Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1860-06-14
THE SABBATH SCHOOL CONVENTION.


peared over the platform, and large number
of other appropriate notices, consisting of
quotations from Scripture, on pacardS, were
suspended in front of the galleries, all around
the hail. presenting with other decorations, a
very beautiful appearance.
At little before ten o'clock, the assembly
was called to order by Deacon Henry Hoyt,
of Boston, chairman of the state convention,
who spoke briefly. Avast audience was pres
ent, the hall being crowded in every part.
| The convention was organized as follows =
| President-HENRY S. WAsHBURN of Worcester.
Vice Presidents-Charles ID. Gould of Boston, w.
e. Chaplin of Lawrence, Rev. j. ii. Twombly of Wor-
| cester David Wood of Newburyport, q. Pratt of
| Mlddleboro', Rev Ii. NJ Parsons of Springfield, IL.
Hamlin of Boston, Sumner Pratt of Worcester
Secretaries-Hon. George Gremell of Greenfield,
James .. l.. Hillard of Ashburndae, B. S. Goldman
| of Boston.
In his address to the convention, Mr..
Washburn said he relied upon the kindness
and cooperation of the members OF the con,
vention to aid him i'll the full discharge of his
duties. He spoke eloquently of the great
cause which had gathered together such vast
numbers from their quiet homes in the interior
and from the busy marts of the seaboard. In
the name of the citizens of Worcester, he eX.
tended to them all hearty welcome to their
| Inequalities. Prayer was then offered by
Rev, Mr. James of this city, after which the
convention united in singing the hymn COM
mencing, Come We that love the Lord, &c
Rev. N p. Kemp, secretary of the state
committee, stated that at the last annual meet
| Of hon ba nup
| posed neither plan could be devised to Sc
cure to sabbath school teachers more time for
| their labors, by the substitution OF Sunday
! School exercises for church services. He said
the state committee, to whom the subject had
been referred, thought it better to leave the
question for each church to decide for itself.
On motion of Rev. J. H. Twombly of Wor-
cester, the statement of Mr.. Kemp was accept
ed as a part of the report Of the committee,
and the desire for a fuller one expressed
The president introduced Rev. Mr.. Will
liams of the Assyrian Mission, who gave an
interesting account of a native Sunday School
which he had seen in Assyria composed of
persons of all ages, &c. He described the in.
fuences by which they had been brought to-
gether, in place where, within few years,
missionaries had been murdered or driven
away. Yet this school, on the first of April
last, numbered 1868, having increased over
400 within the four weeks previous.
On motion of Dea. Hoyt it was resolved
that in all the discussions and addresses that
were to follow Mr.. Huntington's address,
the speakers should be limited to seven min
utes. The president then introduced the Rev.
f. D. Huntington, d. D., who delivered an
able and well composed essay, on the subject
of sabbath schools, the substance of which is
as foows:-
He said the sabbath school partook of the
character Of an endless experiment, ard was
invested with the charm and mystery of an
unfinished enterprise. Its possibilities are
greater than its achievements, and better flu
ture for it is prophesied by all engaged in its
works. He should confine himself to one sin
gle department of its manifold operations and
more especially consider the queston-"What
is the real relation of the sabbath school to
the visible church." Different theories have
been conceived respecting that relation. The
first is that it is of friendly, but quite indie
| pendent, cooperation; another is, that it is a
formal alliance between two powers still anoth-
! er is, that they are coordinate parts of some
general organization, both amenable to one
common authority Neither of these views are
right.
The sabbath school should be looked upon
as nursery of the church-first the visible
and then the invisible. The Covenant" is
the idea most significant, in this discussion
The Scripture is alive with its promises and
its life. The succession of supernatural dis.
| closures from Eden to Patmos, is perpetual
renewing and fulfilling of prominent promises.
1t is the distinguishing Characteristic of the
| Christian faith. 1t underlies and brightens
with beauty every ecclesiastical ordinance of
the elder or the later economy. He expressed
the conviction that the present disorders in the
Christian world, and the tendency to a belief
in materialism, could only be cured by a more
complete regard for the unity of the Bible as
regards the doctrine of the Covenant; a more
complete acknowledgment that Christ is its
theme.
In the application of this doctrine of the
covenant, there is a new aspect in the relation
of the church to her children-to those who
are born into the privilege of majestic posses.
sion and untailing promises, which through
baptism flow IN the appointed channels. By
separating the sabbath school from the church.
1t is broken from the parent STEM and there
is a cutting offof the nutrtive juices that flow
from the old Bible stock 1t is from the want
Of this teaching that there is so much slow.
ness, GOODNESS, and crudity of belief in the
church, and so many unsatisfied aspirations
| People were too unmindtul of Gods promises ;
| there is not enough teaching and preaching OF
them, not enough praying by them, and not
enough living in remembrance of them. Thus
religion becomes dry, and hard, and unholy
and fathless
| The speaker next alluded TO the power of
Institutions. There was tendency toward in
dividual freedom, and false reliance on indi
vidual energies, forgetful of the beneficial re-
suit of institutions" and the continuance of
rites and ceremonies from generation to gem
GRAFTON. A leading attribute of the church
was Its order of institutions. The closer the
sabbath school was TO the church, the more
useful it would be, and wherever severed it
would cease to be fruitful. Thus the school
can be taught what the church is. The schol-
ars can thus be taught to look to a voluntary
and personal connection with the church as
the consummation Of their birthright and that
all their opportunities and advantages are
mournfully incomplete without it. The church
on her part is to see to it that this tuition is
given, is to open every facility, is to choose
out and appoint the teachers, choosing careful
ly and appointing authortatively.
The speaker closed his address by summing
up his suggestions, substantially as follows: LIST
The church must furnish the teachers from its
first and disciplined members, that there may
be no lack Of discretion and piety. 2d-The
subjects of instruction should be drawn from
the Bible only. 3d-There should be brought
into play upon childhood a genial influence
of the playground, without however, the in
PRODUCTION OF tawdry amusements. 4th-The
teaching should be such as to make the reli-
gious growth constant, and the children should
| TAUGHT in ~, I,e LII