Transcriber's Note:
Apparent typographical errors, and inconsistent hyphenation, have been
corrected.
Small capitals have been replaced by full capitals. Words in italics
are indicated by _underscores_, while spaced-out font has been closed
up.
References to purely decorative illustrations have been removed.
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indented one space.
THE SABBATH-SCHOOL INDEX.
POINTING OUT
THE HISTORY AND PROGRESS OF SUNDAY-SCHOOLS, WITH APPROVED MODES OF
INSTRUCTION, EXAMPLES IN ILLUSTRATIVE, PICTORIAL, AND OBJECT-TEACHING;
ALSO THE USE OF THE BLACKBOARD, MANAGEMENT OF INFANT-CLASSES,
TEACHERS' MEETINGS, CONVENTIONS, INSTITUTES, ETC., ETC., ETC.
BY R. G. PARDEE, A.M.
PHILADELPHIA:
J. C. GARRIGUES & CO.,
148 SOUTH FOURTH STREET,
1868.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, by
J. C. GARRIGUES & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States,
for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
WESTCOTT & THOMSON,
Stereotypers,
PHILADELPHIA.
Jas. B. Rodgers, Pr.
52 & 54 N. 6th St.
PREFACE.
A few years ago the author prepared a little Manual entitled "The
Sunday-School Worker Assisted," etc., which was so favorably received
as to call for a large edition without any special advertising. What
has seemed to be a most imperative call has again come up, from
various sections of our land, and from many denominations of
Christians, for a fuller and more complete work, illustrated with
examples. If our pastors, superintendents or teachers, wished for
specific details of all the departments of the Sabbath-school, they
complained that they were compelled to purchase a dozen English and a
dozen American works, and even then there were important topics of
information still unreached. Besides, books written a quarter of a
century ago will not fully meet the requirements of an intelligent
Sabbath-school man at this day. The cause is making constant progress,
and many real improvements have been made during the past few years
which are worthy of special record and notice.
Never before has the Holy Bible been so exalted, so taught, so
applied, and made so interesting as now. Never before were our best
Sabbath-schools devoted to such pure, simple, child-like worship of
God as now; and never before was the high and holy aim of _immediate
conversion_ of the scholars to Christ, and then their thorough
religious training, kept steadily in view, as it is in many
Sunday-schools at the present time.
The Sabbath-school, as the true working-field of the Christian
churches ("The Bible School," as Dr. Chalmers called it), is now the
grand rallying cry of the faithful.
The aim and design of this work is to observe, collate, and condense,
as far as possible, the _best_ thoughts, experience, and observation
of Sabbath-school laborers and authors, not only in this country but
also in Great Britain, and to combine these with the observation and
experience of the writer during the last forty-five years. The author
is greatly indebted particularly to the London Sunday-School Union
publications, and to _The Sunday-School Times_ of Philadelphia, as
well as to most of his fellow-laborers and writers in both countries.
Gladly would he give credit in every instance, but their works have
been so read and their thoughts gathered up, preserved, and noted for
use during many years, and their views so assimilated with the
author's and made his own, that he is now quite unable to trace them
accurately to their right sources. They have become the property of
all, and he has appropriated and adopted them into the line of his own
thought in the one great work.
The best examples and the best new improvements are here given for the
Sabbath-school artist to copy. No one man or school or country
embodies them all. None, however, are mere theories. Everything here
stated has been tried and proved.
The future progress of the Sabbath-school will be carefully watched,
in order to add to or modify subsequent editions of this book, so that
the Sabbath-school worker, with no other guide-board but this "Index,"
may be enabled, by divine grace, to enter the right path and to do a
good Christian work in training up the children and youth of his
generation.
THE AUTHOR.
NEW YORK, _February, 1868_.
CONTENTS.
I. THE SABBATH-SCHOOL 7
II. HISTORY AND PROGRESS 10
III. CONVENTIONS 23
IV. INSTITUTES 31
V. THE SUPERINTENDENT 39
VI. THE LIBRARY AND LIBRARIAN 53
VII. THE SECRETARY 59
VIII. THE TEACHER 61
IX. PREPARATION 63
X. THE TEACHER TEACHING 70
XI. ILLUSTRATIVE TEACHING 87
XII. PICTORIAL TEACHING 94
XIII. OBJECT-TEACHING 103
XIV. THE BLACKBOARD 112
XV. THE INFANT-SCHOOL 124
XVI. YOUNG MEN AND WOMEN'S BIBLE-CLASSES 145
XVII. THE ART OF SECURING ATTENTION 157
XVIII. THE ART OF QUESTIONING 163
XIX. THE TEACHERS' MEETING 174
XX. VISITING THE SCHOLARS 184
XXI. SYSTEMATIC DISTRICT CHRISTIAN VISITATION 188
XXII. NEW MISSION-SCHOOLS 192
XXIII. THE CONVERSION AND CULTURE OF CHILDREN.--_Children's
Prayer-meetings, etc._ 200
XXIV. PREACHING TO CHILDREN 208
XXV. CHILDREN'S MEETINGS AND MONTHLY CONCERTS 212
XXVI. AUXILIARY ASSOCIATIONS.--_Temperance Societies.--
Missionary Associations_ 215
XXVII. SABBATH-SCHOOL MUSIC 221
XXVIII. MEANS AND MEASURES.--_Anniversaries.--Excursions and
Exhibitions.--Premiums and Rewards.--Benevolent
Contributions.--Catechisms.--Two Sessions.--
Constitution and By-Laws_ 224
XXIX. SABBATH-SCHOOL GUARDIANS.--_Parents.--Pastors.--
The Church.--The Community_ 230
XXX. MISSIONARY AGENCIES.--_Neighborhood Prayer
Meetings.--Bible Readers.--Industrial Schools.--
Boys' Meetings_ 237
XXXI. THE QUESTION BOX.--_The Answer Box_ 240
XXXII. MISTAKES OF TEACHERS 248
XXXIII. HELPS FOR TEACHERS.--_The Teacher's Covenant_ 251
I.
