The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-10-09
OUT AND ABOUT,
WHAT THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
SHOULD TEACH.

WHAT THE SUNDAY SCHOOL
SHOULD TEACH.
A Few Suggestions Regarding the Re-
cent Convention-History in the
Sunday School-Fancy Work and
Nature Studies-Other Matters of
Interest.
That the Sunday school is at least
holding its own as a vital force in the
community against it's competitors in
the social and religious fields, is one OF
the facts that seem to have been dem
onstrated by the giant convention held
last week in Union Church. "Seerand
to have BEEN rather than was" be-
cause from such gatherings. when
unite in nearly equal proportions the
salient features of the picnic and the
prayer meeting, it is sometimes hard
to obtain a just conception of the ex-
tent and potency of the actual forces
at work Conventions are crises which
attract even the Indifferent and the
| lukewarm, for who does not enjoy the
| sensation of being stirred to his
depths? They provide an occasion and
exert an influence for enthusiasm,
than which there is nothing more con-
tagious, and, finally, they furnish an
excuse for oratorY which is often as
brilliant as it IS fallacious and mis-
leading.
The convention of Sunday school
workers which has just terminated it's
sessions, has certainly been marked by
numbers, enthusiasm, and able speak
1nsI but further than that, there has
been spiritual earnestness and
sense Of social and religious solidarity
which more than anything else has
placed the hall mark of integrity and
sincerity upon the meetings and the
audiences. Those who listened to the
addresses could not but be impressed
and aroused. Experienced Sunday
school workers and successful clergy
men from the principal Evangelical
denominations of Professionalism gave Of
their best, sharing their experience and
success with the audiences, and deliv-
ering their messages of suggestion
stimulus and courage.
In one or two particulars, however
it seems that the spirit of the conven-
ton, at least as expressed through the
press reports of the proceedings, failed
OF the completeness and catholicity
that might reasonably have been ex-
pected of it, and that these failures are
Of a kind that may tend gravely to dim
inish the practical results for good that
the convention will undoubtedly exert
The Trinitarians of Massachusetts
are not the only people of the state who
have good Sunday schools and desire
better ones. There are also good Uni
tartan Sunday schools, good Univer-
salist Sunday school, good Roman
Catholic Sunday schools. Why if one
of the objects of the convention was to
study methods with a view to increas-
ldng the efficiency of the Sunday school
as an instrument of UNCONVENTIONAL
and ethical power, was the experience
and the opinion of other Christian de-
nominations ignored? Is not the OBJ
ject of a Unitarian and & CONGREGATION
al Sunday school essentially the same?
If there are radical differences in the
illogical bias between the two denomi-
nations, is that any reason why
useful suggestion or an idea that has
been worked successfully by the one
should be passed over unnoticed by the
other? Why should the Sunday
school, if 1T is worthy of study at all,
be studied less exactly thoroughly or
scientifically than the toad or the gyp-
sy moth? Why should the testimony
OF experts be excluded simply because
they happen to differ from us in their
views Of q certain theological dogma
Finally, what becomes Of the ideal OF
Christian unity If, when an opportunity
for reciprocity and association between
different sects presents itself, involy
ing neither sacrifice nor compromise
/.
essential and sacred In theory or prac-
tice, that opportunity is systematically
disregarded?
For instance, there is in this city
Sunday school which could probably
have given the convention a new idea
If 1t had had the chance. 1t is con-
nected with the First Unitarian Church,
and the superintendent is Rev Austin
s. Carver, who has applied the sacred
pictorial art of Europe to the teach
ing of the old and New Testaments, in
cooperating the two into a unique but
effective system CT instruction. The
artistic, the historical and the religious
have been welded into an organic
whole and formalized into a system
which appears to be applicable to older
and younger pupils alike.
AS a power for the religious and
ethical training Of the young,
it, the Sunday school, has niinlmized it's
own influence by antiquatad of fantastic
methods, denominationa1 ambitions
and q treadmill policy that insists upon
perpetual motion without succeeding in
getting anywhere. Why In the name OF
common sense and intellectual sincer-
ty, if not of Christian fellowship does
body of people assembled to study
and promote the best interests of the
Sunday school, voluntarily exclude it.
self from fresh ideas and the results of
others experience?
There was one other respect in which
the attitude of the convention, as ex-
pressed through the local press, strikes
one as singular While much was said
with regard to the Bible as a moral and
spiritual help, the Bible as source of
culture was overlooked. One speaker
referred to the conception of the Bible
as literary monument but only to
warn his hearers against accepting it, |
1.-THE Bible said he, cannot be treat
ed as literature. 1t is unique, for 1t is
the expression of Gods thought, and it
is comparable to no other writing that
exists"
There is no essential difficulty in re-
garding the Bible both as the inspired
word of God, and as volume of litara-
ture and history. The Bible always has
and always win possess incompatible
interest for man, because of the tre-
mendous events and themes and per-
sonalities it treats Of and no fluctua-
tons Of theological temper can destroy |
this interest. Because the superb lit |
erature with which it is filled can be
made to teach ethical truths Is no rea-