The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1867-08-23
Effects of sunday schools.
Fy,ou The phiE1CIsl,,hfI Ierf1er


vile was in this country he went into
the Sunday schools of one ofthe largest
churches in New York, and when he
saw the great number of children gath
cred In their Sunday dresses, and each
with Bible in hand. reading and re-
citing from its pages, and the large
body ofintelligeut teachers explaining
the Scriptures, teaching hymns, lend
Ing out books to be read and returned,
and acting as spiritual parents or pas
Tors to the children, he Immediately
| took the statesman-like view it, aud
| exclaimed, sit must produce an i'm
mense impression on the national char
acter." 1t is this view of the Sunday
school which we now wish to take.
1t is one of the cheapest systems of
/ religious instruction ever conceived.
All that it need cost is books, the solid
| sort OF property which can be read one
after another, without diminishing their
value for those who read afterwards.
There are no salaries, bat each teacher
works from love. Wherever there is Il
congregation, and often where there is
none other that can be assembled, this
work can and does go on. All the cir
culation OF air and water that keeps
each of these from staRnRtinR, operates
upon the principle that heat constantly
tends to diffuse itself, and those bodies
which have more, to supply those which
have less. So, in every community,
some individuals possess more pieLy,
intelligence and knowledge, while 9TH
ers have less. Some have ripe age and
experience-others are young and need
instruction. The Sunday school rests
simply on this basis, that tits the duty
OF those who know more, freely to i'm
part to those who know less. One man
may not feel competent to take charge
OF a class of grown persons; he at least
can teach children some religious truths
they did not know before. II really
unable TO do this, he can join Bible
class and learn. .-
But the fact is, that the very effort to
teach and improve others is the most
certain way ofimproving oneself. The
preparation, the study of the Bible, and
of all that improves his own mind for
this work, will make him better, hap
pier and more worthy man. DR.. Way
land says, that ga parent who assidu-
ously follows his children throughout
the various steps of their education,
will find his own knowledge increased
and his own education carried forward
vastly beyond what he would at first
have conceived. There nre very few
things which a child ought TO learn
from the study of which AN adult will
not derive great advantage, especially
if he go through the process of simpliti-
cation and analysis, whiciT are so neces-
sary TO communicate knowledge TO the
Young. A parents intellectual superb
oritV cannot be retained il as soon as
ne enters upon active business he
desist from all effort after intellectual
cultivation, and thus renders mental
intercourse between himself and his
children impossible.' a- This intel
lectual and moral intercourse between
old and young. kept up as it is in the
Sunday school, is one OF the highest
advantages, both individually and So
cially, 10 all concerned. IL keeps the
whole community moving forward
together, and is for their moral ad-
vancemenL what perpetual motion
would be for physical science. II can
begins by teaching little children to
read, and has been carried forward
among theological students and pro-
fessors in the original texts OF Scrip
ture. It is a system of lay instruction.
Put all our ministers together, and we
have not half enough, educated aud un-
educated, TO supply the spiritual wants
of any denomination, and even these
are not half paid. But this sort of as
sistance makes the work of n single
minister go much further and produce
far more effect than it otherwise would.
Everything he teaches the most intelll-
gent and pious of his hearers, they in
turn impress on the minds of the
youngest. L
Many think the Sunday school sys-
tenn modern innovation, but it is, ex-
cept in name, one of the most ancient
and successful parts of the Christian
system OF teaching revived. Catechu-
mems were mt first largely composed OF
adults; but, by degrees, when the ma
tives OF IL country had forsaken idola-
try, this order was chiefly composed OF
the young and rising generation, who
here received the elements OF their reli-
gious knowledge. Bingham remarks,
in regard to these schools, that sit is
certain children were admitted TO them
as soon as they were capable of learn
ing" Seven years is mentioned as a
proper age for their admission.
Its perfect voluntariness and pleasure,
both on the part of teachers and taught,
is, and always has been, one of the
most complete proofs of its success. 1t
is sort OF society which elevates the
whole community more rapidly than
can we'll be expressed. Its effects and
rewards are perhaps most Immediately
visible in improving the intelligence,
morality and social organization of the
poor; but among all classes, and on
scale of more than fifteen hundred
years, it can be shown that such efforts
have produced wonderful effects. If ev-
cry member of the community were
engaged in it, either as pupil or teach
er, the world would be proportionably
better.
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