Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1895-06-26


ner? Was not the very Bible eve
ry denomi. alton uses translated
by Church of England men? yet
are we compelled by his fact to
accept their particular tenets?
Does not the Y. M. G. A. teach and
explain the Bible? Yet its members
are from all churches, and nobody
is lead away from the "faith of
his fathers thereby. That there
is such u thing as Il non-sectarian
teaching of the Bible no one but
fool disputes. Pastors Of different
denominations exchange pulpits,
yet no church doctrine is assailed.
There is such a thing as an inter-
denominational Sunday school
committee, who select certain ver-
ses from the Bible to be the lesson of
ece'y Sunday school olscholar in An'er-
ica, and no one imbibes sectarian-
ism. Every Christian church &C.
cepts these without comment. If
all this can be done without harm
ing anyone, how can anybody OBJ
ject to a pious teacher reading
few verses, closing his Bible, and
lifting his voice in prayer. l say
if everything above can be done
without producing seclarianism,
no sensible man can Say that this
simple act of reading and praying
will produce it.
Pedagogue wishes to discard the
Bible in our schools, but wishes
to give them moral training from
text books and Moral Philosophy.
How many public schools teach
Moral Philoshopy? This is study
which in every college catalogue |
have ever seen is down for the
Senior Class. Talking about puz-
zling poor little barefooted school
child with ethical studies that are
difficult to an educated man. Yet
the schools should provide moral
training for these same children.
We know that all of our system
of morals is derived from and bas-
ed on the Bible. Pedagogue's text
books and Moral Philoshopy are
ultimately derived from the Bible.
Now here is Pedagogue willing to
teach the truths Of the Bible as
they are set forth by men who
write these text books. willing tc
accept Bible principles as they
come through the perverted un-
derstandings of men, but not will
Ing to teach these same truths as
laid down By God himself! May
not these text book writer's be Bit
ter sectarians themselves? If they
are Christian men they of necessi-
ty belong TO some sect; hence to
keep Pedagogue's sectarianism out
of the schools, the text books must
be written by an unchristian man!
Let's notice the position of two
characteristic European countries
on this question. Scotland for
the last two centuries has taught
the Bible in her public schools.
Every little Scotch bairn from the
Tweeds to John O'Groats can be
seen in the morning hurrying
"o'er the brae' with his Psalter in
his hand. What sons can old
Scotland proudly claim for her
own! Livingstone on the burning
plains of Africa; Brougham in
the English Parliament; Burns
and Scott, who sang of the heroic
deeds witnessed by Scotland's
heathery hills. 1t is this Bible
training and influence of the pub
lie schools that has made the name
of Scotchman synonymous with
bravery, intelligence, and virtue in
every cline. France on the other
hand Knocked al Bible study in
schools. The French, like Peda-
gogue, were clamorous for "politi-
cal and religious freedom" taught
their children "the difference be-
tween me,ne ct tu,na" from text
books and Moral Philosophy.
What was the result? the chill
dren didn't distinguish very clear
ly "between meuna ct te,ua:" paid
very little heed to system of NOR
ais drawn from sceptical writer's,
who taught that one ought to be
good for policy's sake; looseness
of morals, debauchery, Revolu-
tion followed fast and followed
faster" Reader look at the aver
age Frenchman and Scotchman to-
day and draw your own conclu-
sions. Which do you prefer Scotch
sectarianism or French infdelity?
# in our own country, we don't
put the Bible into our public
schools, we leave the way open for
the Devil to enter them; We invite
him by our neutrality.
But the most uncalled for, most
absurd, most inexcusable asser-
ton that Pedagoguc ever uttered is
the idea of declaring Christian
ministers the privilege of teach
ing our children. Fifty "excla-
nation points" could not express
my disgust of such a statement. ;.
Inconsistency thou art Jewel"
Pedagogue has just been ranting
about every ones having all equal
right to the public schools, and in
the next breath wants to bar par
ticular class-the Ministers of God
from participating in tham by be-
coming teachers. Does this sound
like DOlitical likertv2 Sunnoco q