The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1899-02-06
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION.
Dr. Stoddard in His "Bul-
letin" Says It Is a Neces-
.sity to Young Men.

The Rev. E. L. Stoddard, in .'St. Johns
Bulletin this week, writes on a subject
which is his special hobby-his Bible
class. He severely scores the young men
who will not attend Church School-he
will not call it Sunday School. He says
Zone of the pleasantest gifts which ever
came into the rector's family was re-
ceived last Sunday. 1t was a very simple
gift, only a photograph, but it repres-
ented an ideal realized. 1t was a picture
of three young men in a group. What
made it aluable was the fact that these
three young men formed ST. Stephens
class in the Bible class, and after an hon
orable course were graduated last spring,
w~hereupon the entire class volunteered to
teach in the Church School, and each
member has there a class of boys.
1--WE have had cases, of course, where
graduates of this Bible class became
teachers. but this is the first case where
This is why we cali the picture an
ideal realized. We thank these st.
Stephens boys and congratulate our
selves that they are h they are.
This leads us to say a word to those,
who, we think make the mistake of slip
ping out of the Bible class.
The fact that few do so, does not make
the loss to those few any less evident. AS
we said in the Bulletin a few weeks ago,
this is an age where learning, knowledge,
cultivated intelligence. tells as it never
HAS uOIlC lu-dHE p5TlOu VI History UtlOIS-
TT is an age when the old ideas about
the Scriptures, the Church, and in general
the Christian life, are undergoing revision,
if not reconstruction. New light is being
thrown upon religion as it is upon his
tory, geography or astronomy. We are
living in Il new world, full of new forces
and new truth. Now, if a man is not up
to date in regard to new methods of doing
business, the uses of electricity, etc., he
soon becomes a back number and drops
out of life a failure.
And so if he moves on with no inter-
ments of the time, one of two Things
happens to him. His mind is closed to
all the fresh, inspiring and noble sentl-
ments which are abroad in the Church,
and that side of his nature stagnates; or,
seeing that religious, thought is changing
and not having been taught as to the
nature of this change, he picks up some
silly and half baked notions of super
stition or unbelief and becomes ridicu-
lous. 1t may seem p~resumptuous TO clalm
Glass could prevent this. Blu 1t is not
unfair to maintain that a young man who
desires to keep abreast of the age and
understand it's movements and its prob
lens, and yet abandons the only place
where the great religious side of the
movement is presented, is inviting spirit
ual eclipse.
It is a very small matter to the Bible
Glass whether it numbers eighty or one
hundred and fifty; but it is a serious mat
ted to a boy approaching manhood to cut
off any of the streams which may feed
his intelligence. The same criticism APP
plies to boys or girls who neglect any part
OF. their education. Unless we are mis-
taken, the coming century Tb WI h mbe
are trained thoroughly, equipped with
the latest Intellectual eapon will be
called for and will win.