The Bible in the School.—Mr. William M. Oatts, a member of Glasgow Education Authority, writing recently in the Christian, gives interesting figures as to Bible instruction in the Protestant schools under the above Authority.—“There are,” says Mr. Oatts, “159 Protestant schools, with a roll of 144,767 boys and girls; and 39 Roman Catholic schools, with a roll of 44,011 boys and girls, under the Authority. . . . It has been said that some of our teachers are not in sympathy with the Book; but, while this is true, I have not come across any of these. For four days each week three-quarters of an hour is given to religious instruction in all the elementary schools, and on the fifth day a similar period to a temperance lesson. Thus you have a trained teacher, perfect discipline, and a Bible in the hand of almost every scholar. . . . There is a conscience clause by which any child may absent itself from school during religious teaching. From a return recently made only 2,900 claimed that right, and of that number 2,200 were Jewish children. That meant that out of a roll of 144,767 Protestant children only 700 claimed exemption.
“I am safe in saying that were it not for the religious instruction in the schools fully 60,000 or 70,000 children of school age in the city of Glasgow would grow up without knowing anything of the Bible. Last December a motion was brought forward to stop teaching the Shorter Catechism in our schools; that motion was lost by thirty-one votes to six. Let Glasgow flourish by the preaching of the Word!”
Ominous Clouds.—The national outlook at present is anything but pleasant. At home much distress exists through unemployment, and as yet there are not many signs of the eagerly wished for revival of trade. In Ireland, both North and South, there are many disturbances of a disconcerting nature, and many lives are being lost. In South Africa the strike of the white workers in the mines has led to the calling out of the military, and a great number of lives have been lost. India, also, is in a very disturbed state, and one never knows what may happen at any moment. None but the God of nations ought to be our refuge
in such times, but unfortunately, as a nation, we are not willing to look to Him nor to acknowledge His Son, to whom all power in heaven and earth has been given.