LC 93.G7B°8T"""'™""""-*™^ '■vnnpr EDUCATION FREE FROM THE CREEDS & CONTROL OF PRIESTS AND CHURCHES. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE ' AUTUMNAL MEETING OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES, NOTTINGHAM, On Tuesday, October gth, i88S, BY THE REV. ROBERT BRUCE, M.A., D.D., CHAIRMAN. PRICE SIXPENCE. LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MANCHESTER: BROOK & CHRYSTAL, ii, MARKET STREET. Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924013093707 EDUCATION FREE FROM THE CREEDS & CONTROL OF PRIESTS AND CHURCHES. AN ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE AUTUMNAL MEETING OF THE CONGREGATIONAL UNION OF ENGLAND AND WALES, NOTTINGHAM, On Tuesday, October gth, 1888, BY THE REV. ROBERT BRUCE, M.A., D.D., CHAIRMAN. LONDON: HODDER & STOUGHTON, 27, PATERNOSTER ROW. MANCHESTER: BROOK & CHRYSTAL, 11, MARKET STREET. 1888. , President White Library ''f'VE^ v«= NATIONAL EDUCATION UNSECTARIAN. " The Education of. the people's children by the people's officers, chosen in their local assemblies, controlled by the people's representatives in parlia- ment, this is the principle upon which the bill is based, it is the ultimate force which rests behind every clause." — w. e. forster. THE very kind indulgence and generous appreciation you extended to me in May have lessened my fears but increased my responsibility on the present occasion. Having gained your confidence and esteem I am anxious not to lose them, but to use them in enlisting your sympathy and support in behalf of a cause which I have very much at heart. Amidst many kind words from my critics one objection was taken to my Address, that it was discursive and diffusive : to-day I mean to be very definite, almost exclusive, concentrating my thoughts on one theme which seems to me to be the great 4 National Education burning question, not only of the present hour but for the next year or two, in our national life and denominational history. I deny myself the pleasure of taking up other questions which some of you might regard as of equal if not greater importance, and which might have excited more enthusiasm than the practical one which I propose to discuss. Strong is the temptation to deal with some of the social problems which are pressing for solu- tion, not only in England and Ireland but in Europe and America ; and to urge you and all the Christian Churches to bring the spirit, the life, and the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ to bear, in more practical and effective ways, on problems affecting the relationships of rich and poor, capital and labour, landlords and tenants ; the causes and cure of poverty and crime ; and the material and moral means of promoting amongst all classes temperance and purity. Strong, too, is the temptation to expose a new departure in the literary world ; and to warn our young people of the subtlety and assiduity with which Christianity is being boldly attacked, or furtively undermined, not by blatant lecturers on infidelity, but by the cultured children of light; in works of fiction, which have just enough of the love story and romance to carry ordinary readers through two or three volumes, but which make the story subservient to theological or anti- Unsectarian. 5 Christian ends, seeking to establish Agnosticism, Positivism, or some other form of imperfect faith, by eliminating from the religion of Jesus Christ all that is distinctive and supernatural : written in a style so pure and charming, and in a spirit so seemingly fair and charitable, that our young friends are in great danger of being led away unawares from the faith of the Gospel. I should very much like to upset, or at any rate analyse, the strange and seething ingredients of some of these fiction-caldrons, in which the new Alchemists are boiling down " things new and old," to transmute them into a popular and poisonous beverage that may take the place of the ever-blessed " water of life." Equally tempting would it be to criticise the discussions and decisions of the one hundred and forty-five Anglican Bishops, who recently met in Lambeth Palace. We have been somewhat amused and surprised to observe that, during recent years when every trade and profession has been suffering from depression, Bishops have risen rapidly and to a high figure in the ecclesiastical market. To a Puritan section of the church like ours, which prefers the simplicity of Scripture to the ostentation of the world, and in which some of our leading ministers are abjuring not only the innocent white necktie, and the funereal black gown but the familiar title of " Reverend," it may be a grief to behold. 6 National Education and a puzzle to explain, how readily nearly ;^ioo,ooo is raised to establish a new bishopric for a " Right Reverend Father in God : " and how an aristocratic and hierarchical church is making headway, increasing the number of spiritual peers, at a time when lords of every sort are at a discount. We marvel at the perfect unanimity and enthusiasm with which the Bishops insist on the presence of alcohol in sacramental wine and protest against the use of unfermented wine or other liquid. Nevertheless, we rejoice in any new signs, however faint, of growing catholicity on their part, not only towards the old and cor- rupt churches of the east and west, but towards their Protestant and Nonconformist neighbours in these lands. It must have been in a moment of special lucidity and inspiration they penned this sentence : " We gladly and thankfully recognise the real religious work which is carried on by Christian bodies not of our communion. We cannot close our eyes to the visible blessing which has been vouchsafed to their labours for Christ's sake." We have also observed with peculiar interest the kind and spontaneous appeal of the Bishop of St. Andrew's to his Episcopal brethren, to make the most and best of the Scotch Presbyterians, and to draw them more closely to their heart. And although all these outflowings of love from the Episcopal heart are Unsectarian. 7 narrowed and tainted by the implied fallacy or weakness, that union can hardly be without con- formity to, and comprehension within, one pale, we do most heartily reciprocate every kind and catholic feeling expressed by them towards Dissenters, and we do earnestly long and pray for the true spiritual unity of the Church of Christ.* For all who love our Lord Jesus Christ in incorruptness, and are endeavouring to do and teach His will — whether they be Episco- palians, Presbyterians, Methodists, or others — we earnestly pray, " Grace, mercy, and peace be abundantly multiplied unto them." I feel, however, that necessity is laid upon me to give the utmost possible prominence to a subject which is sure to cause heart-burning controversy, if not separation and strife, amongst the churches of Christ. We have not raised this question : we have not sought this controversy. We are provoked, we are challenged, the gauntlet * Contrast these kindly counsels with the stern admonitions of Dean Gott in his "Parish Priest of the Town," p. 153 :— "Hon't join Dissenters on religious platforms, greatly as you will often desire to do so ; refrain for three reasons : — " (i) It has been found signally and commonly to fail. " (2) It will perplex and confuse your own Holy Communi- cants, " (3) It is wrong in principle, e.g., you will soon be asked to attend a meeting of the Bible Society." ' [What must become of Earl Harrowby, President, and of Arch- bishops and numerous Bishops who are Vice-Presidents of this Society?!] 8 National Education has been thrown down defiantly in our faces, and we should be cowards and traitors if we did not defend ourselves and our principles. We are not so anxious to defend ourselves, our personal rights or denominational prestige, as to defend the rights of conscience, the rights of the people, and the cause of civil and religious liberty : for, to quote the words of Dr. Crosskey, " This question concerns the industrial prosperity, the intellectual life, the personal independence, and the religious interests of the vast masses of its citizens." You will guess at once that I refer to the present crisis in the question of National Educa- tion, occasioned by the alarming and reactionary proposals of the Majority of the Royal Com- missioners. I do not intend to go into any details respecting the mere technicalities of standards, subjects, Pupil Teachers, Inspectors, classification, grants, &c. I want to speak of National Elementary Education in its religious bearings, and specially as it affects our denomina- tion and other churches, and to lay down this broad definite principle, that Education, so far as it is aided by the State, paid for by taxes or rates, should be popular and unsectarian, free from the teaching of creeds and catechisms, and from the control of priests and churches. Many of our churches, and not a few even of our ministers, have not been sufficiently alive to Unsectarian. 9 the seriousness of the situation, and to the im- portant principles and interests at stake. They have surely never considered, certainly not adequately estimated, the far-reaching tendencies of the two opposite Educational policies now in operation. The priests of the Anglican and Roman Churches have for years been wide awake to the commanding position which Education offers to them for strategical purposes ; for fortify- ing their strongholds and advancing their con- quests. Freely and heartily do I praise the clergy of both churches for their deep interest, always warm and often wise, in promoting Elementary Education. And though, doubtless, their zeal for Education has not always been wholly disinterested, but generally and greatly intensified, as they would admit, by their warmer zeal for religion,* i.e., for their own peculiar types of it — for which they have diligently and suc- * See evidence of Rev. J. Duncan, M.A. : — 11,512. "The teachers are to be Church teachers, and in- struction is to be given in the catechism and formularies of the Church." 