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nations and sects and of all creeds. Let the Baptist come with his immersion robes, the Methodist singing the hymns of Wesley, the Episcopalian with his prayer book in hand, the Congregationalist with his grand system of church government, the Unitarian with his generous culture, the Universalist with his hopeful future, the Catholic with his love and reverence for the cross. Let them all unite in saving a race from threatened destruction and our glorious nation from disgrace. And let them not for a moment forget the rebuke which the Great Teacher administered to his narrow and over-zealous disciple, "We saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbade him because he followed not us." Why forbid him? So long as devils are cast out, that is, so long as weak, erring man is helped, so long will every true man rejoice. Simon on his lofty pedestal is a disgrace to human nature. The gloomy recluse who flies from a world he should assist is worse than an infidel. But Francis of Assisi washing the ulcers of beggars, John Howard in quest of suffering that he may soothe and comfort his brethren, Mrs. Fry devoting all her energies to the reformation of prisoners and improvement of prisons-these are the true reformers and ornaments of our race. And such persons as these we want among the Indians. There are hundreds of such in our country who are ready to go forth as missionaries. Nor would we exclude the true business man. His example would aid the teacher and add force to practical instruction.

We have said we want more schools. By this we mean something more and very different from the educational system so deservedly popular and beneficial, established in the States. The children must learn something more than reading, writing and arithmetic. As we have already hinted, they must learn to conduct themselves as civilized beings. They must be stripped of their dirty blankets and clad in decent clothing. They must be taught to sleep in a bed and not on the floor. They must be taught to eat with their knives, forks, and spoons, and not with their fingers. Cleanliness should be taught by compelling them to wash their face and

hands, at least once a day. They should be made familiar with the healthful sports and amusements so dear to children.

To accomplish this something more is necessary than voluntary attendance at an ordinary school for a few hours each day, and the balance of the time to live in dirty huts and be under the influence of degraded associates. They should, so far as possible, be separated from their families. This seemingly harsh but really benevolent course is indispensable to their future happiness. And this educational process can be made more successful by binding the children out to respectable people when they have reached a proper age.

The better to accomplish these desirable objects the tribal relations should immediately cease to be recognized, and so far as possible the Indians of all ages be scattered over the country. Those who choose to remain together as tribes should have a kind of local government forced upon them similar to that which exists in our cities, towns, or counties.

They will thus learn to govern themselves and become useful and respectable citizens. To carry out the system at which we have hinted may cause individual suffering, and perhaps what may be regarded by many as grievous hardships; but all children must crawl and totter and often fall before they can walk. Nor can these proposed measures be adopted until each family is given a homestead which cannot be mortgaged or sold for at least a generation. The destitute can be supplied with necessary tools and implements on simi lar conditions, and then informed, in the most positive terms, that they must depend on themselves, that except in extraor dinary emergencies their future depends on themselves.

Many economical Americans may complain at the great expense necessary to carry our suggestions into effect. But we have already shown that the Indians are not paupers. And after each family has a homestead, the balance of the reservation should be sold and held as a sacred trust for the benefit of the Indians. They would thus have not less than one hundred millions of dollars. As the estimated number of

Indians in the United States is not far from 250,000, this would be a very large educational fund.

The last suggestion we desire to make may not be acceptable to those who will have new and not very agreeable duties imposed on them by its adoption. It is this. So long as the tribal relations continue on the reservations station near them strong detachments of troops. We urge this, for it is an old axiom" that the display of force prevents the necessity of using force." These troops, like the police in our cities, would "keep the peace" by their presence. We would give the officers of the army the general supervision of the financial affairs of the Indians. We do not claim that these officers are any more reliable in business transactions than any class of educated gentlemen, yet after noticing their methods of transacting business for nearly a quarter of a century we have failed to discover how one of them can defraud the government of an hundred dollars without endangering his commission.

Because of the vastness of our subject we have been obliged to write somewhat disconnectedly. We cannot hope that our suggestions will be received with favor, but we do hope that what we have written may draw attention to the Indian problem. We should be exceedingly pleased if we can aid in provoking a discussion on the subject which will ultimately inform the American people of their duty to the Indians.

