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THE HEKALU-AIVANCE
"W. W. DOWNIE, Editor and Publisher
ftftlelal Piprrtl (rant County nt llfCltr of
fltilhank.
MILBANK, S. DAK., DEC. 23, 1910
fhe Child and the Church.
(continued from first page.)
"When, therefore, children receive
from the church the rite of baptism,
Which betokens entrance into new life,
they are rightly considered in cove
nant relation with the church: for
they are truly of the kingdom of
Heaven, until by their own free will
they choose to reject their relationship
with the Head of the church. Nor are
Wibaptized children in any less near
relationship with Him: hence they
should have the same privileges of in
struction in the truths of the Bible and
the righteousness and love of God.
And all, baptized and unbaptized,
should be influenced toward choosing
to follow Christ before there comes
»ny great sense of separation from
Him.
If such is the relation of the child to
God in Jesus ('hrist, what should be
tile attitude of Hischurch toward God's
own little ones? And what is the
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actual attitude of the Church? I^et us
lirst look at the latter question, by in
quiring further—In the ordinary con
duct of the church and its members,
what provision is made for leading
children to think that they are by
right Christ's own. and that they
should acknowledge that right and
yield their wills to His? What en
couragements. what worthy attractions
What real attractiveness are found in
tlie church, in its services, meetings,
atmosphere: attitude of maturer
Christians, to cause children to want
to come to such, or to be identified
with the church, and to be proud of
such identification? In the main is
not the chief sttention given to ch»l
dren to be summed up in the weekly
hour of the Sabbath school, in a like
time (or less) in the Junior League, if
there be one, and in an occasional
talk or sermon from the pastor in one
or other of these or in the morning
service—perhaps two. three, four
times yearly?
Again, in the Sunday school, where
but one out of a hundred or more
waking hours of the child's week is
definitely given to considering the
deeper things of the child life, how
much is there to draw the children or
to make them feel that they w ant to be
there every Sunday in spite of wind
and weather,
auto
rides and picnics,
playmate pleasures and ball games.
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CREATE OR CRUMBLE. Every man should create a
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Want YOU to Make Our Bank YOUR Banfc
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Miibank
A E N E S
Clothing
Store
You will find some exceptional bargains
in Fur Trimmed and Plush Lined Over
coats for Men and Boys from $4.50 to
$45.00. A chance to save money—now.
Mer« and Boys suits are being sold at
vei, Prices—Today is the time to act.
^ancy WOLLEN shirts-the rage
evt ^here. From $1.25 up to $2.50.
Auu. sweaters, Mens and Boys, $1 up.
Mens and Womens felt shoes and SLIP
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Extra stock of Mittens.
Hats and Gaps for Men and Boys.
LENDER,
MILBANK
r~
How many find the Sunday school
hour the sunny hour of the week?
And when they do come, what is there
to bring them back again the next
Sabbath. More than all this, what is
there on the part of the superintend
ent, teacher, pastor, or in the man
ner of conducting the Sunday school
or the class study that would lead the
children to .give themselves to ("hrist?
How often is a personal individual
word spoken to some boy or girl
about this greatest of all matters, a
yearning heart to heart appeal to fol
low Him who is the Way, the Truth,
the Life?
Questions, questions! Yet most of
them need but to be asked to find an
swer from our own cognizance of the
facts. True, there are exceptions, oc
casional, some notable, yet the more
noticeable from their itifrequency. A
pretty card, a pictured story, a roll
of-honor badge, some special part or
present in approaching Christmas,
Children®' Day. or Kally Day ser
vices—these are about all that we.
pastors and Sunday school workers
the machinery of the church- grind
out to make a child want to have a
personal interest in the church or the
Kingdom of God. To many a boy.
whose practical training of the past,
it is "Tommy go.'* and he goeth to
Sunday school: but Tommy's heart
and thoughts are out in the back lot
or pasture with that ball game. What
wonder, when his teacher says, "Tom
my. what is the Golden Text." thai lie
pulls himself back from a vacant
stare that has been conscious of noth
ing within the four walls of the church
long enough to say "f don't know,"
and lapses again into vacancy or
mischief? Were it not for what God
had done in putting within the child
nature reverent awe for the unknown
God, and the great bulwark of child
character, faith and love for the true
and the noble and the heroic, and sup
plied the answer to these instructive
yearnings in the stories of men and
women of the Good Book, our efforts
would often fall flat indeed.
