Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1898-02-04
Township Sunday School Convention
TWO INTERESTING SESSIONS.

Both sessions of this convention were
| held in the Baptist church last Sunday
afternoon and evening The opening
meeting of the convention at three
O'Clock was called TO order by President
Huff. Delegates were present from all
the Alma Sunday schools and many
were in from the country.
Nj. &. Z. Scott led in a devotional
exercise and was followed by Mr.. Harry
Porter, who read a most profitable and
interesting paper on "Who Ought 10 be
in the Sunday School and Why In
substance Mr. Potter said "The answ er
| 10 this ques ion is obvious. Everyone
should be in the Sunday school, because
| from it each one can, in his own way,
obtain help. The Bible is a book whose
aid, when correctly sought, is universal.
| Fathers and mothers become better
parents; children appreciate to greater
degree the duties toward mankind and
God The business man can well profit by
application of its principles to life, the
| loafer is made thrifty and all can obtain
benefit and live better lives by the con.
temptation of the Divine Being. AS a
social text book the Bible is preeminent.
| Beggars are not christians"
Mr.. j. b. Stevens was the next speaker.
His subject was House to House Visi.
tation." He said: This most impor-
tant feature of our Sunday school life is
only of late receiving the attention it so
well merits. Like the church bell it
serves as "a reminder that we may well
heed. Many a stimulus of this kind is
needed that any result may be obtained
In his own experience as well as that Of
many others, visiting the people i'll their
homes had been Of infinite value Not
| OILY, however was it an aid TO those
visited but 10 the caller as well. 1t keeps
him i'll touch with the people surround
| ing him and if the caller is in receptive
! condition must be of infinite good to
| both parties. House TO house visitation
is rendered worse than valueless If in
dulged in by one Of combative nature. A
man of genius is needed i'll this as in
other walks of life" Mr.. Stevens re-
marks were interesting am instructive,
calling forth discussion, taken part in
by several.
1t is much to be regretted that others
who had been assigned subjects were
not present, for carefully prepared pro-
gram of fine papers was thus narrowed
down to two. Great credit is due those,
however, who spoke impromptu on the
subjects which would have otherwise
been passed over. Among these were L.
A. Sharp, Prof. j. T. Ewing, j. L. Miller,
Rev. Clough, Francis Palmer and others.
j. B. Sabin of Breckenridge, president
of the County Union, was present aud
spoke on the coming convention at
Ashley.
The evening session opened with an
inspiring service of song led by l.. A.
Sharp. This was followed by a paper
on Forces that Win in Sunday School
Work." by Rev H. +. Wiley. AS he
was unable to be present in person, he
very kindly sent his parer and it was
read by Roy Miller, He said that the
S. S. worker of all persons need diver.
sity Of gifts There are three kinds of
forces that tell in this work, viz: the
physical, intellectual and spiritual. To
do the best work, the s. S teacher should
have a vigorous physique and be a
master of exogesis. But these are moth.
ing without faith. conservation and
spirituality.
AT this point the minutes Of last meet
ing were read by Geo. Hutchinson, Sec
retary protein, and approved.
The next was paper on "Some Pri.
mary Principles" by II. N. Hayes. He
urged the importance of the primary
work because the future ministers, mis-.
sionaries and church worker of all kinds
come from the primary classes. He also
urged the necessity of the story lesson,
a separate room and prayerful, tactful,
diligont, soul winning teacher. An op
portunity was given for discus sion of the
subject; but as no one responded, presi-
dent Huff called on both DIR. and Mrs.
Pettyjohn and others. Mrs. Pettyjohn
said that If one has good knowledge of
the Bible, he or she cannot fail to inter.
est the children aud make lasting inn
preston.
J b Sabin presented the needs of the
Home OsaSytmsns" House 10 house