Since writing the foregoing we perceive that "the great public" is becoming interested in our subject. The question is being asked, What ought we, as a nation, do? How can we best do our duty to a wronged and doomed race? To aid in the good work we will call special attention to the annual reports of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. The volumean octavo also contains the annual reports of Indian Agents in different parts of the country. It gives the reader, if not a satisfactory, yet quite an accurate description of the Indians, their dangers, virtues, vices and hopes. We learn from these reports the untiring and often unwise efforts that are being made by a generous government and philanthropic individuals

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to save a race from annihilation. We also learn, at least by inference, that two insurmountable difficulties are, first, the Anglo-Saxon pride of race which will not admit the Indians to a social equality; and secondly, the white man's love of gain which manufactures whiskey for them.

Chaplain G. Collins, U. S. A.

GENERAL

REVIEW.

Bible Study in the Theological School and by the Active Pastor.

IN the March and April (1886) numbers of the Old Testament Student, published at Chicago, Illinois, a claim was made that in the Theological Seminaries of our land "more work in the Bible should be done, and perhaps less work about it." The articles excited a good deal of interest, and were quite extensively noticed and commented upon by the religious press. In some instances the trustees of theological institutions gave attention to them, and in not a few of these institutions such study has been introduced.

Having started matters in the right direction in the Schools, the editor of The Student now directs attention to the importance of Bible-study by the active pastor. He says truly, "It is a matter of some interest to know whether or not the minister, the divinely authorized interpreter and teacher of the Word of God, is really performing his functions in this direction. Whatever else he may have

to do, and in these days the majority of ministers are compelled to do much work which they have no business to do, the pastor must teach the Bible. To teach it he must know it. To know it he must study it." That the minister of to-day studies may be taken for granted. Indeed, it is probable that at no time in the history of the ministry, have study and general intellectual drill been more imperative than now; and it is equally probable that at no time has the demand for study met with so general response. study? On what is his time spent?

But "what does the minister And further, shall one be sat

isfied with that work done on the Bible which may be classified under the heads of devotional reading and sermon-preparation? These are

NEW SERIES. VOL. XXIV.

15

necessary? but they are not Bible study, although often wrongly regarded as such."

Ministers of to-day make a strong effort to be up with the times on all questions that concern the economic, political, scientific and intellectual life of the people. The daily paper, the reported utterances from the platform, are eagerly sought as interpreting the drift of the times in its bearing on these phases and interests of life. "But how many are as anxious to know the results of modern scholarship as applied to the Bible? It is true they may entertain the feeling that the work of modern scholars is unreliable, and so shan any contact with it. That class of ministers is not a small one which holds the belief that so far as concerns Bible-truth, whatever may be said of other truth, the older the statement, the more correct it is apt to be. Would one believe that out of every one thousand ministers there are four hundred and twenty-six, nearly one-half, who use only the Old Version in their personal study of the Bible? If the only difference between these versious was the printing as poetry of those portions of the Old Testament which are poetical, it is extremely difficult to understand why every student of the Bible should not take the New Version in his personal study. This is but one indication, and there are many, that the minister of the present age is slow to avail himself of what, if accepted, would prove most useful. There is a widely prevailing timidity, called conservatism. It is not true conservatism. It is a timorous inertia."

In the January (1887) number of The Student, the editor, Dr. William R. Harper, under the title: "Bible-Study in the Pastorate; Figures and Facts," gives some interesting results of inquiries which he has been making; and draws some conclusions therefrom that it will be profitable for Universalist ministers as well as others to reflect upon. We give his paper entire, and bespeak for it a careful reading.

"In order to ascertain, as exactly as possible, the general amount and character of Bible-study carried on by men who are engaged in the active work of the ministry, as well as to learn the opinions of these men on certain questions relating to theological instruction, the writer prepared and mailed to twelve hundred ministers a printed form containing certain questions, with a request for answers to them. That the reader may be better able to understand and appreciate the results of the inquiry thus instituted, it is necessary to make a statement of certain points relating to this printed form, the persons to whom it was sent, and the replies received.

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1. It was understood that the contents of the replies should be

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