Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-08-07
THE ROD is USED ON SCHOLARS.
Devotion to Form and Greed Increase the
Farther West You Go.
CONVERSATIONAL STYLE IN PULPlTS
rwsIrrrN FoR THE DISPATCH.

number of q.
An enthusiastic Sunday school super.
| intendent of one of Pittsburg's leading
! suburbs who, more than q score of year.
| ago was Q member of the Worcester school
and there won his bride from among the
pupils, has recently returned from visit
there and in q recent interview, furnished
| the following facts as to the difference be-
tween Sunday schools in America and
England. In Worcester and in nearly all
the Nonconformist Sunday schools. Of
England, two sessions are held OH Sunday,
one immediately before the morning church
service and another in the middle of the
afternoon.
They Whip the Scholars.
The discipline in these schools is much
the same as in the public schools on the
week day. The rod is not spared, when II
is considered necessary to maintain order.
A case was related in the interview where q
boy received blow on the side of the head
from Bible In the hands Of an impatient
teacher.
A box on the ear, or the use of the switch
In extreme cases would be an anomaly in
American Sunday schools, but in the inde-
pendent churches OF England it Is consid-
cred as much matter Of course in the Sun
day school as the day school, My INFORM
ant stated that in his visit to more than 20
Sunday schools, in Staffordshire, Worcester
shire and London, he witnessed number
of cases of this kind of discipline.
In the regular church service the Sunday
school is provided with place, usually in
the gallery, and is under the supervision of
few of the teachers who are designated for
this supervision weeks ahead. Children
rarely sit in the family pew. Unless by
special permission and arrangement from
the superintendent or Sunday school
teacher they are expected to sit in the place
provided for the entire school.
Music From q Thousand Throats.
At the opening of the church service in
the morning. hymn is sung by the Sum-
day school scholars-the same hymn, as q
rule, that was sung by them at the close of
the Sunday school exercises. In'the Wor-
cester and Birmingham churches this open
ing hymn, in which over 1000 ell-trained
youthful voices join, has a very inspiring
effect on the church service to follow.
These opening hymns are selected at the
beginning Of the year for each Sunday of
the year, and the number of the hymn is on
. printed slip, which is pasted on the fly
leaf of the scholars hymn book. In En-
glish Sunday schools each scholar is ex-
pected to provide his own hymn book and
Bible.
The chorister who Is a. important factor
in the church service as the minister meets
one evening of the week with the children
and one with adults for musical practice,
and thus the musical talent Of the churches
is much better developed in England than
In America The praise service is not del
egated to choir as is so often the case in
this country. Congregational music is the
rule in English charcAes of the iudepend-
ent. order and few voices are silent in the
praise service. With the backing that
comes from the Sunday school department
of the church, the singing element of wor-
ship 10 much better Us rule than in the
churches of this country.
The Song OF Vast Congregation.
Henry Ward Beecher, when in the height
of his glory in Plymouth Church, Brooklyn,
said that there was nothing so inspiring in
religious worship as vast congregation
joining in the service of song. Instrumental
music Is good in Its place as help to con-
gregational singing, but no instrument has
yet been invented which equals the human
voice divine in lifting the worshiptul spirit
into heavenly places The English Churches
seem to appreciate this truth more than the
churches OF Aperica.
There is much less trash in the hymnol-
ogy of the fatherland churches and Sunday
schools than here. Such. songs as: "Shall
We Gather at the River" are not tolerated
in the song services of the old country.
Here this class of Sunday school hymns
have an ephemeral existence, but in Eng
land have no existence at all.
The old spiritual songs of David, to which
our United Presbyterian friends cling, have
the merit of sold worth, and many Of them
are as fresh to-day as when composed by
the sweet singer OF Israel; but large ma
jority Of our modern songs of praise have
no enduring quality, and though popular
to-day are forgotten tomorrow. The song
services of Britain's churches and Sunday
schools are of q much more substantial and
enduring quality than on this side of the
water.
Conversatioual stvIs OF Preacher.
The Congregational churches of England
show as marked variation in methods of
worship from those OF America as do the
Sunday schools Loud and boisterous
preaching is thing altogether unknown at
this day in English churches The quiet,
conversational style is now the rule with
preachers In some benighted districts
ranters and stormers still have a constit-
uency, but their day Is fast passing away.
The two great preachers of this age,
Spurgeon and Beecher, in the early years
Of their ministry, were somewhat noisy,
but in their. later years grew less and less
boisterous in their style OF oratory. 1t has
been discovered that noise does not empha-
size truth. A good thought quietly stated
finds its way to the mind and heart without
noise. The writer has observed that preach
ers when they get into the woods and are
lost for ideas generally get loud, and try to
extricate themselves by stump oratory. The
best pulpit orator have heard had no rules
Of elocution to guide him. He was blind
for 20 years or more of his ministry. His
power consisted in having something to say
and saying it in clear-cut, conversational
way. He spoke as nature dictated and had
always eager listeners.
Eternal Punishn snt Is Discarded.
The belief in eternal punishment is no
longer an essential in the orthodox churches
Of England. Leading ministers of the Nom
conformist church publicly proclaim their
disbelief of the doctrine as held a genera
tion ago. Drs. Dale, Of Birmingham, and
Parker, of London. would be at once ar
raigned before an ecclesiastical court for
heresy if their lot had been cast in this
country. At the International Council of
Congregational Churches held last fall in
London it was clearly demonstrated that
the orthodoxy of American preachers was
much more intense than that of the English
preachers. 1t is svsignifcant fact that at
the fountain head of Puritanism ministers
and churches are broader in their views
than in this land.
And at the London council the repre-
sentatives of American Copgregationalism
who hailed from the West seemed more
decided in their adherence to old-time be-
liefs than those from the New England
States Chicago delegates we're more ortho-