11.514. " Yon add the idea, of Jiutih'c e!e?neniary sckool : Here was no such idea in the minds of the founders, or in most of the trust deeds as they stand. Religious education was an essential element. " 11.515. "That would apply to the old foundations, but in the case of the more recent ones, e.g., the national schools which have been built within the last 20 years, were they not built as public elementary schools ? NO; we expressly exclude that desig- nation from our trust deeds." 10 National Education cessfuUy sought supremacy and propagation through their exclusive management of Day Schools, and their exclusive system of training and appointing teachers of their own faith, largely at the expense of the State — still many of them have been true patriots and enlightened Educationalists. They have made great sacrifices of time and money in Education for its own sake, and even when they have used the School as the stalking-horse of the Church, making free use of their so-called " National " or " Voluntary" Schools for strengthening their Ecclesiastical position, and inculcating their peculiar tenets and creeds,* on our children as well as their own, * See evidence of Rev. J. Duncan, M.A., passim : — 10.596. "What is the nature of the trust deeds of these Church schools ? - . . The ordinary form of deed is a conveyance to the vicar and churchwardens for the time being of the legal property. . . . The teachers must be members of the Church of England, and religious instruction must be given in the Holy Scripture, and in the Catechism and Liturgy of the Church of England, 10.597. " In all the schools ? In all the schools. 10,604. "I should say that the view of the supporters of our schools is, that no religion is of any substantial value that is not definite in its character and, of course, it is obvious that the doctrines of the Church and the Church Catechism itself are of a very definite character, and that the teaching in Church doctrines and in the Catechism cannot be given without definiteness." See also quotation from weekly organ of the National Society (Report, vol. i., p. 405). "In the present condition of Church schools it is more than ever necessary that they should be made nurseries for Church principles, and that the whole schooling of a child should gradually lead up to this," &c. Unsectarian. 1 1 they can hardly be blamed, from their point of view. They have acted all along consistently and conscientiously : they believe in a State church, and that their church is certainly the best, if not the only true, form of religion ; and, therefore, that they are not only warranted but bound to carry out that principle and this belief to their legitimate issues, in schools as well as churches. We blame them because they have not considered or understood the serious injustice which they inflict upon all who dissent from their views ; because they have violated the funda- mental law of Christian equity, " do to others as ye would they should do unto you " : and because they have not realized the greatly altered state of English society, the growth and power of the democracy and the prevalence of truer views of religious liberty. No less is it our duty, as Nonconformists and loyal liberal citizens, while admiring the zeal of Churchmen and other Denominationalists, to be equally firm and zealous in upholding our prin- ciples, which lay upon us the solemn duty of resisting their policy, conscientiously believing, as we do, that it is contrary to the free, loving spirit of Christianity, pernicious to the highest interests of the people, fatal to the principles of religious liberty and equality, and most injurious to the cause of Education. Our ministers, too, have made sacrifices for religious education, quite 12 National Education as great as the clergy have made for secular and religious education put together, in willingly- accepting small and even miserable salaries that their Sunday schools might be liberally sup- ported — schools which, though wholly erected by voluntary subscriptions without a penny of Government money, are not used for teaching the children the creeds or crotchets of any sect, or instilling into their young minds enmity to any other church, but for simple and catholic instruc- tion in Holy Scripture, that they may become good citizens and Christians. We have been so absorbed — necessarily so, to some extent — in building and maintaining Ghapels and Sunday Schools, in educating and sustaining our ministers — all on the purely voluntary principle — and the expense thus incurred has been so exacting, not to say crushing, on our comparatively limited means, that we have had little time or money to give to the Elementary Day School. We have regarded this as the work of the State and not of the Churches. We have also been restrained and handicapped in the race, by the fact that our fundamental principles prevent us from accepting money from the Government for the support of denominational teaching (for many years such religious teaching was an essential condition of the grants), and without this it was impossible, except in very rare instances, to open and sustain schools purely by fees Unsectarian. 13 and subscriptions, in competition with those who at that time seldom used the word "Volun- tary " without a sneer. Hence things were allowed to drift on from bad to worse, every year bringing fresh accession of strength, in new schools and increasing grants from the National Exchequer, to the Church party, who already began to see their way to a practical monopoly of the education of the country. All this time we felt keenly that gross injus- tice was being done to us, that the principles of religious liberty and equality were set at defiance, and a most formidable obstacle raised to the establishment of a truly national and effective system of Education. But for the clergy and the so-called " National " schools, working per- sistently along lines of the narrowest gauge, we should have had a really national system much sooner and much better. We should have had a system available for all, on equal and honour- able terms : a system in which the clergy of all Churches, with other educated and benevolent persons, would certainly have had their full and just share of influence ; by free popular election of the ratepayers sitting in, and presiding over. Boards which would have vigorously promoted Education pure and simple for its own sake, untrammelled by religious creeds or irreligious vagaries. Against that old system of Education 14 National Education by grants, that species of concurrent endowment, we protested in resolutions and speeches year by year : we never have approved of it and never shall. In 1870 a great change was introduced by Mn Forster's Bill. That Bill, as originally drafted, may have been truthfully described by the Congregationalist of 1872 as "one of the most unsatisfactory legislative measures for which a great party has ever made itself responsible." But, after it had been modified by Noncon- formists and other friends of liberal principles and of popular education — happily more united and powerful then than now — and after two or three dark blots were got rid of, it became a really great and most beneficent measure. No one who knew the rough, sturdy Yorkshireman who grap- pled so manfully with this difficult question in the face of the two parties most strongly opposed to each other, trying as he did to hold the balance between them, ought to speak of Mn Forster as Mr. Facing-both-ways ; he honestly did his best. Yet, in his frank endeavours to make antagonistic principles and parties lie down peacefully together, he gave utterance, to memorable sentences which are as difficult to reconcile as the highest Calvinism with the lowest Arminianism. Our Church friends have walked ever since in the comfort of a gracious word which fell from his lips as he whispered to Unsectarian. 1 5 them, "our object is to complete the f resent volun- tary system, to fill up gaps'' We, on the other hand, were soothed and silenced into cheerful hope by the equally gracious words which he addressed to us, "The Education of the people's children by the peoples officers, chosen in their local assemblies, controlled by the peoples representatives in Parliament. This is the principle upon which the Bill is based, it is the ultimate force which rests behind every clause'' When the battle had been fought on the floor of St. Stephen's, and we began to count the cost and estimate the gain and loss, we found that though some great and good things were accom- plished, there was still much to complain of: I will not speak of these at length. (i.) The perpetuation and extension of the system of subsidising with national funds schools wholly under clerical control and used for narrow ecclesiastical purposes. (2.) A period of grace in which the Churches were allowed to build and enlarge schools with Government help, so as to occupy the ground and prevent the erection of schools on a broad unsectarian basis. (3.) The payment of fees by School Boards to denominational schools for poor children, not children of paupers. (4.) Continued and enlarged grants to Train- ing Colleges of a narrow and sectarian character. 1 6 National Education These were the chief blots. Still it was a measure which conferred inestimable blessings on the youth of England. It gave much, though not sufficient, liberty for the election and opera- tion of School Boards, and laid upon them, in the first instance, (this is a sore point with the Denominationalists, and they have, of course, the Majority Report in their favour) the burden or privilege of providing new and additional accommodation to meet the wants of increasing population ; and it forbade the teaching of any catechism or Church formulary in schools sup- ported by rates. Since that time Education has made marvel- lous progress* both in quantity and quality. And the Denominationalists had certainly no reason to complain, for they profited most by that great compromise. They have multiplied their schools and scholars enormously -f* ; have * The total accommodation in elementary schools in 1871 in England and Wales was little over two millions ; in 1887 it had risen to 5,278,992 (Church, 2,579,565; 3oard, 1,765,894; British, 405,434; R. Catholic, 318,042; Wesleyan, 210,057) an increase of about 260 per cent. The average attendance had risen from 1,231,000 to 3,527,381, or an increase of 286 per cent. So that now, speaking broadly, there are nearly three times as many children at school as there were when Mr, Forster's Bill was passed, t During the period (1B70-1884) the number of children on the register of Voluntary schools has increased from 1,693,059 in 1870 to 2,853,604 in 1884; whilst those in average attendance Unsedarian. 