RELIGIOUS EDUCATION and the PUBLIC SCHOOL An American Problem BY GEORGE U. WENNER ii NEW YORK BONNELL, SILVER AND CO. 48 West Twenty-second Street NEW YORK .... MCMVII LC Copyright, 1907 By GEORGE U. WENNER To MY FIRST TEACHER IN RELIGION MY REVERED MOTHER 248518 CONTENTS PAGE FOREWORD vii I. THE PROBLEM 1 II. HISTORICAL REVIEW .... 4 III. IN OTHER LANDS ....... 22 VI. THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY . 26 V. "A WEEK-DAY SUNDAY-SCHOOL" 39 VI. " LIONS IN THE WAY" ... 46 VII. THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE . . 56 VIII. A COURSE OF STUDY .... 79 IX. THE BIBLE STORY 82 X. THE CATECHISM 95 XL THE GOAL 106 XII. A SOLUTION Ill VIEWS AND COMMENTS ... 119 FOREWORD AT the meeting of the Inter-Church -** Conference in Carnegie Hall, New York, in November, 1905, at which twenty-nine Protestant Churches of Amer- ica were represented, one of the papers treated the question of Week-day Re- ligious Instruction. Its main proposi- tion was favorably received, and the fol- lowing resolution was adopted by the Conference : Resolved, That in the need of more systematic education in religion, we recommend for the favorable consider- ation of the Public School authorities of the country the pro- posal to allow the children to absent themselves without detriment from the public schools on Wednesday or on some other afternoon of the school week for the purpose of attend- ing religious instruction in their own churches; and we urge upon the churches the advisability of availing themselves of the opportunity so granted to give such instruction in addi- tion to that given on Sunday. The further consideration of the sub- ject was referred to the Executive Com- mittee, and a report may be expected at the meeting of the Federal Council of viii RELIGIOUS EDUCATION the Churches of Christ in America in December, 1908. This action of the Conference placed the question on the docket, as it were, for the consideration of the churches. On the 30th of January, 1906, in con- nection with the 10th Annual Meeting of the Federation of Churches of New York, the subject was debated, and after an animated discussion^ a committee was appointed to make arrangements for further consideration of the question at a subsequent meeting. At this second meeting, held on the 30th of April, ad- dresses in favor of the movement were delivered by Rabbi Mendes, Father Mc- Millan, Bishop Greer, Dr. Henry M. Sanders, Dr. Frank Mason North and Dr. Henry A. Stimson, representing re- spectively the Jewish, Roman Catholic, Protestant Episcopal, Baptist, Methodist Episcopal and Congregational commu- nions. A letter from the Hon. Charles A. Schieren, of the Lutheran Church, also endorsed the proposed plan. To meet objections, and remove mis- FOREWORD ix apprehensions, the substance of the paper read before the Inter-Church Conference, is presented in the following pages, together with such additions as may help to illustrate its purpose. Its chief object is to contribute material toward further discussion of the question. The attention which the question of Religious Education is receiving in Eng- land will serve to facilitate its discussion in America. Conditions are different, but the same principles are involved. If the plan proposed in these pages is not acceptable, it is hoped that some other solution may be found for one of the most serious problems of our American life. G U. W. THE PROBLEM questions are settled in the minds of American Christians. One is that there can be no true edu- cation without religion. %$? The other is that we must have a public school, open to all children without regard to creed. These two propo- sitions appear to contradict one another. The problem is how to reconcile them. When our country was young, and Protestantism was the prevailing type of religion, these two ideas dwelt peaceably together. The founders of the Republic had no theory of education from which religion was divorced. But the in- flux of millions of people of other faiths compels us to revise our methods and to test them by our principles, the principles of a free Church within a free State. Roman Catholics and Jews object to ^1^ T^ 2 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION our traditions and charge us with incon- sistency. If temporarily we are able to withstand their objections, we feel that a great victory has been won for religion when a psalm is read and the Lord's Prayer said at the opening of the daily session of school. We still have "re- ligion" in the public school. But the problem remains. On the one hand, those who doubt the propriety of introducing any religious instruction, how- ever attenuated, into the public school, are not satisfied with the compromise. There are judicial decisions which place even the reading of the Bible under the head of sectarian instruction. On the other hand, those who believe that religion has a supreme place in the education of a child, and that provision should therefore be made for it in its school life, realize the inadequacy of the present methods. As Herbert Spencer says: "To prepare Aim of us for complete living is the Education function which education has to discharge." Character rather than THE PROBLEM 3 acquirement is the chief aim of education. Hence we cannot ignore the place of religion in education without doing vio- lence to the ultimate purpose of education. The importance of the question is ad- mitted on all sides. But it remains a complex and difficult problem. Thus far, at least, with all our talent for practical measures, we have not succeeded in reaching a solution. The question of religious instruction, however, is by no means new. It is as old as Christianity. It may therefore be well to inquire in what way other ages have treated it. On this subject each of the great periods of Christian history has given an answer. II HISTORICAL REVIEW TN the early ages, Christian nurture was a family duty. In his letter to Family the Ephesians, Paul urges Training fathers to nurture their chil- dren "in the chastening and admonition of the Lord/' In his letter "unto the elect lady and her children," John ex- presses his joy at finding "certain of thy children walking in truth." When Paul reminded Timothy of the "unfeigned faith which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice," we are justified in inferring a Christian training. Christ's own words, (Mark 10), not only included a caution to the disciples, but were a direct command to the parents. The obligation of Christian nurture thus imposed by Christ and His Apostles was gladly accepted by the members of the early church, especially by the mothers. HISTORICAL REVIEW 5 The names of Emmelia the mother of Basil, Arethusa the mother of Chrysostom, and Monica the mother of Augustine, are eminent in the history of Christian family nurture. In the writings of the Fathers we have occasional glimpses of the character and effect of this family training.* Polycarp writes: "Teach your women to bring up the children in the fear of the Lord." Hermas is blamed because he had not rightly instructed his children. The mar- tyrs Paeon and Euelpistus were brought before a heathen judge, Rusticus, who asked them from whom they had learned Christianity. They replied, "From the women have we received this beautiful doctrine." Origen was instructed in the Scriptures from childhood by his father Leonidas. Every day he had to learn certain doctrines and a Bible story. Tertullian speaks of the children of Christians as holy not only by the priv- ilege of birth but also by the discipline of their training. Clement of Alexandria * See Sachsse, Lehre von der Kirchlichen Erziehung, p. 100. 6 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION demands that children should be trained by means of Bible examples and by fear. The Apostolical Constitutions prescribe to parents the duty of instructing their children in the Old and New Testaments, and of bringing them up in the fear of God . Chrysostom frequently admonishes his hearers to tell the Bible stories to their children. Basil the Great was in- structed from childhood in the Christian faith by his father, his mother and his grandmother Macrina. From these illustrations it seems clear that family training was the signature of the religious education of the early church. In the Middle Ages the Christian school took the place of family training. The Christian The migrations of the nations disorganized social and family life, and made it necessary to find other means of reaching the children. The earliest schools were in connection with the monasteries. In 813 Charle- magne procured the passage of a resolu- tion by the Council of Mainz that parents should be admonished to send their HISTORICAL REVIEW 7 children to school, either to the monastery or to their own pastors. Other synods followed in these recommendations and enlarged the scope of the training. But the indolence and the ignorance of the min- isters were the chief obstacles in the way of realizing the ideals of that enlightened and truly great emperor, Charlemagne. He was great as a military conqueror, but he was still greater as a Christian educator. Four centuries later another step was taken, when the Synod of Besier, in 1246, established a sort of Sunday-school, by ordering that all children seven years old and upward, should be brought to church by their parents to be instructed in the Christian faith. Incidentally the parents were also reached by this method. Twenty-four years later Bishop Engel- bert of Koln published the scheme of a well-organized school in his "Rules for Sextons and Schoolmasters." Instruc- tion was to be given for five hours daily, principally in religion and morals, but also in all kinds of worldly subjects. 8 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION A century later John Gerson marked an epoch in the history of the instruction of children in religion. He was born in 1363, was brought up by pious parents, and received his education in Paris. He was not only a very learned man, but also a man of courage, contending bravely against existing evils in the church. He was the Spener of his day, not only in his zeal for practical Christianity, but also in his methods. His chief delight was to teach the children. His tract,"On Bring- ing the Little Ones to Christ/' has helped to perpetuate his memory. In his old age he often gathered the children about him in the monastery of Lyons, and when he saw his end approaching, he sent once more for the children in order that he might pray with them. He died on the 12th of July, 1429. The larger life that followed the Cru- sades led to the establishment of Latin schools in the cities all over Europe. These were secular, and were under the control of the city authorities. But their existence, together with the general en- HISTORICAL REVIEW 9 largement of intellectual life, emphasized the necessity of better systems of religious instruction. Numerous efforts were made in this direction, but the constant complaint was that the ministers were too indolent and were unwilling to under- take the work. The invention of printing popularized a number of catechetical treatises, such as "The Road to Heaven," 6 . Catechisms Mirror tor Christians and "Threefold Cord," explanations of the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments. These booklets produced a wide-spread interest in the subject during the period immediately preceding the Reformation. John Fred- erick, subsequently the staunch and pious Elector of Saxony, got his father's permission to attend the catechetical classes in Torgau on Sunday afternoons in 1511, and Luther taught the catechism in public before he ever thought of a Reformation. Matthesius relates that Luther as a child at school had learned the Commandments, the Creed and the 10 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Lord's Prayer, as well as grammar and some Christian hymns. Sponsors in baptism also played an important part in the work of Christian instruction. The office was not nominal. It had its distinct duties, and where its original ideas were carried out, proved a helpful agency. In sporadic cases family training was restored toward the end of the Middle Ages, especially among the Waldensians, the Wiclifites and the Hussites. The Reformation was a spiritual rather than an intellectual movement. But in order to a right faith, it was necessary The that there should be a right Reformation knowledge of God. Hence religious education early received a lead- ing