The Anderson daily intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson, S.C.) 1914-1915, 1914-02-11
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL

States may be acknowledged as a
most efficient means of imparting re-
Iigious instruction to the young,
most effective recruiting agency for
the church where the teaching is done
by loyal pe-sons3paine in that work.
Some denominations were not so
ready to accept the Sunday School,
deeming it SAFEST for children to be
taught around the family altar, or
from the sacred desk, by the man of
God, trained in theology and in
church history.
But, thanks to the printing press
and to the great schools OF instruc-
tlon, there are today found in the
Sunday Schools teachersI ps capable
and as well informed as some OF the
men of the pulpit. The Sunday
School passed the experimental stage
more than 75 years aeB. There was
Sunday School i'm Norwich, Conn,
as early as 1875. Plymouth, Mass.
and Newton, Long Island. There was
one in Pennsylvania in 174O.
One OF the earliest, perhaps the
earliest establishment of Sunday
School IN The south, was by Bishop
Asbury in Hanover county, Virginia,
in 1886. In 1880 the "Firstday So
ciety" was formed in Philadelphia to
give religious iast1uctlon to poor
children. This society employed paid
teachers and in 1900 had 1000 sub
scribers. Boston and New York soon
after started a SIMILAR organization.
The negroes haSS had their Sunday
Schools since 1893 when Kate Fergu-
son, a black woman, organized them
in New York. Msnytsouthern preach
ers, before the war, taught their
slaves the Bible on Sundays. The late
DR.. Girardeau, the most eloquent
man the soutaefn Presbyterian
church has produced and a profound
scholar, taught and preached to the
slaves in Charleston, and mis- example
under those conditions and circum-
stances as a missionary is being
pointed to these days In certain ar
guments.
The spreading of the organization
or the Sunday Schools in this county
has been carried out by means of the
field secretaries. Most states have
their interdenominational State asso-
Citations. The first National con-
vention was held In New York In
1882. At the last national conyen.
tion 2,2Oo delegate were present.
In 1873 plaa Tor uniform Bible.
lessons was formally inaugurated
and these lessons EEter being adopted.
by Canada and England were called
international" While each denomi-
nstioa aprblisl IL own lesson. neips.t
Yet It Is fRlfiiing to think now many iisa
millions must hs-studying the same
lessons each Sunday. The modern
Sunday School seeks to reach all
sges, from infan to adult. The
"cradle Roll" In ludes children of
three years. The b 10 q home depart
ment for invaiiaS and others who
cannot attend and there are over
100000 on its rolls.
The Americana 8 Sunday School
union was organized in 1894. We have
not the iases. stsAtiesIcs hut ar .aaa
OF TIE immensity OF the work can be
ghtheFea from ssssissesal.aw.ng: I. has
circulated $l5.000,o00 worth of liter
ature; has published 1000 Volumes;
In the last ten years, has organized
$4,000 Sunday seh66ls3Rlth $4,000
members. It's benevolent work cost
sss5,G3G annually. IEtsIIi enrolment,
l91t, was i4.946,OOo pupils; 1.s77.oo0
teachers and officers aAid 175,0O0
Sunday Schools.
Great is the work apd blessed is
the future Of the supdey Schools.
. u b. = /. i 7 f. . ...t