A hard arraignment, do
you
of the church, which hasdone
say,
so
much
tor the child? Vet much that has
been done, has been indirectly,
through the influence of the Gospel
life and society in general, rather
than under the direct auspices of the
church. How many of the eighty per
cent of our church membership that
have come from the Sunday school
were converted, brought to a decision,
in the Sunday school and as a definite
fruit of the Sunday school, and not
through special meetings or other in
fluences? I fear the facts will not
bear very close scrutiny. To face
these conditions and consider what
they mean, is cause for deep humility.
We have not been doing our duty.
When we see the great advance made
outside the church in methods of sec
ular education, in books, papers,
songs, games, and such like, for chil
dren, in gymnasiums, play-ground
movements, and fresh air camps, and
in modern hospitals for physically
diseased and defective children and
juvenile courts and juvenile legisla
tion for the morally delinquent, sad
indeed is it that the church herself
seems so slow to fall in line, as it
were following' afar off, when she
should be the leader.
Hut what shall wt do? Where are
the men and women that are trained
to carry on the work along these ad
vanced lines? It is easy to criticise:
yet this is not written in the spirit of
criticism, but only that, seeing the de
fects, and recognizing the needs, we
may set ourselves to the divine task,
nay, the divine opportunity of put
ting ourselves in line with the general
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movement already begun, of bringing
the church up to the standard set by
her founder—"Of such is the kingdom
of Heaven." We pastors must be
come the real under-shepherds of the
flock, not only tending His sheep,
some of them wayward or wandering
at times, but following Christ's tirst
command to Peter. "Feed my lambs."
We must be the leaders, underv His
spirit inspiring workers in our Sun
day schools to achievements that
must be attained ere the kingdom
come on earth as it is in Heaven. We
must care for the Kingdom and gather
those that ocght to be of His King
dom.
I do not forget that there are many
earnest men and women whose in*
spiring personality puts life and at
tractiveness into the Sabbath school,
the Junior League or the church ser
vice. Many hopeful signs are also
appearing the new emphasis on Sun
day school work, decision day,
teacher training and the graded les
sons and many others indicate that
the mind of the church is becoming
astir. But as yet these have not
reached the rank and file, have not
become the usual thing throughout
the schools. And the fact still re
mains that the great majority of the
children of our communities are not
reached for Jesus Christ, and that
three fourths of the children of the
country are outside the Protestant
Sunday schools. South Dakota hav
ing only fourteen per cent in them.
The need for us then is first to
study the child nature in the concrete
and in the abstract, by text-book and
observation, that we may intelligently
meet the needs of the child under
local conditions and adapt our meth
ods accordingly. The psychology of
the child, the instinctive out-reach-!
ings of his growing consciousness,
the motives and incentives that cause
it to unfold and develop as against
those that tend to stunt and malform
these should haveour earnestthought.
What the normal child likes and what
he dislikes may often give the key to
a different problem, if our minds are
alert to perceive the interrevelations.
Judge Lindsay puts down fear as the
root of nearly all evil in juvenile
criminology, while friendly appeal to
inherent manliness of the boy fre
quently leads not only to frank con
fession of mistakes and misdeeds, but
also to earnest and successful efforts
to a better life.
