The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-07-15 00:00:00

JULY 15, 1836.

tary laws, bat I think John Bull would prove rather refractory
to such a system. (Cries of " Bravo," and loud cheering.)
The sane may be said of the Irish system ; it may he good in
itsell, but it is not good here. And at the same time, I mav be
allowed to express my surprise at the course of policy which has
been pursued. I must he allowed to express a wish that the
education committee, before they had decided on these rules,
had been so kind as-to consult Mr. Brooks and myself on them.
The lto.iran Catholics were consulted ; and besides, it should he
known that we were really and truly the acting committee of
the schools. We were so authorised by the Mayor. I have
the letter in my pocket which constitute! us as such. Noe then
1 think it would have been discreet if we had been consulted, •
and required to lay these resolutions before the clergy. But
that was not done—it was not done officially—aud the Irish'
system has been enforced, and we have been compelled to with-
draw, I must confess, I, with the greatest reluctance. Ido not
wish mueli longer to trespass on the attention of the meeting,
but there is one thing 1 wish to direct your attention to, because,
by the wording of this resolution, sonic persons may be inclined
to think that we, the clergy, were anxious to get the whole thing
into our own hands, and manage it as we pleased. I declare
that that is not my intention. We propose that the manage-
ment of the schools should be entrusted to a standing committee,
to be appointed for that purpose; that the committee be formed
of the clergy and lay subscribers, and I wish, from my soul,
the lay subscribers would take the charge. You may rethernher
that, in the sixth chapter of Acts, certain dissensions arose
among the Grecians because the daily ministration of their wi-
dows was neglected, when one of the apostles said, "Now do you
choose certain men out ty- yourselves to whom these matters may be
entrusted, and we will devote ourselves to the ministry qf God and
to prayer." (Applause.) We shall be most ready to be re-
lieved of the sectarian part of the business, we only wish to be
permitted to teach the scriptures in our own way, and that not
exclusively, We never did exclude children; there ware cer-
tain laws laid down, and those who chose to conform to them
were willingly admitted. But there is one point to which [ wish
to cell your attention, it is the necessity of raising money for
the purpose of erecting schools. I don't enter much into that,
but merely because I have the pleasure of announcing to the
meeting the very handsome donation of a gentleman who is
always ready to come forward on these occasions, I mean Mr.
John Bolton. (Great cheering followed the announcement ofMr.
Mr. Bolton's name.) And before 1 mention the sum he is now
going to give, I should tell you that he gave ,E2OOO early in
this year to the secular charities, and he is now building E~
school at Buwness which will cost another £lOOO. besides giving
money to support it ; therefore he already has given £3OOO, -and I
almost wish he had not, for perhaps he would have given us
more. (Laughter.) As it is he has given us for this purpose
£2OO. (Loud cheering.) I need say no inure on that subject,
but bring my very long oration to a close. I thank you fur the
very great attention with which you have heard me,: and hope
we may be all of one mind and heart in this business. We are
anxious to adopt the proposed course ; but we do not consider
ourselves as ministers of an exclusive sect. We wish to devote
our attention to the plan of educating thepdor on the principles
of the established church, for that purpose we have summoned
you this day, and I hope from my soul you Will answer the call.
(The rev, gentleman sat down amidst loud applause.)
