Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1921-05-05
FOUR PASTORS DEDICATED SER
VICES SUNDAY TO CHILDREN


est antidote for this is study of Gods
word and performance of its COM
mands on the part of parents and
children"
Seventeen Pass
At the Reformed church Sunday a
class of seventeen young people who
for the past two years had been re-
ceiving catechetical instruction,
passed a creditable examination at
the morning service, after which the
pastor, the Rev H. H. Kattmann, spoke
on My son give me thine heart and
let thine eyes observe my ways" in
the German language and upon LET
your light shine" in the English Ian
guage. He said in part:
THE Lord is speaking through Sol
oman-giVe me your heart-which in
cludes the whole man. No compromise
is to be made with evil, however small,
but to sever all this with that, that is
opposed to the divine will. God asks
may teach, frgive and cleanse the in
dividual from all sin.
Time of Decisions
youth is very important period
of life. 1t is time of great decisions.
God is anxious to have both heart
(souD, and also the life consecrated
to his service. The thief upon the
cross received the promise to be with
Christ in paradise but his life was
wasted, for he had lived in sin and to
be crucified was his just punishment
according to his own confession. He
must have felt like the prisoner who
was converted on his deathbed, who
deplored the fact that he would. soon
be ushered into the presence of God
empty handed
''The past is gone. No change can
be made there. The present and the
future that God sees fit to grant us are
ours. For our good and for our joy
let us take heed of Bible truths and
give our heart to God and let our light
shine"
At the Methodist church, the Rev.
Richard Evans dedicated his morning
service to the children. "The ten
commandments are familiar to us all.
We remember them as list Of proba-
tions," he declared mine Of them
instruct us what we are not to do; one
tells us what we are to do. Nine are
negative; one is positive. The excep-
tional one instructs us to honor our
father and mother.
Here is another command, not in
cluded in the original ten. Unlike the
nine, and like the one, 1t Is positive
Also 1t is the counterpart of the posi-
'tiye sone Of the tens That one incul-
Gates honor to parents, this one incul-
Gates honor to children. Both are en-
phatic, urgent, imperative in the word
of God because they are written deep
and compelling n the needs of human
nature and the demands of human pro-
gress.
''The Hebrews have always observed
teh instructions of the text Hebrew
children always, down to our own day,
have been diligently instructed by
their parents IN the inspiring tradi-
tons and the noble religion of their
race. Moses and Samuel, builders of
their nation, molders of the morality
and religion of their people, benefac-
tors by their remarkable lives of all
succeeding generations, are conspic-
uous illustrations of the priceless
fruit of this parental training Later
the synagogue arose to powerfully
supplement the faithful instruction in
Hebrew homes.
Trace Solidarity
"To this practice, continued down
the ages, can be directly
traced the solidarity and influence of
the Hebrew home, the persistence of
the race in spite of unparalleled vi
cissitudes; and its virility and respect
for law today.
"The command has never been re-
pealed. 1t echoes down the centuries
and demands our attention today.
Note that il is not mere dogma pro-
pounded by an isolated body of re-
ligionists. 1t is not merely something
that we must believe on authority, and
obey because somebody said that we
must. 1t speaks principle that is
fundamental in human nature and is
demanded by the needs of well-ordered
society.
strange TO say, in our privileged
land 1t is neglected more than in any
other. One of our greatest blessings
is our freedom; but we proclaim it
and exaggerate it until this our virtue
becomes our handicap. In our en-
thusiasm for religious as well as poll
tical freedom some of us develop a
tendency to throw religion overheard
altogether. In our zeal for the sep
Grafton OF church and state we are
disposed to prohibit the state from
teaching even the universally accepted
fundamentals of religion in its instruc-
ton of our youth.
"One of the conditions in our mo-
dern life which menaces our future
is found in the marked percentage of
parents who seem utterly Indifferent
about the moral and religious welfare
Of their children.
Response TO Need
"The modern Sunday school is a
response to a real need. 1t was the
sight of children growing up wild and
ignorant amid a Christian civilization
that inspired in the great heart of
Robert Raikes the idea of gathering
them together on Sundays for instruc-
ton. From that humble beginning
has come one of the most salutary
movements of our day.
"The life of the church as well as
the future of society depends on it.
If the welfare of the world depends
largely on the church, that of the