place in the program of the Reforma- tion. The Pre-Reformation period had indeed recognized the importance of the subject. Here and there its greatest teachers had emphasized its importance and had pointed out the way. There were not lacking synodical resolutions for the direction of the churches. But the HISTORICAL REVIEW 11 problem was not solved by the church of the Middle Ages. The Reformers early devised systematic methods of imparting religious instruc- tion to the young. The agents for this work were first, the pastors, and sec- ondly, the schools. In 1527 Melanchthon prescribed for ministers the preaching of sermons on the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Com- mandments. A regular portion of the catechism was to be explained in the form of a sermon. This sermon was delivered sometimes after the regular sermon, sometimes before. In the course of time, Sunday afternoon was set apart for the sermon on the catechism. The usual order of the service was: Recitation, Questions and Explanations, and the Sermon. To a certain extent the house- hold-training of the early church was restored, inasmuch as parents were ex- pected to teach their children the text of the catechism. But the work of ex- planation was left to the pastor. Very soon it was found that Sunday 12 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION was not enough for this work, and one or more week-days were set apart on Week-Day which religious instruction ciawet wag j. Q | 3e gi ven t o the chil- dren. An examination was held four times a year. This method was generally adopted by the churches, and in most places it was in full operation prior to 1534. What Charlemagne had longed for in the ninth century was carried out by Luther seven hundred years later. But the pastors alone were not equal to the work. They needed help. In the cities this was easily secured by reorgan- izing the existing schools. In 1520 Lu- ther demanded that the chief subject in the schools should be the Holy Scriptures. In 1524 he made an appeal to the Councils of all the German cities to establish and maintain Christian schools. As the princes had no time for this work they had to go sleigh-riding and attend to their sports the city authorities should meet this crying need. In 1530 he made an- other appeal, this time to the parents. HISTORICAL REVIEW 13 They should not be satisfied with having their children learn arithmetic and read- ing, so as to become merchants and get rich. If that was the way it was going to be done in Germany, he would feel sorry that he was born a German. Many cities responded to this appeal and established schools in which religion became the chief subject of instruction. In 1528 Melanchthon published for the use of these schools his "Instructions for Inspectors and Pastors." These in- structions were revised and approved by Bugenhagen and Luther. In the villages the task was more dif- ficult. The need was recognized, but many years passed before the plans were effectively carried out. In the country districts around Wittenberg, it was pre- scribed as early as 1528 that the sexton in every village should be required to give instruction on week-days on the Com- mandments, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer, and also in the singing of hymns. Parents were required to send their children to this instruction. The sexton 14 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION thus came into prominence as the pas- tor's assistant in the villages. In 1533 all Saxony followed the example of Wit- tenberg, in 1535 Pomerania, in 1543 Brunswick, in 1573 Brandenburg, in 1559 Wiirttemberg. This was the rule on paper at least. In point of fact, prior to the Thirty Years' War there were but few village schools. After the war, pious princes made re- newed efforts to establish them. In this they were supported by the Pietistic movement. But it was reserved for a later period to realize the hopes and ex- pectations of the Reformers. It was Francke's genial spirit that gave A Bohemian practical direction to the new Biho P ideag of the Christian school, and his name will always be associated with the history of modern education. But the real author of its principles was John Amos Comenius, the last Bishop of the Bohemian Brethren. He was born in 1592 and died in 1670. One of the most learned men of his times, he excelled in many directions, but his chief claim to HISTORICAL REVIEW 15 enduring fame is the contribution which he made to the science of teaching. His views on education had been committed to paper while he and his churches were exiles. They were called forth by the desire to give to his people, in the training of Christian children, something that could not be taken away when they should again be restored to their homes. That time never came. For decades the man- uscripts lay unused and forgotten in their hiding place, and their author died, having apparently planned and lived in vain. A quarter of a century after his death, the seed which he had sown began to grow. Francke, Rousseau and Pesta- lozzi in all probability got their ideas from Comenius, and what had seemed a failure became the permanent possession of the modern world. As a result of these principles, educa- tional methods underwent a Revolution in complete revolution in the Methods eighteenth century. This first became apparent in the period of Illuminism, 16 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION (Aufklaerung), the forerunner of Ration- alism. The chief exponent was Basedow, with an elementary work in 1770, and four volumes in 1774. Acting upon a suggestion of Rousseau, he laid down the principle that education must accord with nature. He condemned mechanical mem- orization of uncomprehended sentences. Instruction must lead to the knowledge of things. The mind must be strengthened by observation and discrimination. Mem- ory is to be subordinated to the under- standing. In religion, the doctrines com- mon to all nations are to be distinguished from those of Revelation. The former are to be taught in school, the latter in church. The common doctrines of relig- ion are three: 1. There is a Providence. 2. There is a future life. 3. This future life is obtained by being good in this life. Hence children should early be taught to be good. The application of Basedow's principles to religious instruction was made by Salzmann (1780). Religion is a state of mind which appreciates things at their HISTORICAL REVIEW 17 real worth. It must not be based on the events that took place eighteen hundred years ago. Teach children to study na- ture, and then they will appreciate the teachings of the Bible. Tell them of God's love and then of His command- ments. Learning texts and studying books makes them hate religion. Tell them stories in the way that Jesus did. Bible stories are not suitable because of their orientalism. Robinson Crusoe is better. Connect religious sentiments with his adventures. Finally, lead to faith in the Divine revelation in Christ, not by dogmatic statements but by telling of His life and works. Faith in Christ is one thing, acceptance of dogmatic statements is another thing. These methods were a mixture of truth and error. On the one hand, Christianity is not an unintelligible eccle- siasticism. The reason must be culti- vated. Christ is to be known as a Person and not as a dogma. On the other hand, the conception of Christianity as a mere doctrine was incomplete. 18 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION In this connection mention must also be made of Baron von Rochow, who established a village school on his estates, in which the merits but not the faults of Illuminism were seen; and of Pestalozzi, whose practical efforts were such complete failures, but who gave seed-thoughts that are still bringing forth fruit. The changes produced by the combined influences of the eighteenth century were very great. Thoro training was re- quired of teachers. Normal schools were established. Attendance at school, form- erly optional, became obligatory. Me- chanical memorization was condemned. School used to be a purgatory for children, it was turned into a paradise. Above all, there was a definite aim. In religion, the aim was development of character. In secular training, the aim was to fit for the practical duties of life. The year 1695 marks a new step in the history of religious education. In this Francke'. yearAugust Hermann Francke established his School for the Poor in Glaucha. To this HISTORICAL REVIEW 19 he soon added a Public School, a Latin High School and a Normal School with a postgraduate annex. For these schools and for his Orphans' House he required teachers. He trained them himself, and within three years he had fifty-six teachers at work in his institutions. Francke was a master teacher. His aim was the development of character. Instruction was only the means to this end. His system included the study of nature, and provided for manual training, for girls as well as boys. He is the founder of the Christian public school. In 1763 Frederick the Great adopted his system for Prussia. It must be evident that these two centuries, from Luther to Pestalozzi, witnessed great progress in the matter of religious education. Luther had simply continued the method of the Middle Ages. While he appreciated the value of the Bible Story, and as we shall see later, commended its use, he put the emphasis of his instruction where the church for a thousand years before him had placed 20 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION it, on the Commandments, the Creed and the Lord's Prayer. The seventeenth century was the era of catechisms with Questions and An- swers. In definitions, and definitions of definitions, the pages multiplied to an almost interminable extent. Some cate- chisms had literally thousands of ques- tions and answers. Even Spener, other- wise a good teacher, contributed little toward a better method. But with Francke and the later Pie- tists, in the eighteenth century, under the influence of the principles to which we have referred, came new suggestions as to the aim and the method of catechisa- tion. Rationalism, it is true, was a co- worker in the reformation of methods, but it failed to reach the conceded aim, the development of character, because it departed from historical Christianity. The nineteenth century clarified and put into practice the ideas which the eighteenth century suggested. The em- phasis was no longer placed on memoriz- ing doctrinal statements. Bible History, HISTORICAL REVIEW 21 the objective facts of Christianity, became the starting point, the foundation of Christian instruction. Our own times are witnessing an in- tense interest in both the theory and practice of teaching. But the strangest feature in the history of this movement is that while it originated in the church, and was developed by its ministers for the purpose of building up the church, and for the promotion of religious life, the church of to-day seems to be the last to derive any benefit from it. We have not a few churches where the method of teaching the catechism is that of the seventeenth century. We have theolog- ical seminaries from which candidates for the ministry are graduated who are unable to teach a class of children in ac- cordance with approved pedagogical principles. We cannot conceal from our- selves the fact that in America at least, Religious Education, as compared with secular instruction, does not occupy the queenly position to which its origin and his- tory, as well as its exalted aims, entitle it. Ill IN OTHER LANDS TN the matter of education the position of preceptor mundi has for centuries been conceded to Germany. Germany i For information as to the present condition of religious education in that empire I am indebted to Dr. Sachsse, Professor in the University of Bonn. In Germany religious instruction is a part of the regular curriculum of the public school. It is either Evangelical, (Protestant), or Catholic, in the sense in which these churches understand it, de- nominationally dogmatic therefore, and not humanistic. In elementary schools there are from thirty to thirty-two hours of instruction during the week. From four to six of these hours are devoted to religion, usually the first hours of the forenoon. In the high schools, (gymna- siums, colleges), there are also thirty-two 22 IN OTHER LANDS 23 hours of instruction. In the lower classes, three of these hours are devoted to re- ligion; in the higher classes, two. For home work, the