Thoughts and Memory Gems. The moral precepts of these books, as well as those laid down in Gow's Primer of Politeness and Morals and Manners, are based upon the Bible, and in some of them are presented in Bible language. The selections also teach the children about God and their duty to love and obey him. There are also two volumes more recently issued, containing extracts and quotations similar in character, which commend themselves to public favor-Excellent Quotations for Home and School, by Julia B. Hoitt, deputy superintendent of instruction in California, and A Primer of Memory Gems, by George W. Hoss, teacher of Elocution, Oratory, and English Classics in Baker University. Milton's mind, stored in youth with just such thoughts from the Greek and Roman classics, was able in the days of his blindness to reproduce them, skillfully rewrought and combined, in Paradise Lost and Samson Agonistes. The school readers also contain a number of such selections. During a careful examination of the seven readers in most general use-McGuffey's, Appleton's, Swinton's, Barnes's, Harper's, and the Franklin and Monroe Readers, a number of selections were found which expressly or indirectly teach the children that there is a God, and that they should keep his commandments. In the McGuffey and the Appleton Readers, which are more extensively used than the others, such selections were especially numerous. Among the selections in the McGuffey Readers were the larger part of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, selections from the Psalms, a story entitled "Respect for the Sabbath Rewarded," a story entitled "The Righteous Never Forsaken," a selection teaching that "religion is the only basis of society," Paul's speech on Mars' Hill, and a selection on the observance of the Sabbath. The Appleton Readers contain various selections from the Bible, among which are a number of the Psalms, the parable of the prodigal son, the twelfth chapter of Ecclesiastes, Christ's parable of the talents, portions of the Sermon on the Mount, and several selections from Pilgrim's Progress, besides stories, poems, etc., of a religious character. Schools using such books are not "godless schools.” The feeling that the children in the public schools should be given instruction in scriptural morality is almost universal among public school teachers; but in view of the seeming intention of the Romanists either to control the schools or destroy them, if possible, there is much difference of opinion as to how this instruction should be given. Many sincere Christian teachers believe that really more effective work can be done if the reading of the Scripture "without note or comment" is not required, but that instead there be no rule, and the matter be left to their option. The effect of the exercise largely depends upon the teacher, one conducting it in such manner that the children will be reverently impressed by it, while another may cause them to look with contempt upon holy things. As a class, school teachers are devoted to their work, and they regard with anxiety the possibility of the schools coming under the control of the Romish Church. They know, too, better than many persons who get more excited over the matter, the immense power of the Catholic vote in politics. This vote can be controlled as that of no Protestant Church can be, and for a time at least it can be used with powerful effect. And many politicians will yield to any demands in order to secure it for their personal benefit. It is not probable that the American people will permit it to retain power many years, but while its power lasts it may secure concessions and be granted favors that cannot be recalled. The school board of Cincinnati was in the control of the Catholics for several years, and the city is yet bearing the burdens then imposed in the interest of the Romish Church. There came, however, a reaction, and its power has been so weakened that a prominent educator of the city recently said that he believed if some teachers were to begin the reading of the Scriptures at the opening of the schools no objection would be made to it. The strength of the Catholic opposition to the public schools should not be measured by the opposition to the Bible. Probably half of those who oppose its use are infidels and Protestants who do so to keep the hands of the Catholics off the schools altogether, and would gladly vote with others for an amendment to their State Constitution entirely prohibiting sectarian control of the public schools in any form or the sectarian distribution of the public funds. The American press and people will protect this bulwark of our liberties from destruction. It is possible, and, indeed, seems probable, that in most of the cities where the foreign element is in the majority the Bible will be permanently excluded from the public schools, or, at least, until immigration is restricted. In that event it will probably be restored, as the children of the second and third generations from foreign parents become so imbued with American ideas of religion and morals that, unless atheists, they appreciate the importance of Bible instruction. In some places, where the foreign element is not so strong, and where the Roman Catholics are yet able to influence the politicians, there is a disposition to compromise on the use of the Bible by the adoption of a volume of selections from the Bible that cannot reasonably be objected to by any Church or citizen who believes in the moral law as laid down in the