17 received every year larger and larger grants, whilst some think they have been specially favoured by the generosity of the Department and the leniency of Inspectors. The plea advanced by some of their witnesses before the Royal Commission, that the demands on voluntary subscribers had largely increased, and that the difficulty of collecting the subscrip- tions had become greater, because so manyof their subscribers had to pay rates to School Boards was proved, on cross-examination by Sydney Buxton (10,854 — 10,868), Dr. Dale (10,998 — 11,003), and Lyulph Stanley (11,058 — 11,066), to be utterly fallacious. The Secretary of the National Society was obliged to admit that the voluntary subscriptions were less by ;^8,400 a year than they were ten years before, and that in nearly every case where the poverty of the rural districts was pleaded, and the difficulty of raising both voluntary subscriptions and com- pulsory rates from the same individuals alleged, it was notorious there were no School Boards to have steadily increased from 1,152,389 to 2,157,292, School fees, which amounted in former year to ;£'502,023, amounted in the latter year to ;^i, 205,440. Voluntary subscriptions, though with a certain amount of fluctuation, from ;^4i8,839 to ;^732,524. The Government Grant rose from ;^562,6ii to ;^i, 768,140, while additions to income from other sources which stood in 1870 at ;^76,So9, had gradually indreased to ;^I92,975. Meanwhile the number of new Voluntary schools established amounted in all to 6,735. 1 8 National Education. lay rates.* When the amount raised by the Church for Day Schools is ostentatiously set forth, few care to inquire how much less is. expended for Sunday Schools. In the vast majority of cases, and in all cases with the exception of one or two munificent Church contributors, the Nonconformist Churches raise, in proportion to their numbers, as much' for Sunday Schools alone as the National Churches for both Day and Sunday Schools. Neverthe- less the Denominationalists, principally the Anglicans and Romanists, have been restive and demonstrative, as they witnessed the growth of Board Schools, first sighing and then crying for more money from the State. Hence the appointment of the ROYAL COM- MISSION. We never were satisfied with the composition of that distinguished body, nor have we expected any very favourable results from its long and laborious deliberations. It was set up by the Tory Government, at the instigation of their clerical supporters and other ardent denominationalists, who took ample precaution to secure a majority on their side. It takes all the colours of the rainbow to con- stitute the perfect light : but in the party-coloured rainbow of educational lights which gathered round the long table at Whitehall some colours * There are 10,239 parishes in which there is no School Board (p. 234). Unsectarian. 19 were conspicuous by their absence. Where were the representatives of the working classes, whose children are to be educated, the people who have to pay the fees and the greater part of the rates and taxes to support the schools? There was only Mr. G. Shipton, nominated by the London Trades Council. There were Cardinal Manning and the Duke of Norfolk to represent the Roman Catholics. Four peers, a bishop, and four other dignitaries of the English Church, besides mem- bers of Parliament and Government officials, to represent the Church. But where were the living representatives of the people, in actual touch and sympathy with the working-classes, men like Messrs. Broadhurst and Burt ? Where were the representatives of the Nonconformist Churches? The Wesleyans, or what I may, I hope, without offence, designate the conservative section of that excellent and powerful body of Christians, were ably represented by Dr. Rigg, who throughout all that long service to the praise and glory of Denominationalism was loud and hearty in saying " Amen " to the Cardinal and the Canons ; but why was not the younger and more liberal section of that Society, who, I humbly think, have the ear and confidence of the working-classes more than the other section, [see Appendix A] represented by such a man as Dr. Arthur, or Hugh P. Hughes ? Why was there no representative of the Primi- 20 National Education tive Methodists, the Free Methodists, the New Connexion ? Why was there no Baptist ? Why was there no representative of that numerous section of the working-classes which, alas, is out- side all our churches, and whose short and not very courteous litany might be summed up in one sentence, " A plague upon all of your churches and sects, give us less of your talk, of your creeds and controversies, and touch us with the hand of help' and the heart of love." We, Congregationalists, have no reason nor dis- position to complain, so far as we are concerned. No abler representatives, more vigilant, acute, discreet, and in every way competent, could have been selected than Dr. Dale and Henry Richard. To them and Mr. Stanley specially, but also to all theMinoritymemberSjtheNonconformistsandthe people of England are deeply indebted. Dr. Dale happily lives to speak for himiself and for our principles, I hope, for many years to come. Mr. Richard, alas, is no longer, save in spirit, with us. I wish I had his gift of chaste and cultured speech to pronounce a brief eulogy on our vener- able friend. In his youth an eloquent preacher, always an able platform speaker, for many years as the Secretary of the Peace Society, an earnest advocate of international arbitration and a fear- less denouncer of war, a life-long defender of civil and religious liberty, a liberal and patriotic statesman, a true hearted Christian. In 1877 he Unsectarian. 21 was your Chairman, the only Esq. who has ever occupied the Chair, and one of those distinguished Welshmen — at least four — who have given lustre to it, by the fire of their Welsh eloquence. He was faithful unto death: lived to put his signature to the Minority Report, expressing regret, amongst his latest utterances, that so many of the younger generation of Nonconformists were indifferent to the grand principles for which their fathers suffered and fought. The Majority constituted, I fear, not so much a bench of unbiassed judges, perfectly open to conviction and determined to weigh evidence impartially, as a jury of advocates and experts pledged to enforce the Ecclesiastical demands, and drumming up witnesses to support a foregone conclusion. From the decision of that packed jury we appeal to the larger jury of the English people, and to the people's parliament. As to the main conclusions and recommenda- tions of the Majority, I cannot do better than quote from the able and timely pamphlet recently issued by the Central Nonconformist Committee, the succinct and searching analysis of the Report under the following headings, which will indicate its scope : (1) Denominational schools, in which creeds and catechisms distinctive of particular denominations are taught, are to be sub- sidised from the rates. (2) State grants for the structural improvement of denomina- tional schools are to be made. 22 National Education (3) The development of the School Board system is to be hampered and restrained. (4) The power of the managers of denominational schools to exact high fees is to be perpetuated. (5) Precautions are to be taken to prevent a high standard of education from being generally required in public elementary schools. (6) Sectarian training colleges are to be maintained, and none but very restricted concessions are to be made to any alternative system. (7) The Conscience Clause in public elementary schools is to be made still more ineffective. (8) Young persons connected virith Nonconformist Churches in large districts of England and Wales are still to be excluded from entrance into the teaching profession. (9) The "religious difficulty" with respect to national educa- tion is to be intensified. I cannot refer to all these serious indictments. I hope that in the proceedings of this morning full opportunity will be given for a thorough dis- cussion of the whole question. Having carefully read the voluminous and really valuable evidence upon all sides, I could scarcely have believed it possible that men, so astute as those ardent advocates of Denomina- tionalism, would have allowed their zeal so far to outrun their discretion as to put their hand to proposals so reactionary, and yet so revolutionary, as these. They are more worthy of the worst days of Queen Anne than of the best days of Queen Victoria. I could hardly have believed that the vapouring talk of the platform of Church Institutes and of the most bigoted sectarian Unsectarian. 23 organs in the Press would ever have been en- dorsed, in the respectable type of a Blue Book, as the deliberate recommendations of sensible men : that the State should annually enforce local rates from persons of all creeds or of none, to support schools exclusively managed by the priests of the Anglican and Roman Churches, with such handful of managers, nominal or real, as they may choose to associate with themselves. Perhaps they regard their proposals as a master- stroke of shrewdness and far-seeing wisdom. Probably knowing in their hearts that no English Parliament will yield their audacious demand, they hope that, by laying this bold extravagant claim before the public, they will at least secure considerable modifications of the present system in their favour, by accepting which, they may pose before the world as extremely reasonable, because they have agreed to take so much less than they asked. Perhaps they have been deluded into some hope of success by the present unhappy division among the Liberals, or by the idea that Nonconformists were settling down into such a delightful state of quiescence and lethargy that they would not only assent to the iniquities of the present system, but, for the sake of peace and economy, would not resist even a further invasion of their rights. On them, the Denominational Majority, be the onus and the odium of this new controversy, which is so 24 National Education unnecessarily raised. They were warned by their own friends — several of their own witnesses,* and notably by one of their own colleagues, Canon Smith, the Venerable Archdeacon of Maidstone — ■■ [see Appendix B] — of the storm they would be sure to raise. Instead of letting their moderation be known unto all men, and leaving well alone, they have boldly formulated demands which they must know we should resist, I might say unto death. I wish I had time to read the whole of the Archdeacon's earnest protest. In the interests * See evidence of T. W. Allies, Esq. (R. Catholic). 