pupil is expected to de- vote about half an hour to each lesson. In addition to the religious instruction given at school, the minister devotes two hours a week to advanced classes for a year or two prior to confirmation. In England the question at the present time is in a state of flux. Hitherto, thru a system of National and Board schools, religious education was provided for every child. Whatever the outcome may be of the present dis- cussion, there will be no diminution of religious instruction for the children of England. In France the state of equilibriujn has also not yet been found. Professor Me- negoz of the University of Paris has kindly sent me an account of the present situation. Re- ligious instruction is not given in the public school. But, besides Sundays, Thursdays are given to the churches for the 24 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION purpose of imparting religious instruction in their own buildings. On these days the children do not attend the public school. There are also denominational private schools, ecoles libres , where religious as well as secular instruction is given, but these are declining in number and in- fluence. It has been found impossible to compete with the large resources of the public school. In the secondary schools, (Colleges and Lycees), religious instruction is given by ministers, usually the pastores loci, who receive a small salary from the govern- ment. But this is regarded only as an unavoidable expedient. ' As for the universities, recent develop- ments have led to the exclusion of religion from them, but there is a "Section des sciences religieuses" in the "Ecole des Hautes-Etudes", which maintains lecture- ships on religion in the Sorbonne. For an account of the con- ditions in Sweden, I am indebted to Dr. von Scheele, the Bishop of Gothland. IN OTHER LANDS 25 Religious instruction is given during the eight months of the school year. The average number of hours per week is five. The subjects are : the Catechism, Bible Story, Bible Reading with oral ex- planations, and Church Song. In the higher schools, and in the upper classes of the other schools, Church History is also a part of the curriculum. The proportion of time allotted to religious instruction is one-sixth, that is, over sixteen per cent. For home study, the children usually require an hour a day for their lessons in religion. IV THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY TN America religious instruction has by judicial decision been excluded from the public school. Roman Catholics, Moravians and some Lutherans maintain parochial schools. Other churches have to a great extent delegated the work of instruction to the The Ameri- Sunday-school. This is a vol- can System un tary organization, connect- ed with the church, but to a large degree independent of it. Its hour of instruction, or rather its fraction of an hour, is con- fined to the first day of the week. So great is its influence and relative efficiency, that if one were asked what is the Ameri- can system of religious instruction, the answer in most cases would be: "The Sunday-school." In shifting this task to the Sunday- school, the church has transferred its own THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY 27 burden to weaker shoulders, and to an institution that was not established for this purpose. The work of religious instruction prop- erly belongs to the family. It was there that we found it in early Duty of Christian history. There it thc Famil y belongs in the nature of the case. No plan of religious education can be per- manently successful that does not empha- size the obligation of the family, and that does not aim at the maintenance of family religion. But next to the family stands the church with its function as a teacher of religion. We make no claims __ _. . . The Church for special rights and privi- leges of the church as an institution. Protestantism views the church rather as a fellowship of believers, a "communion of saints/' But from this very standpoint it is especially incumbent upon the church to care for the children. It is true, this function has been temporarily ignored among us, or thru a mistaken policy committed to other hands, to the public 28 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION school in its "religious exercises," and to the Sunday-school in its heroic effort to accomplish the task in an hour of voluntary work on Sunday. Nevertheless the principles of Protestantism have never repudiated the responsibility of the church to care for the Christian training of her children. If education means the formation and development of character, how short- sighted the policy that regards art, science, literature, morality, as the chief factors in education, to which may be added, as an eclectic, a little religion on Sundays. Religion, as distinguished from all other forces, brings us into relation with the life of God. The church is the organ and agency thru which this life is proclaimed and communicated. The church has the word, the ordinances, the fellow- ship of believers. To the church has been committed by Divine hands the re- sponsibility of leading men to the highest life. This Is a responsibility that cannot be delegated to any other agency. Such a THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY 29 fundamental thing as religious education should therefore be under the care of the church and its ministry, and should be so conducted as to hold in view the princi- ples and the aims of the church life, and its final purpose should be to lead the children into the church and to make them participants in its privileges and obligations. The church has always recognized more or less distinctly her mission in this respect. But there have been when the times also when she has failed Church Failcd to do so. From the history of education it is clear that the contributions of the church, thru such men as Luther, Me- lanchthon, Comenius, Francke and Pesta- lozzi made the modern educational system possible.* The Protestant Church is the mother of the public school. But in the eighteenth century the church was not equal to her opportunity, and she proved unfaithful to her stewardship. The domi- nant influence in education passed over into the hands of those who emphasized *See Encyclopedia Britannica, article ' on Education. 30 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION the development of natural powers, of those who were not friends of Christ. Thru her own negligence the church lost her opportunity and was pushed aside. The methods and material which her spirit had created, and which her ministers had formed into effective tools, were handed over to secular agencies, and she herself took a subordinate place in the work of education. At the beginning of the twentieth cen- tury we find the curriculum of the school Crowded life filled to overflowing with secular studies. { It requires almost the strength of an athlete to handle all the books which the children carry home under their arms. The Superintendent of Schools has felt it necessary to give special instructions as to the best way to carry books so as to prevent physical injury. When here and there a pastor tries to get a little study in religion from his children, he is met with the plea: "We have so many school lessons, we cannot learn the lessons you give us." If he insists, he realizes that THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY 31 his children have a double task to learn, and the church has to suffer. The church seems to have no rights which the school is bound to respect. In saying this I do not blame the school authorities. They simply came into an unoccupied field. The church failed to recognize her obligation, relinquished her week-day opportunities, made no peda- gogical demands on her ministry, and was content to play at education on Sundays. Roman Catholics recognize their obli- gation in the matter of Christian educa- tion, and with great sacrifices Parochial are endeavoring to meet it SchooU thru their system of parochial schools. All honor to them for their consistency and perseverance. Adherents of this communion claim that the state ought to contribute a portion of the school funds for the support of the church school. Moravians also maintain parochial schools, and so does a portion of the Lutheran Church. The Missouri Synod reports over a thousand teachers and a hundred thousand scholars. But 32 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION neither Moravians nor Lutherans ask for public money. They maintain the obli- gation of the state to provide general education, and the duty of the church to provide religious instruction for its mem- bers. But Protestants generally are not pre- pared to accept the parochial school as the solution. On the other hand, from ministers, conferences and church papers there Religion in the comes perennially the plea Public School, for "Religion in the public schools." If by this is meant no more than the reading of a psalm and the reci- tation of the Lord's Prayer, perhaps the plea may be granted, and for an indefinite number of years, without straining the constitution, we may retain "Religion in the public schools." But there are two objections. Are they not vital? One is denominational. Even if Protestants could agree on some ground, which is improbable, what kind of a conglomerate would that be which would be acceptable alike to Roman THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILIT 33 Catholics, Protestants, Jews and Ag- nostics? The thing is inconceivable. But there is another objection. The method of secular instruction differs from that of religious instruction. Secular knowledge is acquired by intellectual and critical powers. Religion is a matter of the heart and life. The holy mysteries of our faith cannot be taught in the atmos- phere of mathematics and biology. No; the Church and the State are distinct spheres. The alliance between the two in the past has not produced such results as would encourage us to renew or to continue the partnership for the future. There are those who think that ethical teaching in the public schools on week- days, with religious teaching in the churches on Sundays, will meet the want. No one will object to ethical teaching in the public school. If all that we read in the newspapers is true, such a course might properly be described as a felt need. But it cannot take the place of religion. The Christian religion is a 34 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION revelation in history, resting upon certain facts that have to be learned and com- municated to others. It has certain principles which have to be applied to the daily life. It is a matter for all days and all places, and not merely for Sun- days and for the sanctuary. Its relation to the whole life places it in the foremost place in the training and development of the young in order that its highest ideals may be attained. Hence, it will be difficult for us to conceive of a sub- stitute for religious instruction, or to find any agency other than the Christian church thru which it can properly and effectively be imparted. Neither is it practicable to make such an adjustment of denominational differ- ences, a composite photograph as it w T ere of all religions, an American religion, to be taught in the public school, as would satisfy any of the churches. The churches are entitled to teach their children re- ligion in strict accord with their own convictions. Is the parochial school then, after all, THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY 35 the solution of the question? Must we retire from the public school, separate ourselves from the moral and educational problems of society and the State, and thus be untrue to our entire history? For, as we have seen, the public school is the child of the Christian school. After spending four hundred years in developing a system of education for the people, and handing it over to the State for the benefit of all, are we to be de- prived of the privileges of our own sys- tern? We have no thought of doing so, of retiring from a school which the State would never have had but for the untiring efforts of Protestant ministers and Protes- tant churches. The teachers and direct- ors of the public school are, to a great extent, the members of our churches. Its principles are those which have been inculcated by our pulpits. Its most loyal and efficient supporters are our Protestant churches. There are, it is true, things