QAAAAAAAAAAANARARADARAAME ) PACA LOKOAOKOLZOLAOOLOKO)R : MYMESSAGETO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS | MARION LAWRANCE rf i I! | | } ‘ 4 7 MARION LAWRANCE ee es », | SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS BY MARION LAWRANCE NEW YORK GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1924, BY GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY MY MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS — B-— PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA To the memory of JOHN VAN MATER The Sunday School teacher of my boyhood days; a teacher of the old school, but a man whose integrity, strong faith, simplicity of life, and love for his scholars, together with his loy- alty to God’s Word and his devotion to the Master he served, made an indeli- ble impression upon the seven boys who constituted his class in that little Ohio village— This book is gratefully dedicated ‘A a. ce ie es ae en A PERSONAL WORD “Tn response to an insistent and widespread demand,” CLG.5; Etc. So often have I read the above or similar words at the beginning of prefaces in books that I decided long ago I would never use them, for the reason that they appear to lend justification for one to rush into print when all the time that very thing was his determined purpose. The author, however, has decided to cast away his pride in the matter and launch this book upon the uncertain sea of popular favor, partly because the words quoted above hold true. This volume consists wholly of twenty-five Sunday School addresses given by the author throughout North America and various other parts of the world. They are printed, as far as possible, exactly as they were presented from the platform. During his experience of over a third of a century in this line of Christian activity, the one thing he has heard oftener than any other at the close of his ad- dresses (except, of course, that stock expression which may mean much or nothing, “I enjoyed your address”) has been one or the other of the following: “Ts that address in print ?” ; “Can I get it anywhere?’, ete. Not until recently has the author brought himself to the place where he was willing that some of his apparently best received addresses should be put down in cold, uncompro- mising type and laid before the reading Sunday School constituency. One reason for this hesitancy has been the consciousness that none of the addresses could claim any considerable degree of literary merit. Indeed, they are not addresses at all, but simply plain, homely, practical talks vii Vili A PERSONAL WORD growing out of personal experience, quite colloquial in their nature, and without attempt at polish or elegance. The author confesses that he has been influenced very largely in his decision to prepare this book not so much by the requests that have been made for the printed addresses as that he has been willing to take without discount the ex- pression he has often heard from earnest, conscientious Sun- day School workers, given with a warm handshake at the end | of a meeting, “You have helped me.” To help Sunday School workers has been the crowning ambition of my life, the burning passion of my soul. It is with the hope that those Sunday School officers and teach- ers who may read these addresses will find some real help for the tasks they have in hand, some encouragement when the way seems hard, some suggestion that will help them to make the grade, some word that will lead them to see that it is favthfulness and not success that is required of us—that. this book is sent forth with many prayers that the Heavenly Father may use it to the building up of His King- dom and the encouragement and strengthening of that Grandest of all Grand Armies—the two millions of Sunday School Officers and Teachers of America. Marion LAWRANCE. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I: TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK- Real men, real women, needed—Every man a hero, every woman a heroine—Better methods, better men—The heart of true religion—Leadership essential—Every person a leader— Every person a follower—Leadership only human problem— Leaders must lead—The leader as an organizer—Display of authority—KEssentials of right government—Necessity of vision—Vision first, realization afterwards—Must have faith —Work by a program—Loyalty to the vision—Loyalty to the Church—Everybody busy—Necessity of study—Must use one’s head—Read best books—A high aim—Lofty ambition— One’s greatest discovery—The Church’s failure—Enthusiasm an asset—The elixir of life—Patience essential—The Chris- tian’s hardest lesson—Humility the foundation of leadership —All great leaders humble—See the good—Love essential. 19 Ii: THE ROMANCE OF THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 39 The Rabbinical School—Courses of study—Use of library— School age—No vacations—Methods in Rabbinical Schools— Teachers of children—The breath of school children—Ezra’s Sunday School—Founding the Church—The Robert Raikes Movement—A visit to Gloucester—Robert Raikes’ idea— Early school in Savannah—The Sunday School and popular education—The Sunday School and the Penny Post—The modern Sunday School—The growth of lesson systems—The Sunday School army—The Sunday School inexpensive—Va- cation Bible Schools—Week-day Schools of Religion—The school of the future—Present-day ideals. fis cree ok OF THE FINE ARTS“) pie eo oie es OS Teaching as an art—Laws governing teaching—What it means to know how—Christ the Great Teacher—Teacher vs. curriculum—President Garfield and Mark Hopkins—What is teaching?—-What is learning?—The personal element—The teacher’s manner—The lesson itself—The lesson must live— The teacher’s method—Deductive teaching—Inductive teach- ing—The lesson and the message—The teacher’s motive— Pleasing God. ix x CONTENTS CHAPTER IV: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER’S DYNAMIC . The Good Samaritan—The unfortunate man—The innkeeper —The Priest and Levite—“Whatsoever thou spendest more” —Not absent treatment—Elisha and Gehazi—*I will repay thee”—Love beyond calculation—Blank check signed—“Thy cloak also”—The second mile—The plus life—The thing that costs—Not how little, but how much?—The teacher’s real test. Ve UNCONSCIOUS: LULTION fae ies cna Not training a mind, training a life—Teaching in silence— Nature’s greatest work—The teacher himself—Involuntary teaching—Incessant teaching—Inevitable teaching—Our meas- uring-rod—Our mental frame—Self-eontrol—Contentment— Confidence—Patience—Sincerity— Unselfishness—Sympathy— Cheerfulness—Earnestness—The teaching of the face-value of a smile—Avoid thunder-clouds—The scepter of the school- room—The voice—Charles G, Finney—Elizabeth Fry—The Scripture voice—The soft answer—The sum of it all—At- mosphere—Radiation—The life poured out—The shoe-leather binding. VI: THE TEACHER WITH THE SHEPHERD HEART VII: Visit to Shechem—Jerusalem Pilgrims—The shepherd’s flute —Gideon’s Pocl—The Shepherd Psalm—Knowing the sheep —Surroundings—Peculiarities — Possibilities — Limitations— Dangers—Leading the sheep—Going before—Right habits— Feeding the sheep—Right food—Right place—Right time— Protecting the sheep—From low ideals—False doctrines— Fool friends—Beasts of Ephesus—Seeking the lost—Ab- senteeism—Value of the visit—A beautiful picture—Giving one’s life—Living for others—Real teaching—Peter Cart- wright—My Shepherd. THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER BETWEEN SUN- DAYS USES WERT ME iri armen ea yr CUM fae en The everyday teacher—The big week-day task—Reviewing last Sunday—-Studying experiences—Cause of failure—Cause of success—Looking up absentees—Value of personal touch —The telephone—The personal letter—The printed card— The scholar’s right—“Left”—Sickness in the home—Keeping scholars busy—Cultivating the social side—Looking forward —Planning for the future—Right use of lesson helps—How to study—Preparing one’s self. VIII: THE TEACHER AT THE GRINDSTONE . The teaching pivot—The teacher’s rank—The teacher and the lessons—Preparation and training—The “why” of our work— How to learn how—General knowledge of the Bible—A study of the mind—The laws of teaching—Value of systematic reading—The place of the Workers’ Library—Not “must,” PAGE 61 69 79 91 99 CONTENTS xi CHAPTER PAGE but “may”—Specifie preparation—How to prepare—Gather- ing material—Arranging material—Building around central truth—Not too much—Observe the time limit—Have defi- nite aim—Begin early—Study daily—Bible first—Prepare copiously—Prepare prayerfully—Prepare one’s self—Pray— Pour out—Pull in. te Ra eo Ry LAU ek CRON eye osetia sie sindge trey CRT OO Illustrations that illustrate—The windows in the house— Wholesome illustrations—Positive, rather than negative— Source of best illustrations—How to find them—§$800 a word —The bell-cord—The fruit-basket—One’s glasses—Snow fences—Best illustrations—Man on a bicycle—Overdoing il- lustrations—The key to the best illustrations—Christ’s method of comparison—“‘Like.” &X: THE ART OF ASKING QUESTIONS AS Ae a E18 Lord Bacon—The question-book—Scepter of power—Value of repetition—Living question-marks—Select questions in advance—Arrange in proper order—Question the class—Do not question individuals—Never repeat question—Avoid lead- ing questions—Not in_ rotation—Question all—Question should tell littlh—Three kinds of questions—The uses of oil —Socrates and Meno—Teaching by questioning—The phi- losophy of the question. XI: A NEW VOCATION—DIRECTOR OF RELIGIOUS EDU- CATION IN THE LOCAL CHURCH. ... 