The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-01-09
THE PLACE AND FUNCTION OF
THE SUNDA SCHOOL.
BY REV. STEPHEN HERBERT Robin.

testify the development OF much less
complicated and cruder organization OF
the last century. The Oxford Brother
hood, by it's general philanthropy and
the special interest it took in cases OF
restitution, degradation and vice, pre-
pared the way for Robert Raikes to
gather in the poor and neglected chill
dren of Gloucester, that he might min
lister to their needs in whatsoever ways
he was capable of so doing. The church
was not the specific door through which
this movement got hold on mankind;
but it has seemed the natural institu-
tion in which to home. nurture, and
direct this work.
So the Sunday school today is part
of the church. and it may be said, not
the least important part, either. 1t is
as essential in a well-organized church
as the more pronounced service in the
sanctuary. 1t is to the church what the
nursery is to the home. Thought must
be cradle-rocked, reverence and piety
kindergartened, righteousness prescribed
homRpathically and these activities
are not to be looked at as supercilious
or nonssnsical; they are powerful fac
tors in unfolding character, like unto
similar means which pertain to the more
private department of the home life.
We must not qualify this point too
much. either. and say such method
should obtain with the juvenile portion
of the Sunday -school only; for it has
been my conviction for long time that
the vast majority are exceedingly juven-
lie in thought, in all that pertains to the
method, the evolution, and often to the
practical experiences of religion. The
thought and work which many times go
under the guise of religious instruction
and learning in the Sunday school are
as secular as sin. Millinery, gowns, So
cial gayeties, foot sail, base ball. and
ball-balls are repeatedly subjects for
discussion during the lesson hour in
more than one school on every Sunday.
Such things creep easily over the lids Of
the Bible, and encroach largely on the
time which bridges the songs which
are sung, supposed to be given for the
lesson of the day. Many school is
burdened with such experiences; and so,
religiously' speaking, the training must
be, often. very superficial, exceedingly al
phabetical, and confined TO spots at that.
This applies to teachers. Of course. as
we'll as scholars; although / recognize
those faithful souls who are in every
Sunday-school devoting themselves to
the high interests of God and his chill
dren.
The Sunday school is part of the
church, but not the church by any
means. 1t strikes me mistake has
been made in calling it children's
church. To do so is to suggest dis
t!nct department separated from an
adult church. Many ministers and lay
men have so magniied the Sunday
school that it has been set apart ae
a thing by itself, to the detriment
of the church. Children have grown
to young men and women in the
so-called children's church, aud have
never been trained to love and work
for the church proper. They have
drifted away by the thousands; and the
Sunday school in such work has done
great harm, if perchance. individually
speaking, it has wrought some good.
The Sunday school should be the con-
slant feeder. not the competitor in the
! slightest degree. of the church. A
family church, with many children
in the pews, is an ideal church, in
large measure. When the Sunday
school shall seriously take hold of the
young with determination to mould
their characters after the pattern
seen in the mount" it will bs doing
it's legitimate work.
am not of those who feel the Sun
day school is in any way a competitor
of the church by intent; but l am Of
those who feel it has been permitted TO
drift into some such position to the
great detriment of both. We should put
up danger signals wherever this ten,
dency appears. The place of the Sun
day.school in the life of the church must
be maintained to be an auxiliary, an aid
to it in the enlightening, character
making, everence-loving Christianizing
of mankind. The plastic age Of youth
is the great opportunity for shaping life
in those directions which bless mao and
honor God. Hence the Sunday school
has very important place, and one of
great responsibility as help to the
church in it's work of bringing man into
the thought, action, and experience of
the religious life.
l. The function of the Sunday school
is, first of all. to impart knowledge. and
this not in general, desultory way; but
definite and exact knowledge, so far as
possible, of the divine. speak advis-
eddy. do not believe Sunday school
has any right to engage in the business
of ordinary instruction. Its time is too
limited for such work. its real work too
important to be side-tracked. Let geol-
ogy, botany, zoology. mathematics, lit
erature, etc. be taught in the day
schools set apart for that purpose;
but here the subjects should be Of a