صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

and encouraging the young folks to stand up in the congregation and read the passage right out.

The Rev. Dr. J. T. SMITII (Baltimore).-It seems to me that the essential nature and great function of the Sunday-school has not been distinctly emphasised. It is, I believe, the mission of the Church of God to be the teacher of the world--to go and teach all nations. That is its divinely appointed function. The Sunday-school is the Church of God accomplishing that great mission in obedience to the command, "Feed My lambs." The Sunday-school is the only counteraction we present to the secular education that has set aside all religious instruction, which formerly was given in our parochial schools. We also want the Sunday-school to supply the religious instruction that, alas! in so many families, is not given, that in so many day-schools is not given, and that ere long will be excluded from all day-schools.

Mr. W. DUGDALE (Baltimore).—As superintendent of the school connected with Dr. Smith's church, I wish to remark that a vital point has been overlooked in the discussion; that is, the very great necessity of selecting, by the session, thoroughly spiritual teachers. There are many teachers of culture and education who sit before their classes, year after year, without witnessing any definite spiritual result, while, on the other hand, other teachers, with less education, but filled with the power of the Holy Ghost and with a burning desire to save souls, have seen their whole classes brought to the Saviour.

The Rev. Dr. COLE (New York).-There are certain usages growing upon us in America at a rapid rate which I, for one, regard as unmitigated evils. One cause probably is the common notion that the Sunday-school is the children's church, and that they have no place anywhere else on the Sabbath day. Another error springs from the assumption that they cannot bear the strain of so many consecutive hours in attending the church as well as they can bear the Sunday-school. But we have experience to show that they can attend Sunday-school meetings several times a day without complaint of weariness. Then there are frequent excursions and picnics, prizes, and various other attractions which tend to dissipate the minds. of the young connected with our Sunday-schools. These things I consider to be unmitigated evils. I would press upon all who have to do with Presbyteries, that our children ought to be brought up in one scheme of doctrinal instruction. We want to bring them up along our own lines of thought, and for the propagation of which we are responsible. I believe in almost every point urged by Dr. Horton. What is the object of the Sunday-school except to save the souls of dear little children? It is of the first importance that their

minds should be well grounded with the living truth of God from the earliest years.

The Rev. JOSHUA H. DERR (Catawissa).—I quite agree with what has been said about the care that should be exercised in the choice of teachers for our Sunday-schools. The lambs of our flock are, in too many instances, intrusted to persons who have no sort of theological Christian preparation, and who are utterly unskilled for the important work they have undertaken. It is the duty of the Church in some way to make up for this want. We ought to have more competent instructors for our children. Instead of preparing children in a Sunday-school for Divine worship in the church, they are taught hymns and tunes that are not fit to be sung behind the plough, so that when the children are brought from the Sunday-school to the church they sit mute, and become restless and tired out. The Sunday-school teachers ought to see that the scholars are taught properly to worship God, and that they learn those hymns and tunes. which they will have to sing afterwards in the church.

MEMORIAL FROM THE SOCIETY OF FRIENDS.

Dr. DYKES presented a memorial received from the Society of Friends earnestly appealing to the members of the Council on the subject of peace and its practical application by means of arbitration as a substitute for war. He moved that the memorial be read, and then referred to a small committee for consideration.

The motion was agreed to. The committee consisted of Dr. Talbot Chambers and Chief-Justice Taylor.

STUDENTS OF BERLIN UNIVERSITY.

Dr. DYKES intimated that an address had been received from theological students of the University of Berlin, connected with Pastor Hapke. It was, he said, couched in the Latin language; and he did not propose that it should be read to the Council. He moved instead that it be referred to a small committee, consisting of Dr. Aitken, Princeton, and Dr. Lindsay, Glasgow.

WEDNESDAY, 11th July 1888.-Evening.

EXETER HALL, 11th July 1888, the Council again met at 7 P.M., and was constituted by devotional exercises led by Rev. Dr. BURNS, Halifax, who occupied the Chair during the first part of the evening, Rev. Mr. JAMES, Moderator of the General Assembly, of the Calvinistic Church of Wales, who had been appointed to preside in room of Mr. JOHN ROBERTS, M.P., unable to be present, occupying it afterwards. The CHAIRMAN. We have a grand programme for to-night, and I hope that it is not the fame of those who are to speak that will alone account for the very large number present, but that the true cause is a deepening interest in the young. I hope we will feel that this is a personal matter, and that we will go away from this mount of privilege to pray more earnestly and labour more faithfully to bring the little ones within the loving arms of the children's Friend.

THE CHURCH'S DUTY TO THE YOUNG.

The Rev. Prof. ELLIS EDWARDS (Bala College, Wales).—I have been unable to think of anything to say on this matter but the fundamentals, and it is a pity we do not carry them out better, and it may be that a poor word even from me in this place may help to their better accomplishment.