THE SABBATH-SCHOOL.
It is a place where the churches of Christ meet with the children and
youth for the worship and service of God. It is the Church of God
caring for the children on the Sabbath day. Every song of praise, as
well as every prayer and reading and study of the Word of God,
together with every exhortation, address or sermon, should rise to a
high and holy act of simple, life-like, child-like devotion. The place
should be comfortable, attractive, light, airy and cheerful. It should
be dry and well warmed. The walls may be covered with prints, hymns,
and Scripture mottoes; or, as some of our wealthy congregations have
done, they may be frescoed beautifully with illuminated texts or
paintings representing Scripture scenes, to attract the children to
the house of God--to their _Sabbath Home_. Especial care should be
taken that the seats provided are adapted in size, height, and form,
to all ages and sizes, from the wee ones in the infant classes up to
the larger scholars and the members of the adult classes. The
three-sides-of-an-octagon form of seat is found to answer well, and is
much cheaper than the circular seats. Infant classes will need a room
by themselves, and sometimes raised seats are to be preferred. A good
blackboard and crayons, with good maps, should be furnished to every
room, together with a well-selected library, both for teachers and
scholars. Keep on file a few good Sunday-school papers and magazines.
It would be well also to have a few reference Bibles and a Bible
Dictionary. But the glory of the Sabbath-school is the open Bible, the
living Teacher, the Church Militant and aggressive. Said De Witt
Clinton: "The Sunday-school is one of the three great powers by which
the moral world is to be moved." Says the Rev. Dr. Daggett: "The
Sabbath-school is to do vastly more than all other agencies of the
Church." Said John Angell James: "In a few years we shall look upon
all the past progress of the Sunday-school but as the beginning, as a
kind of first-fruits, an earnest of the future of this great
institution of the Christian Church." Said the Rev. Dr. Campbell, of
the _British Banner_, London: "With respect to countless multitudes,
it is mainly the work of the Sunday-school teacher to carry out the
command of our Lord to preach the gospel to every creature. The
Sunday-school, for the _individual_, for the _family_, for the
_Church_, for the _nation_, and for the _world_, is one of the
principal mottoes to be inscribed on the banners of the faithful; and
many well-meant but feeble agencies on which much religious activity
is now _frittered_ away, will, we believe, at length be merged in this
grand institution. The conviction is strong in our mind that the
Sunday-school Union, as a great central source of light, life, and
power, is on the threshhold of a glorious career of usefulness, and
will speedily become, in the hands of the great Master, an agency for
good to an extent beyond all present appreciation by the Christian
Church."
II.
HISTORY AND PROGRESS.
The history of Sabbath-schools is nearly allied to the onward progress
of the Church of God in the earth. In all ages, whenever pure religion
has been revived, it would seem that especial attention has always
been given to the early religious instruction and training of children
and youth by the Church of God; and herein lies the grand
SUNDAY-SCHOOL IDEA. Says a Scotch divine: "Vital religion, and the
godly upbringing of the young, have ever gone hand in hand." The soul
is diseased, and a Bible education is the only remedy. In that
wonderful BOOK, which extends its record over the long period of four
thousand years of this world's history, there is throughout a
wonderful regard for children. Of the patriarch Abraham, nearly four
thousand years ago, it is written: "For I know him, that he will
command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep
the way of the Lord." Gen. xviii. 19. With what wonderful power does
the history of the childhood of Joseph, and Moses, and David, and
Samuel, and Daniel, illustrate the value of the instruction and
religious training of children.
When Moses, the great lawgiver of Israel, received the law amid the
thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes of Mount Sinai, he called
"ALL Israel" together (Deut. v. 1), and by divine direction his words
were (Deut. vi. 6): "Hear, O _Israel_.... These words, which I command
thee this day, shall be (1) in thine heart: and (2) thou shalt _teach_
them diligently unto thy children," etc., _i. e._, the _Church's_
children--not parents exclusive, but inclusive of course. "Israel,"
that was called upon by Moses, was the Church of God upon earth, and
it is her express duty to the end of time to see that all her children
shall be "taught of the Lord." It is true that parents are the
divinely-appointed guardians and instructors of their children, and
this obligation rests upon them; and yet they are, alas! too often
incapable of the religious instruction of their own children or of any
other, besides being often indifferent; and the Church of God, by her
catechetical or Sabbath-school instruction, has always had, and
probably will always have, to supply the lack of unfaithful parents.