9)35°. "I have difficulty myself in seeing how that could be done {i.e. , Voluntary schools receive portion of the rates) because the whole history of England seeras to show that all power lies in the purse ; and, therefore, if our schools are supported by rates I dread their falling, pro tanto, under the power of the ratepayers. I do not say that it is not possible to do what your Eminence suggests, but I do not see my way to it : and / have great dread of assistance from the rates for that reason. 9,351. "The theological feeling enters so largely into the minds of the people, that I cannot imagine but that the rate- payers would always be stirring up opposition to this, and would fix upon this or that thing taught in this or that school, whether our's or somebody else's, and would say : ' We have to pay for this, and we do not believe in anything of this kind. ' I do not see very well how to meet that jealousy." Also evidence of Ven. Archdeacon Sir L. T. Stamer, Bart. 24jI55- "Do you think it would be advisable to put the Voluntary schools in any degree upon the rates ? No, indeed ; because putting them upon the rates would involve the loss of their independence of management. I foresee that at once, and I would much sooner that we should face our own difficulties and keep our own independent management." Unsectarian. 25 of voluntary schools, as well as in consideration of the claims of common equity, and in view of the trouble and danger which the "new departure" in favour of concurrent endowment — nominally of every church but really of the Anglican and Roman Churches — was sure to cause, he gives five solid reasons why he " cannot concur in the recommendation that Voluntary Schools be able to claim annual support out of the rates." All honour to this solitary priest, the venerable Archdeacon, who has so far retained his com- mon sense and deferred to the feelings and rights of his fellow-men as to subordinate his priesthood to his humanity and love of fair play. We are confident that there will be found amongst the clergy of the English Church a considerable number, and amongst the laity a larger number, who in the coming day of battle will be on our side. Be that as it may, we must gird ourselves for the conflict, assured that however fierce it may be, and even though a temporary victory may be snatched by our opponents, the day will finally be declared in favour of the true and the free, which we vow this day to defend. Whatever the issue may be, let there be no occasion given for saying that the Congregationalists have failed the people of this great country in the hour of their need. Sixteen years ago when you last met in this town, noted for its public spirit and its educa- 26 National Education tional institutions, you passed a resolution against the obnoxious 25 th clause, and your action then and elsewhere was shortly afterwards rewarded and justified by its repeal. Now you are sum- moned to a sterner struggle, having much broader interests at stake. The Chairman of that year, the friend and pastor of my boyhood. Dr. Kennedy, who happily still lives to counsel and if need be lead us, then eloquently discoursed on " Our Place in England." Did he spend his strength for nought ? Have we not still a place, an honourable if not a foremost place, in the religious life and work of England, in the political struggles and social problems of England, in the education of the children of England ? Are we willing to be extinguished, content to be ignored,* or prepared to abandon our con- tention for religious equality, and free church * In Dean Gott's " Parish Priest of the Town," we are not mentioned at all by name amongst those who are Dissenters. He deigns to notice the Romanists, the Wesleyans, the Baptists, even the Unitarians and the Salvation Army, but of us he is apparently ignorant or wisely silent. Except he means to in- sinuate that we are the horrible monsters hinted at on page 154 : " I say nothing about Political Dissenters, for I am only speaking here about religious persons, and those who unhappily differ from us for conscience sake. / hold the Political Dissenter as an enemy of God and the country." This comes with a bad grace from one who owes his present, and possibly future, promotion to the leader of the Political party in power at the time, and who belonged to the town which has so long been blessed by the busy, useful, and honourable life of Sir Edward Baines. Unsectarian. 27 principles? Why, these proposals of the Majority, if adopted, will not only buttress the old Estab- lished Church, as they are confessedly intended to do, but endow Roman Catholicism, and help to stamp out Nonconformity in many rural districts. Shall wej for the sake of peace or for a bribe of filthy lucre in the shape of economy delusively promised to us, quietly and ignominiously tolerate the establishment by law of the principle of concurrent endowment, and allow the State to subsidise all and every church, specially the Anglican and Roman, not from ancient bequests or the Consolidated Fund, but by annual rates extorted from living citizens of all beliefs, and of none, and to set up in every parish at least one, it may be more, of these juvenile Establishments in which all the various creeds, however false and contradictory, may be taught five days of every week at the expense of the public ? In vain do we celebrate the tercentenary of the defeat of the Spanish Armada, if we sanction and support from amongst ourselves a modern invasion in the shape of priest-governed schools in every parish. The people who pay the money and send their children to school ought to decide who shall be their teachers and what they shall be taught. In vain do we cele- brate the bi-centenary of the glorious Revolution of 1688 if, after 200 years of much suffering and 28 National Education yet of great progress, we are to prove so far recreant to the principles of civil and religious freedom, inaugurated by the Act of Toleration, as to allow the children of the working-classes, belonging largely to our Nonconformist Churches, and attending our Sunday Schools, to be driven like sheep by State-paid officers into schools, which are called " national " and " voluntary," but are really Church Schools — staffed and ruled by the priesthood, though almost wholly paid for by the fees and State money: — with no choice or alternative in ten thousand parishes, and with no efficient protection, save a delusive conscience clause, against having daily to learn and repeat doctrines they do not believe, or suffer socially^ if not pecuniarily, for contumacy in refusing so^ to do. It is absurd, and too late in the day, to tell us : " you, or any other denomination, may set up schools to your mind." No one knows better than those who say so that consistent Dissenters cannot do this ; that, even if we were disposed to accept this policy, (suicidal because we should ever afterwards be obliged to hold our peace as to the evil and injustice of State endowments of religion), neither the central Department nor the local authority would sanction such a waste of money as would be involved in setting up schools of the kind. Besides, in many cases the clergy have done their utmost to keep out all rival schools, whether Unsectarian. 29 Board or British. In all fairness and according to the logic of the denominational system every denomination, however small, should have its Day School, and have it supported by the State. This shows the absurdity of the system. Think of the magnitude of this question. Between one-fifth and one-sixth of the whole population of England and Wales — between five and six millions of souls — should have school places provided for them.* It must be a mo- mentous question. Under whose management, under what influences, on what principles shall those millions be educated, during the most impressible and formative period of their lives,-(- from 5 or even 3 up to 13 or 14? Shall the different churches, with their priests and other ecclesiastical functionaries, hold the schools as their own, prescribe the curriculum, select and control the staff, leaving for the people only two functions, to furnish the raw but precious * See final Report of Royal Commission, p. 53. From the Report of the Department for 1888. There is accommodation now provided for 5,311,662. There are on the Register 4,660,301. ,, in average attendance 3,544,564. It is estimated there might be, with the present population: — On the Register 5,649,430. In average attendance 4,707,858. t " In your Day school you have your parish in its fictile con- dition ; through it you have an agent, an ambassador, in most of your houses ; it gives you a living key to all its parents." — Gotfs "Parish Priest," p. 23. 