The Portland daily press., 1900-01-18

Mr.. Plant then went on 10 speak upon
tbe two theories of sunday school In
struotion, that Of the uniformity OF les
sons and the graded school. Taking
each sysiem up In turn he pointed out
les good qualities and its weak tpots. He
showed that II Intelligent instruction In
the Bible was what is sought for the
Graded school WIS the best systsm TO fol.
low. The church IL far behlnd In edn-
oasional work In this respect. The sun
day school demands the very best efforts
IF the clergy and lsity. The question
which must be answered lie, "Should the
Bible be taught with the same intelli-
rence as Is arithmstio and grammar"
why not put the same intelligent efforts
In the Sunday school work as In tbs day
schooli Uniformity In Sunday school
work has accom- piIshed much, but IT.
day Is passing away and the graded sys-
tenn Is the only intelligent method OF
instructing the children and older people
In the word OF God. The sunday school
will never MI their great mission until
properly trained teachers are obtained.
The present methods ore destroy ing the
ohuron. Why should the Sunday school
teachers not be paid and trained as we'll
as are the choir masters? The church
oan and will do this. Il the Sunday
school teacher employed to teach or to
amuse the class? II /, amuse. tSen tbs
,aoher ought net t, be there. The les
sons should bs made IL sres 'nR by an
applies ton Of the proper hlst ,rieai sat-
tlngs, tae lessons assigned In advance and
I 1eir main feat ire carefully explained.
Com parsons should be drawn bet seen
qlettluns which agit tjd the old pro-
pletI and those Of tae present day. The
lessons should be made Instructive In
every scr OF the word. Parenti are too
much disposed t, lock upon the Sunday
school as tae children's church, They
should be isd up to the proper ssDss OF
their responsibility In regard to the sun
day school and TIE pupt's t,snsslve'
should he made t, feel the dtty they
ows tho church and the responsibility
they bear. He discussed the bearing Of
the archt ,t I 1ral surroundings OF tie
schools and said that too many OF them
| were barren Of a,t'stlo a dornmerts and
dreary and uninviting. The germ Of
the or tire address was that brains
should be devoted to this work In which
every churchman should feel great re-
spcnsibility.
MR.. d. l.. ID. GRANGER.
MIR. ID. l.. ID. Granger. the next speak
err represented the Church CLUB of Rhode
Island. he began by complimsnting this
diocese OF Maine FOR the excellent judg-
ment 1t had displayed in the seisction of
its bishop and congratulated the church
In this state in having secured man
In whom all churchmsn In Rhode Is
land feel pride. He then proceeded to
discuss with much sloquenoe the church
clubs and their work. Their main object
Is to break down the parochial lines.
bridge over the gaps bt ween the dissent
ing grounds OF the church, build mp
feeling Of fellowship among all church
men and discuss matters pertaining to
the welfars of the church. The church
club of Rhodo Island takes great delight
in seating side by side at Its tanquets
the high and low churchmen and people
who don't agree on many things. They
found one of their most pleasant and
Instructive evenings TO be- when Roman
Catholic bishop and the bishop of the
church In Rhcde Island spoke on the
samv evening.
II don't propose to discuss the question
as to whether this is the end OF the 18th
or the beginning OF the 2Jta century,"
said Mr.. Granger, 'but do think that
the church Is now approaching very
important epoch In Its history. Laymen
understand that the indi ference to relig-
ion has grown rapidly in the last %
years. won't say that ne people are
less religious, but there has been a ire
msndous change am the superlntend-
emit Of Sunday school Of 100 or 500 men,
bers. Not Is per cent of the pavents of
, these boys and girls go to church regu-
Iarly. Twenty per cent attend church
only on Easter or Thanksgiving, but they
all want their CHILDREN baptized by the
oh urch want to be married in the
church, and when In trouble call upon
her for aid; Ibut they do not recognize
any need of the church In their daily
lives
The speaker accounted for much OF this
Indifference to Sunday newspapers, Sun
day golf. Sunday ooncerts and other forms
OF amusement. Twenty years ago the
standing of man in society WAS deter
mined by his regularity as q church
gosr. but 1t does not make any difference
now. The rector Of a fashionable church
in New York told him that the people
we're going on in this way until the
church has absolutely lost cont! oil over
them. In 90 years people won't 20 TO
church unless 1t 10 because 1t is fashion.
able. The speaker argued that the onurch
has mission to perform In the uplifting
Of humanity and that 1t should assert Its
authority. The popular theology is eI-
pressed in the question: Can't a man
go t, heaven without going to ohur3hf"
They should be made to feel that moth
ing can ever take the place OF heaIing
Gods word spoken and Of part liking of
the bic. sed sacraments.