The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-01-15
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION
 FEDERATION ORGANIZED
Continued from First Page.)
Professor Rents Address.

The public press, as well as the voices or our preachers and reformers, has impressed upon us the fact that reli- g1ous education-the moulding of the principles and Ideals of the individual- IS the most important question before us in America to-day. Social, political and economical reforms are well worth trying, but they only touch the surface. Their. success or failure depends upon the character and standards of the in- dividual affected The policies of our great political parties and corporations are determined in the ultimate analysts by the aims and ideals of their indi- vidual managers. If we would deal fundamentally and effectively with these ominous social and economic problems that threaten the future of our commonwealth, we must begin with the training of the children who in their maturer years must assume these re- responsibilities. We must train not only their minds, but also their wills; we must develop those mate divine impulses which govern the wills and determin- ation.
 All education is unit. Religious education is not antithetic to but the compliment of secular education. It is not enough for a man to know how to add correctly, he must also have the will to do so, especially when his own interests and those of society are in- volved. The separation between secular
 
 lowed in this country as a sequel to the separation of church and state, is in many ways to be regretted. One re- suit has been that while the secular ed ucation, which has fallen to the state, has been developed to a high degree of efficiency, religious education left to pri- vate support has sadly suffered The contrast betWeenthe two systems, both in methods and results, is pitiable The ignorance of the history and literature and the vital teachings of the Bible on the part of most of the scholars of our Sunday schools, most of us will frankly confess. Even more alarming is the tendency on the part of many to leave the Sunday school when the most fruitful years for study have just been reached.
 And yet at the present moment al- most the entire responsibility for the religious education oS the rising gener- atiOn is being thrown upon the Sun day schools. In many states the Bible is barred from the public schools. The same is true of many of our state uni- versailles. Parents also, upon whom the first and most sacred responsibility rests, are neglecting it more and more. They have ceased to instruct their children in spelling and the multiplica- tion table because they have found that the teachers can do this better. With out justification, but by analogy, and because they are themselves often un- acquainted with the Bible, or uncer- tain concerning it's modern interpreta- tion, or too busy with the cares of life they are leaving the religious eduea- ton of their children to the church and Sunday school
 Herein lies the great responsibility and opportunity of the Christian church If it is to renew it's hold on modern men, it will be through the mind as well as the heart, and it's most efficient method will be--as it always has in reality been-religious education, Horace Bushnell proclaimed the watch word of the church triumphant Chris tian culture.'
 His, however, was no new discovery. The Hebrew prophets, priests, and sages were not primarily preachers, but teachers, The prophetic messages which fell on deaf ears, instilled into the minds of a few humble disciples. in time won acceptance from the na- tion. Jesus himself was not so much the preacher as the Great Teacher. His earliest public preaching was but the net cast to catch the few faithful dis ciples, When these had been secured he turned his back upon a popular preaching ministry, and devoted the best part of his brie' 'ublic work TO instructlng little group of disciples.