Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1888-06-21

MI tIs|
the spirit of becoming reverence,
sometimes fleeing the sanctuary,
are descending into it, and protest
ant America learns reluctant les
son from papal Rome that one
great necessity TO the church's
perpetuity is the proper training Of
its children. Ours is Q country
that prides itself upon the number
and extent Of its bene6cent or
CARNATIONS, and many Of us, doing
a noble work, are proud to be
members Of the A B C or the x
* Q association, but those two
grand old sibilants,S. S. ,harnessed
along side of the church Of God can
pull the world up to a higher
plane than the whole alphabet
hitched tandem to any special
labor.
We welcome you again, be-
cause of the educational and re-
fining influences Of your work.
Recording, as the bible does, much
of the history of the most noted
nations of ancient times; holding
within its pages almost exclusively
the annals of very peculiar peo-
pie; containing a code of morals
whose excellence has never been
equaled and whose principles
pervade the statutes of every civ
ilized nation; publishing the re-
cord of the only model life the
world ever saw and expounding
the principles of the only model
state the world can ever hope for;
bristling with law and history,
ethics and poetry, to say nothing OF
prophecy and revelation, it is
surely worthy of any students at
tention and challenges the advances
of any line of culture. With
Romanism and infidelity crowding
the word of God out of our public
schools, double responsibility
descends upon,, and double inn
portance attaches itself to Sunday
School labor. Cultured and critical
as our people are growing to be,
larger demands are upon US in the
matter of critically understanding
the bible. Biblical criticism,
while old among the universities
of Europe and the well informed
of our own country, has only re-
Gently begun to permeate the
masses of our people. To some
textent demand has risen for ii;
and infidelity, quickly recognizing
this fact, attempts the supply, and
stalks wide-mouthed throughout
the land blatant with false inter
lpretation. 1t is forestalling our
Christian effort, and finding q
ready soil for its tares where our
wheat grows thin and struggling.
ISome of these things / know are
mot food for children, but do we
err in our higher classes and our
congregations by ignoring such
discussions as the plurality Of
Adams, the extent of the food and
SO on, till the first many of us
hear of these things is when
shocked by the skeptic's sneer OF
the doubtful comments of the So
called liberal critic2 There is
work here for some one, and Sum
day School effort, in its higher
walks. should grid its loins ror
labor, along with the pulpit in pro.
noting popular education in this
matter. Dangerous things, you
say! Grantedl So, the virus on
the point of Pasteur's scalpel; bui
had we not better suffer a slight
linoculation than languish with the
epidemic when it comes 2
We welcome you again because
of the spirit of brotherly love and
charity you bring to us. Yor
stand to-day, I think, as the lar
gest organization in the State
whose tendencies are strictly pro.
motive of denominationai goot
feeling. The drift of the Sunday
School is not doctrinal. The in
lternational lesson, now SO univers
ally used, tend toward unanimity
|of thought, and however much oui
sermons may dogmatize. our sing
ling, SO largely nourished in thu
Sunday School, voices oneness o
heart and a oneness of hope. W.
cannot all subscribe to the sans
lcreed and there stand out in tn,
lpast great interpreters of the di
vine word that some of us endors,
and some reject, but we can rejoic'
to-day that, when it comes to music
we can all sing the same songs tn
country over, from Lowell Masol
to E. o. Excel. Ifit be true tha
he who makes nations songs ca,
bid defiance to him who makes
nations statutes, 1t is doubly tru'
| that the hope of Christian uniol
to-day is grounded deeper in wha
the people sing than in what tn
fipeople say. The literature Of th'
Sunday School is broad and liber
alizing and it shows a Christian
courtesy and federation not incon