127 The Grand Army—Present conditions—The Church’s ier of vision—The result to the Sunday School—Sunday School and football—Religious education—Taking the matter seriously —The dawn of a new day—Proper equipment—Books and periodicals—Colleges getting vision—Summer schools and camps—Training in local Churches—Week-day Schools of Religion—Vacation Bible Schools—Trained teachers neces- sary—The new vocation—A new avocation—Director of Re- ligious Education—Unified program of religious education —The coming day—Covers entire Church—A real danger— The call to service—The great challenge of to-day. XII: THE WHY OF TEACHER-TRAINING. . - 136 Must know how—Training essential—“‘Ye shall scl the “truth”—“The truth shall make you free’—Character-build- ing—“Workmen, not ashamed”—Must know why we teach— Must know what we teach—Must know whom we teach— Psychology—Mothers—Daniel 12: 3—Must know how to teach —Learning from Jesus—Following Jesus’ methods—All teaching constructive—Teaching interesting—Adaptation to scholars—Brevity of time—Should have teacher-training class —Method of teacher-training—How to start the class—How to make it successful—The “West Point” of the Sunday School. X11 CONTENTS CHAPTER AIIT: XIV: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND MISSIONARY TRAIN- ING e ° ° e ° ° ° e . e e e * The business of the Church—Under marching orders—“Go— Teach”—Christ’s estimate—Bishop Taylor’s opinion—Living by conquest—A prophet in Babylon—Strong testimonials— Mission schools vs. homeland schools—A missionary depart- ment—How to organize—Good missionary books—Mission- ary program—tThe school must know—The school must pray —The school will pay—Principles of missionary giving—The duplex envelope—Systematic instruction in giving—$10 for Porto Rico—Losing one’s Bible—The school will glow—The school with life—The school will grow—The story of the turtle—Making a cake for God first. METHODS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL EVANGELISM . Evangelism defined—Vitalizing regular services—The hot- house method—An evangelistic atmosphere—Pastor’s Class— How to organize—How to conduct—Helpful material—Spe- cial meetings—Their value—Their danger—Decision Day— Used and abused—How to conduct—Various methods—One great blunder—Preparation necessary—Sometimes a confes- sion—Chickens and a garden—Mrs. Kennedy’s Decision Day —Forward Step Day—Defined—Its great value—Why better than Decision Day—Personal work—Everyday work—Good books to read—The personal touch. XV: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AND ITS THROUGH-THE- XVI; WEEK ACTIVITIES hii metan ist inte . Last all the week—Fifty-two weeks a year—Men and Re- ligion Campaign—The fruits and the roots—The value of a good program—Social service—Activities for pleasure— Esprit de corps—Activities for personal helpfulness—Phys- ical—Mental—Many-sided program—Avenues for helpfulness —Blessings to the shut-ins—The down-and-outs—Value of organized classes—Keeping down the weeds—Work with chil- dren—W ork for children—The appeal of mission enterprises —The gospel of helpfulness. THE BIG BOY PROBLEM wp rin ye Ge win alee eae No such problem—Problem lies deeper—One of leadership— Fallacy of theory—Must know the boys—Cultivating habit— Bidding for boys—Horace Mann—The value of one boy— Sunday School and the saloon—Barring prison doors—Boys not in the Sunday School—Why boys are not attracted— Must be a reason—Boys go where they want to go—Chummy fathers—Parents to blame—Church members to blame—Su- perintendents to blame—Do not keep eighteen-year-olds in knee-pants—Tough flour—Responding to the heroic—Boys can be gotten in—See things from the boy’s standpoint— Set high ideals—Make the school worth while—Pipe-organ talk to grown folks, jews’-harp talk to boys—Go after them PAGH 144, 154 165 171 CONTENTS CHAPTER systematically—How John A. Logan went to the Senate—Go after them regularly, persistently—How to hold the boys— Believe in them—Have a place for them—Be interested in what they are interested in—Keep the boys busy—Know their names—Don’t “don’t”—Don’t treat all boys alike—Make the lesson real—Keep close to the boys—Sympathize with the boys—Trust the boys—Love the boys—Appeal to the heroic. XVII: THE CHALLENGE OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL . Sunday School not understood—A broader vision—Adequate provision—A larger faith—The great power of the school— Judge Fawcett—Builders—Not menders of broken earthen- ware—Story of Benjamin Dix—Teaching of the real Gospel —Bookish lessons fail—Vital lessons hold—Deeper personal consecration—The first wireless message—God’s great wire- less—Shooting arrows. XVIII: THE HOME, THE SUNDAY SCHOOL, AND THE he NATION ° e ° e e ° e e e ° Civilization on trial—World upside down—Scramble for money—Pleasure-mad—Motors and movies—God’s holiest school—The home is the jackscrew—Rescuing vs. preventing —Moody’s testimony—The Cotter’s Saturday Night—The great home Book—Where parents are Christians—Where parents are not Christians—Montessori method—Children of yesterday, heirs of to-morrow—Only right homes can save a nation—Children chief asset—Roger Babson’s testimony— Power of the Sunday School—What about the twelve mil- lion?—Can a nation live without God?—Can a selfish democ- racy survive?—Public schools of America—Reconstruction of the world—Only way to prevent wars—Testimony of the great pickle man, H. J. Heinz—Two neighbor boys—One a missionary, the other assassinated a President—What makes the difference?—Agencies that wreck nations—Bolshevik Sun- day Schools—“There is no God”—Testimonials of Presidents —Heroes of war—Heroes of peace—The great army of Sun- day School teachers. THE PASTOR AND THE SUPERINTENDENT . . Must pull together—Not go tandem—Pastor with school vision —Superintendent with Church vision—Pastor and the Sunday School—Sunday School Pastors—President Mullins’ testi- mony—Stealing time—Pastor’s responsibility—Multiplying one’s usefulness—The hostile Pastor—The indifferent Pastor —The officious Pastor—The sympathetic Pastor—The codp- erating Pastor—The Pastor and religious education—The rights of the Sunday School—The Superintendent’s office— His election—As a disciplinarian—His attitude toward the Church—Sunday School machinery—An educational vision— Social program—Spiritual insight—Avoiding sensational methods—Standing by the Church—Beautiful fellowship. x1il PAGH 192 201 218 X1V CONTENTS CHAPTER XX; SUNDAY SCHOOL EFFICIENCY . .~ . « « ¢ XXI: The great word of to-day—The man and the firefly—Can the Sunday School become efficient?—“That Something”— Picking up nails—Bringing things to pass—F rom $10 a week to $50,000 a year—The inefficiency of running empty cars— The profit of the by-products—Sunday School equipment— What is adequate equipment?—How to build a Sunday School building—How to equip a Sunday School building— Organizing for efficiency—Doing the right thing—Grading— What and how—The courses of study—Financing the school —The program of the school—Evangelism—Training for service—Social activities—Judged by the output. SIX SUNDAY SCHOOL ESSENTIALS Paths . Things that must be—Other things that may be—A right conception of the school—Revaluation—The sleeping giant— Roused and harnessed—The Church’s powerhouse—Drill- ground—A laboratory—The great dynamic—The convention system—Builder of nations—Golden Gate—Codperation, not competition—Getting by giving—Growing by helping—The Church and the school—The Church should stand by—The challenge of conquest—The beginning of mutiny—Undertake large things—Grow, but not too fast—Go after the people— Stress religious education—Haphazard methods never ar- rive—Plan the work, work the plan—Can’t kick and pull at the same time—Must know how—Trained leadership—The virtue of constancy—Stick-to-it-ive-ness—Faithfulness vs. brilliancy—Consecration—Love and devotion—The living touch—The greatest joy in the world. XXII: THE SUNDAY SCHOOL AS AN INVESTMENT. . Will it pay?—Does it pay?—The test in the shop—The fish- worm, the fish, and the fisherman—Sunday School pays so- cially—Brings the people together—Provides healthful sur- roundings—Multiplies acquaintances—It pays civicly—Stands for good citizenship—Many fine testimonials—It exalts the Bible—Pays financially—Puts dollars into Church treasury, for dimes that it costs—Trying to capture Villa—Trained in giving—The Sunday School a financial asset—Pays educa- tionally—The Sunday School and the public school—More Sunday School teachers than day-school teachers—The great army of a million and a half—Cannot judge by single cases of ignorance—Sunday School pays spiritually—The Church’s greatest feeder—The whitest part of the Church’s field— Sunday School the underminer of paganism—A profitable in- vestment from every standpoint. XXIII: SUNDAY SCHOOL BEATITUDES Making the school believe in itself—Holding up its head— Knows where it’s going—Will have no ragged edges—Has right relationship with the Church—Exalts helpful worship —Emphasizes religious education—Secures a trained leader- 236 244 255 CONTENTS XV CHAPTER PAGH ship—Conducts a Workers’ Council—Codperates in com- munity enterprises—Does not go to sleep at the switch— Maintains a missionary spirit—Carries on graded, through- the-week activities—Teaches the religion of patriotism— Maintains an evangelistic atmosphere. XXIV: THE ACID TEST—FIFTY-SEVEN VARIETIES. . 265 What is it?--What is success?—What is failure?—The loftiest ambition—Being self-centered—The value of self-denial— Criticize or commend—The tongue a sharp sword—Keeping secrets—Loving a child—Sticking—Advertising one’s religion —Confessing our mistakes—Self-control—The sacredness of the home—God’s Book—Praying for others—Seecing what goes on—Being happy alone—The value of time—Borrowing lead pencils—Holding your temper—Care of your person— Happy doing drudgeries—Looking in a mudhole—Invoicing one’s graces and disgraces—Attitude toward old age. XXV: ESSENTIALS OF LEADERSHIP IN CHRISTIAN WhO RR Rese foie sere fa anh Bes AWN Vs Only human problem—Wise leadership essential—Qualifica- tions for leadership—Humility—Lowliness and kingliness— Unselfishness ——-Meekness—Purpose—Confidence—Personality —Leadership not vested in titles—Quietness—Self-Control— “Study to be quiet”—Patience—Sympathy—Sincerity—Self- surrender— Willingness to obey—Love of the Cause—Love for great leaders—The Matchless Leader—The cost of leader- tag 18 penalty of leadership—The challenge of leader- ship. 279 NAR at A 4 ay. ay fot, a? a Le a Rie the mn Miho Hs A Mi r MY MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS MY MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS I TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS COMMANDMENT NUMBER ONE “Thou Shalt Be a Man—or a Woman” I do not mean just a person. I mean a real man or a real woman—true, strong, genuine, clean, courageous, hon- ored, above reproach, four-square, with high ideals and noble character. If I were speaking to dry-goods men, I should say, “‘All wool and a yard wide.” If I were speaking to lumbermen, I should say, “Forty feet high, without a knot or a limb.” Real men, real women, I am talking about; if a man, a hero for every boy who knows him, a man the boys would like to imitate and follow; if a woman, a heroine for every girl who knows her, somebody to whom the girls will look up to and desire to follow. Real men, real women, I am talking about, those who will be missed when they pass away but will not leave a vacant place behind them, because their places will be filled and more than filled by those who have been inspired by them to make their lives count also in God’s service. “Men are seeking better methods but God is seeking better men.” “The heart of true religion is the religion of the heart.” I have nine other commandments to give to you, but this 19 20 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS is the sum of all of them. Commandment Number One— “Thou shalt be a man—or a woman.