ground of hope, m relation to those who have grown up or become old. Ignorant of the elements of saving truth. As to the extent to which the memorizing of Scripture is desu»ble or attainable, no rule univeraally applicable can be told down Some have much better memories th^n others. Some minds receive more readily and are less retentive. Some toke ui more slowly but are more retentive. Others there are who have a memory that is at once quick and retentive. We have aU heard, if we have not known, of persons whose power of memory was phenomenal. There have been those who could «peat almost the whole of the Bible. No approach to anything , !k Jlf °^'"' "' '**"^'''«- '^«'« "« ^^ye Portions of the Bible, in relation to which it is enough that we can readUy fand what we want by turning to the place where it is to be found It IS not of importance that we should be able to state the facts of Scriptore history in the precise knguage in which they are recorded, or that we should commit to memory the histoncal books of Scripture. It is enough that we can stote the facts correctly without addition or omission. There are, indeed, verses occurring everywhere, even in what may be regarded as the least interesting portions of Scripture-for example, m the genealogies-that are worthy of being mem- orized, as being f uU of comfort; or wise counsel. That one should be able to use his Bible without being under the necessity of referring to a concordance, is an attainment that every minister may be expected to have made comparatively early. And let me here add. in reference to the use of Scripture by ministere, that they should be so familiar with Scripture, that, when pro- fessedly appealing to it, or using its language, they should quote It correctly. And especially may ministers be expected to avoid certain erroneous forms of Scripture quotation that one some- 236 NOTES AND ADDENDUM. times heara ; as, for example, " He who runs may read," in- stead of, "He may run that readeth it," a substitution which, though two distinguished CoUege Principals are responsible for it, is a mere jingle of words without any meaning ; and, referring to a recent International Sunday School Lesson, the prayer that " the earth shaU be fuU of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the channel of the great deep," an alteration which it '8 not easy to account for. While it is to be expected of some that thoy should have an acquaintance with Scripture beyond others, and much beyond the ordinary attainments of Christians in Scripture knowledge, the proportion of Scripture which it is desirable, as being of importance, that Christians generally should have in their minds, ready for immediate use or service, in all the emeigen- oies of the Christian warfare, as well as for guidance in the daily duties of the Christian walk, is comparatively small— so small that, if the selections be made judiciously, and the practice of memorizing be begun in early life and kept up t a few years, the result will be such a familiarity with the Scripture grounds of every important Christian doctrine as constitutes a man ♦• mighty in the Scriptures." We can give only a general out- line of what may be regarded as a proper selection, indicating the leading principle that should guide in determining our selection of the portion of Scripture which, it is desirable and important, should, as the result of the practice of memorising, be a part of the mental furniture of every Christian. I think all will be agreed that, though, fo- the most part, it may be enough that we are so acquainted with Scripture as not to err ourselves in presenting its teachings to others, by using words that do not convey its true meaning, and to see when others err in using words that do not express the real teaching of Scripture, it is of no little importance that we should be able to give the very words of Scripture in its statements respecting such subjecto as the Being and the Perfections of God, thfl Person and the Work of Christ as our Redeemer, the agency NOTES AND ADDENDUM. 237 of theSpmt in our regeneration, and the way of our acceptance with God and of our access to Him, and our walking with Him and foUowiug Him-*11 things, in short, for the knowledge of which we are entirely indebted to His reveUtion of them Every one, we think, wiU at once see the ground and propriety of the distinction here implied, and will readUy concur in the •«wtion that, in aU matters of pure revelation, it is of impor- tence that we diould be famUiar with the very words which the wisdom of God has er-oloyed in revealing them. Whereas, on the other hand, where Scripture deals with matters pertaining to the affiiirs of this life, our own understanding may be regarded as competent to their faithful expression in other than the very words of Scripture. I need hardly say that in specify, mg the subjects, in relation to which it is i.aportant that we should be familiar with the veiy words of Scripture, I include all that God calls us to