In this, and in other respects, the charity
required revision, to suit it to the habits and requirements of modern
times; and a scheme was accordingly set forth for such revision by the
master, under the direction of the court. By this scheme there were to
be schools, and these schools were to be closed on Sundays, although the
Scriptures were to be read daily on other days. This was objected to,
and it was insisted, on the other hand, that the masters and mistresses
of the schools should be members of the Church of England; that they
should, on every Lord's day, give instruction in the doctrines of the
Church to those children whose parents might so desire; but that all the
scholars should be required to attend public worship every Lord's day in
the parish church, _or other place of worship, according to their
respective creeds_.
The Vice-Chancellor said, that the term "education" was properly
understood, by all the parties, to comprehend religious instruction;
that the objection to the scheme proposed by the master was not that it
did not provide for religious instruction according to the doctrines of
the Church of England, but that it did not provide for religious
instruction at all. In the course of the hearing, the Vice-Chancellor
said, that any scheme of education, without religion, would be worse
than a mockery. The parties afterwards agreed, that the masters and
mistresses should be members of the Church of England; that every school
day the master should give religious instruction, during one hour, to
all the scholars, _such religious instruction to be confined to the
reading and explanation of the Scriptures_; that on every Lord's day he
should give instruction in the liturgy, catechism, and articles of the
Church of England, and that the scholars should attend church every
Lord's day, _unless they were children of persons not in communion with
the Church of England_.
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