With much prayerful preparation
we need inspiringly to lead i our
teachers in Sunday school and .fun
ior Leagu.t to feel the responsibility
and opportunity of their work and to
fit themselves for it by study and cor
respondence courses. Talk with them
personally and pray with them about
thi*. that they may strive to become
fishers of men. leaders of children to
the savior. We need tactfully to get
our Sunday schools to adopt and
adapt th« new graded lessons to local
needs and themselves to these courses,
and to make these stories and lessons
from God's Book of nature and of
revelation count in training the chil
dren to practical piety, in leading to
faith and obedience to Christ. We
need, above all things, to get near to
the boys and girls themselves, and, by
a frank friendliness and sincerity of
character that holds their respect, to
win their friendship and their con
fidence not only to ourselves but to
the Master whom we own. No cant,
no patronizing, no sounding brass or
tinkling cymbal of assumed interest
wil: cloak the instinctive eye of child
hood. Our interest and sympathy
must be genuine.
I We must meet them in their games.
provide healthful amusements, arrange
children's socials and other enter
tainments. Let us strive toward
making ourselves proficient in the art
of story telling. Good stories are
the healthful food and stimulant of the
child's mind, and fill it with good
thoughts and ideals to the exclusion
of many evil ones. We should adapt
more of our church services to their
needs and understanding. A man
who had met some negroes concerted
under the preaching of Spurgeon,
wrote him in would be detracting
spirit, saying that he judged Spur
geon's preaching was suited to such
people as •"niggers." But the great
man felt that no higher compliment
ould have been paid him. If the poor
and the humble and the down-cast and
the ignorant and the young are en
lightened and won by the preaching!
that we preach, we need have no fear
for the rest.
In conclusion, allow me to quote
from Mr. Morgan's own words:—
I love to think of the children as in
the arms of the Master. He will carry I
them in His bosom. Hut, you know,
if you carry the figure out, He will
not always do this: tl re must be a
moment when the child shall choose I
for himself or herself. Those that
have not reacned the y trs when it is
possible for them to know and decide
for themselves and rec .'e God's five
gift. He (tears in His uiois. He died
for them, and His great finished work
upon the cross avails 'or them this
moment. He carries th u is His arms.
But there will come a moment present
ly in their lives—1 don't know where it
is: thank Clod, these moments are not
dated for us—when He will take my
boy and put himdown. nndsaj. ''Now
I have carried you: now. will you fol
low me?" And that wi be the mo
ment when the child will receive or re
ject tne free gift, and then, as the
Master leads, developing the possi
bilities of the boy's r,r re, if he fol
low, then by his yield to follow he
will receive the free g:ft and be born
again in the spirit: it until the
moment conies when can choose
whether he will follow lot. the Mas
ter carries him in Ili -ms because
He died for him. and ».* is obedience
there has come to him, boy, par
don and forgiveness for that in his
nature for which he is n, to blame,
and for which therefore, by virtue of
the work of Christ, God does not hold
him guilty, so that our children are
already in the arms of the Master.
Now, someone will say, "Then do
not our children need to be born
again?" Assuredly they do: make no
mistake about this but if we our
selves are the Master's, we shall so
speak to our children in their earliest
days, we shall so talk to them of our
Master, we shall so tell them of what
He has done for them, that there shall
be no great revulsion when they pass
into His kingdom, of their own free
will.
If that be the statement of the child's
position, necessarily out of it grows
an understanding of the duties of
(con. OB «*»xt page fifth column.)
For Your Christmas Dinner..
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YOU ARE INVITED
to inspect our line of Holiday shifts, of which the
following is only a partial list.
Albums, Gift Rooks, Bibles,
Prayer Books, Perfumes,
Cigars in Xcnas Boxes, Meerschaum and Briar
Pipes and Cigar Holders
Electrohars, Table Lamps, Hanging: Lamps,
Old Brass Novelties, Hand Painted China
Safety Razors, Pearl Handled Knives
Ladies Hand Bags.
GENUINE EDISON PHONOGRAPHS
Victor Talking Machines.
Eastman Kodaks and manA' other suitable «Hfts.
N. J. BlflserPruggist
We are going to clos#
out all our nickel plated
skates at cost. This is I.1*
an invitation to you to
buy a new pair for your
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ent for a relative or
friend,
You can buy them at
cost at this store and
save money.
skate sharpener
for 10c. It's a dandy.
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S A E Y
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