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER TWO “Thou Shalt Be a Leader’ The world is waiting for leaders. Indeed, the world is greedy for leadership. People are like sheep: they will always follow one another. The world only waits to hear the voice of a leader, and then it follows. The tragedy of it is that every leader has a following, whether he be a good leader or a bad leader. This is the reason we have so many fads and ’isms and ’osophies and sects. That great Christian statesman, John R. Mott, has said that wherever the Church has failed, it has been because of inadequate leadership. Likewise, the reverse of this is true, that wherever we find success in the Church or in any depart- ment of it, we are sure to find good leadership. Indeed, leadership, humanly speaking, is the only problem before the Church. Wherever we go, we hear of the “boy prob- lem,” the “girl problem,” the “organization problem,” the “financial problem,” etc., etc. Friends, there are no such problems; the only problem is the problem of leadership. When the right leader is discovered, the “boy problem” dis- appears. The same is true of all the other problems of the © Church. What is a leader? The best definition I know is given by Bishop Charles H. Brent, in his fine book entitled, ““Lzap- ERSHIP.” Bishop Brent, of the Episcopal Church, it will be remembered, was Dean of the Chaplains of the American Forces during the great war. In his magnificent book, he gives this definition of a leader: “‘A leader is the foremost among companions.” This means that a leader goes before those he leads but is not separated from them. He must remain with those he seeks to lead. He may be able to TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS 21 go faster than they go but if he does, he ceases to be a leader. No one can lead a flock of sheep any faster than that flock of sheep will go. Many an enthusiastic delegate at a Sunday School convention, especially among superintendents, returns home to his local work with a notebook full of fine ideas and a determination to put them all into practice. He forgets that those upon whom he must depend for the success of his plans have not been under the spell and enthusiasm of the convention that stirred him up. All too often, he seeks to introduce these new methods and plans, and soon wakes up to the fact that he is running on ahead, and all by himself, because the rest could not keep up with him. A leader must know the road. He must know where he is going, or he will not know when he gets there. Of course, a leader leads. I need not remind you that the greatest leaders of the world have been Church leaders. To be sure, we have had great leaders in all lines of activity, in state- craft and war, the sciences and the professions, but it is still true that if we were to select the one hundred men and women who have made the largest contribution to the world for righteousness and advancement, a large majority of them would be Church leaders. A leader is an organizer. A good leader, therefore, never does anything he can get anybody else to do, for while others are carrying out some of the plans he has carefully laid for them, he can be making plans for still others, along another line. Organization is essential to good leadership. Organization is simply system, method, economy. It does things right end first and with the least expenditure of time, money, and men. Well do I remember on one occasion addressing a large number of managers and department heads for the H. J. Heinz Company at Pittsburgh. I had been invited on a number of occasions to address these men, because I had been a salesman myself. On the occasion referred to, a sign had been painted and hung up on the wall, over the speaker’s desk. This sign, which was written 22 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS by Mr. Heinz himself, read as follows: “Find your man; train your man; inspire your man; and you will hold your man.” ‘This was good pickle sense and it is good Sunday School sense as well. A real leader spends much time direct- ing those who are to carry out his plans. He will train them for their tasks and inspire them, so that each one will feel that his part is absolutely essential to success. This is the essence of leadership. A leader who can inspire those who are to follow him may be sure of success. It is true in war, and it is true in civil life. It is likewise true in the Church or Sunday School. A leader who inspires others to carry out his wishes makes them, in turn, leaders in their departments and starts them on the way to be leaders in larger tasks. Years ago, there used to be a game played upon the school grounds, called, “Pom pom pull away.” One boy was usually chosen captain and called “It.” Many of us could qualify under that classification! “It”? would take his stand at one end of the school grounds and all the other scholars would line up at the other end. When “It” would call or give the proper signal, all the rest would run and endeavor to reach the line at the other end of the grounds. Meanwhile, ‘It? would endeavor to touch any of the other boys or girls, as they passed, and every one he touched became likewise an “It” and played on his side from then on. In other words, the game was for the leader to make leaders of all he touched. This’is the principle. May I pass on two proverbs having to do with leadership ? One of them is this: “Every display of authority lessens authority.” When the superintendent, for example, begins to bang his bell and call for order, and perhaps say that he did not have order last week but is going to have order to-day or know the reason why, he will not have order and he will not know why. Order does not come by demanding it. The best way for a superintendent to secure order is to be him- self in order and to have something to present that is worthy TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS — 23 of the attention of the school, Another proverb is just as significant as that, namely: “They govern best who appear not to govern at all.” Commandment Number Two—“Thou shalt be a leader.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER THREE “Thou Shalt Have a Vision’ Every pastor should have two Churches, every superin- tendent two Sunday Schools, and every teacher two classes: one in his head—the other in the building. The one in his head is his blue-print, his ideal, his aim. This is what he is trying to bring to pass. This ideal should always be higher than and beyond the reality; then it will be an inspiration. When one has reached his ideal, whether it be in Church, school, class, business, or daily life, his work on earth is done. He is overdue on “Hallelujah Avenue.” The tasks of the world are done by those who have visions that surpass their present achievement. One never goes be- yond his vision or his ideal. The great tasks of the world are accomplished by those who have great visions. When God wanted to plant a new nation and desired a leader for that nation, He gave to Abraham a new vision. In Genesis 15:5, the incident is recorded: God, through His angel, called Abraham out from under his tent on a bright, starry night. The four words I would like to have my readers remember are these words of God to Abraham: “Look now toward heaven.” What was God doing? He was changing Abraham’s tent vision to a sky vision. He was telling Abraham that his children would outnumber all the stars of heaven, which could not be counted. ‘There are many Christian workers who to-day have little more than a tent vision. When one’s interest is bounded by the walls of his own Church, or his own denomination, or his own city or state on country, he has still a tent vision. The 24. MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS word that has come to us is that “God so loved the world.” The great achievements of our present day are reached by men with lofty visions. When I go into New York City over the Pennsylvania Lines, I like to stand before the figure of Mr. Cassatt, formerly president of that railway system. He had a vision of some day running his railroad under the great river and bringing it up in the heart of the metropolis. It cost fifty millions of dollars, we are told, but he realized his vision. Another great man had a vision of one day running steamships from New York to San Francisco without going around Cape Horn. He went down to Panama and the mountains stood aside. Now the ships go through. It is the vision of the sheepskin at the end of the college course that drives the student to his task, not simply because of the diploma itself but what it represents of preparation for the work of life. There are those who have visions and stop at that. They are called “dreamers.” There are others who work away at their tasks, like the man with the muck-rake, and never look up to things beyond or above. They are called “drudges.” What we need in our Sunday School work is heaven-born visions and then to harness those visions to the concrete task of our school or class. Then something worth while will be accomplished. No superintendent will have a really good school who has not a vision that far surpasses his present attainments. It is always well to look ahead. I like those words of Dr. Lyman Abbott, spoken just a little while before his death at eighty-six years of age: “I have made it the rule of my life always to stand in the bow of the boat.” Commandment Number Three—‘“‘Thou shalt have a vision.