30 National Education material on which they are to work out their ideal in the living minds and souls of their beloved children, and to furnish the money with which they are to carry out their ecclesiastical designs ? I am glad that the Majority report so strongly against what is called the farming of scJiools, i.e., when the clergyman or nominal managers appoint a teacher of their own creed, and leave all else to him, to gain or lose according to the measure of his success. " Doubtless there are cases in which schools are virtually farmed by teachers, in disregard of the condition on which the grant is made, that the school shall not be carried on for private profit, and in these cases the management must of course be purely nominal. Any such system of management we emphatically condemn, and we are of opinion that effective measures ought to be taken to render its existence impossible. But there are a far larger number of schools, especially in thinly populcUed districts, in which the management practically falls into the hands of a single manager, most frequently the clergyman of the -parish. [They do not say "such system we emphatically condemn," but]. We would insist, however, on the importance of Voluntary Schools being placed under a Board of managers, wherever suitable persons can be obtained, and that the vitality of this Board of managers, in all cases where it is practicable, should be insured." (p. 66.) So far, good; but I would extend their reasoning and give wider application to their con- demnation of farming schools. If Schools are not to be farmed by the teacher for his profit^ or even for his personal support, we would Unsectarian. 31 equally condemn the farming of a School by a priest — whether acting alone or in concert with a handful of partisans, as nominal managers — not for his private gain (God forbid that I should hint at such a thing) but for, what is dearer to him than wealth or life itself, the gain of his creed, and the glory of his Church. Now I maintain, and the parties themselves would generally admit it, that under this category must be included the great majority of Church and Catholic Schools. They are maintained for the benefit of the churches, not for Elementary Education, which could be got better and higher in Board Schools. In my humble opinion the Ecclesiastical farming of Schools, for the gain of any church party — whether Anglican, Roman, Wesleyan, or Congregationalist — is more objec- tionable in principle and pernicious in results than the personal farming of a School for the support of the master. Education is more than Ecclesiasticism, and the profiting of the children of England is more than the gain of the teacher. Institutions managed exclusively by a party and for party purposes should be purely voluntary in every sense of the word, supported wholly by the party, and not subsidised from National funds or local rates wrung from the hard-won earnings of the people. I have no time at my disposal for the full consideration of other proposals. Many of them. 32 National Education even those which seem perfectly harmless, as if put forth purely in the interests of Education, will be seen, by anyone who carefully considers the bearing and tendency of them, to be framed in the interests of the Chiirch and other Denomi- nationalists, whilst other necessary improvements are not recommended lest they should injure their Schools. Whatever may be the require- ments of the country in the matter of school accommodation, better buildings and more com- plete apparatus, higher standards of education, the first and last consideration must ever be. How will it affect the Voluntary Schools ? They are always put in the front as the "one thing needful," as if neither God nor man could dis- pense with them, and as if the State had signed a perpetual contract that, come what will, they shall endure as long as the sun. The burden of the Majority Report is, more and more money from the State and more and more liberty for the Denominationalists, with not the slightest intention, on the part of the latter, of raising any more money themselves, or of giving up any corresponding share in the control and management of the Schools to representa- tives of the ratepayers. Cardinal Manning says very modestly but firmly, "I think that the Denominational bodies would feel that their conscience requires that the Schools should be their own (though a considerable portion of Unsectarian. 33 the expense of erection was paid by the State), that the teachers should be trained by themselves, selected by themselves, and, if need be, removed by themselves."* With equal firmness and courtesy we reply, that if His Eminence or the clergy of any Church require to have schools wholly their own, to appoint and remove teachers just as they like, and to teach whatever dogma or creeds they prescribe, they are at perfect liberty to have them, if they will pay for them : but that our conscience requires that where we give our money we should exercise control, and have Schools so free from sectarian teaching that no parents can reasonably object to send their children to them. I pass by the recommendation that for any alterations of, or additions to, existing buildings in Voluntary Schools, grants in aid should be made by the Department (p. 190, Final Report) simply remarking that Denominational managers having been allowed for seventeen years to overcrowd badly ventilated and badly equipped schools, which never would have been tolerated if they had been Board Schools, and the Boards having been compelled very reluctantly to fill them before building better schools of their own, it is grossly unfair now to demand government * " Nobody who is a proper denominationalist ever cares for any school but one of his own denomination." (P. Cumin, Esq. 59,760.) 34 National Education money to make up for the negligence of the managers, who ought to have been required to put their premises into a satisfactory condition. I should like to say a few words in regard to small schools, as it is frequently in respect to them that Nonconformists in rural districts are placed at great disadvantage. It is not generally known that, in addition to the very large sums of money given by the State, in the shape of grants per head and the merit grant, special grants, varying from .£^10 to £\^ each, are made to small and poor schools. Of these charitable doles, in good round sums, the Church Schools get by far the lion's share. In 1886 Grants of ;^i5 were paid to 946 Schools; 830 Church ; 116 Board. Grants of ;£'io were paid to 1,569 Schools; 1,330 Church ; 239 Board. Out of a sum of nearly ;£30,ooo given to small schools, those under the sectarian management of the clergy have received about ;£'2 5,000 annually, besides the usual and merit grants. Though only a fraction of the total expenditure comes from voluntary subscriptions (sometimes nothing), all the power is given to the clergy as their representative, whilst the parents of the children and the general public, who contribute nearly the whole income, have no power at all, except through H. M.'s Inspector. Would it be believed that this precious Majority actually Unsectarian. 35 proposes to make much larger demands on the National Exchequer on behalf of these schools, by raising the maximum average attendance of eligible schools from 50 or 60 to 100, and the grants from £\i) to ;£'20? Instead of re- commending that two or three of these smaller schools should be grouped together to form one good school, where that is practicable ; and that in every parish where there is only one school, mostly sustained by fees and government pay- ments, it ought to be made unsectarian and avail- able for all classes on equal terms.* The Majority Report says " That inasmuch as parents are compelled to send their children to school, it is just and desirable that, as far as possible, they should be enabled to send them to a school suitable to their religious conviction or preferences." (p. 213) When they know that there are upwards of ten thousand parishes in which there are no Boards, and therefore scarcely anyundenominationalschools.nothingbutChurch or Catholic Schools, with a very few British or Wesleyan, how can they reconcile this state of things with " as far as possible ? " They consider * It appears there were in 1 88$ no fewer than 6,398 parishes in England and Wales with a population not exceeding 300 ; 5, 180 aided schools with an average attendance of less than 60 scholars : of these only 516 are Board Schools, leaving 4,664 Voluntary, nearly all belonging to the Church. So that if the recommendation of the Majority is adopted another large sum will be paid to help the wealthiest church in the land. 36 National Education only their own side, and refuse to see that, in compelling Nonconformist children to go to schools where objectionable creeds and dogma are taught, there is a greater violation of con- science than in compelling any one's children to go to unsectarian schools, where nothing objec- tionable is taught but only something they think desirable is omitted. We have, besides, this testimony of one of the oldest and ablest of H. M.'s Inspectors, Mr. Fitch, " I have never known a case in which a teacher has told me that the parents asked for or expected the distinctive teaching of catechisms, or liturgies or creeds." (56,757 and 57,021.) In Huddersfield churchmen are eager enough to be members or officers of the School Board, to be teachers in any of our schools, and to send their children to them, although there are Church Schools in the town — no conscientious objection is raised here. Abundant evidence was furnished to the Com- mission of the gross injustice of sustaining so many Denominational Training Colleges out of the national funds. Although about one-fourth of the original expenses in erection was provided by the State, and nearly three-fourths of the annual income comes from the same source,* yet * " Of the original cost of the buildings, about 30 per cent, was contributed by the State, and the remainder was subscribed ; the exact figures are ;^ii8,627 granted by the Committee of CouncU, Unsectarian. 37 these institutions have been conducted on the most narrow and exclusive principles.