The Sun.
London, England, 1837-03-29 00:00:00

EDUCATION IN IRELAND.

REV. MR. THOMAS'S LETTER to.the REV. BE-
RESFORD JOHNSTON, RECTOR of TULLOW.
Rev. Sir.-As I believe you are the clergyman who was
selected by the clergy of this dioccAe, to draw up an ad-
dress.to the Noblemen and Gentlemen, landed proprietors
of this, and one or two adjoining counties, on the subject of
the education of the lOwer classes of society—that class
which I would denominate as the labouring portion of the
population, who subsist, who support themselves by daily
manual labour—consequently the greater number of hands
in a family, when those hands are capable of earning hire,
the richer that family will be, the_more of the necessaries of
life may be provided, supposing, of course, constant employ-
ment to be in the country—having expressed sentiments at
some meetings different from all the clergymen present, on
the subject of the national system, I would now publicly
state my reasons to you, and through you, to all my brother
'clergymen for the opinion I hold. In approaching the sub-
ject, (one not of the lecst importance indeed, for they be-
nefit the interest of far the largest portion of the commu-
nity i s directly invoked, and the remaining portion of so-
ciety indirectly in the measure)—l feel truly sensible that
it should be entered upon with a spirit of humility, meek-
ness, and sincere prayer to Him (from whom alone all good
counsels and all just works do proceed) for direction. In
that spirit I trust I have been long contemplating the
matter, and in the same spirit I would now give my rea-
sons, endeavouring to avoid multiplication of words and
wilfulness in reasoning. Education may be viewed as a
moral lever to raise man above the brute creation, to
elevate him in the scale of wisdom and goodness ; what-
ever then tends to do this more or less is decidedly a po-
sitive good to the human species ; now I do not hesitate
to say that the national system promotes this good to a
very considerable degree. The great point of difference
between the Protestant clergy (not all, for a good many in
the dioceses of Itaphoe and Derry, and among the number
that formerly high Conservative, the Rev. Charles Boyton,
a retired fellow of Trinity College, are favourable to a
modification of that system), and the Roman Catholic
clergy is, that the former insist that the free use of the
whole Bible should be admitted in the schools ; the latter
consider that extracts from the Bible are sufficient.. - I can in
sincerity say, that I prize, I value the Bible, as much as
any of the Protestant clergy. I hold it in that pre-eininence
which its name designates it to be the book of books, as that
holy volume which contains the surest, the safest guide for
man here below, and as that polar star that 'points the way
to heaven. Locke in his work on the Human Under-
standing,. says that few men ever reflect in the whole
course of their lives. Without any disparagement, without
any imputation on the characters of men, I may be allowed
to say that there seems to. have been less reflection, less
cool deliberation on the system of the National Education
than upon any other public subject, though it has indeed
made a noise ; it has agitated the public mind like religion
itself ; it has been made the watch-word, the stalking-horse
of party, instead of being dispassionately entertained as a
question of moral good, or evil. I now come to give my
reasons for uniting in a modification of the national system ;
first, if a perfect knowledge of the whole Bible be requisite
to salvation ; five out of every fifty, indeed L might say,
five out of every five hundred Protestants who arc educated
at parish schools would not be saved ; few persons arrived
at the age of seventeen or eighteen have attained that
knowledge—children, or rather youth, leave all schools at
about that age. In general they leave the parish schools a
year or two sooner, because their parents, who sub-
sist by labour, require their assistance to procure the
necessaries of life. I have seldom known a child, either
male or female, continue in attendance at the parish
school, after sixteen years of asc ; when any do come
after that period of life, their attendance is very irregular,
perhaps not more than three o. four days in each month,
if sa much ; secondly, the National system does not
debar the Protestant clergy from teaching the entire Bible
to the children of their flock ; for a day is set apart in each
week (and if they wished, I believe they might come
oftener) when they may attend to lecture the children, in
any ,portion of the Bible which they may think proper ;
thirdly, children of every denomination are taught to read •
—this is the first grand step towards all knowledge—by
it every child may become acquainted with the -whole
Bible ; without it, it is impossible to expect that much in-
formatiOn of any part of it could be acquired ; fourthly, a
knowledge of salvation through faith in a crucified Re-
deemer may be obtained from the extracts used in the Na-
tional schools ; faith in Christ who died on the Cross, who
shed his blood for the remission of sins is inculcated ; re-
pentance, or a change of heart, incumbent upon us as fallen