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER FOUR “Thou Shalt Have Faith’ We should remember that God still rules. We should have faith in God. Sometimes it appears as if His plans TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS = 25 were all being overthrown, and yet our faith should not be shaken. We should have faith in God’s Word. It is our guide-book, our compass to keep us in the way. God’s Word will not return unto Him void. He has said it, and it is true. We should have faith in God’s program. All through His Word, we find the program running, and His plan for the redemption of His people runs through it all like the scarlet thread through the cordage of England’s navy. The prophets, priests, kings, and judges all came in their proper order and just as it had been planned. Christ Himself came ‘in the fullness of time,” and when Christ was here, He worked by a program. How often we hear Him say, “Mine hour is not yet come.”” What does it mean, except that He was working by a program; but on the last night, the hour of His betrayal and the awful Garden scene, it was not so—‘Mine hour is fully come,” said He, as He went to His betrayal. God has a program for His work, and we should aim to discover what it is and do our part to carry it out. There are those who believe that in this great program the Hight- eenth Century discovered man, the Nineteenth Century dis- covered woman, the Twentieth Century is discovering the child. Never before has the child occupied such a place in all the planning for the work of God as at the present day. The little child that Jesus put in the midst is still in the midst and is coming to be more and more the center of God’s great program. We should have faith in the Church. It is the only institution Jesus planted while on earth, and His spirit still abides in it. The Church has many wrinkles and short- comings, as we all know, but it is nevertheless a divinely instituted organization. It should be remembered that there has never been a great reform in all the world that did not either originate in the Church or owe its success to the Church. In a notable article that appeared in one of our leading periodicals recently, entitled, “The Little Church ' 26 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS on Main Street,’ it is made very plain that the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution of our country owes its passage to the little Church on Main Street, by which is meant the average Church of our land, and this against six of the most powerful organizations imaginable, one of them controlling billions of dollars and standing for the liquor interests. We should have faith in the Sunday School. We all rec- ognize that the Sunday School is not an institution by itself but is the Church engaged in one of its leading activities, that of imparting religious education to young and old. The Sunday School has come in response to a demand that could not be turned aside, and is meeting a need that was never met before. When the Church learns to function through its Sunday School as it should, and not make it simply a side issue among its activities, then we shall see results that we do not dream about to-day. We should have faith in ourselves, and believe that God has a place for each of us in carrying out His plan. We should have faith in the possibility of success, for we are sure of success if we follow God’s leadership. Virgil said, speaking of some of his characters, “They can because they think they can.” We should remember that the tasks of the world and the tasks of the Church are accomplished by those who believe they can be done and that they have been called to undertake them. Commandment Number Four—“Thou shalt have faith.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER FIVE “Thou Shalt Be Loyal’ Loyal to your vision. Loyal to your highest ideals. Ex- pediency may determine methods but expediency should never determine motives. We should be loyal to the Church and loyal to the Pastor. Occasionally, we find Sunday TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS = 27 School workers who are exceedingly enthusiastic about the Sunday School and its activities. They are always found in Sunday School conventions and gatherings of various sorts, but they do not stand by the preaching services or the regular activities of the Church. All such are unworthy of the name of Christian workers. Our Lord and Saviour did not come to the earth to plant two organizations, the Church and the Sunday School. He planted the Church, and the Sunday School is one of its legitimate activi- ties. We should be loyal to our associates, loyal to those we direct, remembering that nobody can properly give com- mands who has not learned to obey commands. We are in the positions of authority by the action of those we lead, and this should never be forgotten. We should be loyal to the patriotic ideals of our country. Christ Himself taught loyalty to one’s native land. It is altogether proper to display the national colors and give them the proper salute at proper times. We should be loyal to our Lord’s last and great command, which will give the missionary emphasis to all our work: “Go ye into all the world,” “Teach all nations.” It is a very serious question, whether any one can be called a loyal Christian who does not take hold somewhere and do his share of the Church’s work. One of the great tragedies of our day in Sunday School work is that classes by the hundreds disappear because it is impossible to secure teachers in sufficient number. The personnel of our Sunday Schools changes approximately twenty-five per cent. a year, and largely because of this same difficulty in securing teachers; and yet the average Church holds in its membership plenty of college-grade men and women who might do this work if they would. Upon them rests largely the responsibility for the thousands, and, indeed, hundreds of thousands of scholars who drop out of our Sunday Schools every year, never to return. A Church member who can work and 28 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS will not work is no better than a dead one and takes more room. Commandment Number Five—“Thou shalt be loyal.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER SIX “Thou Shalt Be a Student’ This means that we should study, read, and think. In this way we grow, even if we do not apply all the things we read. Browning said, ‘‘A man’s reach should exceed his erasp, or what’s a heaven for?’ Superintendents who run back and forth from one Sunday to the other, always doing the same thing in the same way, are running on a single track with a turn-table at each end. Trains on that kind of a track carry little freight. It was said of a certain man, ‘‘He does his business with a borrowed brain, and all his mental furniture he got on the installment plan.” Origi- nality comes from thinking and studying. Learning others’ methods does not mean that we are to follow them, but we are quickened thereby to make new methods of our own which have the advantage of being home-made. The super- intendent should study his own school, the teacher his own class, and yet they should visit other schools and classes and find how other people do their work. Studying other people’s methods is a good way of improving our own. The Sunday School worker should keep in touch with the Sunday School world. | To be a student means that one should use his head. We certainly should be as wise as the woodpecker: “The woodpecker pecks Out a great many specks Of sawdust when building his hut. He works like a digger To make his hole bigger, He’s sore if his cutter won’t cut. TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS 29 He’ll not bother with plans Of cheap artisans, But one thing can rightly be said, The whole excavation Has this explanation: He builds it by using his head.” Sunday School workers should avail themselves of every means of improvement and growth. This means that they should go to conventions and training schools, denomi- national and interdenominational, and when they return should pass on the good things they have learned to the other officers and teachers in the school. The local school should have a workers’ library, made up of carefully selected books on all practical phases of the work. They should adopt the best lessons. They should put into practice the very best methods, realizing that to- day’s problems cannot be solved by yesterday’s methods. A real student always remains young, no matter how rapidly the years may pass, for no one ever grows old until he stops growing. Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “It is better to be eighty years young than forty years old.” When one stops learning and ceases to take an interest in his fellow men, he begins to grow old, and his spiritual arteries begin to harden. Commandment Number Six—“Thou shalt be a student.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER SEVEN “Thou Shalt Be Ambitious” This means to have a high aim—not ambition for self- preferment, but ambition for the cause. One can never shoot arrows into the sun, but they go higher if aimed at the sun than if aimed at the cellar. We should remember that our schools will never surpass our aim and our ambition for them. We should not seek wholly for numbers, but 30 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS seek to have a really good school. We are not to be am- bitious to beat others, but to beat ourselves. I like the ad- vertisement of a candy manufacturing firm in New York: “Our only competitor is ‘Yesterday.’” This means that they are not trying simply to make better candy than any- body else, but they are seeking to make better candy to-day than they made yesterday. It is better to beat ourselves than to beat others. or this reason, I have little sympathy with the high-pressure methods of securing Sunday School members. ‘These methods often lead to unworthy means, as many a superintendent can testify whose scholars have been stolen to feed the ambition of somebody else, lest the “Reds” should beat the ‘Blues,” or the “Blues” beat the “Reds.” It is just as wrong to steal scholars from others as it is to steal money from another’s pocket. Workers should be ambitious to have the very best school possible to have by the employment of right methods. One of the highest ambitions, however, is to see that our places are filled when we are gone and that others are trained to take places that will soon be left vacant. I be- lieve the highest ambition a minister can have is to be the means of leading young men into the ministry. A Church that does not send as many young men into the ministry as the number of pastors it uses up is a parasite on its de- nomination. It makes other Churches raise up its ministers for it. The highest ambition a superintendent can have is to train his associates in office, so they can take his place. Somebody has said that a good superintendent is like a good doctor—he renders his best service when he renders his service unnecessary. Likewise, the highest ambition for a teacher is to raise up pupils who will be better teachers than he has been. On one occasion, we are told, Sir Humphrey Davey, the eminent scientist, was asked what his greatest discovery was. It was thought that he would pro- duce, perhaps, a chart of the heavens and show some star TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS © 31 or constellation that he had discovered. Not so! He said, “My greatest discovery was Michael Faraday.” This was one of his pupils. Sunday School workers, we should be ambitious for the best things. Let none of our plans suggest smallness. All of our ambitions, however, for the Sunday School will not be fully realized until the Church comes to realize the value of the Sunday School more than it does to-day. In a recent survey of a typical American city of fifty thousand inhab- itants it was discovered that the average Church member gave annually for the support of the Church, $24.84; for the cause of Missions, $4.00; for Music, $1.48; for the Janitor, $1.07; for the Sunday School, forty-six cents! It was likewise discovered that out of every dollar given for general Church work, by the average Church member, only about two cents went into the Sunday School work. Until this unfortunate condition is remedied, the Sunday School will never function as it should. Commandment Number —Seven—“Thou shalt be ambitious.