of highest importance which the secular school does not supply. In order that we may not lose these, must we go back to 36 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION the private or parochial school and build up anew our system of education ? We do not ask for the teaching of re- ligion in the public school. On the con- trary, we object to a State religion. Of the three churches that are supposed to favor Christian education in the day school, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans, the last named certainly would not favor it for the public school. Even in Europe the tendency is distinctly in the direction of separating religious education from State control. In this city the public schools are over- crowded. There might be more room if the friends of the Christian school were to withdraw. But this would not benefit the public school. It increases the com- monwealth to mingle the classes. A system of separate schools is beneficial neither to the State nor the church. If Christians are to be the salt and the light of the world, they must be in the world and not out of it. The parochial school is not the solution. Does the Sunday-school meet the re- THE CHURCH'S RESPONSIBILITY 37 quirements of religious instruction? It is an institution that has en- The Sunday- deared itself to the hearts of Sch o1 millions. Originally intended for the half-fed waifs of an English manufactur- ing town, it has become among English- speaking people an important agency of religion. Apart from the instruction which it gives, we could not dispense with it as a field for the cultivation of lay activity, and a practical demonstration of the priesthood of all believers. Never- theless, its best friends concede its limita- tions. From a pedagogical standpoint, no one thinks of comparing it with the secular school. With but half an hour a week for instruction, even the best of teachers could not expect very important results. x lts chief value lies in the personal influence of the teacher.' But instruction in religion involves more than this. Nor does the Sunday-school reach all the children. Attendance is voluntary, and hence there is no guarantee that all the children of school age will obtain any instruction, to say nothing of graded and 38 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION systematic instruction, taking account of the entire school life, and holding in mind the ultimate object of instruction, the preparation of children for full mem- bership in the church. But this is one of the first duties of the churches, to look after all their children with this end in view. Pedobaptists are under this obli- gation because their children have been baptized, and Baptists owe it to their children in order that they may be bap- tized. Let us make the most of the Sunday- school which has providentially grown up among us. As a supplement and an aid it has untold possibilities of usefulness. But all its merits and advantages cannot close our eyes to the fact that it does not and cannot meet the chief requirement of the Christian school, the systematic preparation of all the children for the duties of church membership. The church cannot shirk her responsi- bility. Her very existence depends upon it. "A WEEK-DAY SUNDAY-SCHOOL" T 71 7HAT solution then can be found by * * those who are seeking relief from the present unsatisfactory, shall we not say intolerable, conditions? Germany with her State church cannot give us the clue. England is herself at the present moment in the throes of a revolution on this question and cannot help us. France is more likely to offer a practical suggestion. If "infidel" France is able to give Thursdays to the churches, what can America do? Can she not give at least one afternoon, say Wednesday afternoon ? Two hours of grammar or geography would have to be sacrificed, but it would give the churches an invalu- Wednesday able opportunity of establish- Afternoon ing schools in their own buildings in which systematic instruction in religion could be given. This is asking for 8% of the 39 40 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION school hours for religion. Germany gives from four to six hours, or from 12 to 16%. Does America owe so little to the religious life of the nation that she cannot afford to surrender two hours for its perpetuation ? We ought not to say surrender, we ought to say restore. For, viewed historically, it is only a partial restoration of the time which originally belonged to the churches, but which under conditions that have been indicated, has been taken away from her. I venture to advocate the value of such week-day instruction from a practical trial of its advantages. In my ministry on the East Side I made use for thirty years of the traditional agency for the instruction of children, the Sunday-school, with additional week-day classes in the catechism, for the older children from twelve to fourteen years of age. But so far as a permanent religious influence upon the great majority of the children is concerned, the results were not satis- factory. About ten years ago, after several years "A WEEK-DAY SUNDAY-SCHOOL" 41 of experiment on a smaller scale, I estab- lished week-day classes for all the chil- dren of the congregation, from five or six years upward. Attendance was made obligatory, and after a few years of patient insistence, the rule was generally ob- served. The hours are at four p. M. from Mondays to Fridays, and nine A. M. on Saturdays. The younger grades have but one hour each week. The older scholars, catechu- mens, from two to three hours. The subjects are Bible Story, Bible Study, (geography, history, books, etc.) the church catechism, hymns, prayers, the church liturgy or service, and oral or written reports of the sermon. The ob- ject of this course is not simply education, but also training in the church life, so as to make the children intelligent partici- pants in the church services, and to pre- pare them for the privileges of church membership. But some one will say: "Does this not solve your problem without encroaching at all on the time of the public school? 42 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Why should you ask for an afternoon when you can take all the time there is left after school hours ?" For two reasons: First, we get the children when they have already done their day's work at school, and are too tired to do their best in the Religion Hour. To learn well, the mind must be fresh and vigorous. Is it fair to the churches to give them the fag end of the day for religion, the crumbs that fall from the rich man's table ? The church is not a Lazarus. But there is another reason. Home study is needed for proper preparation of the lessons in religion no less Home Study than tor those ot the secular school. For this demand on the child's time, the present curriculum of the school makes no provision. For example, from the older children, from thirteen years upward, the follow- ing weekly tasks are required: 1. A written report of last Sunday's sermon. 2. A written catechetical exercise. "A WEEK-DAY SUNDAY-SCHOOL" 43 3. Memory work in Bible, catechism and hymn book, for two recitations. 4. Written and oral report on a Bible story. 5. Report on Daily Bible Readings. 6. Miscellaneous recitations on related subjects. { The younger classes have similar tasks, adapted to their age and capacity. Is this asking too much of the children ? What is there in this scheme that can be omitted, with any pretence of giving in- struction in religion ? But so long as the public school is not required to take note of the educational work which the church has to do, it exacts home study to the utmost capacity of the pupil. With the bogy of examina- tion and promotion constantly before the child's mind, the pastor finds it difficult to get from it the work which he has a right to expect. "We have so many school lessons," is the excuse which is offered and on the strength of this plea he reluctantly curtails his own require- ments. 44 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Surely any loss which the children sus- tain in secular studies is more than com- pensated by their gain in religious knowl- edge. As one of our School Superin- tendents well said: "Even if the method of teaching should be inferior to that of the public school, the material is so much more valuable, that the child would not suffer any loss." There is one misconception of the plan which we find it hard to correct. The plan does not involve the C1 Schooi? bHc closing of the public school on Wednesday afternoons, and turning the non-church children into the street. It simply asks that all children, who by consent of their parents attend the church school and bring a certificate of attendance, shall be excused for their absence from the public school. It also asks that the curriculum of the public school shall be so arranged that the absentees have nothing to make up, and shall not suffer an irreparable loss in their educational progress. Music, eti- quette, ethics, cord work, raffia, sewing "A WEEK-DAY SUNDAY-SCHOOL" 45 or electives might be given to those who remain. On the part of the churches we can safely promise that our children will not fall behind the others in general attain- ments because of this change of at- mosphere in the middle of the week. VI LIONS IN THE WAY" object of this little book is to bring before American Christians a question that must sooner or later be de- cided. The more t{ioroly the question is discussed, the more likely shall we be to reach a reasonable conclusion. Doubt- less there are difficulties. But they are not to be compared with the difficulties in which we shall continue to be in- volved so long as we do not make adequate preparation for the systematic religious education of our children. Let us consider some of the objections that are made to the proposition. 1. On the part of the school it is claimed that it needs all the time it now has. We Public School freely grant this. It is doing Needs ail the Titanic work. It is con- stantly improving its methods, and its magnificent attainments compel 46 " LIONS IN THE WAY" 47 our admiration. But if all this must be purchased at the cost of religion, the price is too high. The following schedule gives the course of study in the public schools of New York: ' TIME SCHEDULE ON THE BASIS OF 1500 MINUTES PER WEEK YEARS I. II. III. TV. V. VI. VII. VIII. Opening Exercises 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 75 Physical Training, Physiology and Hygiene, Re- cesses and Or- ganized Games 450 165 165 150 90 90 90 90 English 450 510 450 375 375 375 360 320 Penmanship 100 125 125 75 75 75 Electives (German, French, Span- ish) 200 Geography 135 120 120 80 History 90 120 120 120 Mathematics .... 125 150 150 150 150 200 200 200 Nature Study ... 90 90 90 90 75 Science 80 80 Drawing and Con- structive Work 120 120 120 120 120 120 80 80 Cord and Raffia. 30 30 30 Sewing 30 60 60 60 Shop Work, Cook- ing or Advanced Sewing 80 80 Music 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 60 Study and Unas- ignedTime 175 205 210 210 205 275 195 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 1500 All of these are important. But some are of relatively less importance than others, and in view of a greater need, it is conceivable that certain branches might be taught on Wednesdays, and the les- sons given in the church school accepted 48 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION as an adequate substitute, so far as in- tellectual training is concerned. For example : Public School. Church School. Music. Music. Geography. Bible Geography Penmanship. Written Lessons. English Com- Reports of Ser- position mons. Hygiene. Way of Salvation. Memory Work Memory Work But if the school cannot spare these two hours, not even from its three or four hours of unassigned time, and if the foregoing church lessons are not an adequate substitute for school lessons, we have another proposition. The two lost hours may be recovered by adding a half hour to each of the other four school days. Only let the churches have a fair proportion of the best school hours for exercising their legitimate function in education. 