There is no agency which so supplies the lack of _mothers_ as a good
Sabbath-school.
Thus we find in Deuteronomy, nearly four thousand years ago, the great
Sabbath-school principle foreshadowed and embodied; and where, we may
ask, can be found in all the Bible a more definite authorization or
_divine appointment_ for any of the great denominational Christian
Churches which now so bless our land than is here found for the
Sabbath-school? It is ordained and blessed of God. The Sabbath-school
is simply the Church of Christ putting forth its legitimate effort in
its most inviting field of action. It is _the_ regular systematic
working department of the Christian Church--not an outside auxiliary,
but an inside,--the Church itself in action; and as such let it be
carefully guarded and cherished. The same Divine lips which said "Go
preach," said also and equally to his disciples, "Go _teach_." Says
the Rev. J. H. Vincent: "There is just as much divine authority for
the Sabbath-school as there is for the sanctuary--no more." Our Divine
Lord and Master himself repeatedly astonished his own disciples by his
particular notice of and care for little children, and with sore
displeasure he rebuked his followers for hindering them from being
brought to him.
It was not until nearly the close of the second century, or, according
to Tertullian, in the year A.D. 180, that the Christian Church felt
compelled, in order to check the defection of heathen converts, to set
about the establishment of those celebrated catechumenical schools, of
which Origen was one of the catechists, for the systematic religious
instruction by the Church of Christ of the children and youth.
So useful and necessary, however, did this work prove itself to be,
that very soon similar schools were universally established. They
continued to flourish until near the close of the sixth century, when
they declined and became obscured for ten long centuries in the gloom
of the Dark Ages, with only an occasional prince, or pastor, or layman
in the spirit of the Master, to teach the children the way of life.
In the sixteenth century, however, on the dawn of the Reformation,
Martin Luther established his celebrated Sunday-schools at Wittemberg
in the year 1527; and soon after John Knox inaugurated the
Sunday-schools of Scotland, "with readers," as the history of Scotland
informs us, in 1560; so that on the incoming of the Reformation the
children were again "taught of the Lord." In the year 1580, Borromeo,
the pious Archbishop of Milan, established a system of Sunday-schools
throughout his large diocese in Lombardy.
In our own land our Pilgrim Fathers early entered upon the work; for
Ellis, in his History of Roxbury, Massachusetts, says: "In 1674, 6th
11th month, is the first record of a Sabbath-school." The records of
the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth, Massachusetts, inform us that a
Sabbath-school was there organized as early as in 1680. Joseph
Alleine, the author of the "Alarm to the Unconverted," opened a
Sabbath-school in England in 1688, and many others might be mentioned
in both countries in succession. But the first Sabbath-school of which
we have any _authentic, definite, and detailed_ account, extending
over a period of a quarter of a century, was that established by
Ludwig Hacker in Ephratah, Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, as early as
the year 1747. It was continued uninterruptedly during a period of
more than thirty years, until the building was taken for a soldiers'
hospital in the time of the Revolutionary War. It enjoyed precious
seasons of revival, and had its children's meetings, and we are
informed that many children were hopefully converted to God. We have
before us a long letter from Dr. Fahnestock to the Rev. W. T.
Brantley, D.D., of Philadelphia, written in 1835, detailing many
interesting facts connected with the history of this Sabbath-school,
drawn from living pupils and records.
Robert Raikes instituted not only, but _organized_, the SYSTEM of
Sabbath-schools, and popularized them in England, in Gloucester, in
February, 1781. All benevolence was single-handed until such men as
Robert Raikes and William Wilberforce _organized_ it, and sent it
forth systematized on its errand of love, mercy and salvation
throughout the world. Before this, as we have seen, there were
isolated occasional Sabbath-schools, but their influence was confined
mainly to one city, one town, or one church, and expired with an
individual. But Robert Raikes "founded Sabbath-schools for the Church
universal." John Wesley preached and _organized_. George Whitefield
preached, and did not organize. Robert Raikes _organized_
Sabbath-schools, but his predecessors did not do so. And we can in
both cases see the important difference. Within the short space of
four years from the period when Mr. Raikes established his first
Sabbath-school in Gloucester, England, more than one-quarter of a
million of children in England were enjoying the blessing of
Sabbath-school instruction. All honor, then, to Robert Raikes!
To Bishop Ashbury appears to belong the honor of first introducing
Robert Raikes's idea of Sabbath-schools into this country, in Virginia
in 1786. How long the school was continued, or what was its influence
in Virginia, we are unable to state.
The first "Sunday-school _Society_" was formed in London, September 7,
1785. This was on the system of paid teachers, but when the plan of
voluntary, unpaid teachers had become established, this society gave
place to the present "London Sunday-School Union," which was organized
to meet this change on the 13th of July, 1803. Both of these societies
were formed on the union plan, including the various denominations,
the first including an equal number of Churchmen and Dissenters in its
management.
The First-day or Sunday-School Society in Philadelphia was organized
in 1791, and Bishop White was its first president.
