The Dean of Westminster presided last Saturday at the annual
meeting of the Church of England Sunday-School Institute and delivered a remarkable address on the Bible. The Book which they held in their hands as teachers had not changed, but our whole conception of the method of its inspiration had altered, and a great deal which our forefathers took literally we could not take literally to-day. The Biblical narrative of the creation of the world, of man and of woman, and the stories of the talking serpent and the talking ass could no longer be taken as literal statements of historical facts, but as allegories or parables, still proclaiming the original and underlying spiritual lessons which were taught by modern discovery. This view might not be difficult for themselves, and no difficulty arose in teaching young children. But they must be prepared to give older children an honest answer, and to teach them in such a way that they would not at any time unlearn their lessons. The Bible was a much more wonderful book than they had sometimes thought, and though much of it was plain, much was difficult of interpretation. They must, therefore, welcome all the light from Nature, from the study of science, and from criticism, and not despair because the problems would not admit of solution. That is a manly, and in our view an essentially Christian, utterance, for which thousands of religious people throughout the country will be deeply grateful.
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