Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 15.djvu/385

 THE FREEDOM OF THE TEACHER TO TEACH RELIGION. 371 the Bible. One passage which I liked to read with my boys and to talk with them about I took from that great man Jeremy Taylor, at the close of his Liberty of Prophesying : When Abraham sat at his tent door according to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travel, coming towards him, who was an hundred years of age ; he received him kindly, washed his feet, provided supper, and caused him to sit down ; but observing that the old man ate and prayed not, nor begged for a blessing on his meat, asked him, why he did not worship the God of heaven ? The old man told him that he worshipped the fire only, and acknowledged no other God ; at which answer Abraham grew so jealously angry, that he thrust the old man out of his tent, and exposed him to all the evils of the night and an unguarded condition. When the old man was gone, God called to Abraham, and asked him where the stranger was ? He replied, I thrust him away because he did not worship thee : God answered him, I have suffered him these hundred years, although he dishonoured me, and eouldst thou not endure him one night, when he gave thee no trouble ? Upon this saith the story, Abraham fetched him back again, and gave him hospitable entertainment, and wise instruction. ' Go thou and do likewise,' and thy charity will be rewarded by the God of Abraham. From such a passage can be gathered what I mean by making the religious teaching selective, and keeping to the high-roads of humanism. There are, moreover, " occasional " lessons which may be of great value. For instance, one of the most impressive religious addresses I remember was an academic address to students gathered together on the oc- casion of the death of Queen Victoria. This was in a College, but it would have been as fitting in a school. Systematic theological instruction is a much more difficult matter. It involves so many qualifications, so much know- ledge in the teacher, that only few could give it adequately, and after careful training in modern critical methods. As for denominational theological teaching, it is surely sufficient to say that with so many different sects the particular dogmas of each are as indifferent to the educational teacher, and as far apart from his teaching work, as, say, the squaring of the circle to the teacher of mathematics, or the puzzle of perpetual motion to the teacher of mechanics. They are obviously unsuitable teaching material for the child stage. The fact is that the idea of an educationist-teacher is not conceivable easily by the public mind. The idea of a profes- sion of teachers with any inner sense of responsibility, by which they are self-restrained from abusing their position, is as little understood as that of a lawyer who is more anxious for justice than for his own self-interest, or a doctor who cares more for his patient's recovery than for his fees. Yet I venture to suggest that the recognition of the