American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1867-07-06
ADDRESS TO THE METHODIST
SUNDAY-SCHOOL.

ADDRESS TO THE METHODIST
SUNDAY-sCHooI.
My Young Friends:
| certainly feel honored in the part
assigned me, by your excellent Super
intendent, in the exercises Of this
evening, and am only sorry that |
am so incompetent to the pleasing
task.
| wish | could say something that
might contribute somewhat TO the
interest of this occasion. You have
already made the occasion interesting
to us all, both by the matter and
style of your speeches, and, really, 1t
would seem almost unnecessary 20
add word by way Of encouragement
to YOU
have said that this is an interest
ing occasion, I repeat it; it is an
interesting occasion" If a hca-
then philosopher could say, that the
gods looked down, with delight, upon
an honest man struggling with mis-
fortune, what might not the Christian
philosopher say in witnessing the
scenes of the present occasion! |
imagine that the angels in heaven
participate in the pleasures Of this
hour, and that Con, himself, smiles
with complacency.
The Sunday school, which we this
night commemorate, marks an era in
modern history. Less than a centu-
ry ago, a good man, walking out one
Sabbath morning, in one of the towns
in England, and seeing some little
boys and girls playing in the streets,
the thought occurred to him, chow
much more prOtitably might these
children spend this holy day" This
circumstance gave birth to one Of the
greatest thoughts Of the age-the in
StitutiOn we now celebrate.
Robert Raikcs, the founder of Sun
day schools, went Immediately to
work, put this happy conception into
effect in his own town and neighbor-
hoOd-enlisted others, by his writings
and otherwise, in the enterprise; and
the good work has been progressing
from that day to the present-like a
wave produced by pebble on the
bosom of the smooth lake, widening
more and more, until what do we now
see! All over the Christian world,
every Sabbath day witnesses multi
tudes of little boys and girls, tlocking
to the house of God, to learn lessons
which qualify them for usefulness in
the various stations in life, and pre-
pare them for happiness hereafter.
Earth presents no spectacle so In
tereSting, and Robert Raikes made
his name immortal by the happy
conception.
Other men, it is true, have done
much for human progress. When
we see the world flooded, as it were,
with books, in which we may read,
with so little trouble, the thoughts
of others, we admire the genius OF
him who invented the art of print
ing. When we see the thunder-bolt
turned aside from its aim, whereby
our dwellings are kept in safety, we
admire the genius of Franklin. When
we see people travelling up and down
our great rivers, and across the
mighty ocean, at the rate of twelve
miles an hour, by the power of steam,
and when we reflect, that, by the
same power, the products of the earth
are transported from country to coun-
try, and when we see the iron horse
of commerce come laundering along,
making the earth shake as he rushes
by us, at the rate of thirty miles an
hour, we admire the genius of Fulton.
When we see inert metal transformed
into a post-boy, and news conveyed
to the most distant part of the earth,
with Lightning speed, we admire the
genius of Morse.
These men were certainly public
bcnefactOrS, and deserve our praise.
They deserve our praise for having
done much to administer to the wants
and necessities of man. But the
difference between their claims to
our admiration and gratitude, and
the CLAIMS of Robert Raikes, lies in
this: the men spoken of directed their
aims to the comfort and convenience of
man, as a physical being merely; Raikes
was aphilanthrOpist in a much broader
sense. His purposes and plans con
templated man as an immortal being.
Raikes' institution proposes to fit us
not only for usefulness and happiness
in thiS life; it proposes to give us a
preparation for continual happiness,
when this life shall end, as end it
must with us all.
Ny little friends, if understand
my duty, my only business before
you tonight, is to impress you with
a sense of the great privileges you
ppiov- and 70 urpc uuOD Won the vast