Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1882-02-14
Huxley ON the Bible.

| A0oooi luA'oJ SsvSS "'S
Bible an follows:
l have always been strongly in ia
vor Of secular education in the sense
of education without theology; but
must confess that l have been no less
seriously perplexed to know 10y what
practical measures tho religious feel
ing, which is the essential basis OF
conduct, was to be kept up, in the
present utterly chaotic state of opin-
ion on these matters, without tho use
of the Bible. The pagan moralists
lack life and color, aud even the noble
stole, Marcus Antonius, is too high aud
refined for an ordinary child. Take
the Bible a. whole, make the sever
est deduction which fair criticism can
dictate for shortcomings and positive
errors. eliminate, as a sensible lay
teacher would, if left t. himself, all
that ia not desirable for children to
occupy themselves with. and there
still remains in this old literature q
vast residuum Of MOI al grandeur. And
then consider the great historical fact
that for three centuries this book has
been woven Into the life of all that is
best and noblest in English history !;
that it has become the national epic Of
Britain, and is familiar to noble and
simple from John O'Groal's house to
Lands End, as Dante and Tasso were
nee to the Italians; that it was writ
ten in the noblest aud purcst English,
and abounds inAexduisite beauties of a
merely literary form; and, finally, that
it forbids the yericst hind, who never
left his native village, to be ignorant
Of the existence Of other countries and
other civilizations, and of great past
stretching back to the furthest limits
of the oldest nations in the world. BY
the study of what other books could
children be 80 much humanized and
made to feel that each figure in that
vast historical procession fills, like
, themselves, but momentary space in
the interval letween the two eterni
ties, and earns the blessings or tho
curses of all time, according to its eff
feet to do good and hate evil, even al
they are earning their payment to-
/, their work?
And if Bible reading is not accom-
panied by constraint and solcmnity al
if il were u sacramental operation,
do not believe there is anything il
which children take more pleasure. A
least. | know that some oi the pleas
ATTEST rccollcctions of my childhood
are connected with the voluntary stud.
" of an ancient Bible which belonged t.
my grandmother. TlUrc were splen
" did pictures IN it, to be sure, but
- recollect little or nothing about them
:, save portrait of the high priest il
his vestments. What comes vivid
back to my mind as remembrances o
:, my delight in the histories of Joscp
+. and David, and my keen appreciatio
of the chivalrous kindness OF Abraham
:, in his dealings with Lot. Like sue
. den flash there returns back upon IN
10. -.
my utter scorn of the pettifoggini
. meanncss of Jacob, and my symp'
\. thetic grief over the heart-breakin
. lamentations Of the cheated Esau-
. "Hast thou not blessing Tor me, ais
- Omy father?" And sec, as in
!, cloud. pictures of the grand phantas
, magoria of the bwk of Revelation.
- l enumerate. as they issue. the chill
-. ish Impressions which come crowdin
- out Of the pigeon holes in my hrai
. in which they have lain almost undi
tnrbed for forty years. prize the