2. "There is no imperative demand for it on the part of the public." The demand may not have taken just " LIONS IN THE WAY" 49 this form. And there doubtless are mul- titudes of people who believe that the Sunday-school and the "religious exer- cises" of the public school furnish a suf- ficient amount and quality of religious education. But, it may confidently be asserted that, in America as in England, there are few subjects which at the present time mor deeply engage the interest of thoughtful men than that of religious education. As soon as an opportunity can be given for the American public to express itself on this subject, the demand for it will be emphatic, and the interest not less mani- fest than in England, where on a recent occasion in Parliament forty men were on their feet prepared to discuss the question as soon as a speaker had finished. 3. "The churches now have abundant opportunities on Saturdays and Sundays, and hours after school on other days." (Why not also "all the hours from mid- night till 6 A. M. ? ") Answer: Sunday is a day of rest and 50 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION worship. Saturday is a day of recreation. If recreation is not needed, the public school is welcome to all of Saturday to make up for its losses on Wednesday afternoon. 4. "Sunday services could be made to subserve the purposes of instruction. " Answer: They are used for that pur- pose now. But instruction implies an amount of intellectual labor for which neither ministers nor scholars should be compelled to use their rest day. Sunday services have a character of their own and should not be confused with the curric- ulum of an educational institution. 5. "Christian parents should be awak- ened to their duty." Answer: How can they be, when the ) soporific of superabounding secular \ studieS\ makes them insensible to the primary importance of religion ? 6. "The proposition implies that the public school is in some respects radi- cally deficient." Yes, this we concede. 7. "The church calls upon the arpj " LIONS IN THE WAY" 51 of the State, (the vagrant officer), to en- force attendance at the church school." Nonsense. The church needs no help from the State to enforce attendance. Membership in the church is voluntary. But the church, like any other society, asks its members to fulfil their obligations. The proposition is that scholars attend- ing church schools shall be excused from attending public school. Only enrolled children, or children bringing a certificate of attendance, are excused. There is no compulsion, and no vagrant officer is needed by the church. 8. "The public school now teaches the things that make for righteousness." So it does, and so it should. So ought every other institution. But our plan aims at something more than morals, something which the school admittedly cannot teach to its promis- cuous charge, but which the church is in duty bound to teach to the members of its flock. But the greatest difficulties are those which are suggested by ministers them- 52 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION selves. It was the ministers who failed to respond to the plans of Charlemagne, and thus frustrated the purpose of that enlightened ruler. It was the ministers who in the eighteenth century surren- dered into secular hands the inestimable heritage which belonged to them, and it is the ministers to-day who, in the mat- ter of primary education at least, are content to follow rather than to lead. 1. "Ministers are not trained teachers and are not equal to the task." It is alas too true that our Theological Seminaries have neglected this part of a minister's preparation for his work. We heard very little about Herbart, and the doctrine of apperception is not very clear to us even now. But a better day is coming. Seminaries are beginning to teach teaching. The time is coming when candidates for the ministry will be required to demonstrate their attain- ments in the theory and practice of this art. In the meantime, let us use our ordinary common sense and do the best we can with such gifts as we possess. " LIONS IN THE WAY" 53 Those who come after us will do better work, we hope. 2. "Ministers are already taxed to the limit of their powers, and cannot possibly shoulder this new responsibility." And yet the church is the mother of education. Is it conceivable that the Christian minister will definitely repu- diate his obligation to feed Christ's lambs? He must find time for this work, no matter what else he surrenders. Roman Catholics say that if they have no schools they will have no churches. Protestants, perhaps, may retain au- diences by present methods. But it will be a hard task to build up churches. All the evangelists in the country will not be able to head off the escaped sheep that might easily have been gathered into the fold while they were lambs. So long as we treat the teaching of children as a matter of indifference, or place it in irre- sponsible hands, we shall struggle in vain to secure a permanent influence upon the great body of those who properly belong to our flocks. Alas for the chil- 54 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION dren, alas for the churches where the pastor is unwilling or unable to teach. 3. "Where will you get the helpers ?" The writer serves a church of limited resources, but for ten years he has gathered nearly three hundred children into his week-day classes. The present corps of teachers consists of a trained teacher, a deaconess and several volunteers from the congregation. The pastor's contribution is about five hours per week. Some congregations may be able to secure salaried teachers. Volunteers are available in many cases. It must be remembered that in such a week-day school one teacher can, if necessary, take charge of thirty or forty pupils. 4. Another difficulty is the want of a scheme of instruction that will make the course equal in value to that given in the public school. This is a matter which each congregation will have to arrange for itself. But no one would for a moment concede the permanent impotence or inferiority of the church in this respect. In following pages a scheme is offered, "LIONS IN THE WAY" 55 not as a model but only as a suggestion. 5. "But suppose the children will not come." They will come, if we make it worth coming. Nevertheless, one of the features of this system is that attendance on the part of the children should be obligatory. That is, they are expected to come, and absence must be accounted for. Most parents appreciate such aid on the part of the church. After two or three years of disciplinary insistence, almost all will be convinced of its im- portance. Those who are not, would probably find a more congenial home in some other congregation. A certain amount of discipline would not be unwholesome in our Protestant churches. In this case it would be a way in which people could show their loyalty to that for which their church stands. People appreciate most the things that cost something. The lessons of authority, of obligation, of duty are not the least of those which our generation would do well to leara. VII THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE HHHE earliest catechumenate was that of the proselytes. It was based on Christ's command, "Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations,.... teaching them to observe all things what- soever I commanded you." The church was a missionary organization, and its aim was to convert people to the Christian view of life. Instruction was thought of as an implantation of the word: "Receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls." (James 1 : 21.) It preceded baptism and was continued afterward under various grades of teachers. One object was to establish Christian usages and to accustom people to them. In later periods, when it be- Proselytes . . came popular to join the church, the term of probation was exten- THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 57 ded to several years and a rich liturgical ceremony was prescribed. This was done, partly for the purpose of substituting Christian rites in place of the heathen mysteries, and partly because of the mys- tagogical or educational value of the forms. There were grades and classes of catechumens, chiefly the audientes and the competentes. At successive stages of their instruction they were admitted to new glimpses of the Christian doc- trine and service. For example, the exact wording of the Creed and the Lord's Prayer was not entrusted to them until the close of their probation. Much of it was an ornate ritualism, but the un- derlying purpose was that the partici- pants might be brought to a personal and heartfelt confession of the Christian faith. After the middle of the third century, when infant baptism became the rule, the child catechumenate gradu- Lessons for ally superseded that of the Childrcn proselytes, and under Gregory the Great it became the rule of the church. A 58 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION systematic training of the baptized chil- dren was aimed at and to some extent secured through the sponsors, whose duty it was to provide the godchildren with religious instruction until they reached years of discretion and were able to come to their first confession. Among the prescribed subjects were the Creed, the Lord's Prayer and the Gloria. In the ninth century parochial schools were established to assist in the system- atic Christian training of the young. The Bible history was largely given in the form of poems, and the plastic repre- sentations of the churches of those days aided in giving the people a definite idea of the story of the Bible. But not only Christian teaching, Chris- tian training also played an important part in the work of the church at that time. Rules of living and the services of the church accustomed the people to the Christian view of life. Of special importance was the practice of private confession which began to be transferred from the convent life to the pastoral care THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 59 of children. It consisted in the recitation of certain church forms, and in instruc- tion on moral distinctions on the basis of Scripture passages. It aimed also to obtain a pastoral view of the state of mind and heart of the child. For the purpose of individualization the Ten Command- ments were used as a speculum peccato- rum. The imposition of penances ac- customed the people to the practice of obedience to the church's demands. The age produced a number of treatises on the method of training catechumens. The most important of them is Gerson's, "On Bringing the Little Ones to Christ," a work in which the aim of the catechu- menate is set forth in a substantially evangelical manner. These times are sometimes called "the Dark Ages." But let us not forget that they were periods when nations were converted and brought under the quicken- ing power of Christianity. The Reformation gave new signifi- cance and character to the ancient cate- chumenate. At first it was not a cate- 60 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION chumenate for children, but rather for Reformation the whole people. Entire con- Catechisms gre g a tions had to be instructed in the fundamentals of religion. As a ripe fruit of his experience in preaching, teaching and the care of souls, Luther published in 1529 his Small Catechism, a book which still holds its place as the fairest fruit of the catechetical literature of all ages. Its arrangement is Decalogue, Creed and Lord's Prayer, that is Law, Gospel, and the New Life, with supplemental chapters on Baptism and the Lord's Supper. In its form and arrangement, and even in some of its expressions, it reproduced the best results of the preceding ages. The occa- sion for its publication was the lament- able condition of the religious instruction of children as he found it during a visi- tation of the churches in Electoral Sax- ony. The book at once became exceed- ingly popular and produced a complete transformation in the religious training of the people. The example set by Luther was fol- THE CHILD CATECHUMEN ATE 61 lowed by the Reformed, who published their Heidelberg Catechism in 1563, and even by the Roman Catholics who pub- lished their Trent Catechism in 1566. In Spener's time, and that of the Pietists, the religious and pedagogic im- portance of Bible History came to be understood, and since then this form of imparting religious knowledge has taken the first place. Catechization sympathized with the spirit of the subsequent intellectual and religious movements. Thus in the days of Rationalism the chief aim was use- fulness, not so much the formation of Christian character as the training of useful citizens. Under Pestalozzi the new pedagogical methods were intro- duced, and the great