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER EIGHT “Thou Shalt Be Enthusiastic” ‘Enthusiasm is the greatest business asset in the world.” Enthusiasm is being awake. It is the tingling of every fiber of one’s being to do the work that one’s heart desires. Single-handed, the enthusiast convinces and dominates by the very force of his spirit. Enthusiasm is nothing more than faith in action, and it achieves the impossible. Set the germ of enthusiasm afloat in your school, in your Church, in your district, in your county association. Carry it in your attitude and manner. It spreads like contagion and influ- ences every one. It gets results of which you never dreamed. Many a Sunday School has been talked to death, because people continually said, “Our Sunday School is dead!” Well 32 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS does the writer recall that on numerous occasions, in con- ventions, he has been asked the question in public, “Our school is dead. What should we do?” It is well to remem- ber that Christian people are supposed to believe in the resurrection of the dead, and to proceed to have a resurrec- tion in that particular school. It is not always out of place to say, when some one informs you that his school is dead, that it is just as well not to say anything about it, for there is an unwritten law in the land that wherever a corpse is found, those next to it are under suspicion. To be alive, talk life! To be dead, talk death! : Keep up your courage. Have good cheer. Carry a smil- ing face. Wear your welcome in your face, rather than simply on the door-mat. Have a hand that knows how to shake, and use it, giving a real, genuine handshake back of the third row of joints. Refuse to give up. Insist that the sun is ever shining or will shine soon. “The joy of the Lord is your strength,” the Bible says. Some Sunday Schools these days are adopting, as their slogan: “Our Sunday School must glow and grow and go, and I will help to make it so.” “Enthusiasm for God is the true elixir of life.” Commandment Number Eight—“Thou shalt be enthusiastic.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER NINE “Thou Shalt Be Patient’ ‘He who can have patience can have what he will.” Mil- ton says, ‘Patience is the exercise of saints and victor over all that tyranny or fortune can inflict.” When you lose your patience, if you are fat, you lose your breath; if you are a speaker, you lose your audience; if you are a politician, you will probably lose your election; if you are in an argu- ment, you are likely to lose your point; if you are a father or mother and lose your patience with your boy or girl, TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS — 33 you lose more than you can make up in many a day. It is a hard lesson to learn, but it must be learned. How beautifully the lesson of patience is illustrated in Patterson Du Bois’s charming little book entitled, ‘““Brcxon- Inas FRoM Lirrie Hanns.” Those who have read it will never forget the first two chapters, “The Fire Builders,” and how the author of the book himself learned the lesson of patience, even though it was hard to learn. It is one of the strangest things in all the world that we lose our patience most quickly, it sometimes appears, with those we love the best. Things that would pass by as of little conse- quence, in a neighbor’s home, would be severely criticized in our own, oftentimes. We lose patience too easily with our own boys and girls. How well do I remember losing my patience and control when my boy was but seven years of age. I punished him and punished him severely, only to learn a little later that he was not guilty at all of the thing for which I punished him. Friends, I could not have said my prayers if I had not taken that little fellow on my knee and said to him, calling him by name, “Father is sorry. He did wrong. He punished you when you did not deserve it. Forgive me, and I will try to be a better father.” The pressure of those little arms around the neck and the boyish kiss upon a tear- ful face drove away the sting, and there was no more pain. In many homes, the children seek to find comfort in their playthings, in their toys and dolls, because father and mother are not patient with them. This thought was beauti- fully expressed by Coventry Patmore, in lines quoted in that same choice book mentioned above: “My little son who looked from thoughtful eyes, And moved and spoke in quiet, grown-up wise, Having my law the seventh time disobeyed, I struck him and dismissed With hard words and unkissed— His mother, who was patient, being dead. 384 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS Then, fearing lest his grief should hinder actin I visited his bed, But found him slumbering deep, With darkened eyelids, and their lashes yet From his late sobbing wet. And I, with moan, Kissing away his tears, left others of my own; For, on a table drawn beside his head, He had put within his reach, A box of counters and a red-veined stone, A piece of glass abraided by the beach, And six or seven shells, A bottle with bluebells, And two French copper coins, ranged there with careful art, To comfort his sad heart.” Commandment Number Nine—“Thou shalt be patient.” COMMANDMENT NUMBER TEN “Thou Shalt Be Humble” In Bishop Brent’s book already referred to, entitled, “LEADERSHIP,” he says that humility is the chief and under- lying basis of all true leadership. A leader without humil- ity is a bully or a driver. Without doubt, the greatest leader mentioned in the Bible, next to the Master Himself, was Moses, and yet of him it was said that he was the meckest of men. “Who am I?” said Moses, when God set him apart to lead the people out of bondage into the Promised Land. He could not even talk. Thank God for some leaders who do not talk, at least not overmuch. Kingliness and lowli- ness go together. What a marked example of this was our beloved and martyred President, Abraham Lincoln. When leaving his home city of Springfield, Illinois, to take up his office at TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS = 35 Washington, and his neighbors gathered about to bid him farewell, he said to them, among other things, “I do not count myself fit to be President of the United States.” Later, during the great Civil War, when matters were not going satisfactorily on the Potomac, the great President went down to visit the field and talk matters over with the Gen- eral. Upon arrival, he sent his orderly to inform the Gen- eral that the President was there and would like to see him. In reply, the General said, in substance, “If the President desires to see me, he can easily find my tent.” The orderly, according to the story, was furious, and said to the President, ‘““Do you mean to take an insult like that ?” upon which Lincoln replied, “I do not mean to take an insult at all. Show me the way to the General’s tent.” The orderly replied, ‘““Do you mean to go to the General’s tent ?” “Surely,” said the President, “I would hold the General’s horse if it would save the Union.” It is said that there are more than eleven hundred lives or books of Lincoln in our _ public libraries—not so many of the General. Humility has its opposite in selfishness. Selfishness kills humility. They cannot live together. How often our chil- dren are taught selfishness by the words we put into their mouths, for example, the following as a speech from a little girl in an entertainment, which brought the clapping of hands but should have brought shame on the part of older people who would put such words into the mouth of a little child: “T gave a little party this afternoon at three. ’Twas very small, Three guests in all— Just I, myself, and me. Myself ate up the sandwiches, While I drank up the tea, And it was I Who ate the pie And passed the cake to me.” 386 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS The idea of the crucifixion of self is beautifully brought out in an incident that came to my knowledge some time ago. It seems that Dr. Henry Van Dyke was visting Lord Alfred Tennyson, the great poet laureate of England, a short time before he died. They were good friends, and the great preacher asked the poet for a photograph of himself. The request was granted. Van Dyke handed the photograph back with an additional request that the great poet would inscribe upon the back of the picture the lines he had written which he would rather have live than any other lines he ever wrote. After a little time spent in thought, the great poet reached for the card and wrote the following lines from “Lockstey Hat”: “Love took up the harp of Life And smote on all the chords with might; Smote the chord of Self that, trembling, Passed in music out of sight.” Great hearts are always humble hearts. It is said of the Duke of Wellington that, as he was returning from the great battle, he stepped into a little wayside Church, the door of which was open, and knelt at the altar to pray. A common soldier with tattered garments spattered with mud had en- tered before him, and was at prayer. The Duke knelt be- side him. Presently, the soldier, lifting his eyes, saw the Duke and was alarmed and undertook to rise, saying, ‘‘Par- don, Duke—pardon, Duke,” but the great Duke put his arm about the soldier and pulled him down, saying, “This is God’s altar; we are all one here.”” This was true greatness, and the foundation of it is humility. Humble people, remembering their own limitations, are ready to recognize the good in others and not seek always to find their weak points. It is so easy to see the fault in other people. Many times have I held up before the Sunday School a white sheet of TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR WORKERS 37 paper with a little black spot in the middle of it, and asked the scholars what they saw. They will all respond, as a rule, “A black spot.” Then it is well to remind them, as I have done, that there are a hundred times as much white paper as there is black spot. We should cultivate the habit of seeing the good and not the bad. “If we looked for people’s virtues And the faults refused to see, What a pleasant, cheerful, happy place This world would be.” Commandment Number Ten—“‘Thou shalt be humble.’’ THE NEW COMMANDMENT We have warrant in the great Book for a new command- ment, and it is this: “Thow shalt love.” Love God? Yes— not with a sickly, sentimental love, but with that love which recognizes our true relationship to God and His to us; that love which drives us to our tasks for Him, that sends us out in the middle of the night, if need be, to visit that sick scholar or look up the absentee; that love that never lets go. Thou shalt love also God’s Word. It has never failed yet. It should be the guide of our lives and the man of our counsels. We should love people, especially little children. We should love all, the good and those who are not good. We should love those who love us, and that is easy, but we are commanded to love those who do not love us. Edwin Markham puts this in these beautiful lines: “He drew a circle and shut me out, Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout. But Love and I had the wit to win: We drew a circle that took him in!” 38 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS We should love our work and, most of all, we should love the souls of men, women, boys, and girls. “No man is orthodox who has lost his passion for the souls of men.” I have tried to state, in the simplest form I could, what is required of a Christian worker, whether in the Sunday School or in any other line of activity. It seems to me that the two essentials are found in a picture said to come from the Huguenots but found in various places. I saw it on a missionary certificate, and this was the picture: An ox standing between an altar and a plow. What is the sig- nificance? The altar stands for sacrifice; the plow stands for service. The legend printed underneath gives its sig- nificance: “Ready for either.” This ts the price of successful Christian work. It THE ROMANCE OF THE MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL The Sunday School is a new thing and is becoming newer with the passing years. The Sunday School of to-day would hardly be recognized by the Sunday School leaders of a hundred years ago. It has not run “true to type,” as the biologist would say, except that it meets, as a rule, on Sun- day and teaches religion and morals. What the Sunday School of the future is to be, it would be unsafe to prophesy at this time, because of the radical changes of the recent past and the more radical developments of the present. That it is to have a glorious future, no student of the Sun- day School will doubt. The origin, development, and growth of the Sunday School present a fascinating story. It is our purpose, in this chapter, to follow its roots back to its beginning and speak, all too briefly because of our limited space, of the high points in its development. Up to the present time, there are four distinct epochs in the development of the Sunday School, with the fifth looming up invitingly before us. The First Epoch-—The Rabbinical School? This period covers practically the beginning of Bible history to the coming of Christ. The earliest schools of which we have record date back to the time of Abraham, possibly also much earlier. Such schools were probably not numerous in those early years. However, after the Cap- tivity we find eleven different names that are applied to 1 For some of the facts mentioned under this heading, I am indebted to Dr. Henry Clay Trumbull’s great book, “YALE LECTURES ON THE SuNDAY SCHOOL.” 39 40 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS these early schools. There is abundant evidence that the elementary Jewish school system of public instruction con- sisted of Bible schools corresponding to our Sunday Schools. There were elementary schools for children and similar schools for others. These latter were connected with the synagogue. The chief value of the synagogue, the Jews be- lieved, was as a means of teaching the Law. From five to ten years of age, a Jewish child was required to study in these schools, religion being practically the only subject taught. After five years, the scholar might take up what corresponded to our modern catechisms or lesson helps. It is noteworthy that the Jewish child’s first Bible school les- sons were in Leviticus, a book that many modern Sunday School leaders would not select for the young child’s first attempt at Bible study. From ten to fifteen years of age, the Jewish children studied from the Mishna, namely, the then unwritten Mosaic traditions, with their Rabbinical commentaries, still using the Bible. Of course, they did not have the New Testament. At this age, pupils were allowed to discuss all these matters with their elders, and it is not unlikely this is what Jesus was doing when found by His parents in the Temple at twelve years of age. There can be no doubt that Jesus attended such a school as we have described. From the earliest writings, we learn some facts about these schools which are worth passing on, as they give us a fairly good idea of the estimate placed upon them. For example: A library was to be attached to every schoolhouse, where copies of the Holy Scriptures were available. The lessons taught were to be in harmony with the capaci- ties and inclinations of the children. The teachers were to be appointed in every province, dis- trict, and city. Where this was not done, the people were interdicted. If the town as a whole refused to meet this requirement, the whole town was interdicted, that is, denied ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 41 the ministrations of the synagogue; for they said, ‘““The world exists only by the breath from the lips of school children.” The children were to be sent to school at six or seven years of age. The teachers were required to teach all day and part of the night. No vacations were granted, except the after- noon preceding the Sabbath (corresponding to our Friday afternoon). Teachers who left the presence of the children or did other work when they were expected to be teaching or who were lazy were included in the curse of Jeremiah 48: 10, “Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah negligently.” It was required that there should be one teacher for every twenty-five children, or less if there were not twenty-five children in the neighborhood. In these schools, all was life, movement, debate. Ques- tion was met by counter question and there was much dis- cussion. ‘hose early schools were anything but quiet. It was required that special attention be given to memo- rizing choice passages of Scripture. In addition to the above, we also find recorded in various places certain maxims of the day which were exceedingly significant—for example: “The true guardians of the city are the teachers of the children.” “He who teaches without having the lesson repeated back to him aloud is like one who sows and does not reap.” “Teaching a child is like writing with ink on clean paper —teaching an old person is like writing with ink on blotted paper.” “He who refuses a pupil one lesson has, as it were, robbed him of his parental inheritance.” “He who teaches the child shall occupy a prominent place among the saints above.” “Dearer is the breath of the school children than the fra- grance of the sacrifices on the smoking altar.” 42 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS And this was the Bible school system of the Jews in Palestine when Jesus came, though, of course, it was rec- ommended that the teaching of the Bible was to begin at home. Without doubt the Sunday School of our day re- sembles the old synagogue service far more than our preach- ing service does. As far back as Ezra’s time, we hear of what might be called a Sunday School, or certainly a popular service for the study of the Bible. It may not have been held on their Sabbath. On one such occasion, Ezra was the superintendent, as we find recorded in Nehemiah 8: 1-12. Our modern Sunday Schools can learn much from Ezra, Superintendent. For example, the Bible was the text-book; men, women, and children were present; fourteen special officers were definitely named, together with thirteen head teachers, with many other teachers under them who were really the Levites. One of the choicest sentences in the description of this won- derful school was, “They caused the people to understand.” It is noticeable also that this school of Ezra’s lasted from morning until mid-day. It was an exceedingly practical school, because the final injunction was for the people to go out and do things for folks. Perhaps this was the earliest expression of social service. As Nehemiah was our his- torian on this occasion, it is not at all unlikely that the Golden Text for that day was, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.” These schools and the synagogues were what Christ found when He came. The preaching service as we have it to-day was not known. The synagogue service consisted chiefly in reading and expounding the Scriptures. The Second Epoch—The Church Founded by Jesus Christ This period covers practically the coming of Christ to the middle of the Eighteenth Century or possibly later. The Church established by Christ was the first systematic effort at definite organization for the promotion of the ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 43 Christian religion. To the Church He committed the affairs of His Kingdom, and gave them definite instructions. His last commission was, “Go, teach!” The Church had a good start but at the end of seventeen centuries there was, for the most part, a general decline in the Church and in Chris- tian activity. During all this period, the Church grew in influence or waned, in proportion as it attended to or neg- lected the religious instruction of the young. There were, indeed, dark days for the Church, and they are referred to in secular history as “The Dark Ages.” The modern Church has much to learn from the bitter experience of neglecting the religious training of the chil- dren, as revealed in those unhappy days. It was in the midst of this darkness that we see the ray of hope to which we now refer. The Third Hpoch—The Robert Raikes Movement