* Pupil Teachers from Board and undenominational schools, Nonconformists and others, having a strong desire and evident talent for serving their country as educators of youth, have been pre- vented from entering upon their profession with full qualifications, because they could not be admitted into existing colleges without violating their consciences, by conforming to religious ceremonies and accepting religious creeds of which they did not approve. Training colleges ought to be national institutions open to all, and very little more money would be required to make them so. At a time when the ancient universi- ties have been thrown open to all classes by the and ^278,842 subscribed ; but since their foundation considerable sums have been subscribed for their enlargement and improve- ment. Of the yearly certified expenditure, amounting in 1886 to ;^i66,447,;^i2i,82i, or more than 73 per cent., was met by grants from the Committee of Council on Education ; ;if 27,440, or about 16^ per cent., paid by the students ; £16,148, or less than 10 per cent,, was from subscriptions, donations, and collec- tions in churches and chapels." (Minority Report, p. 285 of Final Report.) * See evidence of Rev. T. W. Sharpe : — 4.361. "A Church of England Training College Vfould not admit any but a churchman. 4.362. " They do sometimes take Nonconformists, but they re- quire them to conform while they are in the College ? I think you may take it as the all but universal rule that none but Churchmen would be admitted to Church Training Colleges.^' 38 National Education abolition of tests, and Nonconformists are per- mitted to hold scholarships, fellowships, and other honours there without restriction ; when the ancient grammar schools are being trans- formed, modernised and liberalised, by schemes which secure a broad catholic basis of teaching and management ; and when even the ancient grave-yards are made available for burial by Nonconformists with other rites than those of the Church : at such a time, when power over the land and over all institutions is passing from the few to the many, can we sanction the modern daring encroachment of the Church on the ele- mentary education of the nation as its peculiar and exclusive sphere, and on the colleges for training the teachers of the people's children, although churchmen, as private subscribers, do not furnish more than a tithe of the annual expenditure ? The modicum of relief suggested in the Majority Report is of the most meagre description, the possibility of admitting, under rigid and humiliating restrictions, a few day students. They do not recommend, cannot even approve of, so mild and reasonable a request as that for a Conscience Clause, much less do they condemn the narrowness and bigotry of the governors of these colleges. The time has fully come when all public seats and schools of learning, mainly or wholly sustained by national property or public rates— whether Universities Unsectarian. 39 or Grammar Schools, Day Schools or Training Colleges — should be put on the broadest basis, and the post of teacher as well as the place of learner in each be thrown open, to all Her Majesty's subjects, irrespective of any diversity of religious faith or polity. We do not, as it is slanderously reported, desire to make use of education or educational institu- tions to further any denominational ends of ours, political or religious, or to attack either the Church of England or the Church of Rome. But we do solemnly protest, in the name of justice and in the true interests of national education, against education being made use of for the special party ends of any church to the detri- ment of others, and at the expense of the people at large. We have no wish to injure the Church, so-called, or any church, through education, but to prevent them from using it as a means to injure others, and so add to a burden already heavier than we can bear. Our main grievance is the recommendation to apply local rates, raised by compulsion from all classes, to denominational schools in whose management the ratepayers have no share, and to which the children of Nonconformists may be compelled to send their children, and in ten thousand cases must be compelled, without any alternative. This is frankly admitted by the Majority to be " A new departure." The ingenious 40 National Education way in which it is proposed to accomplish this revolution, and the cool way in which they deny that it is concurrent endowment of religion, is worthy of the Machiavellian age. Lord Lingen openly advised the abolition of the Cowper-Temple Clause (p. 194, Final Report), and yet had the effrontery to require that " the independence of voluntary schools in the selection of their teachers, and in respect to the religious and moral discipline, would be absolutely uninterfered with." The Majority, having less confidence in this non-interference, adopt a more stealthy and less straightforward course : " The difficulties, political and otherwise, which would attend "upon any attempt to repeal the Cowper-Temple Clause, appear " to us so great, as to prevent our recommending that Lord " Lingen's plan, whether in other respects advisable or not, " should be adopted, if the repeal of that clause were a condition "of the scheme being accepted in Parliament. . . . We do " not understand him to advocate, as has been supposed, the " general abolition of the Cowper-Temple Clause. That Clause ' ' would not necessarily affect Voluntary Schools, receiving annual " aid from the guardians in the shape of fees from the rates, any " more than it does at present, when they receive such aid from " the guardians in the shape of fees for poor children. We do " 7iot see, therefore, why this principle should not be extended "further, and rate aid, in respect of their secular efficiency, given " to Voluntary Schools (as it is now given to Industrial and " Elementary Schools) without the imposition of a clause, which, "under the Act of 1870, affects those schools only which are " locally provided and supported entirely out of the rates." (p. 194- ) Unseciarian. 41 This is really an ingenious artifice. Instead of bringing in their project by opening a new door in front for the express purpose, or by reopening an old side door formerly built up because it was too draughty, they go about to find a low paltry grating, happily for them left open, through which they hope to squeeze it in. When Dr. Dale and others of our friends made such a stir about the 25 th Clause, and roused the country to demand its repeal, there were not wanting those who said they were making sadly too much noise about so small a matter. Behold now the wisdom and foresight of those who conducted that agitation. They detected in the innocent looking clause that sly old offender, and ring- leader in much that is evil, " tke thin end of the wedge'.' See what powerful use the denomina- tionalists now make even of the modified form of that clause. " Only extend the principle," they say. It is the convenient stepping-stone from which they hope to advance their cause by a tremendous leap. It is the admission of a bad principle which, however exceptional in its origin and slender in itself, they mean to press to its widest possible extension, and nourish till it reaches alarming and gigantic proportions. From this Chair, with all the earnestness I can command, I summon you to do battle against this latest and most iniquitous form of State Churchism. By the memories of 1588 and 1688, D 42 National Education by the names of Milton and Bunyan and Miall, by the brave words and heroic deeds of genera- tions of faithful and godly men who have suffered and died in the defence of religious liberty, by your love of freedom, by your care for the dearest interests of your children, by your love of your country and your duty to the working-classes in it, by your love of justice, and your desire that every person and every sect should have fair play and none be oppressed, in the name, too, of consistency with all you have resolved and done in the past, I urge you to rally to this fight. It will require our utmost vigilance, our most determined efforts. Let Nonconformists of every name, and all others who desire to see education freed from the trammels and taint of sectarianism, unite in one vast army to defend the right. We seek no party triumph — we do not wish to make any school, college, or board Congregationalist — we utter no note of defiance, we are simply pre- paring to resist an outrageous and uncalled-for attack. In the Report of the Minority, who have shewn such moderation in their criticism of the past, and in their recommendations for the future ; such judicial impartiality in weighing evidence so conflicting ; such keen appreciation of the people's wants and rights, and so just a sense of the dangers and reactionary character of the recommendations of the Majority, we have a watchword, a banner, a policy around which we can safely rally. Unsectarian. 43 We will fain hope that, after all, no such pro- posal as that to which I have referred will ever be introduced into Parliament by any responsible statesman. When the authors of that party- coloured manifesto see the storm which the mere publication of it has raised, when they have unmistakable evidence of our being alive to the danger, and ready for the conflict, they will see the wisdom of moderate and reason- able men amongst themselves, like Archdeacons Smith and Stamer, who warned them against provoking a new and bitter controversy. Let us hope they will be satisfied with uttering all that was in their mind, with merely asking what they can hardly ever have expected to get ; let them remit their untimely recommendation to an early grave and a speedy oblivion. One strong defence is built on these two principles, that where the ratepayers give money they will demand control, and that with all true priests the love of power is stronger than the love of money. Meanwhile letwhat has happened be a warning. If we suffer defeat it will be due to the apathy of our friends as much as to the audacity of our opponents. Let us studyand master the subject of Elementary Education : take a personal interest in every election, and sedulously watch against every effort to make the schools of the nation sub- servient to any narrow ecclesiastical ends. Grudge no reasonable time devoted by minister 44 National Education or deacon to unsectarian education. The pastoral mind will find quite as much food for reflection, and scope for usefulness, in managing a Day School of three departments as in devouring a fashionable novel of three vols. : and "the nine- teenth century " may be as profitably studied in looking after the education of 10,000 children as in looking over 1000 pages of the excellent Review that bears its name. Let not religious men— clergymen, ministers, and others— stand aloof from Board Schools because they cannot be made an adjunct or buttress of their church. They need not be made irreligious or godless by the exclusion of denominational teaching. In nearly all of them the Bible is daily read and prayer ofifered. In most of them there is imparted such instruction in Holy Scripture as children can understand, and so far as that can be, free from any sectarian bias. I have said very little about the Conscience Clause. It is a serious omission on the part of the Majority that they do not propose to make this more effective, only that " further precautions are worthy of most careful consideration." There is no admonition to the clergy to remove or amend any portion of their obnoxious teaching in Day Schools, so as to make a Conscience Clause wholly unnecessary, but, on the contrary, the bold assertion that it is "practically operative all over the country" and "carefully observed Unsectarian. 