The Cecil Whig., 1878-06-15


of God and the church.
BY arrangement with the Secretary of the
General Board of Education, all moneys
raised on Children's Day in our Confer
ence are to be appropriated to the aid
of those young men who are under the
patronage of our own Conference Edu-
cational Society, and my connection with
that Society enables me to say that all
moneys coming into our hands, or made
subject to our direction, are so admins
tered under the charge of a Board of Di-
rectors as to secure the best possible result.
A number of young men aided by our
Society are now preaching the Gospel of
the kingdom in our own Conference and
elsewhere with success"
MIR. Ellis then introduced Geo. A. Blake,
Esq, who delivered most admirable ad
dress upon the mission of the Sabbath
schools. We regret that want of space
prevents our giving it in full:
The speaker began by alluding to the
organic union existing between the Sunday
school and the church, and referred to their
common enc, the salvation of the world.
The Sunday school worker is not called
into the field by sentiment, by pity, or
even philanthropy, but by an obligation of
divine source; to become enthusiastic &C.,
in the work, we must take higher views of
the Sunday school and regard it as the ally
of the church, and the work a divine calk-
ing. The distinctive feature of the Sun
day school is its moral aim. 1t calls to its
aid literature, music, poetry, science, the
researches of the chronologist, the tales of
the traveller, and the eXpositions of the
Rnt of nn1
as conducive to that end. The special
work of the Sunday school is the enlighten-
ment of the conscience of the rising gen
eratons. Alusion was made to the dis
position of the day to break away from
moral restraints, and the consequent query,
what is the antidote for the times? Some
illogically trace crime to knowledge as a
source. If true, we must destroy our edu-
cational institutions and remand ourselves
back to ignorance. The error lies in in
education. We unduly force the
merely mental part of our nature. The
moral being of millions of our youth is
left to be developed amidst scenes that scar
the conscience, and blot out the distinction
between right and wrong. Bible truth and
Bible living are the antidote for the times.
The Sunday school must stamp them upon
the hearts and consciences of our youth.
After alluding to the connection between
obedience to law, and an enlightened con-
science, the International Lessons were re-
ferred to as having furnished vivid pictures
to ourlyouth. Jewish degeneracy is but
faithful copy of ourselves. Idol worship,
&c, are in our midst. Hence the words of
Elijah and Elisha, the promises and threats
of Isaiah and jeremiah have been sounded
in the ears of our youth. The story of
Daniel was referred to as likely to produce
many Daniels in the years to come.
The International Lessons have revou-
tionized the study of the Bible in our
schools. The history of the Jews in its
various stages has passed before our classes
as a practical theology. To most persons
heretofore the Bible has been comparatively
unexplained. The unity of its design, the
harmony of its parts, &c, &c, have been
entirely unknown. To day the humblest
scholar has better key with which to un-
lock the Scriptures than that possessed by
many divine of sixty years ago. The
distinctive feature of the Sunday school
work of the future will be critical study
of the Word as a means of evangeliZing the
world. We must not abandon home train
ing and give up all to the Sunday school.
w hen the child ceases to learn its hymns,
mothers knee, the hinge whcreon swings
the perpetuity of our institutions will have
Swerved from its fastenings. That the
work may be rendered more complete, our
young men and women must continue their
places in the school. The speaker closed
by referring to the necessity of all to sup
port the Sunday school work.
At the conclusion of Mr. Blake's ad-
dress, Dir. Matlack, now of Bethel, and once
pastor of this church, was introduced. -
Fifty eight years of his life had been identi-
fled with the Sunday school work. and, al
though age had crept on apace, and his
energies were wasting, yet the
ardor of youth still inspired him in behalf
Of this great work of the church. DR..
Matlack referred feelingly to his mission
among the children of New Orleans, and
the work of Methodism there. These an
niversaries give fresh impulse to, and dig
Nifty the educational interests of the church.
In after life, no brighter canvas will grace
the picture gallery of memory than the
of these religious anniversaries.
VIM. J. Jones, Esq, followed DR.. Mat
lack in a we'll timed and excellent address:
He congratulated the audience that they
could enjoy this pleasant and delightful
scene in "a Methodist church. There was a
time when Methodist churches were bare
and cherries, with dead white walls, stiff
pine benches. Some persons said
this was the churchs protest against the
Of h., Nd
Anglican churches, but was it not rather
to be attributed to the poverty of the pee
pie? The early Methodists had no money
to spend in luxury. Their work was to
save the people. They built log cabin
wherever an audience could be found. But
that they made no fanatical protest against
Roman or English Churches is shown by the
fact that they adopted the Episcopal form
men of Plymouth Rock who, according to
Mr.. Webster, founded church without
bishop and State without king, was not
by the early Methodists. They
called their church-not congregation
or society-but the Methodist Episcopal
Church, and put it under the care of Bish
ops. But the day of baroness and coldness
has passed away. Some persons say we
have departed from the simplicity of the
fathers. To them let US say, the church
has realized the changed condition of the
and appreciated its obligation to
spread the gospel among people of more or
less education, culture and refinement
The American nation is no longer few
thousands of men, cutting down the forest,
the wild land, with no time for
the retnements of life. 1t is forty millions
of people, with its men OF science, its
poets, painters, sculptors and historians,
who take rank with the men of the old
countries, with their thousand years of
The Methodist Episcopal
Church realizes this fact and is fully up to
the requirements of the times.
At the close of Mr.. Jones' speech, and
the music which followed it, Mr.. Ellis, the
came forward to the altar rail,
holding in his hand a wreath of white roses
tied with bow of black Grape, and said:
There is one part of the programme of
the evening which we have purposely de-
layed until the close, that the ,joyousness
of the occasion might not be interrupted
by the thoughts it calls forth. But it may
not be dispensed with. The sad thought
comes to US in the midst Of our enjoyment
iS oh hn ;th