changes produced a century ago by the leaders in philosophy, art and literature, left their permanent im- pression upon catechetics as well. Two questions are incidentally in- volved in my subject. The first is the relation of the children to the church. There are those who believe that the 62 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION Spirit of God is incapable of influencing Relation of *^ e undeveloped spiritual life Children to o f a child, and that years of dis- Church . -iii. cretionmustbe attained before we can speak of regenerating influence. Just what the relation of the children to the church in such a system is, it is hard to tell. They are not Christian, neither are they heathen. They must be in some kind of a limbus infanlum. Many retain the practice of infant baptism, who if questioned closely, will admit that they mean nothing by it. There are those on the other hand who believe that baptism is more than a mere symbol, a suggestive form, in- herited from the past, or a dedication of the child to God on the part of the parents. They believe, in the words of the Westminster Confession, that "by the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost." Those who thus believe in infant baptism hold, or should hold, that as the church has baptized the THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 63 children she is in duty bound to teach them. In Christ's command teaching is correlated with baptism, and the church is bound to recognize the connection between them. The second question relates to the best method of making Chris- "Making tians. That it is a question, Chri tian " such paragraphs as the following prove: A Chicago correspondent writes to a certain paper: "A very prominent di- vine told me a few days ago: "I am compelled to leave my flock, much against my wishes, not because of lack of appre- ciation or sympathy on their part, but because of the extreme difficulty I find in interesting outsiders.' Henry Drummond speaks of the rest- lessness that characterizes our modern congregations. "Like the Athenians of old, they are ever seeking after some new thing. There is a hunger and thirst among the people for some new sensation. Yet withal there is an impotence in the pulpit so far as the legitimate results of preaching are concerned. " 64 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION In our own city pulpits are vacant, because the congregations are anxious to find some great preacher, one who can fill the pews and assure the church treasurer a large and steady income. For every vacant pulpit in a promi- nent church there are scores of appli- cants who are willing to sacrifice them- selves. And very often they do sacrifice themselves. A few years later, with broken spirit, they retire to some quiet place where they may rest from the un- equal struggle. Our present-day forces for the con- version of the world and the edification of the church are: First, the regular preacher. It is his business to be an attractive writer and speaker so as to be able to hold his audi- ence. The Tribune recently brought the following notice: "Next Sunday will be the Rev. Dr. 's last appearance (!) for some time in the pulpit of the - Church." While it is true that a reporter of a daily paper does not always appear to the THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 65 best advantage in his use of ecclesiastical phraseology, it must be admitted that he is quick to catch the popular conception of a situation. Secondly, the evangelist, for special seasons and for meetings at Carnegie Hall and other places untainted by the flavor of church associations. Thirdly, Sunday - school teachers, upon whom a large part of the responsi- bility of the religious education of the young rests. Would that family training might be added to these as an important factor. Supplemental to these forces are Young People's Societies, King's Daughters and the like, the great success of which de- monstrates a widespread need. Each of these forces and all combined undoubtedly have a most important place in the economy of the church, but they cannot take the place of the catechu- menate. What then is the child catechumenate ? What is there in it which differentiates it from allied institutions and methods ? 66 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION It is that institution of Christ and the church by which children are systemati- cally taught and trained in Definition such a way as to prepare them for a personal participation in the life and privileges of the Christian church. That it is an institution of Christ, is argued from the word T^QSIV, "to ob- serve," in Christ's last command. Its place in the New Testament is seen from numerous passages, such as Gala- tians 6:6, "Let the catechumen commun- icate to him who catechises in all good things." (Literal translation.) It involves two distinct functions, that of teaching and that of training. It has a definite end, that of making mature Christians out of incipient be- lievers. It pursues a systematic method, lead- ing step by step to the comprehension of that which has been revealed. And finally, it is an institution of the church; that is, the Christian church itself supplies the organ and ministry by which the work is carried on. THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 67 My plea for the restoration of the Child Catechumenate I shall endeavor to enforce by a brief reference, 1, to its principles, and 2, to its practice. 1. PRINCIPLES. The importance of this institution rests chiefly upon the duty which the church owes to the chil- dren who have been entrusted to its care. We acknowledge the claims of the heathen whom we have never seen. But here are the little ones crowding our doors and asking for admission into the kingdom. Then again the trustful nature of the child makes it an unspeakable privilege to guide and an easy task to convert it. While we recognize in them, too, the impress of the fallen nature, there is also that which has been called the anima naturaliter Christiana. They Tespond almost intuitively to the idea of God and immortality. The five-year- old brother of Klopstogk was found in the open field during a terrific thunder storm, and when asked what he was doing, he replied, ." I am praying to the great God." 68 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION The church is the mother of education. But what a humiliating position we take when we allow secular instruction to be given in the most scientific and effective manner, while the subjects of highest im- port are entrusted almost wholly to in- expert hands. Again, is it wise to postpone the mak- ing of special religious impressions to a time when the mind and heart have become preoccupied, and are past the time when the germinal purposes of life are formed ? These statements are trite and almost self-evident, and yet to most ministers everything else seems to be of greater im- portance than that which is of supreme importance in their pastoral relation, the teaching and training of the young. 2. THE PRACTICE. It has been well said that if you wish to train a child properly, you must begin with the grand- parents. But, it is added, you must be- gin with the grandparents when they are children. The importance of this principle is apparent from the fact that THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 69 during the first five years, the most im- portant of all in the development of the child, the church can influence the child but very little except through its parents. And yet it is of this age that the Roman Catholic bishop said: "Give us the children for the first six years, and we care not who gets them afterward." With the sixth year, the child begins to enter into public relation with the church and its services, and the minister must be prepared to meet this new relation. It is evident that in order to do this work properly, the minister must be a pedagogue; that is, the instruction should be such as to be intellectually stimulating. But its chief charm and power is derived from the pastoral relation which the in- structor holds, and which should make it spiritually quickening. It is true that not every minister is a pedagogue. But he ought to be, and in the future, as in the past, pedagogical skill and training will be considered a part of the neces- sary outfit of every minister. 70 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION But the principal value of the catechu- menate is in the opportunity it affords to train the child; that is, to accustom it to the duties and practice of the Christian _. . . life. Thus it should early be Training taught to go to church at first to the children's services, but as soon as possible to the great congrega- tion. It should be taught the words of the silent prayer when entering the house of God, and the significance of the various parts of the service. For the purpose of bringing up attentive hearers, a report of the sermon should be required. The habit of so listening to a sermon as to fix its chief points and thoughts in the mind, is one that must be cultivated. If you do not believe this, ask some of your children next week to tell you about the sermon which they last heard. But how shall we get the children to come to church? Some ministers in- Church vite the voluntary attendants Attendance of the Sunday-school to ex- ercise a little more voluntariness and come to church. It is very gratifying THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 71 when at least some of them respond. Others offer a reward with cheering re- sults in some cases. It sometimes pays to be good. Nevertheless, apart from these sporadic results, church attendance on the part of children is not as common as it should be. Are not we Protestants a little too easy- going in our conceptions of discipline? Why should we concede everything of this character to the Roman Catholics ? Might not a little wholesome coercion be exercised by us as well as by them? Is not the law our pedagogue to lead us to Christ? In explaining the law of the Sabbath, even so good a Protestant as Martin Luther said: "We should so fear and love God as not to despise His word and the preach- ing of the Gospel, but deem it holy and willingly hear and learn it." The scope of the Child Catechumenate includes church attendance. It takes this for granted and does not ask whether the children wish to go or not. But while children of all ages are wel- 72 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION come, it is a question at what age at- tendance should be expected or made obligatory. Without attempting to re- peat the psychological reasons, I venture to indicate the age of nine as that at which children may follow a sermon with intelligence, and take part in the service to their own edification. If children are expected to come to church, another question forces itself Sermons for upon us. What should be Children the character of the sermon? Some ministers preach a five-minute sermon for children as a prelude to the regular sermon. A similar course was recommended by Melanchthon in the sixteenth century. Or the ordinary sermon may bear the children in mind, and state the truth in such a way that the future congregation may get some benefit from it. It is not necessary that they should understand the whole of it, to make it effective in their lives. A sermon is not simply for instruction, it is for inspiration. It conveys a spirit- ual message, and for receiving this mes- THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 73 sage the difference between the little child and the learned professor is one only of degree and not of kind. In Luther's discourses on preaching, he earnestly insisted that the message of the pulpit should be directed to the great mass of plain people and of chil- dren rather than to the few learned people who might be present. A Governor of Connecticut once came to his pastor and asked him to tell him what he must do to be a Christian, but, "tell me just as plainly as you would explain it to a little child," was his request. Besides, it must not be forgotten that there are acts of worship in the church, besides the sermon, in which a child can participate just as truly as an adult person. A means of emphasizing and carrying out the principles of Christian training is the personal interview with Under Four the catechumen. They called Eye * it private confession in the olden time, but you may call it by any other name if it will smell sweeter. The essential 74 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION thing about it is to accustom the child to a confidential and trusting relation to its pastor in spiritual matters. The sub- jects to be treated are the habit of private prayer, the questions of Christian con- duct in its relations to parents, broth- ers and sisters and other children, and especially in the matter of penitence for sin, faith in a personal Saviour and of the right steps in the new life of obedience. Those of you who have never tried this method would be amazed at the absence, in many cases, of the most fundamental Christian conceptions, and that, too, among those where one took the Christian view of life for granted. The theology of most of them is, "You must be good if you want to get to heaven. " And, " you'must keep the com- mandments if you want to be saved. " But when in such pastoral intercourse it be- comes your privilege to unlock the heart to the gifts of the Gospel, what hearers you will have for the pulpit message! You look down into eyes that respond THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 75 with grateful eagerness to every word you say. The objection will be raised that one cannot find time for so much additional work. A wise pastor will be able to modify the system in such a way as to distribute the work among many, and make it easy and profitable for all. We J 4. 