The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-01-31

watch and were to approach you, no mat
ter how, to pay me to return it to you?
We will leave you to think about it.
TWO GREAT STATESMEN ON SAB
BATH SCHOOLS.
Websters Weekly.
1t would be difficult to overestimate
the importance of the work that is beng
done for the youth of our country by
the Sunday schools They gather the
children together from Sabbath to Sab
bath and teach them the way OF life, i'm
pressing upon their young hearts and
lives the beautiful truths of the Scrip
lures The lessons learned in childhood
are the most lasting. Though one may
wander far away in the paths of skepti-
cism and unbelief, early training will re-
assert itself and as he grows older his
mind and heart will go back to the
simple faith of his earlier years. Thomas
Jefferson, the founder of American De-
mocracy, had his intellectual difficulties
and wrote some foolish things along rell-
gious lines, but in the evening of life his
heart turned to the simple things of the
gospel and he recognized the value o.
early religious instruction.
In The following letter Daniel Webster,
the greatest intellect New England has
produced, bears witness to the value of
Sunday school instruction and tells of a
conversation he had with the sage OF
Monticello along religious lines. 1t Is
worthy of preservation. We find it in an
old copy of the Central Presbyterian, of
Richmond, Va, of date May /, 1858, kind
ly loaned US by friend:
Marshfeld, Jun Is, 1852.
Prof. Pease:-Dear Sir: have receiv-
ed your very able and interesting annual
report of the condition of the New York
Sabbath School Association, and read it
with pleasure and instruction. 1t is graft
flying, very gratifying, to learn, that IN
"a city where vice and immortality run
riot with impunity," few humble
Christians have devoted their time and
energies to the cause of religion, and
fervently pray that your labors may be
crowned with success.
The Sabbath school is one of the great
institutions of the day. 1t leads our
youth in the path of truth and morality.
and makes them good men and useful
citizens. AS a school of religious in
struction it is of inestimable value; as a
civil institution it is priceless, and has
done more to preserve our liberties than
grave statesmen and armed soldiers. Let
them be fostered and preserved until
the end of timei
I once defended man charged with
the awful crime of murder. At the con
clusion of the trial asked him what
could induce him to stain his hands with
the blood of fellow being. Turning his
4. II II
in voice of despair, "Mr. Webster, in
my youth l spent the holy Sabbath in
evil amusements instead of frequenting
the house Of prayer and praise" Could
We so back to the early years of all hard
ened criminals, believe, yes, firmly be-
lieve that their first departure from the
path Of morality was when they abandon
ed the Sabbath school,. and their subse-
quent crimes might thus be traced back
to the neglect of youthful religious in
struction.
Many years ago I spent Sabbath with
Thomas Jefferson. at his residence in Vir.
ginia. 1t was in the month of June, and
the weather was delightful. While en-
gagged in discussing the beauties of the
Bible, the sound of bell broke upon our
ears, when, turning to the sage of Month
cello. | remarked, "How sWeetly, how
very sweetlv sounds the Sabbath bell!
The distinguished statesman for a mo-
nent seemed lost in thought, and then
replied: Yes, my dear Webster, yes, it
melts the heart, it Gains the passions,
and makes us boys again" Here I OBJ
served that man was only an animal
formed for religious worship, and that
Notwithstanding all the sophistry of Epi-
curns, Lucretius, and Voltaire the
Scriptures stood upon rock as firm, as
immovable as truth itself. That man, in
his purer, loftier breathings, turned the
mental eyes toward immortality, and
that ''the soul, secure in her existence,
smiles at the drawn dagger, and defies its
point"
Mr.. Jefferson fully concurred in this
opinion, ard observed that the tendency
of the American mind was in different
direction: and that Sunday schools Che
did not use our more correct term, Sab
BATH presented the only legitimate means
under the Constitution OF avoiding the
rock On which the French republic was
wrecked. Burke said he, "never ut
tered more important truth than when
he exclaimed that a religious education
was the cheap defense OF nations :.
"Raikes, said Mr.. Jefferson, has done
more for our country than the present
generation will acknowledge: perhaps
when I am cold, he will obtain his re-
ward: hope So earnestly hope so; l
am considered by many Mr. Webster,
to have little religion, but now is not
the time to correct errors OF this sort. |
have always said, and always viii say.
that the studious perusal of the sacred
volume will make better citizens, bet
ter fathers. and better husbands. On
the DISTINGUISHED Raikes. he was sclar,Irn
ct venerable nomen' | took the liber.
ny Of saying that I found more pleasure
in Hebrew poetry than in the hasc Dn,-
ductions Of Greece and Rome. That the
harp upon the willows by the waters Of
Babylon had charms for me beyond any.
thing in the numbers Of the blind nan
OF Smyrna. I then turned to Jeremiah
(there was fine folia of the Scriptures
before ne Of 1859. and read aloud some
OF those sublime passages that used to
delight me on my fathers knee. But ]