This period covers from approximately the middle of the Eighteenth Century to the middle of the Nineteenth Cen- tury or a little later. That was a thrilling experience of mine when, in July of 1903, I stood in the little kitchen, eleven feet long, eight feet wide, and less than seven feet high, in the one-and-a- half-story building in Catherine Street, in old Gloucester, where Robert Raikes’s first Sunday School met, some time between 1780 and 1783. This school was for boys. A little farther down the same street, on the corner, stands the building where a few years later he established a similar school for girls. This was the beginning of one of the mightiest movements in the history of the Church. Robert Raikes was an Episcopal layman, the editor of “Tue Gutoucester JouRNAL,” a man of large heart and noble purpose. It is worthy of the attention of Sunday School people and all who believe that childhood is the hope of the world, that Robert Raikes for a good many years had 44 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS devoted himself to prison reform, which was greatly needed in England because criminals of all classes were huddled together in the same room, and the conditions were such that every such prison was a school of crime. Raikes, by his own testimony, turned from this method of Christian en- deavor to the teaching of children because, as he said, it was a hopeless task to try to reform the prisons. Of course it is recognized by all that Robert Raikes did not plant the first Sunday Schools. There were Sunday Schools here and there, or schools that might be so called, and they were to be found in America before that date. In January, 1924, I was holding some meetings in Savannah, Georgia. On one afternoon, we visited the old historic Curist Cuuron, and I copied the following from a bronze tablet on the front of the building: SESSA EAT SET LDL SESS ESSE SLE SIGS TE IO ISTE TED LSE IIS I SUE POY SS TO RS TO THE GLORY OF GOD IN MEMORY OF JOHN WESLEY Priest of the Church of England Minister to Savannah—1736-1737. Founder of the Sunday School of this Church. SR SS LT SE I SE A CE -AST S S This was forty-four years before Raikes started his first school. Nevertheless it was Robert Raikes who popularized the Sunday School movement or, as business men would say, he put it upon the market. The movement grew rapidly | and gained in popularity. It was not connected with the Church in any wise, and the Church, in many cases, took official action condemning the Sunday Schools of those days. It was not till a good many years afterwards that the school came to be recognized as a legitimate feature of Church work, but of this we shall speak later. Before Robert Raikes ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 45 died, there were two hundred and fifty thousand people, practically all children except the teachers, enrolled in his Sunday Schools. They were to be found throughout the United Kingdom, on the Continent of Europe, and some even in America. The historian, John Richard Green, in his great work entitled, “History or tHE Enerisu Pro- PLE,” says, “The Sunday-schools established by Mr. Raikes, of Gloucester, at the close of the century, were the beginnings of popular. education.” Indeed, the free school system of England is traced directly to the Robert Raikes movement. The relation of the free school system of our own country to that of England is such that it is entirely proper to say that the Sunday School movement is the mother of popular education and our free school system. Not only that, but to Raikes is attributed also the securing of cheap postage. Being a - printer, he desired to send letters and literature in large quantities to the teachers and scholars of his schools. The rates of postage, however, in England, were prohibitive, and through his own endeavor he secured in England what is known as the “Penny Post,” thus greatly reducing expenses. It is not generally known or recognized what a large in- fluence those early Sunday Schools exercised in these direc- tions. The Fourth EHpoch—The Modern Sunday School This period may be said to cover the middle of the Nineteenth Century to approximately the present day. Dur- ing the latter part of the Nineteenth Century, we find rapid development of the Sunday School. To be sure, many Churches recognized the Sunday School prior to that and were using their best influence to develop the Sunday School movement, and yet the Sunday School, for the most part, had not been given a place in the warm heart life of the Church. In many places, the opposition of the Church 46 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS to the Sunday School was often severe and sometimes furi- ous. ‘he writer has seen, with his own eyes, a Church with its door nailed shut by its officers, in order that the Sunday School might not meet there, and this in Ohio. Such a thing would not happen now. It is impossible to fix a date when the Church really recognized its responsibil- ity for the school. By the middle of the Nineteenth Century, however, or soon after, such recognition was quite general. In the year 1872, at Indianapolis, in connection with — the meeting of the National Sunday School Association (now International), there was taken the longest step forward in Sunday School development that had ever been taken up to that time, namely, the introduction of the Uniform Sys- tem of Lessons. This of itself was sufficient proof of the place the Sunday School then occupied in the estimation of the Churches and denominations. While great progress has been made in the matter of lesson construction and Sunday School advancement, the introduction of the Uni- form Lesson at that time was a strategic stroke in the de- velopment of Sunday School consciousness and activity. The country was soon flooded with Sunday School lesson helps and literature made possible by the introduction of the Uni- form Lessons. This literature became the channel for the conveying of new ideas to the great Sunday School con- stituency and inspired it with a determination to go for- — ward. There had been efforts at lesson construction prior to this, and in Great Britain a Uniform System had been adopted in 1844. I have seen some of the original literature bearing that date and giving the text of the lessons. The steps in Sunday School lesson construction and teach- ing are very interesting and may be roughly classified as follows: 1. Spelling and reading (with text-books). 2. Question and answer (with text-books). 3. Memorizing the Scriptures. foe ee eee oe ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 47 4, Isolated and sporadic efforts at curriculum building. 5. The International Uniform Lessons. 6. The International Graded Lessons. 7. The International Graded Lessons, with spe- cialization. 8. Special lessons for special groups. This brings us to the Sunday School as we have it to-day, The time is ripe for the next great forward step but of this we will speak later. The modern Sunday School as we have it now, with all of its imperfections and limitations, is rec- ognized as the Church’s greatest asset and its whitest field. It is the first intelligent answer to the Lord’s great com- mand, “Go—teach.” Its marvelous growth in less than a century and a half, from the little school on Catherine Street to over three hundred thousand Sunday Schools enrolling thirty millions of pupils, is the most remarkable fact in Church history. It is worthy of note also that the Sunday School is no longer regarded as a children’s affair, and approximately forty per cent. of its entire enrollment is composed of adults. There are nearly two millions of officers and teachers alone in the Sunday Schools of North America, and there are more men enrolled in the Sunday Schools to-day by far than in any other religious organization of any kind, and yet the great power of the Sunday School rests in the fact that it is the Church’s best agency for reaching the young, and childhood has properly come to be recognized as the battleground of the Kingdom of God. The Sunday School is inexpensive; it succeeds anywhere with proper treatment; 1t permits of the personal touch; it has the unsaved in larger numbers than any other service of the Church; from its ranks come far more than half (many claim three-fourths) of the additions to the Church by con- fession of Christ. It has been shown that seventy per cent. of all conversions occur under twenty-one years of age and 48 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS ninety-six per cent. under twenty-five years of age. Horace Mann was right when he said, “Few men past twenty-one form habits of virtue or abandon habits of vice.” The Eighteenth Century discovered man; the Nineteenth Cen- tury discovered woman; the Twentieth Century is discover- ing the child. The Sunday School is a Church builder, eighty-five per cent. of all the Churches in America having first been Sun- day Schools. The Sunday School teaches good citizenship — and is the Church’s best agency for social service. The Church of the future that neglects its Sunday School is doomed. With the rapid multiplication of Daily Vacation Bible Schools and Week-day Schools of Religion, already enrolling hundreds of thousands of pupils, it is recognized that the movement has outgrown the word “Sunday,” for it “carries on” throughout the week. It is not generally known that in an ordinary, five-week Daily Vacation Bible School, the pupils get more actual Bible instruction than in a whole year in the Sunday School. So firmly has this week-day work gripped the Sunday School leaders of Amer- ica, that at the February, 1924, meeting of the International Sunday School Council of Religious Education that body voted to drop from its name the words, “Sunday School.” However, the Sunday School, as such, has as yet lost none of its prestige by this action. It is in no wise weakened or — interfered with. q Nevertheless with all of the Sunday School advancement — with which we are familiar, we are still in a period of great unrest and dissatisfaction. There is a reaching out after — better things and a looking forward to the Sunday School — of the future. : The Fifth Hpoch—The School That Is To Be It is hazardous business for any one to undertake to — prophesy along any line. Certainly the writer claims to — ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 49 hold no brief for anybody’s opinion except his own. Based, however, upon a somewhat extended experience, and study- ing somewhat the tendencies of our day, it seems clear to me that the Sunday School is now entering upon its period of greatest usefulness and possibility. The word, “Sunday,” is a handicap. Just what the new name is to be is not defi- nitely settled. In substance, however, it will be the Church’s school of religion. It will continue to meet on Sunday but the work of the school on Sunday will not be its most im- portant feature. In the judgment of the writer, the Church’s school of religion will come eventually to include the entire Church. In other words, it will be the Church organized as a teaching agency. Week-day schools of religion which are now growing in favor so rapidly will eventually come to occupy a still more important place, so far as the instruc- tion of children is concerned. The Sunday period is en- tirely inadequate and is attended by too many distracting conditions. It is too early to predict the details of a school that represents the Church thoroughly organized for its ed- ucational task. However, there are unmistakable evidences that some at least of the following principles will be found in this coming school which is to recognize the entire Church organized for religious education: 1. The school to be thoroughly organized and under the direct control of the Church and carried on as systematically as a successful bank or a department store. 