The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1897-09-02
CHURCH OPPORTUNITY
WHAT MAYBE DONE THROUGH
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.
Prof. j. Y. JOyner's Eloquent Address
at the Closing Session of the State
Convention-'sThe Open Mind
and Heart of a Little Child.''

Convention-sfThe Open Mind
and Heart of Little Child.''
We have the pleasure to pre-
sent the following extracts from
the address Of Prof J. Y. Joyner, of
the State Normal College, before the
State Sunday School. at Centenary
church Thursday night. The subject
was ''rhe Church's Opportunity in the
Sunday School," and the address was
rich in thought and in beautiful. we'll
rounded expressions. Prof. Joyner
said
In this siE-marred world of ours
there is nothing half SO divine as 2
little child. Fresh from the hand of
God, he comes with the smile OF
Heaven upon him, bathed in it's dews,
plucked as lovely bud from its fra
grant gardens, and set among fallen
men to teach them the glory and the
beauty and holiness Of purity and in.
nocence and trustfulness.
"Of this l am sure that there is no
other period in the life of man when
heaven lies so close about him and
when the mind and heart are so close
TO GOD as this happy period of child
hood. No other period when the
mind and heart because OF their very
nature-thelr quick emotion, their
ready faith, their trustful love, their
beautiful unselhshness, their ingenu-
Gus innocence-can be so easily led to
God and fixed upon god-like things.
The master himself tells US older ones,
'Whosoever shall not receive the king
dom OF God as little child, he shall
not enter therein He who was him
self born OF woman, cradled in a
manger, reared in Jewish PEASANTS
home, verify knew what childhood
was.
"The first glorious opportunity,
then, Of the church in the Sunday
School is the open mind and heart of
a little child, the opportunity to get
its arms about these little ones and to
keep them safe-an opportunity to
sow in the receptive soil Of their open
minds and tender hearts the living
seeds OF truth that shall make them
wise unto salvation. How much cas-
ier to sow these seeds in childhood, in
the soil seemingly prepared by Gods
own hand, than TO sow them in later
life when the heart has been hardened
by bitter experience and must needs
be broken and the mind has been
closed by habitual questionings aud
barred by fixed prejudices and must
needs be forced open.
when the Immaculate Head OF the
church himself took those little chill
dren in his loving arms and blessed
them and said, Suffer little children
and forbid them not to come unto me
for OF such is the kingdom of heaven
whatever else He may have meant,
this He must have meant, to COM
mend forever these little ones as
sacred charge to his holy church, and
to impress upon her the duty and the
necessity of putting her arms about
them and keeping them safe and bring
ing them up in the nurture and ad-
monitiOn OF the Lord.
ut is an awful thought but true, |
fear, that many of our churches have
failed to comprehend fully or to re-
gard duly this command Of their great
head and are not today suffering
scores and scores of children to come
unto Christ, are forbiddlng them
from coming, and thousands will go to
the grave unsaved because they did
not come in childhood
''They are not suffering the children
to come because they are failing to
make suitable provision for them, be-
cause they are failing to surround
them in their Sunday Schools with
i've to their coming, because they are
falling to give them such instruction
as is adapted to child-nature and
therefore comprehensive to children.
BY their apathy, their avarice, many
OF our churches are absolutely forbid
ding thousands OF children from COM
| ing to the Saviour.
above all things the Sunday
School should be a school for the
i study of the Bible. The greatest Of
| all books in this book that men, by
| common consent, have aptly termed
theBible-the Book Upon a proper un-
derstanding OF its inspired truths and
| wise application OF them to life and
| society and government depends the
| future veal or woe Of the human
family. The world and the church
are starving for lack of knowledge
Of its truths. Gods word must be
hidden in the hearts Of his people be-
fore there can be any material Chris
tan growth or development among
them and before the world can be
| leavened with it, This is An impossi
bility to the great majority OF adults
| without a more systematic and sensi-
ole and spiritual study OF the Bible,
and such study OF it is hardly possi-
bic and certainly not probable with
out better and easier opportunities
for it's study.
"Such opportunities to its members
and to all others the church can give
through the Sunday School. This IL
the only school for the study of the
Bible accessible to the great masses Of
men, and, for the average man oil
woman the properly taught Sunday
School class is better than all you
schools of theology. In such {
, class, men and women meet upoI
! a common plane, get closer to
gether in heart and mind, and the
different phases or fragments Of truth
presented to different minds can b,
more freely and Informally discussed
and compared in language that i
! more comprehensive to all
? 'Iu the Sunday School, the churcl
has the best opportunity to study ant
, teach the Bible by better and wise
methods, to hide its living truths fl
} the hearts OF it's own members AM
J thus to secure their Christian growth
and development and make then
workmen that needeth not to
ashamed that can kive these truths
the world and make it wise unto sa
: vatioD."
The speaker referred to the impoI
e tance of secular Instruction in th
Sunday Schools to be sufficiently e,
y tensive to enable all TO read well-an
II dwelt at length upon the golden OF
portunity OF increasing the efficienC
% q Of the Sunday Schools 10y providin
Libraries OF carefully selected book
st secular as well as religious.