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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 40

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Copeland. — Is Public Education to Remain Secular?

page 45

Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Copeland.

Is Public Education to Remain Secular?

The Rev. Dr Copland delivered a lecture on the above subject at the North Dunedin Church last evening. He took for his text the nth verse of the eighth chapter of Amos :—"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land : not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord." He had selected this text as suggesting what he feared might prove to be the results of a course of action which the country through its Legislature had recently entered upon by driving out the Bible from the public schools. The system of public education in the Colony was of a purely secular kind. The Act declared "The teaching shall be of an entirely secular character." The practical meaning of this, at the present time, was that the Bible should not be read. The monstrous character of this enactment at once appeared when its effect on the different branches of education was considered. No knowledge of English literature and general history could be attained if the Bible were excluded from the schools, and there would be a total absence of moral training. The expressions and allusions constantly met with in literature of every kind, and even in common conversation would be unintelligible. The most ancient and instructive parts of history would be unknown, and a large part of modern history could not be understood. As to moral training—if the teachers were forbidden to refer to God's law as it is authoritatively declared in the Bible, and to man's responsibility to Him as his judge—it would be merely a system of selfishness and terrorism, effective only while the pupils were within reach of the master's rod. It was of little avail to urge against this view of the system of education that the school-books which were or might be used contained extracts from the Bible and were prevaded by Christian sentiment. If the interpretation put on the Act was that it excluded the Bible, it would soon be shown by some that the exclusion of the Bible meant the exclusion of all the parts of which it was composed. The more rigid meaning of secularism would be insisted on by some—that it excluded all reference to God and to man's responsibility to Him. This view had already been pressed on public attention, and though it elicited little approval, and nothing was heard of it at the present time, it would again be urged with loudmouthed effrontery whenever the public had become sufficiently off their guard, or indifferent or degraded, to afford the hope of its page 46 success. Many of those who assented to the insertion of the secular clause in the Education Act had done so, not from any sympathy with the views of a small party who called themselves secularists or Freethinkers, but from the expectation that instruction in the Bible would be given by ministers and others in the school buildings before or after the statutory four hours of general instruction. They seemed to have been moved also by the hope that they would take away any ground of offence which Romanists might feel, and would preserve the national system, instead of running the risk of its destruction by yielding to many who sought aid for denominational schools. This so-called compromise had utterly failed to satisfy those whom it was intended to appease, and had only given perfect satisfaction to the least considerable body in the community—the Freethinkers. Although it had not yet quite fulfilled their desires in the pratical working of the system, seeing that the school-books contained Bible sentiments, and even extracts, and the teachers still ventured to use the liberty of sometimes confessing directly, or by implication, that there is a God, the Freethinkers were patiently waiting their opportunity to insist on the rigid carrying out of the letter of the law. If the system were continued a few years longer such opportunity might possibly be found. In Victoria it was reported some time ago, by a Government School Inspector of Ballarat, that thousands of the young who had been educated at the public schools were growing up in ignorance of the Bible, and the same result might be excepted in New Zealand. Heathenism and Nihilism had never reached such an extent in any nation, either ancient or modern, if the murderous reign of the Red Republic in France was expected. The Legislature, instead of removing the ground of complaint of the Roman Catholics, had furnished them with a stronger grievance than before. The idea of imparting Biblical knowledge to the children by teachers appointed by the various churches had proved to be impracticable. The question, "Is our public education to remain secular?" the speaker would answer in the negative on the following grounds: (1) It was evidently the desire of the large majority of the inhabitants that the Bible should be read in the public schools. When the Bible-in-Schools Association elicited the opinion of the school committees throughout Otago, it was found to be nearly unanimous in support of the Bible-reading in the schools, and a large number of petitions numerously signed were at present on the table of Parliament from nearly every district in the province, and from other portions of the country at large. (2) No injustice would be done to the minority who might object. If parents did not desire their children to be present during the Bible-reading, the conscience clause, which was always formerly in force, permitted them to withdraw their children during that time without prejudice in other things. The Roman Catholics, who had been generally held up as a kind of "bugbear" in the matter, had really nothing to do with it, for they were not satisfied with Bible-reading nor page 47 without it. (3) There was little doubt that if the present system was continued, thousands would grow up in ignorance of God's Word. It would be alleged by some that the practical value of whatever amount of knowledge of the Bible might be gained was much less than religious men estimated; that many who had possessed abundant Scriptural knowledge and made a religious profession had sometimes shown as worthless characters as the ignorant and irreligious. That to some extent must be admitted, but it could not be shown that in any case men committed vice or crime in consequence of having become acquainted with the Bible. Universal experience testified to its powerful influence for good. (4) He remarked, lastly, that if the secular system is continued, attempts would be made to give it a more thorough-going secular character than simply requiring the prohibition of Bible-reading. To avert this evil all who valued the Bible, who desired to uphold true morality and seek the highest well-being of the rising generation, ought to demand of the Legislature the reintroduction of the Bible. The present was the most favourable opportunity. Many who were disposed to give the present system a trial had weighed it in the balance and found it wanting, and were joining in the demand for the Bible. Some in the highest positions of authority and influence in the country were known to be in favour of it, and had publicly declared their sentiments. It was only necessary that the people generally should let their representatives in Parliament know that they were resolved to do away with the present ill-conceived and hastily-adopted system of secularism. Only thus could it be expected that the evils which had everywhere appeared where men cast off God's law would be prevented. Only thus would the people escape the national corruption and weakness which followed in their train, and save the inhabitants from such a calamity as the text discussed—"A famine in the land : not a famine of bread, nor a thirst of water, but of hearing the words of the Lord."