The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1908-06-24
AT LOUISVILLE, JUNE 23
Addresses Made Before Many Hear
ers AZ the international Sunday
School Convention Was Heard
With Much Interest.


principal speakers at the lnterna-
tional Sunday School Convention
today were Rev. J, A. Mekany, G. II.
Blackall, Robert Johnson and Bishop
Bell The Rev Robert Johnson, D..
D., the pastor OF the American Pres
byterian Church Of Montreal, spoke
Us follows:
What has the Sabbath School to
do with q theme commonly regarded
as appropriate 10 national congresses
and to councils OF mature mindsi
Much; for the conception Of the Sab
bath School as the nursery Of the
Church only, has passed. and to-day
II is recognized as one OF the might
fest educational forces In the religious
world. Not even 10 the pulpit will 1t
acknowledge inferiority as force
moulding the nations conception Of
life and lis purpose. Add to this fact,
also recognized, that the Sabbath
School has for its field Of operation
life a, its most impressionable period,
and at a period when impressions are
most permanent, and II will not be
denied that the opportunity here az
forded for the cultivation Of true con-
eeption Of life in It's social and cor
porate relationships Is surpassed.
An appeal 10 history will show that
not few OF the worlds worthiest re-
formers received In early youth those
convictions that afterwards became
the battle cry Of great causes which
they ehampioned. Today in the wave
Of temperance sentiment, sweeping
victoriously over our continent, we
have the climax, the cumulative force,
OF quiet and unostentatious instrlc-
ton in temperance truth, impaired for
generation to constituency OF iif-
teen millions who have to-day become
the voters in Our lands,
High ideals Of life for the nation as
for the individual are not 10 be re-
garded as beyond either the eompre.
hension or the interest OF our Sab
bath School constituency.
What Is more profoundly affecting
our life as a people today than the
athletic craze which has gripped the
young manhood OF our age? And
what could be more profoundly i'm.
portant, and at the same time Of
greater interest to the youth OF any
community, than right thinking con-
cerning the relation which athletic
ism holds to life In hcw many
schools Is Saturdays baseball match
the theme OF conversation as the
class gathers on the following after.
noon. Can we teach these boys that
true greatness is spiritual and not
physicall Can we hold up spiritual
ideal that will prove conquering
attractioni To do this is
l truly TO serve our age, To-day, too
Naften the hero is the man who excells
Oh, the cinderpath or the diamond.
"The honors most sought after" a
Chicago professor assures us, "have
passed from the classroom to the
compus.' and yet the age Of the world
that cherished such ideals as these
the age whose heroes were men of
muscle, in which the physical was
worshipped and the spiritual sighted
was an age that by the cherishing of
such ideals, ripened itself for the
judgement of the Flood. This is the
great truth Of anti-deluvian history.
The age from which but eight souls
were saved alive, was an age whose
standards OF greatness we're physical,
and for which the heroic was the mas
sive and the muscular, To save the
youth Of our land from such ideals
of greatness is to serve the nation
and to serve our age
What shall the Sabbath School
teach with regard to the war spirit OF
today1 For ages the conception Of
national greatness has been that
which rests on the might of armies,
and upon success as a conquering
power. We are learning at last that
II is as true for the nation as for the
individual, that he who would be
greatest must be servant Of all, The
throne is no longer the place to which
one Is raised for adulation and honor,
it is now the vantage point from
which he may stoop to serve "lch
Diem" is the motto not alone Of Brit
aims heir-apparent, but Of every ruler
OF men worth the name, Britain and
AWerica are great today among na-
lions, their rulers are great in the
councils Of kings, not because Of con-
quest achieved, but because Of service
rendered, The liberties they have won
they have passed on to others; their
strength they have used not for sell
fish aggrandizement but for the up
lifting Of the oppressed, for the. pro-
lection Of the weak.
The Sabbath School rightly APP