We learn from a carefully prepared editorial in the first volume of
the "Sunday-School Teacher's Magazine and Journal of Education,"
published in New York, 1823, that after a careful personal interview
of the editor with the parties, he had been enabled to ascertain the
precise time and the circumstances under which the first
Sabbath-school was commenced in New York city. Mr. and Mrs. Divie
Bethune had spent part of the years 1801 and 1802 in England, where
they had observed the progress of Sunday-schools in Great Britain; and
on their return, in connection with their pious mother, the late Mrs.
Isabella Graham, they arranged their plans, and "in the autumn of 1803
these three Christian philanthropists opened the first Sunday-school
in New York for religious and catechcetical purposes, at their own
expense, at the house of Mrs. Leech, in Mott street." Mrs. Graham and
Mr. and Mrs. Bethune then established two other Sabbath-schools in
other parts of the city, and soon after one for the children in the
alms-house in New York. It is to the same source, too, that _adult_
schools owe their commencement in this country, or at least in New
York. Mrs. Graham, it is stated, opened the first adult school in
Greenwich, in 1814, on the second Sabbath in June, only about two
months before her death. We are thus particular to state these facts,
for we are aware that a later date has been insisted upon for the
inauguration of the first Sunday-school of New York.
Samuel Slater opened a school for his operatives in Pawtucket, Rhode
Island, in 1797. The Broadway Baptist Sabbath-school, in Baltimore,
was established in 1804, and it is said to be still in operation. Mrs.
Amos Tappan (Miss Buckminster) opened a Sabbath-school in Portsmouth,
New Hampshire, in 1803. We do not learn that the Churches and
organized Christian bodies took hold of the Sabbath-school movement in
this country, so as to _produce_ permanent and efficient _action_,
until 1809, when we find an elaborate constitution and plan of action
from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1810 a Sabbath-school was organized
in Beverly, Massachusetts, and in Boston in 1812. Soon after this
there began to be a more general and awakened interest in the Churches
in behalf of Sabbath-schools, and the years 1814, 1815, and 1816 were
years of most triumphant progress, so that in 1817 Sunday-schools were
organized in most of our flourishing churches and Christian
communities throughout this country.
Early in 1816 the New York Sunday-School Union was established, and is
the first and oldest Union in our land, having just celebrated its
semi-centennial. The American Sunday-School Union was organized in
1824, to provide a juvenile Christian literature (and from whence our
public school district libraries borrowed their first idea) and to
plant a Sunday-school wherever there is a population.
Surely, if any work in our land needs to be hastened, it is that of
the religious instruction of the neglected children and youth of this
nation by means of Sabbath-schools. Not to mention the various modern
denominational movements, the above we believe to be a correct history
of the Sunday-school progress, and we suppose it to be sufficiently
full for practical purposes in this work. We have ample materials on
this subject to fill a large volume, but this may here suffice.
There are other questions, however, which ought to be here recorded in
connection with the progress of the cause. In Great Britain the work
is embarrassed from the fact that as a general rule only the children
of the poor and middle classes attend their Sabbath-schools. In the
early stages of the Sabbath-school movement in this country the same
custom prevailed here, and it is certainly worthy of record by what
means the change was effected.
Several years ago, while in attendance upon a Sunday-school meeting,
the writer of this enjoyed a lengthened interview with the late Rev.
Dr. Lyman Beecher, then in his prime. Our conversation turned upon
that unfortunate feature of the cause in England which virtually
excluded all the better-to-do children of that country. Dr. Beecher's
eye lit up at once, and with great animation, as he said to me: "It
was the same here at first, and I do not know but I had an important
hand in producing the change. I saw the tendency of things, and feared
that our Sunday-schools would result in a failure if only the poor
children gained the benefit of them in this land, and it troubled me
for some year or two. At last," said he, energetically, "I resolved to
overthrow that system, and went and called upon Judge W., one of my
most influential families, and said, 'Judge W----, I want you to bring
your children to Sunday-school next Sabbath.' '_Me_!' exclaimed the
Judge in amazement. 'Yes, you,' calmly responded Dr. Beecher: 'I have
made up my mind to take _my children_, and I want you and a few others
of the best families to popularize the thing.' A little explanation
secured the object. He then called upon Mrs. S----, the most
aristocratic lady in the community, and said, 'Mrs. S---- I want you
to lead _your two daughters_ into our Sunday-school next Sabbath;'
and, said the Doctor, 'Mrs. S---- almost shouted in astonishment;' but
a more particular and careful explanation than sufficed with Judge
W---- succeeded here; and then the family of the first physician was
in like manner secured, and we all turned our labor and influence on
the Sunday-school movement, and it gave an unheard-of impetus to our
Sunday-school, and by means of the press and by letters and personal
conversation the facts became known and met with almost universal
approval and adoption in our country, and the reform soon became
complete." Blessings, a thousand blessings rest upon the memory of the
man, or the men and women, who aided to bring about this glorious
change in this land!
The law of progress is very noticeable in the teaching of the
Sabbath-school. Robert Raikes's first idea was scarcely more than to
keep the children out of the streets and to protect the Sabbath. Then
the children were taught to read and write. After that a great advance
was made by the introduction of the Bible as the reading-book; the
next step was to commit the Bible to memory; and then the Christian
Churches took hold of the Sabbath-school.