45 both by teachers and managers " (p. 120). They have taken advantage of our forbearance and patience. They have been deceived by the comparatively few instances in which parents have ventured to claim exemption from sectarian teaching. They have failed to appreciate the difficulties which working men, dependent cot- tagers, and small shopkeepers have to face when they presume to demand that their children shall not learn and believe what their employers or customers or landlords believe. It might be charitably conjectured that formal submission was by no means cordial assent, and that the reasonable apprehension of suffering odium and loss would induce some to silent and reluctant acquiescence without being charged with cowardice or indifference.* No doubt, how- * The evidence of Rev. T. W. Sharpe, one of the oldest In- spectors, shows what little hope of redress any complaining Nonconformist could have, 6j749' "With regard to the Conscience Clause, you said that complaints by parents of the violation of the Conscience Clause had never reached you ; are such complaints likely to reach the Inspectors ? The ordinary process would be to complain to the Education Department direct, and the complaint would be re- mitted to the Inspector, who would enquire into the case at once. 6,750. " Do you think that poor parents, especially in rural districts, are likely to find access to the Education Department ? / have often said that I cannot find courage for all the cowards that exist. 6)7Sl- " Should you regard it as a violation of the Conscience Clause if children attending a National school and also attending 4^ National Education ever, there is sadly too much indifference among^ parents, both rich and poor, as to what religious dogmas, true or false, their children may learn. Perhaps we ministers are guilty of culpable silence and neglect in not exposing more fully the errors of Ritualists and Romanists, and urging the members of our congregations to insist that their children should not be taught to say they believe in Baptismal Regeneration, in godfathers and godmothers, in priestly absolu- tion, and all the dangerous doctrines of Sacer- dotalism and Sacramentarianism. We shall be driven to this, if this controversy goes on, but it will be much against the grain. It is a hateful and disagreeable task to attack even what we believe to be the flagrant errors of other Churches ; we wish to live at peace with all men. And we ministers have such a horror of playing the role of priests, that we scrupulously avoid going round among our people, asking to what Day School they send their children and whether they learn Church Catechism, or dictating tO' the Church Sunday school were charged lower fees than children who attended the National school but did not attend the Church Sunday school ? I think it would be better to charge uniform, fees without respect to any religious denomination. 6.752. " Should you regard it as a violation of the Conscience Clause ? The wards of the Act do not put that into the Conscience Clause and, therefore, I should not. 6.753. "Managers can do that without bringing themselves within the reach of the law ? So far as I know, they can." [No wonder this Inspector never heard of a single complaint.] Unsectarian. 47 them, under pain of excommunication, that they should do this or that. I confess I am surprised that many more parents do not positively, and at all hazards, claim the protection of the Con- science Clause : it is in part due to the growing indifference to all dogma which unfortunately threatens to gain ground amongst us. Practically it amounts to this, the parents say to themselves : "Neither the teacher nor the clergyman can make false true, neither the Bench of Bishops, nor any Synod, Conference, or Union, can make black white, or permanently establish a lie. We will allow our little ones to gabble over the old fables and new foibles of any Church rather than cause the poor innocent creatures -any pain by being treated as black sheep. They will, soon know better and unlearn much. There are thousands and tens of thousands of good Nonconformists who had been baptized and confirmed in the Church, and had learnt their Catechism. The force of reason and the grace of God are stronger than all the powers of clergy and creeds. Only let the children get a good secular education, they will find a creed and a church of their own by and by." This is, however, a somewhat worldly policy, and cannot be adopted without some peril ; and I should strongly advise a bolder and more consistent" course. Let Nonconformists every- where act out their conscientious beliefs, and 48 National Education fearlessly face the consequences ; and I cannot help thinking that, in nine cases out of ten, the clergy will honour that honourable dissent, and will not directly or indirectly punish it. Ang- licans and Romanists are so consistent and persistent in always avowing and propagating their peculiar doctrines, that they ought not to be astonished or offended if their Nonconformist fellow-citizens and fellow-Christians follow their example. In conclusion, we are sorry at any time to have to enter upon subjects so very controversial as this, and to have to use language which must, I fear, occasionally grate on the sensitive ears and loving hearts of fellow-Christians, for whom we cherish the highest respect, and with whom we have far more agreement than difference. It is especially so at an Autumnal Meeting, in a provincial town, which receives us so hospitably as Nottingham, and where, as in other places. Churchmen and members of all denominations invite us to their genial homes. But necessity has been laid upon us by the action of the powerful Majority leading a fresh assault on us. And I have too much confidence in the common sense and Christianity of those whose leaders (some of them) we have been bound on this occasion to oppose, to suppose they will be offended by our plain speaking, or ever imagine that denominational honour should Unsectarian. 49 be sacrificed to undenominational hospitality. I can only say that when Congregationalists cheer- fully offer hospitality, as they always do, to members of the Church Congress or the Wesleyan Conference wherever they meet, they impose no conscience clause as a condition of their hos- pitality, as to the subjects to be discussed or the opinions to be expressed. We certainly should not boycott either Canon Gregory, Dr. Rigg, or any other honourable opponent, but do our best to make his sojourn by our fireside as comfort- able as possible, glad of the opportunity of talking over with him in private his opinions expressed in public, however diametrically op- posed to our own. Amongst Christian men the exigencies of public life and controversy should not interfere with the courtesies of private life and hospitality. It can hardly be necessary to say that, in advocating a broad unsectarian policy in National Education, we are not oblivious of, or indifferent to, the supreme importance of Religion. We are strongly of opinion that the Christian religion, in all churches and in all respects, will be greatly benefited and more surely promoted by being taken out of the arena of political strifes and electioneering contests, and made a matter of private personal responsibility for Christian people, in their own Churches and Sunday Schools and homes, by purely voluntary and 50 National Education spiritual means. One of the most experienced of H. M.'s Inspectors has spoken strongly of the comparative uselessness of much of what is called religious instruction : "Many a time have I had to listen, sorrowfully enough, to disquisitions on the supreme importance of ' the religious element ' in the Education which our Day Schools offer to the children of the poor : the said ' religious element ' consisting in the repetition by rote of the dryest formulae, or the reading and learning of a passage of Scripture, it being a mere chance whether the teacher feels the slightest religious interest in the subject. Nothing stands more fatally in the way of a sound system of National Education than the notion that there is the faintest religious culture realized by any process of this sort. The wonder literally is, when we consider how little children are taught religion, that even the dim- mest religious reverence survives. Because I believe so profoundly in the importance of the religious element in education, I deprecate this miserable parody on it so earnestly. Let us have earnest secular teaching in our National Schools — very religious work so far — and then if Christian parents, Sunday schools. Christian teachers, and the atmosphere of a Christian nation cannot add the higher, that is, the true religious influence, perhaps the less we talk about our National Christianity the better." (Question 47,580. R. Blakiston.) In any case, it behoves us as Free Churchmen, believers in religion by love and not by law, — remembering that the letter without the spirit is dead — to do our utmost that this appeal to " Christian parents, Sunday schools, Christian teachers, and the atmosphere of a Christian nation " shall not be a farce; but, on the contrary, call into more vigorous action the only effective spiritual force which, with God's blessing, can Unsectarian. 