The Rev. Ilcon M'Netse then rose. lie was greeted with
three distinct rounds of applause. He spoke nearly as follows
" Sir, it is with very sincere satisfaction that I conic forward to
second the resolution which has been proposed to this meet_
ing; for, although I unfeignedly lament that necessity should
be laid on us, thus to appeal to bur fellow citizens, yet, seeing
that necessity is laid on us, I cannot but congratulate you sir,
I cannot but congratulate this vast assembly, I cannot but con-
gratulate our large and infinential town, and without hyperbole
or extravagance congratulation might be offered to the whole
kingdom upon the deliberate, the determined, the protestant,
the christian response to our appeal, which is this day made
within these walls. (Cheers.) For myself, sir, I thank God
for the testimony of my conscience that I know nothing of the
motives of worldly interest or political partizanship which have
been so lavishly imputed to us. I have learned in the bible to be
obedient to the Owers that be, willingly, cheerfully obedient ;
'to render' with alacrity, 'unto Caesar the things that are
Caesar's.' But, sir, I have not read only extracts of the bible,
and therefore I have learned also ' to render unto God the
things that are God's. (Immense applause.) There are at this
tiute in this country certain persons who entertain such ex-
quisite tenderness for the spirituality of the clergy that they
wish to circulate far and wide an opinion that we ought never to
be seen in such arenas as the present. They tell the country
that we have duties of our own to perform, and that the lowest
in kind are the highest in character. The meaning of this is
obvious. They desire to confine us to our ministerial duties in
the chambers of the sick poor, where we do not find these poli-
ticians, and in our pulpits where they are determined they will
not hear us. If we read only extracts of the bible we might be
prepared to yield to such an impression, as the persons in ques-
tion desire to disseminate. But, when we take the whole
scope of scriptural instruction, when we find the ministers of
God are described as not only " declaring glad tidings" to the
lost, ministering consolations to the afflicted, giving advice to
the doubtful, and instruction to the ignorant, but when we find
them also described as ministering reproof, rebuke, sharp re-
buke to the enemies of God's truth—when we find him who was
charity itself, him who spoke as never man spoke, addressing the
enemies of truth as " serpents," as " a generation of vipers"—
when we find our great example, the apostle to the gentiles ad-
dressing an enemy of truth, and one who sat in the chair of
magisterial authority, " thou whited wall shiest thou here to
judge me according to the law, aid commanded thou me to be
smitten contrary to the law,"—when I find one inspired servant
of God addressing the idolaters of a degrading superstition, not
merely in language of compassion for their miserable state,
but also iu the language of pungent and, penetrating, and gall-
ing sarcasm, crying " call loudly, awake him, perhaps your God
is asleep"—when I find another inspired servant of God, not
content with calmly uttering the. command against the ab-
surdity of image worship, but with indignant irony ex-
posing its absurdity. exclaiming " he planteth an ash, and
the rain doth nourish it. Be burne'. part thereof in the
fire, with part thereof he eateth• flesh ; he roasteth roast,
and is satisfied : yea, he warmeth himself, and saith, ha, ha, I am
warm, I hare seen the fare; and the residue thereof he maketh a God,
even his graven .image,: he failed' downunto it, and worshippeth
it, and prayeth unto it and saith, deliver me; for thou art my God"
—I should perhaps never have heard of this if I bad ou)y read
extracts of the Bible—(a tremendous burst of cheesing)—but
having these examples before me, I will not be deterred by an
apprehension of being charged with a want of charity, espe-
cially when I feel that l am not speaking in anger, but only ad-
dressing myself to those various motives to which the Bible ad •
dresses itself to, and by which our common species are actuated;
for there are some men far more under the influence of ridicule
than of reason ;—I say I will not be deterred from making full
proof of my christian ministry, and going the whole round of
my christian example. (Great cheering.) Atid now,' sir, I"
shall, with your permission, address myself more immediately
to the argument of the business before its. The decision which
has rendered it inoperative upon us to make our present protest,
has already been laid before the meeting by yourself and
previous speakers. It calls our attention to two points on which
to judge, first, the treatment which it professes to give to religi-
ous instruction in general; and secondly, to the books which it
purposes in particular to introduce. As to the first point, the
resolution come to by the education committee of our town
council is in these words—" that an hour of each day be devoted
to the religious instruction of those children whose parents do
not object, and that such hour be in the afternoon—after the
school has closed." (Loud and general laughter.) " That the
clergy of the different denominations be requested to attend,
and every practical accommodation be afforded to them." Now
what are we to understand by that " after the school bas
closed ?" (Continued laughter.) Ask a school boy, he
will say, " when I may go and play" Ask a schoolmaster ?
and he will say, " when my day's work is over according to
my contract with my employers." So then after school hours
means, " after the master may go home and the boys may go to
play." (Great cheering.) And now let me ask what
an hour after the school has closed means ? It means
an hour after the master is gone home, and the boys gone to
play. (Cheers.) And this is the hour so carefully selected
so graphically described, in which, during which the clergy of
" all denominations" are " respectfully solicited to come and
instruct." (Great and continued laughter and cheers.) I will
read, sir, the words upon this subject of au eloquent eye wit-
ness, of the working of the system in Ireland. " The hour.
