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the system at this hour. The dissenters have no love for it, and the Church can never return to effectual co-operation with the State till it has been swept out of our way for ever.
I will add but one illustration more, and then relieve this numerous meeting from the fatigue of listening, when so many are unable to find seats. We all know the melancholy questions which are now rife amongst us, respecting the inspiration and authority of the Holy Scriptures. Suppose a poor man to be the victim of this deadly heresy, and resolved to bring up his child in the same desperate delusion; if he takes him to a Roman Catholic school, and says, "Teach him what you please, only do not tell him that the Bible is the word of God," he will be repelled with abhorrence. His demand will find no better favour in the British and Foreign schools, in the schools of the Scottish Episcopal Church, or in any National school which has not admitted the Conscience Clause into its trust deed. All these maintain and teach to every child without let or stint, the divine authority of the Holy Scriptures and the supernatural origin of the Gospel which God gave by His Son. But let the unbelieving parent come to a school where the Conscience Clause has been admitted, and this monstrous, unchristian demand must be complied with to the letter. He may say, (as I have heard a heathen Rajah say,) "Your Bible is a very good book, and I wish my child to read it, but I will not have him told that it is the word of God, because I conscientiously believe it to be the word of man. Teach him the Ten Commandments, and if you wish, the Apostles' Creed, and the Lord's Prayer; I will not object even to the Catechism, but I insist that not a word be said to him on the doctrine of Inspiration—on a supernatural revelation from God to man." Sir, there is only one class of school in Christendom where this demand could be entertained, and that is, the Church of England school which is held in the iron grasp of the Conscience Clause. It has signed the bond and must pay the penalty, though the life blood of Christianity should be drawn from its heart in the process.
And now, sir, I have done. We have been told to teach the Bible without the mysteries of inspiration and redemption; that is, to build our house on the sand instead of the rock. Sir, I rather think that they who reared this noble roof above our heads.
