Hfview of Revieics, 119/06. 



Leading Articles. 



-'83 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION IN PUBLIC 

 SCHOOLS. 



In the National Rcvieiv Mr. A. C. Benson writes 

 on thLs subject, which is rarely touched in jieriodica! 

 literature. Having been seven years as a boy and 

 nineteen years as an assistant master at Eton, and 

 believing the system of religious education there to 

 be very similar to that in force in other public 

 schools, he confines his remarks to the Eton system. 

 He begins by saying:^ 



Before I emliark on my main subject, tbere is nothing 

 that I woiilii more nnliesitatingly affirm than that, in the 

 course of the thirty years during which I have been fami- 

 liar with tlie inner life of Eton, from first to last, the in- 

 crease ill personal religion, and the growth of religious life 

 and religious influences among the boys has been extraor- 

 dinarily marked. Not to travel far for instances, the cele- 

 brations of Holy Communion are far more frequent, and 

 infinitely better attended, than was the case when I was a 

 boy; and this is a very important fact, because there is not 

 the slightest pressure put upon boys in the matter. . . . 

 Again, when I was a house-master, it seemed to me that 

 the number of boys who read the Bible in the evening, 

 before going to bed. was far larger than I rccolle<"t to have 

 been the case when I was a boy at school. 



SUNDAY AT ETON. 



On Sundax e\'ery Eton boy has to answer a set uf 

 questions on paper, mainly on the Old Testament, 

 but also concerning the portion of the Greek Testa- 

 ment then being read in school. There is a system 

 by which all boys go to their private tutors for a 

 short period of religious instruction ; and besides 

 this, there is the Sunday morning sermon, sometimes 

 preached by a master, sometimes by an outsider, but 

 often not by the most well -selected people, nor on 

 the subjects most suitable for hoys, thinks Mr. Ben- 

 son. With all this, and two full choral services, and 

 possibly an early celebration, one can well l^elieve 

 that " the Sundays tended to be overfull at Eton," 

 and instead of l>eing days of rest they were, to slow- 

 Iv working boys, very tiring days, and also a hard 

 dav for the tuiors." 



The lir>use-masters usually prejiare lx)ys for cun- 

 iirmation, and the great majority are confirmed. 

 With this system Mr. Benson thinks jiarents, on the 

 whole, are satisfied, mainly because they themselves 

 are mostlv moderate .Anglicans, and they feel sure 

 that the teaching will be sound, simple, and ortho- 

 dox, not as a rule aggressive or leaning to any sec- 

 tion of the Church. The tutor of a boy, the writer 

 says, shoukl Ije able to discuss |)0>ints with him, if he 

 rai.ses them, as justly and temperately as possil)le. 

 " But the general object should be to make boys 

 good Christians rather than good Anglicans. The 

 instruction they receive should be of a positive and 

 central kind, and .should avoid as far as possible 

 controversial asjiects." 



THE biFFICUr.TY OF MODERN CRITICISM. 



There comes in. of course, the difficulty of know- 

 ing what line to lake alx>ut the Old Testament, with 

 svhich, as with the Gospel narrati\es, the wriler 



thinks it highly important to familiarise boys as 

 much as possible: — 



And here I can only say th.at it is high time for the 

 authorities of the Anglican Cliurch to make some definit* 

 pronouncement as to how the Old Testament is to be read 

 and studied. If some leading prelate or high ecclesiastic of 

 unimpeachable orthodoxy would but state in a little book, 

 frankly and without reserve, what is essential to Christian 

 faith to hold with regard to the Old Testament, how much 

 may be looked upon as legendary and unhistorical, and 

 how. at the same time, even what is legendary and unhis- 

 torical may be fairly regarded .as an inspired vehicle of 

 Divine teaching, it would be an immense relief to hundreds 

 of very earnest schoolmasters- 



The result at pre.sent is that the p.ireiits do not 

 feel competent to discuss Old Testament criticism, 

 and the masters will not, so that when the boy goes 

 into the world, and finds much of the Bible regarded 

 as fabulous, and religion looked on as a feminine 

 and clerical thing, the whole of his faith goes by the 

 board. 



In questions of Biblical criticism, also>, Mr. Ben- 

 son insists on the necessity for more direction and 

 guidance for masters. Many |)arents do not know 

 now what to think ; they put the responsibility for 

 religious instruction of their sons on the schoolmaster, 

 and he dares not take it. A certain amount of 

 Church history was some years ago added to the 

 f^ton curriculum, of which the writer does not ap- 

 prove. It is generally biased, and if not biased, 

 would be highly unedifying. He would, in prefer- 

 ence, let boys read the lives of such men as Francis 

 of Assisi, Father Damien, Weslev, and Bishop 

 Heber. 



"THE FALL OF WOMAN." 



.■\ glorious jumble of Scripture, Darwinism, mys- 

 ticism, and what may be termed Christian erotics 

 appears under this head, and abo\e the signature of 

 George Barlow, in the Contemporary Review. That 

 " there was in heaven " suggests to him the truth 

 which he holds lies behind Darwin's theories, and he 

 suggests that sex issues may have iilayed an impor- 

 tant, or probably a determining, iiart in the angelic 



conflict. 



•BECAUSE OF THE ANGELS." 



Then he quiites the ]iassage in Genesis about the 

 sons of Gnd taking them wives of the daughters 

 of men. 



He mainlaiits that w-e need the Bilile theory or re- 

 velation of a fall from the angelic sphere to supple- 

 ment Darwin's theory of an ascent from the animal 

 sphere. 'I'liis is Mr. Barlow's account of what has 

 happened : - 



Satan, in striKnm .a woman, has struck right at the 

 heart of Odd. for. by introducing disorder into the nn- 

 fallen feminine nature, he ilelivercd a deadly blow at the 

 purest and teiiderest thing in the whole universe, and 

 blocked the clianiiel through which the purest and tenderest 

 Divine life-currents should How oul to the world and to 

 man. . . - The --riTnes. the wars, the horrors, the agonies, 

 which have since ensued have been the inevitable sequel, 

 the planned and purposed se<iuel, of this one stupendous 

 stroke. . . . The pollution of the soul of woman would, 

 evidently and cert.iinl.v. bring about results that would 

 affect the whole condition, material and physical, of our 

 planet. Such dis'ird^rly inflnoiHCS would be introduced into 



