Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1870-06-08

in favor Of the teacher or Of the di.
rectors Who can tell2 Thcn the
phraseology is uncertain, deceptive.
opposed TO order and the present
mode Of government in schools. and
promotiye Of litigation and bad blood
But il may be said the intention is to
restrain the General Assembly from
passing any law to prohibit the use
Of tho Bible in schools. DO gentle
men fear such legislation Is there
any danger Of ity Would il not be a
violation Of local self-government of
the most odious kind If gentlemen
fear such an exercise of power, is
there no danger of its abuse in regard
to other publication than tho Bible Z
Is there no danger that party in
power mny seek to perpetuato its as
cendancy by compelling the nse Of
partisan books in the public schools Z
Will not the supporters Of this meas
ure accept as a section prohibiting the
exercise Of such power by the Gener-
nj Assembly in regard to any book z
II their object be the one they pro
fess, | think they would certainly do
SO lfthcir object be to obtain person
al notorie'y by exciting bitter disson-
sions, perhaps bloodshcd, among the
people Of the State, they would as GER
lainly refuse.
| hope such is not the object. /
hope il will not appear against them
hereafter, that they have taken aud
used in vain the most sacred names !;
that they have inlerlarded their dis
courses with texts from Holy Writ
for base purposes that, in a word,
they have stolen the livery Of heaven
to serve tho devil in.
assume that the intentions of the
gentlemen are good that they have
been actuated only by religious en-.
thusiasm, however mistaken or mis-
placed it may appear TO be. And I
assume that the deceptive character
Of the proposition they support is not
the result Of design, but Of an uufor-
tunate use Of words.
Now, let me ask the gontlemon aud
the convention, if the proposition /
am about TO read be not more com
prohonsivc, more just, freer from OBJ
lection, and more Of the character Of
a constitutional provision
"The State shall have no power to
require or prohibit the use Of particu-
/ lar books in the public schools The
selection Of such books, and the man
agement Of the schools, shall belong
to the directors Of each school dis
trict."
If this proposition be better than
theirs, woald it not be possible that a
still better proposition might be devils
cd by the committee on education
And is it not apparent that all these
amendments ought to 20 to them for
their deliberate examination
regret that | have been compelled
to take part in this DEBATE. My feel
( ings were aversc to il, but | could not
resist the call Of duty.
! owed it to my constituents, n
largo portion of whom have, with
their co.religionists, been misreprc.
sontcd and slandered on this floor,
charged with the design TO overthrow
the free Institutions Of the country,
and that by gentlemen who arc them
selves seeking to change the constitu-
ton of tho State in the interest of
their own soctarian schemes. / owed
il to the cause Of truth and justice l
owed il to popular rights and freedom
Of conscience, now openly attacked,
and owed il to religion, in whose
sacred name, under whose holy garb,
this great wrong and outrage is
sought to be done
Now. | deny that any true Cris,ian
man, whether Catholic or Protestant,
can be dangerous to the state. The
divine law is TO return good for evil,
to love our enemies, and to obey the
powers that be, for they arc ordained
Of God
have no fears Of Christianity, in
any of it's forms IL we have anything
to fear it is from the Vaccinations OF
the evil one who sometimes tcmpts
tho ambitions and unprinoipled 10
make a cloak of religion, while in
flaming the bad passions Of men, for
their own selfish aggrandizemont
feel justified in dcnouncing the
measure under consideration as an
unholy measure AsI have shown,
Il is deceptive and untruthful in It's
terms Il assumes the existence of a
state of facts which does not exist. Ii
is without precedent in any of the
American constitutions, because IL is
a direct stab at civil aud religious LID.
criy.
twill be remembered that on form
cr occasion offered an amendment,
providing that persons desiring to
educate their children 10y teachers OF
their own religious faith, and having
conscientious scruples against mere
ly secnlar education, might have
some part of the school taxes paid by
them That was rejected by the
convention, under the plea that IL
would interfere with the public
schools, and promote sectarianism -
IL was claimed that the public schools
should he used by the people Of all
scots and opinions, aud only secular
learning taught there, that tho relig
lows instruction should be received,
not at school, but in the family aud
the church
Now allcr compelling all the peo-
pie to use aud attend these schools,
or be at a double cxpcnse for educa-
ton. we find members Of this convon.
tion trying 20 forco upon the people
Of all shades Of opinion, the use in
those schools hy their children of a
version Of the Bible which has boon
adopted by less than one-tcnth of the
Christian world, and is claimed by
| the Catholics, who preserved the
original for 500 years, to be an in
accurate and unfair translation, and
[ by some Of the largest denominations
] q n..s.-s...f. q. H.. ....1t.lfn