The Portland daily press., 1899-10-25
SUNDAY SCHOOLS.
Continued From seventh Page.


Continued From seventh Page.
association is directly an auxiliary Of the
churches Of the state and thsir pastors.
IL is wholly In their service, and depsn-
dent upon them for direction and support.
Whatever good It achieves lie for them.
it, dividends are divided among them
according to the measure Of their CO.
operation with the association. It was
true not in Maine only, but in all states,
that the churches which had entered
most heartily into tho association work
were tie ones most prosperous today
along numerical or spiritual lines.
The Maine Sunday School association
Is both home and foreign missionary
agency. 1t works to save the boys and
girls Of Maine In goddess ami neglected
homes and to hand them over to the
service Of the churches. 1t is pushing
to solution the problem OF the masses,
aud tringing them by way of the Sun
day school into touch with the Bible as
preached and taught, 1t stops not at the
boundaries OF the state, but goes beyond
In helpfulness to the wide stretches of
frontier country In our republic, to the
millions OF Southern blacks, to the far
away empires of India and Japan, where
it helps to support Sunday school orga.
mixers. rs at nome. 1t lends hard by
Its money Offering annually made to the
mother International association in
gathering into the school and to the
kingdom not only the children of our
own favored lands--the Dominion and
the Republic--but In the lands where
millions of children are dwelling in the
shadows of darkness.
REV. DIR. BAKER,
the newly elected president, then spoke
tire closing words to the convention, as
follows:
The Importance of the Sunday school
to the community and state increases
with each returning decade of years.
Religious instruction In all our pablo
schools hos disappeared. In very few of
them Is the Bible read or prayer offered
and direct instruction upon matters of
religion or even moral questions from
religious standpoint must entirely dis
appear from the very nature of a democra-
lilo government. Not only has the Chris
tian no right to impose his convictions
Of religious truth upon the child OF the
Jew or even upon the child OF the int
del, but one sect of Christians has no
right to force its special religious belief
upon the children of Christians of an
other denomination. The schools or
republic must be- free frcm religious in
struction. Such Is the inevitable logic
of democracy. We may not wish 1t but
the fact remains that the Bible and all
religious stfuotion must 20 from ur
public schools. When we accept a demo-
crAcy we must accept its results. Public
schools must be purely secular with no
religious influence save that of the Chris
tian character of the teacher, when the
teacher has such a character.
There uss1 to be religious Instruction
in the majority of our New ENGLAND
homes but 1t is safe to say that at the
present time not more than one-third of
the homes pretend to have any. 1t is
not beyond the truth that II three
fourths Of the youth of our land have any
religious instruction 1t must come from
the Sunday school, and Mess they re-
oeiye 1t in the Sunday school they will |
not receive it at all. Such are the facts
God has raised up the modern Sunday |
school as the instrument for the religious |
edunation of the children of our land. |
This is the responsibility of the church |
to do what the state cannot do and what |
the family does not do. This response |
bility the church must assume or be |
reoraant to the trust. That church which |
doss not make the most and the test of |
Its Sunday school is recreant to the Bible
and to the religious needs of the com.
munity. That minister who does not |
make the most and the best of his unday
school Is recreant to his leadership in the |
church of God. The Christian who is |
not Interested In the Sunday school is as |
recreant to the Kingdom of Christ as is |
the citizen who takes no interest in the
public schools recrsant to the welfare of |
the state. No thoughtful, prayerful de-
ciple of Christ can fail to see the respon-
sibility Of making the most Of the Bible
school. Such n minister Is narrow and
unstatesmanlike IN his ideas. The neces-
sity of the mod ern Sunday school appeals
to the Christian patriot rs much, II not
more, than any other institution within
or without the church. Men ori tlcise 1t.
1t Is not perfect. 1t welcomes criticism,
but generally those who critlcise it most
know the least about 1t. Two-thirds of
Its teachers represent the most inteln-
gent and most consecrated men and wo-
men in the churches ana the man has
neither wit or charity who sneers at
them. He is superficial student of the
history of the church who does nat see