Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-05-28
Ohio State Sunday School M. e.
Conference and Inst'tute-Held
in Town Street Church.
SECOND Days PROCEEDINGS.

| The Conference met at 81 A. NJ, and en-
| gagged for half an honr in devotional eXer
cises, led by Mr.. Burwell, of. the Erie Con
| ference.
| After which the following resolution
offered by Rev. c. +. FELTON,, was adopted
| WHEREAS. There i, doubt in the mind
of many persons present. as to whethe
/ they have right to participate in the ex
ercise of this Conference, and
| WHEREAS, The constitution has been re
| ferred to committee for revision to repor
| at 81 o'clock Tomorrow, therefore,
Resolued, That during the remainder O
the session of this Conference, all persons
connected with any OF the Sunday Schools
| in the State be and are hereby invited tt
take part in the exercises.
Rev. J. Welles Stanley, of the Ohio Con
ference, was then introduced to the Con.
ference, and read an essay on "Sabbatt
Schools Rooms, their Architecture, Furni.
ture," &c. The leading idea was that
great care should be taken to make the
Sunday School rooms convenient, attract
i've, and such as will insure the pleasant
and profitable employment of the Sunday
School hour.
Rev. j. T. Ball, of the Cincinnati Con-
ference. moved that Bro. Davis be request
ed to furnish copy of his address for pub
lication.
Rev. c. E. FELTON, desired to ask the at
tention of those having charge of Sunday
Schools to one point. When any change
or improvement is desired in the furniture
OF a Sunday School room, not to expend
one dollar until the services OF a cOmpe-
tent architect have been secured to make
out suitable plan for the internal arrange
ments. The great amount of money use
lessly expended, calls for reform in this
respect.
Bro. Mitchell, of Columbus, desired to
supplement the remarks of the first speak
or NV leo in ha nf
perienced Sunday School man to assist
the architect. s G
Prof. Smith, of the Cincinnati Confer
ence, Thought arrangements should be made
for all the grades, and deprecated the use
of the bell in Sunday School.
DR.. Byers, of Columbus; Mr.. Cunning
ham, of the Ohio Conference; Rev. Mr..
Mower, of the Northern Ohio Conference;
Rev. Mr.. Copeland, of the Cincinnati Con-
ference; Rev. Mr.. Thompson, of the Gin
cinnati Conference; Rev. j. Crook. of Co.
lumbus; Mr.. Gardner, DIR. Nelson, Rev. Mr.
Young, of Erie Conference; Rev. Mr.; Lloyd,
OF the Cincinnati Conference, and Prof.
Smith, of Xenia, participated in the fur
ther discussion of the topic. during which
the hard benches, the rough floors, the un-
curtained windows, tobacco chewers, dirty
churches, imperfect ventilation, size of
classes, attendance of teachers, free use of
the bell, &C., &C., were spiritedly dis
cussed.
MIR. Crook spoke of fountain he saw in
a school room, in the basin of which was
growing pure white lily, as exceedingly
appropriate when the children are taught
OF Him who said " consider the lilies" and
desired all men to come to the fountain of
living waters"
Prof. Smith spoke of the difference be-
tween the pouring in +" process and the
"drawing out" process; and contended
that the latter should be the aim of teach
ers.
An invitation was received from S. o.
Fay, Esq, Superintendent of the Deaf and
Dumb Asylum, for the Convention to visit
that Institution. Accepted for o'clock
this afternoon, and the thanks of the Con-
ference rendered to Mr.. Fay by a rising
vote.
Prof. r. w. Seager put in an appearance
at the organ this morning, and charmed his
many and appreciative friends by singing
some songs in his usual good sty lie. O'Kane
and Seager make musical combination
hard to be eXcelled. az g
At 1O15 O'Clock Rev. G. w. Reeder, of the
North OHIO Conference, proceeded to de-
liver an essay on the +" Model Sabbath
School Address," somewhat difficult sub
ject, inasmuch as the address itself may be
taken as standard Of the authors ability
to treat the subject. Hon. E. E. White was
invited to address the Conference on the
topic of the essay. He feared the tendency
of Sabbath School teaching and speaking
was too strongly to mere childishness and
sensation. That the message of the Master
was lost sight of in the desire to raise a
laugh or interest the children.
Simplicity must be cultivated-the truth
must be illustrated, but the truth and not
the illustration is the object of both teach
ing and speaking. There is great differ
ence between being child-like and childish
you may be simple but may not be silly.
g. AIs L.,
earnest and brief. A man must know when
he is through, and stop there. A single
vital point, single illustration enforced,
is better than much speaking. The speaker
gratefully acknowledged the compliment of
being invited to address the Convention,
and expressed a confidence that the great
families of the church are being more
fully identified in fraternal relations.
Rev. A. Smythe, being called upon. de-
clined to speak on the topic, as he had not
heard the essay, and begged to join Mr..
White in the expression of regard for the
M. E. Church, and didn't know but he
would get to be Methodist himself. He
had preached in perhaps so Methodist
churches, and felt almost like a member on
probation. [Applause.l .--
The Convention then sang "Blest be the
tie that binds" with much feeling.
The Conference directed that the lectures
and essays delivered before the Convention
be referred to the committee on -Publica-
ton, to determine as to what shall be pub
lished.
Bro. Crook deprecated the usage of Sun
day Schools in inviting everybody to speak,
and said he would decapitate nine-tenths
of all such efforts, as occupying valuable
time.
Bro. Lloyd thought five to eight minutes
long enough for Sunday School speech.
MIR. Henderson thought an essential tea-
ture in Sunday School address was, it
should have the heart and mind of the
speaker in sympathy with the children.
Rev. Mr.. Mower thought good sermon
could not he too long, and a poor sermon of
five minutes was always too long; so, in
the matter of Sabbath School speech, we
should talk in Sunday School as we talk to
the children about our tables the length
of speeches should depend on their quality;
we should talk to them, and not preach.
Rev. Mr.. Thompson submitted resolu-
ton on the subject of music book for the
use of the Nj. E. Church, which was laid on
the table,
The report of the chairman of the Publ
cation, committee, last year, showing a bal
ance in his hands of $50 80, was received
and read.
After some notices being read the Con-
ference adjourned to 3 O'Clock p. M.
Delegates desiring return railroad GER
tificates will call on the Secretary, in the
basement of the church, at 8 o'clock this
(Thursday) morning.
DULL-Local items are very scarce. We
tried hard to scare up something yesterday,
but in vain. We couldn't find anything
that would scare. We had half a notion
n - -