4. -J Helpers need to get rid of many of our hierarchical notions and to introduce a larger diaconate into our church work. Some of us have school teachers and teaching deaconesses who can be en- trusted with part of this work. But in all of our churches there are men and women with gifts and graces that would make them helpers in this churchly work of bringing the little ones to Christ and training them up for His service. Chief among these are the parents of the children, especially so far as home life and home duties are concerned. But even for the week-day hours at the church, there is much undeveloped material which could be utilized for such work. 76 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION And what better opportunity than this could be found for bringing into practice Duties of those duties which many lit- Sponsors ur gi es prescribe for the spon- sors, when they direct the minister to exhort those who have presented the child for baptism in the following words : "I now admonish you who have done so charitable a work to this child in its baptism, that ye diligently and faith- fully teach it the Ten Commandments, that thereby it may learn to know the will of God; also the Christian faith, set forth in the Creed, whereby we obtain grace, the forgiveness of sins, and the Holy Ghost; and likewise the Lord's Prayer, that it may call upon God, and find help to withstand the devil, and lead a Christian life, till God shall perfect that which He hath now begun in it, and bring it to life everlasting." The point to emphasize is that it is a systematic work, conducted by the church, proceeding from certain acknowl- edged premises and advancing by ap- proved methods to a certain end. Or, to THE CHILD CATECHUMENATE 77 return to the definition, "It is an in- stitution of Christ and the church, by which children are systematically taught and trained in such a way as to prepare them for a personal participation in the life and the privileges of the Christian church." With the restoration of this institution in a practical way in our churches, the Sunday-school itself would assume a more natural and more important relation to the life of the church. The Sunday- school would become a Children's Service in which the knowledge gained during the week would be fused into sweet experience under the influence of warm- hearted Christian teachers and superin- tendents. A new meaning would also be given to the instruction for admission to the communion. It would be a simple re- view of subjects with which the children have long since been made acquainted. The nature of the instruction would there- fore be a warm, spiritual presentation of the truths of the catechism, would cover 78 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION a comparatively brief period of time, and would have the sole purpose of preparing the children for a proper participation in the privileges of the Lord's Supper. It would be a revival season in which others than the children would be glad to take part because of the stimulating and quickening influences that accom- pany such a course of instruction. It would prepare the way for " Decision Day" and would lay a good foundation for the development of sterling character. VIII A COURSE OF STUDY HPHE conditions of churches are so varied that no attempt can be made to offer a plan that would be suitable for all. The scheme presented on page 80 is merely a suggestion. It indicates some of the studies that may profitably be pursued. Our classes are divided as follows: Infants, 5 to 7 years of age; Primarians, 8; Juniors, 9 to 10; Intermediates, 11; Preparatorians, 12; Catechumens, 13 and over. All the children are invited to attend the regular church service. When they are nine years old, they are required to do so. A report of last Sunday's sermon is given, oral by the younger children, written by the older ones. This is a very important part of their work. The plan has proved effective in training up 79 ! P, oW Comma nts Part xplained. Morni Eveni o < OQ O P II Pu tsa (H O l G i ill^ ti & & I H !^ Lord's explai Morning S Evening S B^l B^S PR 1 Review. New Lesso Bible Readi Texts. 's P xplain The men Lor hief hy c < Jr"rj rj S Q; ' f P J* 8 S--^ I .fej Ge An o MO- S'-S 3 80 A COURSE OF STUDY 81 attentive and appreciative listeners. The habit once formed is not easily lost. The children also learn the parts and the significance of the Church Service, and are thus prepared to take part in the worship in an intelligent manner. To this scheme might well be added a very simple course in Church History, Christian Biography or Missions. There are not lacking "hero stories" in such a course which would appeal mightily to the boys in the older classes. A system of marking and giving credit for lessons learned, and tasks accom- plished, may also be found desirable in some cases. The course here suggested is meagre indeed, but it involves constant pro- gression, along definite lines, for nine years, and includes subjects of such "in- terest" that neither teacher nor pupil can ever grow weary, if work is done in the right spirit. IX THE BIBLE STORY A POSTOLICAL Christianity was built upon the Bible story, and long before there was a Christian canon, the narration of the facts of revelation brought men into vital relation with Christ and the church. In the second century, beginning with A. D. 180, the Alexandrian school of catechists, in a long line of eminent teachers, faith- fully followed the Apostolical method. Two hundred years later there appeared the most important contribution to the subject in Augustine's tract " On the way in which ignorant people should be cate- chized," de catechizandis rudibus. The Bible story, he declared, from the creation to the consummation, must be the material in catechization. But through some strange perversity of history, this principle was lost sight of for a thousand years. Although the Middle Ages produced emi- 82 THE BIBLE STORY 83 nent pedagogues, scholastics, and the Brethren of the Com&on Life, and in later years Gerson, who wrote the treatise " On bringing the little ones to Christ," Chris- tian training was secured by other means than Bible study. The plastic repre- sentations of the Bible story as given in the church buildings, and the poetical re- productions of the story of salvation, left the people not altogether ignorant of Scripture. But repentance, faith and the Christian life were developed and main- tained largely by other methods than the use of the Bible. The Apostolical and Augustinian principle was restored to the church as one of the results of the Re- formation. Luther's Small Catechism, which marks an epoch in catechetical literature, is, indeed, a dogmatic treatise. But Luther also gave an impulse to the popularization of the Bible by his collec- tion of Bible stories called the Passional. He also expressed the hope that some one would arouse the interest of the people by making pictures for the collected stories of the Bible. The suggestion was 84 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION followed by Fischart, who published Bible pictures and verses,' a valuable work of art. In the middle of the sixteenth cen- tury Hartmann Beyer, the Reformer of Frankfurt, published the first real Bible story book with pictures, an undertaking which the Brunswick theologian, Justus Gesenius imitated on a larger scale a cen- tury later. It had special reference to instruction in schools. For high schools, Melanchthon's pupil, Neander, had de- signed his Historia populiDei, 1582, which aroused great interest. Felicitous crea- tions, with the same end in view, appeared in the latter part of the seventeenth cen- tury in the Sacred Histories of Sagittar- ius, Castellio and Fabricius. In France, Fenelon used Bible stories occasionally as an aid in teaching the catechism. In the middle of the seventeenth cen- tury Cocceius, one of the most eminent theologians of the Reformed Church, gave a great impulse to the Bible story by his doctrine that Revelation has a history which is to be taught. This doctrine was THE BIBLE STORY 85 the earliest foundation of Biblical Theol- ogy. His idea was taken up by the Pie- tists and thru them came to be generally adopted by the Lutherans. Spener and Francke got their pupils to use the Bible itself, and in the institutions at Halle, Bible History was a distinct subject in the course of study. Huebner's Bible Stories appeared in 1714, and attained such widespread pop- ularity that he has often been regarded as the founder of the Bible story method of teaching. But his way of telling the story, in a popular version rather than in the language of Scriptures, came to be recog- nized as faulty. In 1830 Zahn's Bible Stories appeared in close conformity with the language of the Bible, and it has been the norm for the numerous books that have followed on this field. The use of the Bible story book is not intended to supplant the use of the Bible itself, al- though for many years it did so, before the Bible Societies made it possible for every one to have a copy. It is intended as a means of helping the child to grasp 86 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION the Bible narrative in its entirety. The principle is that the Bible itself is the Divine Revelation which must lie at the basis of Christian instruction. And yet this principle has not always been recognized. In churches where the true pedagogical view has not obtained, a brief period of dogmatic instruction still takes the place of systematic and com- prehensive Bible study. In non-catechetical circles, that is, where the churches are built up by means other than the instruction and training of the baptized children, this principle is likewise in danger of being neglected. They object to the entire system as appealing too largely to the intellectual nature and not to the heart, and it is sometimes regarded as a mechanical method of making Christians. Occasion has indeed been given for this criticism. But it is not inherent in the system. It must not be forgotten that Spener, the father of modern Pietism, found in it the most potent means for the revival of the churches. THE BIBLE STORY 87 Another repudiation of this principle is found in those rationalistic systems which substitute natural religion for Reve- lation and which direct their questions to the innate ideas of morality and re- ligion. But wherever a supernatural reve- lation is conceded, the method of in- struction in its fundamental principles must be an authoritative presentation of the facts from the sources. Recognizing the importance of this principle, the Christian teachers of Ger- many have during the last half century provided a literature of preeminent value in the field of Bible catechetics. Philos- ophy, History and Art have contributed their aid, so that their catechetical ap- paratus is rich and stimulating. In this country there are encouraging signs of a growing interest in the subject. The value of Bible study as a means to a definite end, and therefore conducted in a scientific and systematic manner, is appreciated and understood as never before. The first