The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-06-17
The Twenty Eighth Annual Convention
of the Columbia County Sabbath
School Association.

On Thursday morning the first ses-
sion Of the Twenty-Eighth Annual
Convention of the Sabbath School
Association was called to order at
1890 o'clock by the President Myron
|. Low. The weather was all that
could be desired and the audience
room at the Christian church at Ben
ton, in which the convention was
held, was filled with an expectant au-
dience. The devotional exercises
were conducted by Rev. u. l.. Malt
man, of Benton. His topic was "The
Holy Spirit" He hoped that the
delegates had not come to the con-
vention expecting to receive the Holy
Spirit but that they had brought him
with them and that he would dwell in
their hearts and endow them all with
rich blessings. President Low in a
few appropriate remarks welcomed
the delegates and urged upon them
the necessity of having the presence
OF the Holy Spirit. He said, "Let
US believe that he will be with us.
Let us look to Jesus for his help.
Larger liberty in the Lord Jesus
Christ is what we need to be able to
work more effectively in Ills cause" !"
Secretary Spear in his report gave an
encouraging account of the schools
throughout the county. He reported
144 schools in the county with a
membership Of 1880 officers,
teachers and scholars. This shows
an increase over the previous year.
Following this Mr.. S. d. Neyhard
gave an excellent report of the State
Convention held at Carlisle in Oct
1896. He stated that the reports
presented showed that great advance
ment had been made during the year.
The counties in the State entitled to
rank as banner counties are Columbia,
Union, Snyder and Sullivan.
The subject of Temperance was
then taken up and discussed by Prof
c. H. Albert, Of Bloomsburg, Miss
Eva Rupert, Of Bloomsburg, and Rev.
Albert Smith, of Berwick. Prof. AL
bert made a plea for temperance
along the line of reading as well as
the use of intoxicants. He said we
must be careful about bringing into
the home books that are hurtful and
literature that will do young people
more harm than we can ever conceive
of. Also the matter of placing
temptation in the way Of any one.
He gave an instance of young girl
who was a confirmed drunkard at the
age OF eighteen. She said she had
received her first glass of wine at her
fathers table, and now this father
would give all he was worth, about a
million and a half dollars, to see her
cured Of the awful appetite that had
been fostered in his own home.
Miss Rupert spoke of temperance
in its narrow sense. She said, Z" If
all the money expended for drink last
year were coined into silver dollars
and they were laid side by side it
would make a line that would reach
from New York to St. Louis. What
a world of good might have been
done with this money. 1t is very
urgent upon us that we do all we can
to put down this curse of intemper-
ance. If We are perfectly willing to
have the Spirit use us he will do it.
God is the one unit in this universe.
Everyone else is cipher. Place the
cipher to the left, or wrong side of the
unit and you still have the unit. Place
cipher on the right side of the uni,
and the value of the unit is ten times
as great as when standing alone.
Keep on placing ciphers to the right
of the unit and you multiply by ten
every time. Thus when we are on
the right side of God our efforts are
blessed every time.
Rev. Albert Smith claimed that up
on the officers and teachers of the
Sunday School and upon the parent:
rested the responsibility of influencing
our yonng people along the lines jus
, mentioned, temperance in the use o
! intoxicants, temperance in reading
and attending places where we SHOULD
not be found. Following his talk tht
meeting closed with the benediction
1IIrpcDAV AFTEpNoON
At the conclusion Of short SOM
service devotional exercises were con
Quoted by Rev. Albert Smith assisted
by Rev. James Martyr. The Worl
of the Holy Spirit being the topic
' Mr.. Smith stated that his work wa
: to give evidence that Christ was OF
his throne in Heaven to speak il
: the churches to show unto us tn
things of Christ to administer tn
, affairs of the church and to annoin
|. Christians for service.
e The following committees wer
: then appointed by the President
= On Nominations, Prof. R. Koche1