FAMILY BIBLE READING.
(To THE EDITOR or THE " Sercreroa."l Ent, —In common, I suspect, with every reader of the Spectator who has turned the vital pages of The Teaching of English in England—sent forth by a special committee of the Education Board, with Sir Henry Newbolt as chairman—I am distressed by one confession : " At the present time the Bible is probably less widely read and less directly influential in our life and literature than it has been at any time since the Reformation." It is an ominous confession. The outlook is more serious when one remembers how small a place the Bible fills in schools. May I quote a recent issue of the Spectator? Noticing an article by Bishop Welldon in the Nineteenth Century for Feb- ruary your reviewer says: " It is deplorable to have to admit the truth of his remark that rivalry and jealousy between the Church and Nonconformity in England have banished religious teaching, and the reading of the Bible itself, from some schools." It is understood that an effort is being made to provide a remedy for that misfortune, "for the sake of Christian principles and for the sake of national unity."
As one who believes that a revival of Bible reading, as a book of religion and as a supreme example of great literature, would enrich individual and national character, I ask your permission to make a practical suggestion. Family prayers, admittedly, are leas customary than they were. One reason is that the prayer is a difficulty even where printed forms are available. Why not simply read the Bible? The passages should be short, and eelected on a devotional rather than an historical or consecutive plan. If the reading were followed by a common recital of the Lord's Prayer all the better. This should be in the morning, if possible. It would occupy, say, four minutes. A national revival of Bible reading might well begin in English homes.—I am, Sir, &c.,
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