under the Gospel of His grace, all the promises and invitations He addresses to us. His counsel and words of warning, including the solemn threatenings of Hib Word. It wiU be seen that the amount of Scripture we would urge thv emorizing of not only goes far beyond what most are 8ati8..d with, but is such as. with practice, would suffice to make a genuine ChristUn believer "skUful in the woid of righteousness." Most, perhaps, seem to be satisfied to be •We to repeat the Ten Commandments and the Loid's Prayer, the latter, by the way, being geneimUy repeated incor- recUy, I.e., m a form found nowhere in Scripture. The years of cbUdhood and early youth, say from seven to sixteen, would, at the rate of six verses a week, far more than suffice for the ^mnutting to memory of all the recorded direct utterances of God, the personal teachings of Christ, including all His parables and discourses: the promises and predictions of the Old Testament that have direct reference lo the coming and the ministry of Christ, and to His work as our Redeemer and its fruit»-"Hi8 sufferings and the glory following"; many of 288 MOTES AND ADDXNDUM. the Ptolm. ; • Utr* proportion of the Proverb. ; and portions of the prophetic books, and of the Epistles. On^ thing, how- ever, is very evident-that, until professing Christian parents are, much mora genetaUy than they aro now, alive to their responsibility in relation to the religious training of their chil- dren we cannot expect that more than a very small proportion of our children shall make any but the poorest measure of attainment in familiarity with Scripture and in ability to quote It aptly and correcUy. The amount of Scripture knowledge that results from one lesson in the week, cannot, except in mre «wee, be anything but very inadequate to the needs of the Christian life in these days. Owing mainly, no doubt, to parental neglect in the matter of Christian instruction, pro- bably few of our young people grow up to years of maturity without being open to the reproach : •• When for the time, ye ought to be teachere, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oncles of God." Most of them are so " unskUful in the word of righteousness," as to be httle able to hold their ground when exposed to the assaults of the errorist. But could the homes of Christian parents be u»ade, to any great extent, places of Christian training, we might expect a goodly proportion of the rising generation to grow up f,„iii„ ^ith Scripture-not babes in knowledge, or chUdren carried about by every wind of teaching," but "men m understanding," "holding fast the faithful word," and able to convince the gainsayers." Were Christian fathen generally, realizing their duty and privilege as heads of Chris- tum homes, to gather in their children nightly at a seasonable hour, and to spend a short time, before retiring to rest, in hearing them read a portion of Scripture, and in assisting them in the intelligent memorizing of a verse or two. our land worn become a very garden of the Lotd-a Und not only fuU of the knowledge of the Lord, but rejoicing in the abundance of ite frmte of righteousness and peace. Surely no observant and thoughtful person can but say that there is an urgent caU NOTES AND AUDENDUM. tohe.d« of familie. to Nt themwlve. against the almoat nightly .b^nce from home tUl . h.te hour. of7ath.„, and one orto^ to ^rn ^^^":, ""u^^ " ■" '"""»°"' '^' «>eir home, a.^ moned by the ove of amusement of . harmful or frivolous character, as it is in too many cases. But no matter WhT we cannot withhold our sympathy from effo^ ^e to Jve to the young such occupations, during the hours of lenZ^ Z^TZi^ ''™'''"°° "^ "^"^ ''•«™ ^ ^'^ - 'i-o™" "ong practices, no evenmg occupation, however unexception- Jble in chamcter. or however rational and improving shouM o^ ttl 1"^% "•; P"*" "' ''^^ '^^'^^ gatheri.7'tc;t;t of the members of a famUy, to close the day with the hou«- hold acknowledgment of God, including the Christian insZ- tion of Its young members. "'•wuo verrwr.!n"rroft:r;:rrn'?'S "* ^•'l"^ «' -- In the whole Bible belnirTm^JlK. k ~ «? ' ^^ '""»•*'' »' ^e"" and 7.859 In the New^^ rfx V^' !« 1™"J !!? '" """ «"* Testament «We of «ven to that of dj^n T Zn^J^r^^u """"^ ''•*''• '«"» *»•« •bout 8* percent If we 8UDn«^?^Ll «* *k , * *'"«»«« 1 to 11.84 or three e^tromthemdT^f^^^li^^^^ *««Wy. Uon of the Old Tiu'^tTr"oHi;S":^u?ra«^^ S u^""' lH?. -""«'■ • per cent., and of the New. a« 1 toT87Ti?^r ce^t " " ** "*"" '""''"" coi!!ir is^tr s °^''' ^r"" '''' '' "p**- *''«"-jv- to therchUdJTn slSl '^^ ^'°"' *^'«"' *° --"" *»»' Wn m^^ .h ;. ««««««tion with the International L««on, make the attamment above indicated ? Moderate as Buch an attamment is, who can estimate the value of it o/t^ ^infonltth^™^ ^^'^ to parents and to' c:adr:'nrnh making of It m the way suggested ? D„not Christian narents fo^et that they are laying up matter of sorrowful reflect^fo^ the dymg hour, when they neglect the Christian duty of^l for the religious mstruction of their chUdyen ? *