The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1913-03-14
Organized Bible Study
Training Of Teachers
From Thursdays Daily.

thN NiShiS upoh thS SheAA -
program of the Sunday school rally
held in the Presbyterian church here
yesterday was based. The rally was
held under the auspices of the Fed
Grated churches of Mankato and vi.
entity and A. NJ. Locker of st. Paul,
general secretary of the Minnesota
Sunday School association, was in
charge of the meeting, and the prin'
cipal speaker on the program. A
moderate attendance was present al
all the meetings, Of which there
were three, forenoon, afternoon and
evening. Delegates from the out oil
town Sunday schools at which SER
vices have been held by the FEEDER
ated churches, were sent to the rally
and took great interest in the pro.
ceedings. Dinner and supper were
served in the church for the out OF
town delegates. Bradley's Crossing,
Kennedy's Bridge and Spring Island
were represented, besides most OF
the city Sunday schools. The story
of the services held yesterday fore
noon was told in yesterdays Free
Press.
Power of the Story.
After song service led by d. M.
Jones in the afternoon, Miss Helen
VI. Reynolds discoursed upon the
Power of the Story in the Sunday
School" To make her talk more
forceful and illustrative, Miss Reyn-
olds handled her subject in the form
of story. She told of boy who
had heard the story of the three
bears. 1T interested him so much,
said Miss Reynolds, that he wished
to hear the story told again and
again, and finally he wanted the
book in which the story was pub
lished in order that he might read
the tale for himself In little
while he was telling the story to
other boys and girls. Thus, by sim.
ply suggesting this story to the
boys mind. it was spread widely.
The story told in the Sunday school
to illustrate some point has great
impression upon the child's mind
He becomes interested, reads for
himself, understands, and then tells
the story to others. Is not then,
the lesson illustrated by a story the
biggest kind of a success? In the
public schools stories are used in
teaching children, and also older stu.
dents, why not use this method in
the Sunday SCHOOL," Miss Reynolds
also told the story of the life of the
shepherd, David. to illustrate the
twentythird psalm.
Rev. Edwards on 1.-THE Bible"
Rev. p. X. Edwards spoke for a
I,
The point he made was that we
need not accept all of the Bible as
absolute fact, if we cannot see it
that way; take parts of it as
drama. Then if we study it as
text, and study the lives and char.
acters of the men and women in the
drama, we may understand the trials
and troubles which they had, the
temptations before which some
stood and some fell, the battles
which were lost and won, and in
this way get the lesson in the entire
story in the Bible. In this way we
may learn to understand the God
which was with these people in all
their affairs. When we understand
how this God cared for, rewarded
and punished his people we have
only to apply the lesson learned to
our own lives, and the object of the
Word of God is accomplished.
After Rev. Mr.. Edwards address
d. NJ. Jones sang "Shall You, Shall
II" and was heartily applauded.
Use of the Bible.
The next speaker on the program
was Rev. c. w. Comstock of the
Christian church. and his topic was
the Effective Use of the Bible in
Teaching" He cenSured rightfully.
the people who were ignorant of the
Word of God, and cited some in
stances where knowledge of the Holy
Book was entirely lacking Every
teacher" he said, should have
copy of the American Revised edi-
ton of the Bible Then the teacher
should study his text book. The
students which he is to teach must
also be supplied with their own
Bibles and get thoroughly familiar
with them. | do not approve of the
use of lesson leaves and uuarterlies.
The students and the teacher should
have the Bible, and study it as his
common sense prompts him, and
with this book always at his side.
he may look up any verses or quota
ton referred to in the lesson.
think that we should memorize
parts of the Bible. The man who
does not know some of the best
passages in this book is not very
familiar with it and therefore is not
a very strong Christian And last,
and foremost in Importance, | would
have trained Sunday school teach.
ers. If / were a Sunday school
superintendent would not allow
any one to teach who was not
teacher training class graduate"
Rev. E. Constant, the new minis.
ter of the Congregational church,
heartily seconded Rev. Comstock and
emphasized the points which he had
made.
Teacher Training BY Or. Andrews.
DR.. j. W. Andrews, who has been
a Sunday school teacher for thirty.
five years, spoke on Teacher Train
ing" He supported heartily the
movement among the Sunday schools
to establish teacher training classes,
and said that the best results could
not be obtained if the teacher knew
no more about the Bible than the
and knew nothing about the
principles of teaching.
He said that he did not believe
L