For awhile _Memory_ was crowded to its utmost extent, to the injury of
the scholar, and more memorizing became the hobby in most of our
schools. After a while the physicians checked this, by telling us that
by crowding the memory we were developing a new disease amongst
children, viz., Hydrocephalus, or water on the brain. Then our schools
were in trouble, and resort was had to question-cards, and finally
question-books became the hobby. In a few years question-books began
to be stale and monotonous, and we appealed to the imagination and
resorted to stories and anecdotes until they wearied, and then we
searched commentaries, and theology was administered to the children
in large doses. After that what was called spiritual teaching was
adopted, but that soon degenerated into mere exhortation. Now we find
that we must comprehensively grasp and rightly use them all, and make
a hobby of none. The _memory_ is the grand store-house of the mind,
and it should be well filled; but it is folly to over-stock it and
overwhelm the brain. The _imagination_ is God's grand medium of
worship and communion with him and the spiritual world. We cannot
worship God without it. Let us not exorcise it because some abuse it.
"The _imagination_ has the same place in the faculties that the eye
has among the senses." The _intellect_ is God's great gift which
distinguishes man from the brute. Let us never worship nor pervert it.
The _heart_ is the soul of man. To save it the Son of man came down
from heaven to earth. Unless the heart is gained all is lost; but if
we appeal to the heart alone, we but develop the puny Christian. Let
us, therefore, use all wisely, but misuse none. At first the aim of
Sabbath-school teaching was very feeble and indefinite: to keep the
children out of mischief--teach them to read the Bible--correct their
manners and make them good children--not profane and disobedient. Then
the aim was to give them a general knowledge of Bible history and
catechism. The ablest early Sabbath-school works published under the
patronage of the Queen of England did not even hint at the possible
conversion of the children. The Bible was long introduced as a book of
task lessons to the young, and catechism and hymn learning engrossed
our Bible classes. Now, the Bible is exalted, and so applied in our
Sabbath-schools as to be the most attractive of all books to the
children and youth. _Now_, the aim of Sabbath-school teaching is, or
ought to be, the _immediate_ conversion of the children to Christ. It
is a poor excuse to suffer a child to drown because we have but one
opportunity of saving it. _Now_, many Sabbath-school teachers have
learned the great and precious art of leading even little children to
Jesus--"Just now."
Sabbath-schools are, as we believe, about to enter upon a great and
glorious career, compared with which all the past history of the cause
is but as the early dawn before a bright and glorious day; and this
era is the culture and training by the word and grace of God of all
that constitutes the best style of man and Christian; for we hold it
to be the true teacher's position that there is no weakness or
infirmity of temper, habit, purpose, or character in any of our pupils
that the Sabbath-school, with its divine text-book and the promised
Spirit of God, is not perfectly competent to remove. Let this be our
standard, and according to our faith be it unto us. May the great
Master so bless and prosper this heaven-born institution that speedily
"our children may _all_ be taught of the Lord, and that great may be
the peace of our children."
III.
CONVENTIONS.
The object of these gatherings is to arouse, to instruct, and to
train. 1. To explore the districts, report the destitutions, and
devise the best ways of filling up existing schools, of planting new
schools, and reaching, if possible, every neglected child. 2. To call
attention to the bad or inefficient habits in the modes of conducting
and teaching in our Sabbath-schools, and to suggest a remedy by
detailing the more excellent ways. 3. To instruct and train teachers
how they may prepare and teach the lesson better, and how they can
become better acquainted with children's character, language, and
feelings. It is of prime importance that there should be frequent and
earnest conferences of pastors, superintendents, and teachers, in
order to become acquainted with all the best modes and real
improvements that the most favored enjoy. A quarter of a century or
more ago, county Sunday-school conventions and anniversaries were
frequently held, but they were usually crowded into a single
afternoon, giving the Bible Society the morning and the Temperance
Union the evening of the day. The time was insufficient to examine the
state of the cause, or the schools, with much care, although the
meetings were uniformly pleasant, and sometimes of considerable
interest; yet their influence was quite limited and evanescent.
It was during the early autumn of 1856 that the good Spirit prompted
the Sabbath-school teachers of Massachusetts, one thousand strong, to
pay a visit to the Crystal Palace and the Sabbath-school teachers of
New York. They were received with great cordiality, and mingled
delightfully with the Sabbath-school teachers of New York and Brooklyn
during two or three days, closing with a grand Farewell Meeting in
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn. This religious festival afforded a good
opportunity for the Sabbath-school laborers from the various sections
of the country to compare views and converse freely about all
departments of the good work. All this proved to be interesting and
profitable beyond all expectation, and the result was, there arose a
very general desire to renew these prolonged conferences of teachers,
under other forms, as soon as practicable.
Accordingly, Massachusetts called a three-days State Sabbath-school
Convention, in the city of Boston, later in the fall of the same year;
and New York held its first State Sabbath-school Convention, of three
days, in the city of Albany, in the month of January, 1857. Both
conventions were enthusiastic and useful, and those States have
continued these meetings annually since that period; and most of the
Northern States, and some of the Southern States, have followed the
good example, with the most beneficial results. They have awakened
much interest and aroused the people everywhere. Beside the State
meetings, County and Town Sunday-school Conventions have been organized
quite extensively, combining counsels and efforts in all directions.
