The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1893-04-08
BEST CHURCH WORK.
Rev. ]. R. Wright on the
Sunday School, Past,
Present and Fu-
ture.
GRADED CLASSES ADVOCATED.
Minor Meetings of the N. 3. Confer
ence-Church Extension and
the Freedmen.
GRADED CLASSES ADVOCATED.

The anniversary OF the Sunday School
| Union and Tract Society was held in con.
neclion with the Newark Conference SER
vices at Centenary Church. yesterday, at
half-past two P. M. The Rev. J. r.
| Wright presided. and the meeting was
! opened by the inging of the hymn ION,
for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" Miss
| Gertrude Farmer was the organist. Tue
hymn was followed by a prayer by the
| Rev. J. o. Sparnon. Mr.. Wright read
| the one hundred and twenty-drst psalm,
after which hymn No. 4SS. "Arise, My
Soul, Arise was sung. The chairman
then introduced the speaker OF the after
noon, the Rev. ). L. Harlbut. Mr..
Hurlbut said he believed In the Sunday
school. He thought it ne arer the heart
of the people than ever before. He be-
lieved that there was more earnest re-
ligion in the Sunday school than in all
the rest of che church. He spoke of the
work of the Sunday school teachers and
of their reward in the love which their
scholars bore them. He advocated the
reading of Bible stories to the scholars,
u the distribution of good books
through the Sunday schools. He said
tldO aCfCl DClOkO "a ~ SOh
studied as it was studied today. lie
spoke of the time not very long ago,
when reading. writing and arith-
metic were taught in the Sun
day schools Instead of the
Scriptures. He considered the Inter
national Lessons an epoch in the history
OF the Sunday school. He drew a con-
trast between the Sunday school of TWEEN
ty-one years ago aud that of today, and
showed the superiority of the present sys-
tenn of teaching over the old ticket sys-
tenn, whereby the scholars learned so
many verses of the Bible and got a
ticket, q certain number Of which enti-
tied him to a prize. By this system
the scholar forgot what he learned as
soon as he received the ticket, but by the
present system he was taught to become
perfectly familiar with the Scriptures
without memorizing anything.
II FUTURE.
He next spoke of the Sunday school of
the future. He said that this, in order
to be successful. must be graded and a
regular system of promotion must be in
augurated. There should be four grades,
the infant. the primary, the junior n
the senior, and every two years the
scholar should be promoted from n
grade to the another. In order that there
should be better prepared teachers they
should be taken from among the scholars
A normal training class should be formed
of pupils from the senior classes, who
should be put through a three years'course
of study on the Bible, after which they
would be prepared TO teach and any va
caDcy in the ranks Of the teachers should
be filed from this class.
BIBLE STUDY.
MIR. Hurlbut believed in forcing the
| sch oiars to read at least four books on the
Bible or kindred subjects every year. and
10 this way, at the end of. a few years
| they would have q valuable fund OF in
formation on these subjects. He be-
| lieved that the Sunday school OF today
was the best the world ever saw, but that
| of tomorrow would be better. He said
| the Methodist Sunday school had made
1881 600 converts in one year and it would
| do more in the future. He closed his re-
MARKS BY inviting anyone present to ask
any questions concerning the Sunday
school, which he would be glad to answer.
Several people availed themselves OF
this opportunity, aud be answered all
their questions, after which hymn No.24S.
"An hail the power of jesus name." was
sung and the meeting was closed by a
b~enediction, pronounced by the Rev. F.G.
| Baldwin, of Newark.