We want the young for one thing, because we want to teach men to find themselves. In these days of overflowing novelty and wonder we lose ourselves, and the Christian Church causes us to pause and come out of the noisy streets into the quiet courts of God, there to look in and mark that which is still more important than the world, and has far more lasting consequences, and is taking place in the chambers of our souls. The Church wants to draw our young men and women into this self-study; we want them all to learn to be masters of themselves, to overcome the continual temptations around them, and in the light of God's work to provide themselves with what is necessary for their salvation.

We want them because we believe that truth is the food of the soul. We do not eat enough spiritual food to keep the soul alive. Our young men are not alive with the strength of love, with power to carry out God's will, and to show Him in themselves in word, deed,

and gesture, which is what the Bible calls living. The truths of the Bible become cold unless we constantly return to the foundations.

We are nowadays told to study the religions of all nations, and choose the best parts of each, but we Christians choose the old Bible still, and call upon the whole world to study it. We have a standard set up in the Bible, and the Bible is the only book in which instructions are given to enable us to come up to the standard set before us. The chief exploit of the Word of God is that it is able to persuade people that God is not dead, but alive with infinite power at the side of the weakest, in the slums as in the most consecrated place, and near every one who wants to come to Him. It is not self-reliance that makes heroes; it is reliance on the truth of a principle, on the knowledge that that principle is the will of a person who will assist the weakest. How are we to attain this? By love, and the means it prescribes. There are thousands of principles and schemes in love, and we do not want a better teacher. The Church should be felt to be a home for our young people, where they will have new fathers and mothers if they have left their parents behind them. I was amused to hear Professor Elmslie swimming on politics after saying he would have nothing to do with them. If people call it a sin for the sake of the poor to interfere in politics, we will sin with Anselm, Stephen Langton, Cromwell, Dr. Duff, John Knox, and with all the best men of all time.

look after the

The State has dealt with the at least on my world of smart This failure on It says that the

The Rev. Dr. HALL (of New York).-I am a Presbyterian, and in a sense a High Church Presbyterian. I cannot help it, but I would be broad in the true sense in which I think all true Catholic Christians should be broad. The State, it is conceded, ought to young, that they may be good members of the State. sometimes made mistakes in that matter, and has intellect and neglected the conscience. That is true, side of the water. We have developed an immense men; occasionally they are not high principled men. the part of the State speaks two words to the Church. Church must do the duty that the State so often neglects. And the second thing is, that if it be the duty of the State to take care of the young that they may be good in relation to her, it is no less the duty of the Church to take care of the young that they may be what they ought to be to her. The Church has to teach the parents, because they influence the young before she can do it. Parents have power to influence the children before they come in contact with the Church, and the Church has to emphasise that lesson; oftentimes it is a semisocial, semi-religious duty. Parents often do serious mischief to their children thoughtlessly, by sending them to educational establishments

where their own church is constantly belittled, and then they complain that their church has no power to hold the young as they would have it do. Then, again, it is the duty of the Church to train and educate good teachers. My ideal of a Sunday-school I have seen in Wales, where the old men and children, and young men and maidens, are gathered together, and the Church edifies herself in her members. Let the minister superintend the Sunday-school. Let the Catechism come into the teaching of the Sunday-school. It is easy to say that children don't understand the Catechism; I did not understand the grammar I learnt when eight or nine years of age, but I understand it now after many years. Teach the Catechism; it is a better way of keeping them in the unity of the Church than their saying over the Apostles' Creed, not understanding what they say. Then preaching to the young. Make the sermon such that the children can understand it, and put in an illustration here and there which you say is for the children and the young, and then they will watch for their portion, and hear the sermon all through. Teach and preach to them missionary discourses, and that will interest them in something outside themselves. This should make the Church of Christ attractive to young people. Yes, do it, but do it in the right way. Theatrical, aesthetic, sensational, fanciful saloons-these things will sometimes draw, but I tell you, you buy the gold too dear that you buy at that price. I will go further, and say it is not all gold that glitters in such places; it is brass, a good deal of it. If you want to attract the young take Christ's way of doing it. Let the Church be so solemn, pure, and tender in its whole atmosphere, that young people shall feel that God is there, and the fathers and mothers and the minister too shall feel it; then you will have the true Scriptural attraction, like which there is none other. It is thought if you have feasts and festivals you can keep the young. I think that is a mistake. Christ said, "Do this in remembrance of Me;" there is one day for the commemoration of His death on the cross; do that properly, and you will make the place attractive. Put two things in competition before man-man's and God's and the human heart takes man's, and God's is put aside, and the consequence is that there are thousands of Christians to whom Christmas Day and Easter are far more important than the fifty-two Sabbaths of the year. Man may make mistakes in dealing with the young; we do in dealing with the old also, but are we to abandon their efforts on that account? Who does not know that the true Evangelical Church is at a disadvantage in certain communities? Put it where the opera, the theatre, and social entertainment are made to be the chief end of men and women, and the Church must be at a disadvantage. But the only real power she has to contend

« السابقةمتابعة »