2. A Committee on Religious Education in every Church; this committee to represent every department of the Church life, as well as the Sunday School itself, and have charge of the entire educational function of the Church, in Sunday School, young people’s society, missionary bands, ete., all of which are to be represented in the membership of this com- mittee. 3. The official representative of this committee to be known as the “Director of Religious Education.” If pos- 50 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS sible, he should be especially trained for this purpose and employed for his whole time in the local Church. 4, All the teachers will be expected to be thoroughly qualified for their particular task, by having taken special training for it. 5. This training process should be worked into the reg- ular Sunday School curriculum so that pupil-training leads directly to teacher-training. If this is done, the promising young people who reach the age of seventeen or eighteen will © have completed at least the required Bible study course nec- essary to the securing of a teacher-training certificate. 6. There should be conducted in every school not only the teacher-training course referred to above but likewise one for officers for both Church and school. 7. The pastor of the Church will probably be the head of this entire educational plan, at least ex officio, or chair- man of the Committee on Education, while the Director of Religious Education will be the executive officer and in charge of all the details of administration, so far as the educational program is concerned. This will not interfere with the work of the General Superintendent of the school, who will usually be an unpaid officer and whose duties have to do with organization, promotion, ete. 8. The Bible would be the chief text-book, and the lesson material and teaching would be thoroughly graded and adapted to the age, capacity, and needs of growing life. 9. Week-day schools of religion would be recognized as a part of the Church’s responsibility and so far as possible all of the children would be enrolled in them. 10.. Daily Vacation Bible Schools would be held in all Churches, wherever it is possible, or in groups of Churches in a neighborhood. The school would be thoroughly organized along all lines © of Christian education, including missions, temperance, — community helpfulness, good citizenship, and its keynote = —_~ ROMANCE OF MODERN SUNDAY SCHOOL 51 will be evangelism and service. Many schools of our day are pressing hard toward this mark even now, and the vision of the better day that is to be is rapidly spreading. We have an opportunity to help bring in the glad new day of the Church school that is to be. Til THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS Teaching is the finest of the fine arts. And why? Be- cause it has to do with the development, equipment, and — training of mind and heart, which are the dynamies of life. Teaching is the highest function of mental activity. Teaching is the most interesting work in the world, because it is purely constructive. Hence, the dignity and heaven- born opportunity of teachers, particularly those who are teaching things spiritual and eternal. Teaching is governed by laws that are as definite and discernible as the laws of nature. The man who expects a harvest of wheat or corn must obey certain laws. Right well he knows that to violate these laws brings sure defeat. It is the same with teaching. Success depends on knowing how. Indeed, in every line of activity the world waits for the man who knows how. Many of our readers will recall the wonderful story, told in such matchless fashion by Miss Margaret Slattery, en- titled, “Wuat Ir Means To Know How.” She tells of a young girl at the seashore who, with her companions, was bathing in the surf while Miss Slattery herself was sitting near by, upon a great rock, writing some of those choice things that the rest of us are glad to sit up nights to read. At the cry of help, it was observed that this young girl had been drawn down by the undertow and the young man who was with her could not rescue her. All the others in the party were, of course, alarmed; and one young man who knew the way of the sea, sought to rescue the body of the drowned girl. This he did, but life was apparently gone. Not a soul in the company knew what to do to resuscitate 52 THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 53 a drowned body, and there was much excitement and anguish among the company, all of whom were friends, and one a sister of the drowned girl. It seems that, at the first cry of danger, some one had been thoughtful enough to send word to the village which was very near. Presently an automobile came rushing down the side of the hill and out stepped a young lady dressed in the garb of a nurse. They all were relieved, for they recognized that she would surely know what to do, and she did. After a while, another car came down, bringing the doctor himself, who could not come at the first call but who had sent his nurse. By this time the girl had come back to life but was as yet very feeble. The doctor, feeling the pulse and making proper examination, took the nurse by the hand and said, “You are to be con- gratulated! You have saved a life because you knew how.” Miss Slattery applies this, in her story, to the Sunday School teachers who know how, and those who do not know how; and here is the crux of the whole business in Sunday School work. As a rule, teachers who know how succeed. Christ was preéminently a teacher. We learn, from His words and His methods, not only what to teach but how to teach. It is impossible to overestimate the work of a teacher, whether in secular or in Christian education. The president of a great state institution of learning said, in the writer’s presence, on one occasion, that, in his judgment, the teacher > counted for eighty-five per cent. of an education and the curriculum or subject matter taught for not over fifteen per cent. A wise man said on one occasion to his son who was starting away to college, “I care little what courses of study you take up but I care much for the kind of teachers you are to have.” Our lamented and martyred President, James A. Garfield, is reported to have said that to him a university would be to sit on one end of a log, with Mark Hopkins on the other; and some one has suggested, ‘What is the use of the log, if Mark Hopkins is there?’ 54 MESSAGE TO SUNDAY SCHOOL WORKERS Teaching is the chief function of the Sunday School, and the teacher is its highest officer. The superintendent out- ranks a teacher only in an executive capacity, for the Sunday School revolves around the Bible, and those who teach the Bible are the teachers. Therefore, that superintendent is a good superintendent, other things being equal, whose chief concern is to secure plenty of good teachers, having them properly selected, properly trained, properly inducted into their office, and properly protected while they do their work. The school needs a higher ideal of teachers and teaching. WHAT IS TEACHING ? Gregory says, “Teaching is arousing and using the pupil’s mind to grasp and hold a given truth’’; also, “Learning is thinking into one’s own understanding a new truth or idea.” The best teachers are not those who impart the most knowl- edge to their pupils, but those who create in their pupils the deepest hunger for knowledge and an ambition to acquire it for themselves. Captain Shaw, the best public-school teacher I ever had, was not the one who taught me the most, but the one who made me hungry to know. Only a small part of Sunday School teaching can be put into words. Teaching is not putting facts into other people’s heads, as you put apples into a basket. In the last analysis, that only is teaching, in Christian work, which finds ex- pression in life. Real teaching is not training a mind, but training a life. THE PERSONAL ELEMENT In the last analysis, teaching is the teacher. Surely a teacher teaches more by what he is than by what he says or does. It is the moral power of the teacher’s own person. It is the broadening influence of the teacher’s whole life. The teacher’s life is the life of his teaching. It seems as THE FINEST OF THE FINE ARTS 55 though when God wants a heart warmed into life, He places a warm heart against it. In other words, He places a pre- mium upon the living touch of the living teacher. See the black man riding down from Jerusalem in the chariot. He is a searcher after truth and is reading from the Book a very choice passage in Isaiah. God, seeing the need of that inquiring heart, sends Philip away from the services he is holding in Samaria, to bring to this pupil the living touch of the living teacher. When they meet, their dialogue, in substance, is as follows: “My friend up there in the chariot, do you know what you are reading?’ The Ethiopian replies, “How can I know except some man teach me?” Then Philip climbed up by his side on the seat and ex- plained to him the words he had been reading. We know that Philip was a good teacher that day, for his pupil de- cided to make public confession of Christ by being baptized before they parted. THE TEACHER’S MANNER The teacher’s manner and personality count for much. The teacher should be a lady or a gentleman in manner and presence.