St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-10-23


mediately responsible for 1t.
But to say all this is not to intimate
for moment that the pastor has not
definite duties which are also immediate
and first-hand duties, to the children OF
his church. A very near friend OF mime
now in the last years OF slngularly
beautiful and useful life, was one OF the
first to give practical application to the
principles of BusnnelPs Christian Nur-
ture; to do his parish work in the light
OF the gospel which Bushnell preached; ;
and to win the reward of seeing many
children develop into a normal happy
and useful discipeship in const quence.
What he began to do by means OF classes
Of children, individual conference with
them, and an endeavor to make all the
ongoing OF his parish lite lntelIlgibIe and
winsOme to them, multitude OF men
are doing now. | have tried to do 1t Tor
years; not with so much success as
would give me any charter to tell just
how it should be done but with enough
success to give me abundant heart and
courage for keeping At it. But my ex-
perience and what | have been able to
learn from the experience of Others leads
me to believe that there is no royal road
to success here any more than there is
elsewhere in this toilsome world There
is no magic method; no abracadabra OF
a charm, which being uttered, viii bring
children to Christ, train them in His ser
vice, and send them rejoicing through
the world upon His errands.
The only way to this desired end is the
way OF intelligence, patience, toll, devo,
ton, and 1--we.
This involves a knowledge Of the chill
dren of his parish by the minister.
mean a real first hand acquaintance.
We are flooded just now with innumera-
bic treatises upon the child Most of
them have value Some of them are full
OF practical suggestion. 1t is worth a
minister's while to make acquaintance
with them. But woe to him it he ever
expects to know what children are
through any revelation they can make
He might as we'll try to make aCqualn-
tance with the lineaments of his indtvid
ual parishioners by studying a compos
lite photograph of his gregation.
There never was and | hope never will
be such thing as THE Child" But OF
children there are any number and the
more one counts among ones friends the
better. The more intimately one knows
them however, the better will one realize
how intense is their individuality, and
how impossible it is to know them by
description, by definition, or in any other
way than personal acquaintance.
M t11T ba,- I q - he ,,p
ter needs to beware against a kind of
method madness in dealing with his chill
dren. Pray, brethren, do not think that
you must needs adopt the means your
ntighbor uses; or that if he has society
OF a certain sort you must go and do
likewise. If you have a Boys Brigade
don't boast fit in his presence, lest you
lead him to do what he may regret some
day. And if you have no Junior Endeav-
or Society, don't start one simply tor
lear that you may become byword and
a Kissing in your conference for lack OF
it. Let us have such organization and
methods as we need and can use. No
others-no others-lest some day we
take candid friend to see the machine
OF which we are particularly proud and
he reveal he fact 10 us that we are u.s.
ing precious power to keep loose pulley
turning,
II you ask how he is to know the chill.
dren, can only answer that if he is bent
upon it, he will find out how, and that
his methods will be the better for being
his own. He will see some at home.as be
goes about, and if he be wise man, he
will go in and call upon a child who hap.
pens to be at home, when parents prove
to be absent, with the same care and
courtesy that we would show if they
were there. He will see the children in
school as far as he can. And he will
find it greatly to his advantage to be a
substitute teacher in his own Sunday.
school. 1t will be far better for him
usually to be substitute than to be a
regular teacher; and if he can 60 the
rounds Of the classes of the school once
in so often as a teacher, both he and
they will gain by it. He will encourage
teachers to come to him for consultation
about the problems which their classes
off r, and he will always welcome any
oppor tunity to talk upon religious top
les with boys and girls.
He will also preach to children and let
them see that he expects them to be in
his congregation, Now l do not mean
in saying this that he will every Sunday
preface his morning sermon with brieI
discourse to them. Some men do this
with great success and notable ability.
| have never done it, nor should recon-
mend 1t as good general method, any
more than | should discourage a man
who felt called upon to do it. l am
afraid should get into the way of talk,
ing down to children, which is always a
lamentable mistake, and further that
might lead them to think that the main
sermon was not meant for or adapted to
them. The North church in st. Johns
bury has been in the habit of presenting
text books to all the children who would
agree to keep the morning texts Of the
year as best they could. These texts
are written out at home and at the end
OF the year books are given as prizes tor
regular and faithful attendance. Last
year more than fifty volumes were dis
trtbuted at Chris mas time in this way
This simple method of securing at
tendance and some degree OF attention
was inaugurated by Governor Horace
Fairbanks and continued by his widow
who telt that it justified itself in such q
degree that upon her recent lamentec
death she made provision in her will fol
its continuance.
But whether he teach, or preach, OF
Y4oLS HAsA