The States appointed County Secretaries or Vice-Presidents, and
counties gave the same office to the towns, forming a medium of union
and communication, exploration and effort throughout.
These conventions are very useful; but care must be taken or they will
degenerate into dull, heavy routine, or wordy discussions, or tedious
essays, or mere story-telling, or a waste of time in organizing.
The whole value of Sunday-school conventions depends, of course, upon
the manner in which they are conducted. Like the teaching by a wrong
mode, they can be made profoundly wearisome, when they should always
be made profoundly interesting and profitable. Let the convention be
called with GREAT CARE and EFFORT. Let the call always proceed from
the right source. Consider well as to the right time and the right
place. Then first carefully counsel with the leading pastors and
superintendents of the various denominations, so that they may
understand it and arrange for it. Get a pastor to speak particularly
and personally beforehand to three or four of his most active,
influential ladies, asking them to notify other families and arrange
so as to favor the convention. Take the same course with the men; for
we must have much personal effort in getting it up. Let the call state
distinctly the object, and, as far as may be, the order of the
meetings, and send it out as early as three or four weeks before the
meeting, to all, and with particular care. Do not depend upon
newspaper advertisements to give notice. Get as many pastors,
superintendents, and teachers as possible to _pledge_ a constant
attendance at every meeting and be ready to aid at all times. Secure a
light, cheerful, comfortable room. Place a large, clean blackboard,
with crayons and rubber, on the platform, together with a supply of
paper and pencils for taking notes. Appoint a good leader of singing.
Meet promptly, and commence the meeting punctually, although but few
may be present. Let the first half-hour be one of warm, earnest
devotion. Have some appropriate, burning words of Scripture--two or
three verses--ready to kindle and glow in every heart. The prayers and
hymns should all be brief and directly to the point of seeking the
blessing of God, without which all the efforts will be vain. Without
God we can do nothing. Next call to order naturally, and waste not a
moment of time in a simple organization. Have an understanding
beforehand and call a good, influential man, fitted to preside, to the
chair, and appoint a suitable Secretary, and, perhaps, a Business
Committee. Then enter earnestly into the work before you. Wait not a
moment for the business committee to report, but let the chairman call
for reports from some section as to the state and prospects of
Sabbath-schools. Gather information, and let that information be the
_basis_ of systematic action.
The missionary and aggressive feature should first claim attention.
Care must be taken that unimportant routine of particular schools does
not clog the convention. If in a State gathering, you can hardly have
time to hear reports except from counties. If a county meeting, hear
from towns; and if in a town gathering, you can descend and hear
suggestive reports from schools, leading to right action. In other
conventions, references to individual schools must be mostly in the
way of some spirited illustration. Get a bird's-eye view of your whole
field, and then detail the best plans of meeting deficiencies, so as
to reach effectually the whole outlying population, either by
voluntary effort, or by Sabbath-school missionaries, in filling up
existing schools and planting others as needed. After a thorough
canvass of your whole field, then inquire what are the great wants and
difficulties in our present Sabbath-school operations? and how can we
best remove them and introduce all the _real_ modern improvements?
Descend next to details as to organization, good records, the library,
superintendents, teachers, and how to get them and train them so as to
be efficient; good order, music, prayers, and good teaching in the
Infant, Scripture, and Bible classes, with such helps as the
blackboard, object-lessons, map-drawing, Bible geography, and history;
teachers' meetings, and how successfully and profitably to conduct
them; missionary meetings, monthly concerts of prayer, temperance
meetings, social gatherings, mothers' meetings in mission schools, and
especially children's prayer-meetings; addresses, reviews, catechisms,
&c., may all be considered.
Then again we want help for the teacher; how to teach, with examples
of various modes; illustrative teaching, pictorial teaching; on the
art of securing attention, and on the art of questioning; visiting,
conversions, and training for Christian work and usefulness; how to
enlist the Church, the parents, and the community, the pastors and
church officers, in this great work. These and other subjects should
be brought up, not for indefinite discussion and debate, but for
careful information, deliberate thought, and suggestions resulting
from observation and mature experience.
Let all things be so arranged that one topic will naturally flow into
and call up another; and what you touch, handle well. If one subject
is brought up, and no one is ready to take it up, pass on to another,
until you come to one upon which some person has a question to raise,
or a suggestion or information to offer, or an experience to refer to
about it. Waste not a moment of time in pointless and prosy harangues.
A good time merely, pleasant anecdotes, or touching recitals of dying
children, or sharp discussions, are not sufficient to constitute a
good Sabbath-school convention. The great idea of Sabbath-schools, be
it never forgotten, is not singing, or exhibitions, or addresses, or
concerts. It is to meet together for the saving worship of God, in the
thoughtful study of his Holy Word, in the singing of his praise, and
in solemn, believing prayer, through our Lord Jesus Christ. These are
the high and holy objects to which all our conventions should
contribute.
