The Promised Text-Book.

Admitting the force, or, at any rate, the plausibility, of this contention, the apponents of the secular system have laid stress upon the literary, historical, and ethical value of Biblical instruction, and have also urged that it is not religion of which they desire the teaching in our State schools. They insist that a selection could be made which would not open the floodgates of theological strife, would create no bickering or bitterness, would put no strain upon the conscience of any man. Fortunately the matter is no longer left to hypothetical discussion, for the text-book which embodies the solution of the problem has been produced, and enables us to take an accurate measurement of the pretensions which have been made on its behalf. The book extends to some 400 foolscap folio pages, and is therefore naturally deemed too large and costly for general circulation but the "Specimen Lessons and List of Contents" which have been published in pamphlet form give us samples of the lessons and notes, and references to all the scriptural parages selected. It is claimed for the notes that "there is no attempt in these to inculcate any theological or dogmatic belief. They are of a purely explanatory nature. In fact, the object of the reform which is being so strenuously advocated, is the introduction not of religious teaching into the schools, but of that basis upon which all religious and all ethical teaching may be raised." The claim thus made for the notes is fully borne out by the samples submitted. Meagre, dry, and utterly inadequate they certainly are, but they err by omission only, and secular or sectarian bigotry will search them in vain for any theological disquisition.