The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-26
THE FIRST SUNDAY SCHOOL.


day Schools will be held in Atlanta in
April. 1t has been suggested that the
members of the convention should be m
vited to visit Savannah, since 1t was in
this city that the first Sunday school in
the world was organized by John Wesley
and mis- fellow churchman, Mr.. Della
motta.
Robert Raikes is generally credited with
having originated the Sunday school. in
the year 1880 He was a printer in Glou-
cester England, and gathered about him
the ragged little barbarians Of his city
and civilized them by teaching them the
word of Cod He, of course, deserves all
honor for his good and glorious work;
but the fact is that Mr.. Wesley's Sunday
school antedated that of Mr.. Raikes' by
about forty-four years. and the first Sun
day school in New York by about eighty
years.
John Wesley, whose name was to be-
come IMMORTAL as the founder of a vigor-
Gus and fiourishing Christian denomination
arrived at Savannah on Feb. 5, 1895, after
tempestuous voyage. Many times it was
in extreme doubt that the young priest
would ever reach his chosen field Of la
Dor. During those trying days and nights
when shipwreck seemed almost inevitable,
Mr. Wesley and his fellow passengers, the
Moravians who were seeking in the col
ony of Georgia a refuge from religious
persecution at home, showed their abid-
it,er foft In .rr;If
cheerfully meet His infinite fiat, whatever
1t might be. Mr.. Wesleys biographers
inform us that it was the sublime faith
of these Moravians that turned his
thoughts to the truths of Christianity as
now embraced in Methodsm.
Mr. Wesley was the priest or rector of
Christ Church parish, dependency of
the Church of England. His purpose In
coming to America was not solely to per-
form the duties that would be incumbent
upon him as a parish priest, but he de-
signed also to do missionary work among
the Indians. There were no negroes in
Georgia, In those days. But Mr.. Wesley
found an abundance Of work to do among
the whites, without hunting In the woods
for the red men, and he set about his la
bors in home mission fields, with a vigor
that later on brought upon him the wrath
and vengeance OF those In high places
In his travels through the streets and
lanes of Savannah and through the Indian
trading village of Yamacraw, Mr.. Wesley
found that the children were growing up
air Il Mr
Delamotta, organized a school In which
to instruct them In the teachings of he
Bible and catechism. These religious in
structions were impaired to the children
every Saturday afternoon, and on the
Lords day before the evening service"
Savannah, Ca, the first Sunday school
in the world. There We're some thirty or
forty children in the school. and they were
taught not only the precepts of the Chris
tan religion but, also ito read, write, and
cast accounts"
Among the pupils in this first Sunday
school there were, as sometimes occurs
at the present time, some who were with
out shoes. And as modern children do,
some of the colonial children who were well
shod would laugh at those who were shoe
less. 1t panied Mr.. Delamotta very much
to have the poorer children made fun of,
but Mr.. Wesley found a way to remedy
the trouble. His plan was characteris-
tic; he went barefoot himself! The ex-
ample he set had the effect of stopping
the badgering among the children, and the
shoeless little scholars had peace. One
can picture in the mind the devoted young
preacher walking up Bull street TO the
court house square, or down Bay street
to Yamacraw, without shoes, and in con-
sequence without stockings, in his black
knee breeches and clerical coat!
The location of Mr.. Wesley's first Sun
day school house is not positively known,
but it was probably the Tabernacle"
which stood at the corner of Bull street
and Bay lane, where the custom house
now stands. A lot for a church, where
Christ Church was afterwards erected,
had been set apart, but there was no
building on it in Wesleys time.
Savannah, with its Moravians and Salz-
bergers, its English people who had been
unsuccessful at home, its laws against
negro slavery and the sale of rum. was
doubtless an attractive spot to men like
John and Charles Wesley and George
Whitfield. What they saw, heard and learn
ed here probably had much influence up
on the work of their lives; thus the world
is indebted to Savannah In no small degree
for the teachings by precept and example
of these great men.
There could be no more interesting place
for the International Sunday school dele
gates to visit than the city of Savannah
WE MUST WORK TOGETHER.