therefore, after the school is dismissed, is our only hope for scrip-
tural reading. And now let any one who has ever been at school,
or observed upon a school, just consider for a moment the feel-
ings of a schoolboy—the elation of heart—the burst of iO7
and delight, with which a party of schoolboys, after four or five
hours of heat and confined air, and silence, and constraint, rush
forth to activity, and freshness, and freedom, and homeward
return, at the hour of dismissal. his a spectacle which there
are few pulses that do not quicken at beholding, _and of which
few hearts do not feel the sympathy. Just then, let us consider
how the board have provided for the pleasurable recollection of
scripture. Let us suppose a fine summer evening, such as we
have often seen, the sun lighting up the bills and vallies witha
gloriousness and a beauty that make us wonder how even sin
could make this earth anything but a paradise. Let us, then,
turn to a number of schoolboys, who had been for four hours
looking wistfully abroad upon all this world of lightsomeness
and joy, from the close, hot atmosphere, and dull constraints,
and wearying lessons of the schoolroom. But the hour of re-
lease is come. The master has pronounced the talismanic word
" dismiss," and instantaneously the fields are covered with the
gambols, and riotous with the play, and vocal with the hilarity
of the little groups, sporting like the bright insects in the sun-
beams. But who are these who are still stationary at
their desks—still bound in silence and constraint —still
breathing the hot confinement of the schoolroom, under the
eye of a generally, like themselves, reluctant, and therefore
often fretful master, doomed to behold the mirth in which they
cannot share, and to hear the proclamation of a liberty which
has not made them free? Who are these ? Oh, these are the
Bible-readers. Oh ! If ever there was a crooked plan for
making the scriptures distasteful to the young for taking
from them every pleasurable association, and connecting with.
them et;ery bitter recollection—it is the plan tor the national
board not for withholding, but for giving the scriptures.--
But, sir, it is .of importance to remark, if even this hour could
be efficiently used, if the children could be prevailed on not to
go after the school has closed, but to remain and divide them-
selves into classes, according to the respective creeds of their
parents, and then and there receive religious instruction, such
as it is, for all denominations—if, even then, sir, they received
it, the religious instruction given would be no part of the pro-
vision which the corporation bas made for the schools; it would
be simply their lending their school-rooms one hour in the after-
noon, after they had done with them, fur the clergy of all denomi'
nations, and, if they came, all the corporation do is to say, " Gee'
tlemen, we wont lack the schools up for an hour after we bare
done with them." (Cheers.) But, sir, the thing is infinitely_
ridiculous; for, let us suppose that the children, forgetting the
nature of schoolboys, should be so meek, so pious as to wait till
all the parsons are come, (laughter,) and let us suppose
father B. we will say, in one corner, teaching his children the
rosary of the Virgin Mary—let us suppose the Rev. Rector C.,
we will say, teaching in another corner the church catechism,
and in another corner the Independent Dr. R. teaching the
principles of the voluntary system, (cheers,) and the Rev'
Mr. Socinian in another corner, teaching the inherent purity
of human nature and the saving merit of human works—non
when you have so graced the four corners of the building, tc""
deserves to stand Tom in the middle (loud laughter) but be
who brought the parties together—who can, in the 19th century,
propound so exquisitely absurd a system ? (Excessive and pr
longed cheering.) But more than this, sir: if this hour coutc,
be made really useful for scriptural instruction, we still protes.s.
against having, our hands tied up front mixing religious iustryc
tion with the acquirements of every hour We protest against
having our hands tied at any moment of the day. We do 11..t't
mean to set the children to read the Bible all day,
_!,::-
we do say that we have occasion for moral and religious tee,,Ve•
ing of the Bible at every moment of the day. (Cheers.) "
t tO
say, sir, if we be teaching geography, for instance, we ob Oc._ of
have our hands tied as we are describing the Yarioeo ttri7oo
the globe, so that we shall not be able to mix religious of
with observations on what took place in the lloly Lan or °P,i'!ii.,
tyi
progress of those events, the kirowledge of which as spreavrict
self through Europe, Asia, Africa, and the new worlds !is
refuse to have our hands tied when we teach history} t fr