A Confession of Despair

on the part of those who prefer it. It means that they recognise the impossibility of coming to a deliberate and reasoned agreement upon the parts of Scripture to be publicly taught and a mode of teaching them which should satisfy the requirements of the contending sects in harmony with modern scholarship and science. And so, blinking the whole difficulty and accepting in blind faith this odious little manual, they ask us to accept it in the same way, and without calculating the consequences to put it like a dynamic cartridge to the foundations of our educational system and trust to Providence to pick up the pieces. We are not quite to foolish, and I am satisfied that by the time we have enlightened the patrons of the textbook as to the true character of their protege they will have the good sense to admit that we are right. "Take any shape but that!'