Bible. Rev. E. D. Morris, D.D., LL.D., of Lane Seminary, Cincinnati, has prepared such a volume, which is used in several of the schools of Columbus, O., and in other places. While it is not probable that the Catholics will secure control of the public schools, there are numerous evidences that they are making renewed efforts to do so. Former plans having failed, they are now seeking to get a foothold by leasing for parochial schools rooms in public school buildings made vacant by the withdrawal of Catholic children. They have done this not only in Pittsburg, and perhaps a few other cities, but it has come to light that they are pursuing the same policy in villages. The friends of the public school system must be constantly on the watch. Eternal vigilance is the price of this cheap defense of the Republic as well as of Liberty. Daord D Show sou ART. VIL-BAPTISM FOR THE DEAD. IN verse 29 of the fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians the apostle Paul, descending from the height of his argument in the five preceding verses, in which digression he had compassed with nervous thought the final cause of Christ's resurrection, turns directly to his opponents and addresses them with an argumentum ad hominem in the following words: 'Eneì tí ποιήσουσιν οἱ βαπτιζόμενοι ὑπὲρ τῶν νεκρῶν; εἰ ὅλως νεκροὶ οὐκ ἐγείρονται, τί καὶ βαπτίζονται ὑπὲρ αὐτῶν—“ Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why then are they baptized for them?" (Rev. Ver.) The question which has been propounded again and again is: What did the apostle mean? As we all know, numerous theories have been submitted, but somehow they all seem to be either false to history or foreign to the logic of the apostle in this great chapter. Dr. Adam Clarke considered this verse to be the most difficult verse in the entire New Testament, and no one, we presume, will feel disposed to question this judgment who has ever attempted a solution of the passage, or in his researches has looked into the long list of opposing exegetes in Pool's Synopsis, or in other works, as Wolfe's or De Wette's or Meyer's Commentaries. That it is difficult, the number of different interpretations is sufficient evidence. The present attempt to elucidate the apostle's meaning, then, is not made in total ignorance of the peculiar difficulties to be overcome, nor of the failures of many learned and ingenious critics. It is not at all improbable, however, that greater difficulties have been forced by these very critics into the passage than can be found in the bare text itself. Some interpreters (Adam Clarke, Rosenmüller, and Robinson among others) explain the verse by taking BarrioμEvoL in a metaphorical sense, signifying "immersed in sufferings," "overwhelmed in calamities," "a baptism of blood," etc. But (1) there is no term here denoting suffering, although Dr. Clarke says that " Barriεolai, to be baptized, was used to express being put to a violent death," and quotes in proof several instances of its use in that sense. That βαπτίζεσθαι, with indirect allusion to the sacred rite of baptism, as Robinson says (N. T. Lex., sub voc.), may have that signification (Matt. xx, 22, 23, Mark x, 38, 39) is well understood, but none of the passages quoted by the famous exegete are parallel to this passage, nor are any of them suggestive of a similar meaning. Dr. J. F. von Flatt (Briefe Pauli an die Corinthier), after stating that Barrieσ0aι may have the figurative signification "to suffer," "to be immersed in suffering," also refers to Mark x, 39, Luke xii, 50, and also quotes from Josephus de Bello Jud., 1. iv, c. 3, § 3, the words & ẞаntioаv THν TòλIV. But the being baptized with a baptism, or the baptizing of a city, are altogether different ideas from being baptized for a thing. 2. The references to the figurative use of Banriε00 in the above passages are made on the assumption that the apostle himself, in this passage, uses the term in that sense. But that he does so is the thing to be proved; it is the very question at issue. It is a canon of correct interpretation that a figurative signification is not to be attached to words the literal rendering of which makes good sense. Now, if we apply this rule to the passage in question we will see that there is no good reason why we should suppose that the apostle employed figurative language. If we do so interpret him we make him unnecessarily tautological, for in the very next verse (verse 30) he asks," And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?" The "we" does not indicate a distinction between the apostles and their helpers and the laity in the Church, nor between those of long standing in the Church and the oi ẞarrióμevo, those just coming in, for the new believers are in as much danger as the old members; nor does it refer to the apostle himself, for he afterward speaks of his own danger in verses 31, 32. The "we" includes the entire Church of Christ, the whole body of believers. Now, it is not at all probable that the apostle would say the same thing twice over in such immediate connection. On the contrary, the form of the question, "And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?" shows clearly that the idea of suffering or calamity is an entirely new element in the argument, and not one that has been used heretofore. "What shall they do who are being baptized for the dead?” and "Why do we stand in jeopardy every hour?" are the two arguments contained in verses 28, 30. That they are two and one, and that they are not identical, seems clear enough. not |