An important National Sabbath-school Convention was held in
Philadelphia in the year 1859, and this gave an additional impulse to
the cause. It was, however, during the years 1863 and 1864, that it
was observed that these interesting Sabbath-school conventions were in
danger of losing their power. They had fallen into a sort of routine,
and had begun to be monotonous and stale to the regular attendants,
because they were not sufficiently practical and profitable. The
questions were, therefore, forced upon us, What must be done? What
does the present crisis of the cause demand? How can our great
gatherings be made more _useful_? Deliberation and counsel brought the
answer: "We need more _instruction_." Teachers need training. They
need to be taught how to prepare the lesson; how to secure attention;
how to teach infants, juveniles, and adults; how to apply Bible
truths. Superintendents need instruction how to gain order; how to
organize and classify; how to open, conduct, and address and review
the school; how to train the teachers and enlist the interest and
service of parents, pastors, and the churches. All need inspiring with
the spirit that will go forth and plant new schools, and gather in and
secure a good religious education to every child in the community. In
the way of accomplishment of these grand results the obstacles were
foreseen--such as prosy essays, tedious discussions, formal addresses
or sermons, which generalized everything and rendered it nought. On
the other hand, we found a surfeit of touching little stories and old
anecdotes, and it became necessary to strike out boldly for a
reformation and an entire change of base in our plan of operations.
Accordingly resort was had to what are called Sunday-school Institutes.
IV.
INSTITUTES.
They have grown out of the idea of the Public-school Teachers'
Institutes, which have been sustained for many years with interest and
profit, the expenses being cheerfully met out of the State Treasury.
Our Sabbath-school Institutes are modeled somewhat on the same plan.
The object is, by means of practical essays, model lessons, lectures,
and drill exercises, to train the teachers and officers for their
work. Institutes differ from other conventions in calling out the
audience in responses, recapitulations, and more detailed instruction.
They will take their character very much from the character and course
pursued by the conductor. No two persons, perhaps, would conduct them
alike. For instance, one man would give more attention to
superintending, addresses, public exercises, singing, etc. Another to
the blackboard, object teaching, and sacred geography; while another
still, would give more attention to methods of teaching, teachers'
meetings, normal classes, model lessons, etc. We would prefer to
combine ALL these things in their due proportion, in every Institute,
and make as complete and clear work on every point as possible. The
great object is to make them _useful_. If this is secured, they will
be all the more interesting. There are two great subjects which should
always be before every Institute, as well as every convention, viz.,
1. The extension of Sabbath-schools, so as to reach all of the
neglected; 2. The elevation and improvement of existing schools; and
they need improving, if not reforming, in every part.
The first idea of a Sabbath-school Institute that ever entered the
mind of the writer was suggested to him by a pastor, Rev. W. A. Niles,
in the State Sunday-school Convention at Buffalo, New York, in 1864.
An experiment was soon successfully made, and since then they have
become almost universally popular and useful. The same thought, we
have since been informed, had been considered, and Institutes held by
the Rev. J. H. Vincent, in the Western Methodist Conferences; and as
long ago as 1827, the New York Sunday-school Union, in its Eleventh
Annual Report, particularly recommended this plan "of a school for the
training of Sabbath-school teachers."
The forms of these Institutes are various. Many are made up partly of
convention and partly of Institute exercises. Ordinarily two or three
days and evenings are entirely devoted to one, by a county, or
district comprising a dozen counties. Another plan, when held in a
city, is to devote all the evenings and a part of the afternoons of a
week to it; as in New York city last year, and recently in Brooklyn;
also, prefacing it with an elaborate sermon on the Sabbath evening
previous. Another plan still is to devote the usual weekly Teachers'
Meeting of a school to a regular normal class or training Institute.
All these plans are useful in the hands of a good conductor.
_The Subjects_
for consideration in an Institute may be suggested as follows:
1. How to form new schools.
2. How best to gather in the children.
3. Their conversion and culture.
4. Organization and classification.
5. Superintendents' duties.
6. Opening and closing exercises.
7. The library and record books.
8. The Bible classes.
9. The intermediate classes.
10. The infant-school.
11. Anniversaries and concerts.
12. Reviews and catechisms.
13. Children's prayer-meetings.
14. Training of converts.
15. How to teach; with model lessons and examples of good modes.
16. Illustrative teaching.
17. Object teaching.
18. Pictorial teaching.
19. The use of the blackboard.
20. The art of questioning.
21. The art of securing attention.
22. The preparation of the lesson.
23. Teachers' meetings.
24. Sunday-school music.
25. Children's prayers and devotions.
26. Map drawing.
27. Bible geography, history, etc.
28. Temperance meetings.
_The Exercises_
of an Institute may be--
1. Devotional exercises for specific objects.
2. Reports of superintendents and teachers as to how they do it, or
reports of the destitution, wants, or difficulties.
3. Instruction by the conductor to meet the above specific wants and
difficulties.
4. Questions by teachers and answers by the conductor to meet the
points in the subject not fully explained.
5. Preparation lessons, practice lessons, and model lessons.
6. Explanatory and instructive addresses, lectures or essays.
7. Model Opening Exercises and Teachers' Meetings.
8. Drill exercises on activity, curiosity, inquisitiveness; or how to
gain attention, how to instruct, how to impress, etc.