5 1 make the coming generations more God-fearing and Christ-like than the preceding. Whichever of the three courses the future Educational policy of this country may take (i) The con- tinuance of the present complex system of Churches and Boards ; (2) The further and more liberal adoption of the unsectarian principle, which we desire, or (3) the further extension of the narrow retrograde priestly system which we deprecate, there is abundant reason why we should throw our utmost energy into all our Church work and specially our Sunday schools, cheerfully taking our share in the work of winning the children of England to Christ. However much or little of religion may be taught in the Day school — this should be left to the decision of parents and electors in each district, provided always that sectarian teaching is ex- cluded — it is in the Christian family and in our Sunday schools where we must look for the beginning and the fixing of deep per- manent impressions in the hearts of the young_ Very significant is the difference, in length and strength, of the paragraph in the Report of the Minority from that of the Majority, in respect to the progress and power of Sunday schools. Our Churches and Sunday school teachers must feel grateful to the Minority, and specially to Dr. Dale, for the very great prominence and high praise given to the work of Sunday schools. 52 National Education When they remind us that about five and a quarter millions of young people regularly attend Sunday Schools * not including Roman Catholics, they give a sufficient answer to the oft-repeated calumny against Board Schools as producing a godless generation. Remember that these millions attend every Sunday, without any legal compulsion and for no worldly benefit; that their teachers are all volunteers receiving no salary for their arduous work — no reward except the moral and spiritual results of their labours, and the approval of their conscience and of their God — and you need not be alarmed by the foolish cry that School Boards, even if they were made universal, will make the youth of the land less Christian. Let the superintendents and teachers, with the assistance of the pastors and churches, strive to perfect the machinery, improve the methods, and elevate the spirit of our Sunday Schools. By all means make them outwardly as perfect as can be, beautiful buildings, well- stored libraries, well-arranged class-rooms ; have thoroughly efficient teachers, well-prepared les- sons, and, if possible, systematic instruction, and examinations to test the reality and result of * Church of England Sunday Schools 2,222,890 Nonconformist Sunday Schools 2,977,886 5,200,776 (p. 299. Final Report. ) Unsectarian. S3 instruction. Graft upon them, if it can be done wisely and under proper management, arrange- ments for mutual improvement in reading rooms and healthy recreation. But, above all, let there be, on the part of all who labour in them, a more complete consecration of heart to the Lord Jesus Christ, a constant and prayerful remembrance of the one high purpose of the work : to win every child to the saving knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus Christ. I appeal to the Sunday School teachers practically to solve "the religious difficulty," by bringing to their high vocation a double portion of the Divine Spirit, with the utmost culture of mind, and the warmest affec- tions of the heart. To them, our most valued colleagues, and to you my beloved brethren in the ministry, would I say this parting word : Behold in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, the highest Lesson,the best Teacher, the brightest Example, the one Head Master ; the one perfect Inspector and impartial Judge ; to raise yourselves and all about you to His " Standard," to pass His " Examination " and to win at last His " Well done" be your supreme aim and crowning reward. 54 National Education APPENDIX A. The Methodists and the Education Report. The Methodist Times of September 20 writes : — We asked, "Will the Methodists be caught napping?" The District elections have given an emphatic " No ! " to that question. The Methodists are evidently wide awake. They know exactly what the Majority Report of the Royal Commission on Educa- tion means, and they have rejected and denounced it in every part of the country. We have always asserted that the Methodist people were being entirely misrepresented on the Commission, that they had not retrograded from the position which they took up in 1870, and that they were more opposed than ever to compulsory sectarian education. But we confess that even we were not quite prepared for the indignant energy with which they have trampled upon the suggestions oj the clerical Majority Report. It is now evident that opinion has been growing silently and swiftly in the direction to which William Arthur pointed during the last educational struggle. As the whole country is interested in the course which our Church will take when the education question is reopened, we should explain to the uninitiated what is meant by the " September District Committees," which have just given a solid vote against the Majority Report. The whole of our churches in Great Britain are divided into 35 districts. All the ministers and all the principal lay officers in each district are / members of the District Committee. These District Committees met during this month for the transaction of important business. In view of possible legislative proposals based on the Majority Report during the next session of Parliament the last Conference resolved that, in addition to its ordinary business, each Septem- ber District Committee should elect one minister and one layman to be members of a Special Committee, armed with the fiill authority of the Conference to take any educational action it deemed necessary. We have thus had a general election, so far as our ministers and representative laymen are concerned, on the issue raised by the Majority Report. What is the result ? Our ministers and our people have not been allowed to speak Unsectarian. 5 5 until now. And now, when they can, at last, make themselves heard, although under unfavourable circumstances, what is the result ? It is this, that, so far as the returns to hand are con- cerned. Dr. Rigg has not a single supporter among the district representatives to the Special Committee. Two or three may possibly be elected on personal grounds in the districts from which we have not yet heard. But nothing can now alter the verdict. The Methodist people, by overwhelming majorities in every part of the kingdom, reject and denounce the sectarian proposals of the majority of the Royal Commission on Education. APPENDIX B. Reservation of Rev. B. F. Smith, Archdeacon of Maidstone. I cannot concur in the recommendation of the Report that Voluntary Schools should be able to claim annual support out of the rates for the following reasons : — (o) I regard the proposal, thus to reopen the settlement of 1870, as unstatesmanlike, and undesirable in the interests of Voluntary Schools. It goes beyond the original proposal of Mr. Forster's Bill to enable School Boards to contribute, at their discretion, to the maintenance of Voluntary Schools, a proposal, however, which was deliberately withdrawn before going into Committee on the Bill. (b) I concur in the opinion expressed by Lord Lingen, in his evidence, that grants out of the rates towards the maintenance of Voluntary Schools involve, in principle, the repeal of the Cowper-Temple Clause : a fundamental change, which I think it undesirable, in the interests of Voluntary Schools, to ask for, and which I have no reason to think that Parliament would grant. W I fear that the receipt of aid out of the local rates would give the ratepayers such a right to share in the management of Voluntary Schools as would endanger the freedom of their religious training, and the liberty they now enjoy to appoint teachers in accordance with their trust deeds. (i) Speaking only for Church Schools which, however, con- $6 National Education. stitute four-fifths of the existing body of Voluntary Schools, I fear that a claim given to them on the rates would strike at the root of that voluntary support on which their permanent existence depends. It would involve levying a substantial school rate for the first time in 10,239 parishes, in which there is now no School Board, and which are chiefly supplied by Church Schools, taking no account of those parishes in which there is a School Board, but no board school. Such an unwelcome demand would, I fear, strike a death blow at the voluntary subscriptions by which they are supported. Mr. Cumin, whose scheme for aiding Voluntary Schools out of the rates was laid in detail before us, candidly expressed his opinion that, if it wen adopted, five years would see the end of all Voluntary Schools. (e) Moreover, in the case of that large proportion of Volun- tary Schools which now pay their way, a claim to aid out of the rates would involve a large additional expenditure of public money without any equivalent advantages to education. (/) Considering that the rate of surrender of Church Schools to School Boards has been of late years an annually decreasing one, and that it did not last year amount to more than one in a thousand ; considering, further, that other causes besides the lack of annual support (amongst other things the demand for additional school supply) are accountable for many of these surrenders, I am not prepared, in the hope of arresting them, to concur in recommending a change which would, in my judg- ment, subvert the settlement of i8jo, threaten the independence and religious freedom of the whole body of Church Schools, and strike a fatal blow at their subscriptions, leaving to them little that was voluntary but their name. (p. 234. ) Brook and Chrystal, Printers, Manchester.