symbol of right and liberty dear to the heart of every
Protestant freeman, to every lover of civil and religious liberty--a
standard of truth and morals, the foundation of Protestant faith, and
the rule of Protestant morals; and "the cry" for the Bible in the
schools is not a "sham," but a felt necessity of the religious
instructor, whether he be the teacher or a visiting superintendent or
clergyman,--is the birthright of the Protestant child, and the
inalienable right of the Protestant parent....

No man attaches more importance than I do to secular education and
knowledge, and few men have laboured more to provide for the teaching
and diffusion of every branch of it; yet, so far am I from ignoring the
Bible, even in an intellectual point of view, that I hesitate not to
say, in the language of the eloquent Melville, that--

Whilst every stripling is boasting that a great enlargement of mind
is coming on the nation, through the pouring into all its dwellings
a tide of general information, it is right to uphold the forgotten
position, that in caring for man as an immortal being, God cared
for him as an intellectual, and that if the Bible were but read by
our artizans and our peasantry, we should be surrounded by a far
more enlightened and intelligent population, than will appear to
this land, when the school-master, with his countless magazines,
shall have gone through it, in its length and its breadth.

With a view to supply an omission, and to provide a Manual on Christian
Morals for the schools, Dr. Ryerson, in 1871, prepared a little work,
entitled _First Lessons in Christian Morals_. This work was recommended
by the Council of Public Instruction for use in schools. It was objected
to by the _Globe_ newspaper on several grounds. To each of these
objections Dr. Ryerson replied. The first and second objections referred
to alleged errors and defects in style. In a letter on the subject,
written in April, 1872, Dr. Ryerson said:--

Your third objection is against any book of religious instruction being
recommended for use in the public schools. To this objection I reply,
firstly, that the want of such a book has been not only felt, but
expressed, from different quarters. Secondly, the Irish National Board
have not only books on this subject, in their authorized list of school
text books, but the Council of Public Instruction has long authorized
three of them; each of which