_Every one_ should take some part in an Institute, _i. e._, take
notes, ask or answer questions, or give information or lessons. Let
none be mere spectators. Always have plenty of paper for taking notes,
also pencils, and provide a good blackboard and crayons, and perhaps a
map, together with a good warm, light and pleasant room to meet in.
Get up the Institute with care. Have it all well understood, and then
talk about it, write and print about it, and get teachers and pastors
pledged to attend. Pray much for the Institute, and select the best
time, and do all that you undertake to do, thoroughly and well. Let
one subject naturally glide into the succeeding one. Waste no time
with outside men or topics, but adhere to your programme religiously.
One or two good helpers from abroad are sufficient, and do not invite
men out of compliment. Guard well all denominational interests and
feelings. Draw together in harmony and conciliate. Never become
opinionated or dogmatic, for the moment we cease to learn, our
usefulness will decline. Give change, variety and life to all the
exercises.
Finally, the spirituality of any Sunday-school gathering must be
earnestly sustained, or all will be in vain. God alone can make a good
superintendent, or a good Sabbath-school teacher. We are as nothing.
The cause only is great. Therefore, with the Word of God in our hands,
let _all things_ be done in a sense of real heartfelt dependence upon
God, and with earnest, believing supplication for the Divine direction
and blessing.
Many of our Sabbath-school Conventions and Institutes are now very
properly assuming a mixed character, combining whatever is wanted of
both, in every meeting. We need to arouse, instruct and train; and
also to know the details of "how to do it." May the Master control all
these gatherings to His glory and the good of man!
_Rules._
1. Draw out the people to explain their wants, experience, and
difficulties.
2. Then supply their wants.
3. Get one conductor, pay his expenses, and assign him to a good,
quiet, comfortable place of entertainment near the church.
4. Commence promptly, and keep strictly to the programme and to time.
The following programme of an Institute we think most useful. It
should be sent out two to four weeks in advance of the time of meeting:
_PROGRAMME._
_Tuesday Evening_.
7 to 7.30, Religious conference and prayer for the Institute--two or
three minute exercises.
7.30 to 7.40, Organization and miscellaneous business.
7.40 to 8, Sketch of progress and present position of the
Sabbath-schools.
8 to 8.30, Brief reports from the counties or towns of their
condition and destitution.
8.30 to 9, Instruction how to reach the neglected with schools,
importance of illustrations, etc.
9 to 9.30, Review, with questions and answers.
_Wednesday Morning._
9 to 9.20, Devotion--prayer for the schools.
9.20 to 9.50, Teachers' meetings by the Institute; how conducted, etc.
9.50 to 10.30, Review and instruction, by the conductor.
10.30 to 11, Blackboard and its uses, by the Institute.
11 to 12, Review and instruction, by the conductor.
_Wednesday Afternoon._
2 to 2.20, Devotional: prayer for the scholars.
2.20 to 2.40, Object-teaching, by the Institute.
2.40 to 3.20, Review and instruction, by the conductor.
3.20 to 3.40, Infant classes; how taught and difficulties.
3.40 to 4.30, Review and instruction; examples, etc., by the
conductor.
4.30 to 5, Questions; box opened and answers given.
_Wednesday Evening._
7 to 7.20, Conference and prayer for superintendents.
7.20 to 8, Superintending, opening exercises, and the library by the
Institute--four speakers, ten minutes each.
8 to 9, Review and instruction, by the conductor.
9 to 9.30, Questions and answers.
_Thursday Morning._
9 to 9.20, Conference and prayer for teachers.
9.20 to 10, How you teach; examples, modes, difficulties, etc., by
the Institute.
10 to 11, Review and instruction; systems and modes of teaching.
11 to 12, Model-lessons, examples of teaching, etc.
_Thursday Afternoon._
2 to 2.20, Conference and prayer for parents.
2.20 to 3.20, Divide the Institute into six classes, to be taught
half an hour by six teachers; then have reports from these teachers,
and criticism by the Institute.
3.20 to 3.35, Bible geography, maps, history, etc., by the Institute.
3.35 to 4, Examples, instructions, etc., by the conductor.
4 to 5, Questions and answers generally, on all subjects.
_Thursday Evening._
7 to 7.30, Conference and prayer for conversions, the Church, etc.
7.30 to 8.10, Enlisting the church in Sabbath-school work; conversion
and training of children, by the conductor; four speeches, ten
minutes each, to the point, "how to do it."
8.10 to 9, Review of all by the conductor.
9 to 9.30, Closing addresses of five minutes each.
If no meeting is held on Tuesday evening, then drop out Thursday
afternoon's exercises, and close up with the others. It is of the
utmost importance that the pastors, superintendents, and teachers
attend _all the exercises_. The Institute has an opportunity on every
topic. Perhaps some pastor will favor with a model-lesson or
drill-exercises on the subjects presented.
We need "line upon line" on some very important points, and,
therefore, it is hoped that the _repetition_ of some of these subjects
in these articles will prove useful to many.
V.
THE SUPERINTENDENT.