Practicable Socialism, New SeriesBarnett, S. A. (Samuel Augustus)
Religion
Practicable Socialism, New Series
Barnett, S. A. (Samuel Augustus)
Great Britain -- Social conditions -- 19th century; Social problems; Working class
I will conclude by calling notice to the much or the little which is
being done to open the people’s eyes by means of higher education. I
fear it is “the little”. There are many classes and many teachers for
spreading skill, there are some which increase interest in nature; there
are few--very few--which bring students into touch with the great minds
and thoughts of all countries and all ages--very few, that is, classes
for the humanities. For want of this the souls of the people are poor,
and their capacities dwarfed; they cannot see that modern knowledge has
made the Bible a modern book, or how the bells of a new age have rung in
the “Christ that is to be”.
For thirty-four years my wife and I have been engaged in social
experiments. Many ways have been tried, and always the recognized object
has been the religion of the people--religion, that is, in the sense
which I have defined as that faith in the Highest which is the impulse
of human progress, man’s spur to loving action, man’s rest in the midst
of sorrow, man’s hope in death.
With the object of preparing the way to this religion, schools have
been improved, houses have been built and open spaces secured. Holidays
have been made more healthy, and the best in art has been made more
common. But, viewing all these efforts of many reformers, I am prepared
to say that the most pressing need is for higher education. Where such
education is to begin, what is the meaning of religious education in
elementary schools, and how it is to be extended, is part of another
subject. It is enough now if, having as my subject the religion of the
people, I state my opinion that there is no activity which more surely
advances religion than the teaching which gives insight, far sight,
and wide sight. The people, for want of religion, are unstable in
their policy, joyless in their amusements, and uninspired by any sure
and certain hope. They have not the sense of sin--in modern language,
none of that consciousness of unreached ideals which makes men humble
and earnest. They have not the grace of humility nor the force of a
faith stronger than death. It may seem a far cry from a teacher’s
class-room to the peace and power of a Psalmist or of a St. Paul; but,
as Archbishop Benson said, “Christ is a present Christ, and all of us
are His contemporaries”. And my own belief is that the eye opened by
higher education is on the way to find in the present the form of the
Christ who will satisfy the human longing for the Higher-than-self.
SAMUEL A. BARNETT.
CATHEDRAL REFORM.[1]
BY CANON BARNETT.
December, 1898.
[1] From “The Nineteenth Century and After”. By permission of the
Editor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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