principle of the catechetical 88 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION use of the Bible is that the foundation Tell of Christian instruction is laid the story by fe #ingr t he Bible story. From the pedagogical standpoint this is enforced by the importance assigned to object lessons in the development of ideas, a fact that was first popularized by Pestalozzi, but had already been shown by Amos Comenius, a century earlier. Children love to hear stories, and by this means the food for their thought can best be supplied. But the Christian teacher has a deeper reason for recognizing this principle. Christianity entered the world as a fact and not as a dogma. It was the facts of the Gospel, and the Acts of the Apos- tles that St. Luke related to his friend Theophilus. It was in the proclamation of the great facts of redemption that the Apostles gained the trophies of their missionary journeys. In the statement of this principle there is contained also the first rule of the method which the teacher of the Bible story must observe. He must tell THE BIBLE STORY 89 the story. He produces his first im- pression by means of an oral narration. One reason for this is that the younger children are not yet able to read. But there is also a psychological reason. The first impression which the child receives of the Divine Revelation must come with the authority of a prophet's utter- ance. It is not necessary in the earlier classes to devote much attention to moralization or making the application. The sacred story opens the mind of the child to a wonderful land where God is, and the holy angels, and in this realm it is almost an impertinence for men to intrude with their explanatory remarks and their par- anetic exhortations. In the older classes ' there is room for homiletic application,' but not so much in the younger grades. > Here the chief object is to impress the fact, and to make it the permanent pos- session of the soul-life of the child. The story will teach its own truth and will produce its effect in the life and character. 90 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION The stories have a primary importance of their own, and are not given for the sake of the dogmatic or ethical lessons which they contain. Christ did not die on the cross to teach us courage or loyalty to truth, but his death is itself the great fact upon which our redemption depends. He did not rise from the dead in order that we might learn lessons of immortality, but his resurrection is itself the great act through which he has become our living Lord and Redeemer. The material for this instruction con- sists of a selection of the stories of the Old and New Testaments, sufficient in number to be mastered in the course of a year. Whether the Old Testament or the New precedes is a mooted point. But in view of the fact that in Christian homes the main facts of the New Testa- ment are already known, and because the Old Testament is a preparation for the New Testament, many teachers favor the Old Testament. The teacher tells the story as simply as he can, not monotonously, or as if it THE BIBLE STORY 91 were a recitation, but as a real story, and as nearly as possible in the language and forms of the Bible. Only such explana- tions are made as are necessary for a clear understanding of the facts. The story is then repeated without any ex- planations, and the children are given an opportunity to reproduce the story. Or this part of the lesson may be re- quired at the next hour. But it is im- portant to tell the story in such a way that it may be reproduced by the children. Luther's suggestion that pictures should be drawn to accompany the stories, a suggestion that was promptly accepted in his own day, has been universally endorsed in our times. Christian artists have vied with each other in supplying the Bible story with illus- trations. The next stage of instruction is reached when the child is able to read. In three different forms is the instruction given: Reading, Explanation and Application, Committing to Memory. 92 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION In the Roman Catholic system it is not necessary for the people to read the Bible. The priest is the me- diator and source of authority. But in the Protestant system it is necessary to lead the believer to the sources of re- ligion, from which he may draw with in- dependent judgment the teachings that are to control his life. Where there are parochial schools it is easy to read the Bible in course. Where these do not ex- ist, the class instruction must be supple- mented by means of a course of home readings. While in one sense it is true that the Scripture is its own interpreter, and the Explanation Apostles did not find it neces- Appifcation sary to send commentaries along with their epistles, the question is still in order : " TJnderstandest thou what thou readest?" And the answer is still: "How can I, except some man guide me ?" It is an art that must be learned, to read the Bible understandingly. The object of catechisation is not merely to study the Bible, but to show how it THE BIBLE STORY 93 should be studied, and to accustom the mind to the proper method. The study of the Bible is in two di- rections. First, we must understand the Scriptures themselves, in their objectivity, the facts, persons, lands, language and ideas. Secondly, we must understand them in relation to our own hearts. We must teach the children to experience the truth of the Bible story in their own lives. For this task the catechisation of a class in such a way as to make the Bible story clear in its meaning, without and within preparation is needed. It is harder than preaching. In preaching there is no one to interrupt, and the line of thought can be followed to the end. But in catechisation, the questions and answers of the children may at any mo- ment throw the teacher off the track and hinder him from attaining the result at which he is aiming. For this reason it is well to have the questions written out, so that the teacher may maintain his theme and follow his aim in an undevia- ting course. 94 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION A valuable help in catechisation is the text-book, containing the seed-texts of the Bible, which must be committed to memory during the school curriculum. The Wurttemberg Text Book has the following divisions: Texts which teach: 1. What to believe. 2. How to live. 3. How to suffer. 4. How to die. My pastoral work sometimes brings me into contact with aged people who learned these texts in Germany when they were young, and who are now proving their value when all things else are taken away. THE CATECHISM A CATECHISM is popularly supposed -** to be a religious manual consisting of questions and answers. It is associated in many minds with some of the difficult and unwelcome tasks of childhood. But the form of question and answer is only an accident of modern times. In early Christian usage the catechism meant religious instruction to candidates for admission to the Christian church. It included preaching or any other method of imparting the doctrines of Christianity. The foundation of Christian knowledge is the Bible. From the Bible the church has gleaned her doctrines and set them in order in doctrinal form for the in- struction of her children. It is the duty of the church to see to it that her members are made acquainted with these teach- ings. Only it must always be borne 95 96 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION in mind that instruction is not merely for the intellect, but chiefly for the heart and the will. As this is not a manual of Pastoral Theology, the purpose of this chapter will be met by a brief exposition of the material and the form of the catechism in its relation to the Christian school. 1. MATERIAL. An ancient name for the catechism was " The Threefold Cord." By this was meant the Law of God, the Gospel, and the New Life. The first was taught thru the Ten Command- ments, the second thru the Apostles' Creed, the third thru the Lord's Prayer. These formed the great pillars, as it were, on which and around which the catechism was constructed, and the idea has been a controlling one in many of the leading churches. In the younger classes, religious ideas are best communicated thru the Bible story. From this ever fresh and fruitful garden are gathered the fruits upon which the spiritual life must feed. But the older children, who are preparing for THE CATECHISM 97 the fuller obligations of church member- ship, need instruction also not only in the doctrines that are common to the whole church, but also in those which are peculiar to their own denomination. For this purpose the churches have constructed their catechisms. Thus we have Luther's Catechism, the Heidelberg, the Westminster, the Tridentine, etc. Some of these have lived for centuries, and in spite of intellectual and moral revolutions continue to assert themselves as living forces in the world. As books of reference, statements of doctrine, dictionaries of information, rec- ords of history, they have a permanent value. To what extent they are adapted for the instruction of children, is another question. 2. FORM. The catechisms with which most of us are familiar consist of ques- tions and answers. They follow the synthetic method, starting from general principles. The answers are not neces- sarily contained in the question, but are a body of information which has to be 98 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION committed to memory in order to be recited by the child. The following questions and answers, selected at random from the church catechisms of four denominations, illus- trate their character: Why must our Redeemer be both God and Man ? Our Redeemer must be man in order that, by His obedience and His suffering in our nature and in our stead, He might redeem us from sin ; and He must be God in order that His redemption may be all-sufficient. What is Justifying Faith ? Justifying faith is a saving grace, wrought in the heart of a sinner, by the Spirit and word of God ; where- by he, being convinced of his sin and misery, and of the disability in himself and all other creatures to recover him out of his lost condition, not only assenteth to the truth of the promise of the gospel, but receiveth and resteth upon Christ and His righteousness therein held forth, for pardon of sin, and for the accepting and accounting of his person righteous in the sight of God for salvation. What is required of those who come to the Lord's Supper ? To examine themselves whether they repent them truly of their former sins, steadfastly purposing to lead a new life; have a lively faith in God's mercy through Christ, with a thankful remembrance of His death; and be in charity with all men. What do you desire of God in this Prayer ? 1. That all things which tend to the glory of God may be promoted, and whatsoever is repugnant thereto, THE CATECHISM 99 or contrary to His will, may be prevensed. 2. That He may provide me with all things necessary for the body, and as to my soul, preserve me from all evil which might in any wise be detrimental to my salvation. This method is an unnatural way of acquiring knowledge. We would not teach Chemistry or Mathematics, not even History or Biography by this method. Again it has no religious quality. The child may believe the statement, or as much of it as it can remember, upon the authority of the teacher. Sometime or other, perhaps, the statement will be verified in its own experience. The cate- chism will then get the credit for it. But until then,and in many cases permanently, the information is "an undigested se- curity" The modern way of teaching the cate- chism follows the analytic method, a method pursued by both the great cate- chisms of the German Reformation, but which was subsequently set aside, only to be restored again as a result of the great educational revolution of the 18th century. The following page from a modern 100 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION catechism* will illustrate my meaning better than a lengthy description: The topic is the first article of the Creed. After a preliminary lesson the teacher proceeds to explain the words: I believe in God the Father Almighty. "I believe in God." This does not mean, I believe that there is a God. If we have any religion at all, we believe that there is a God. But when I say I believe in God, I mean some- thing more than that. What that is we may learn from the centurion of Capernaum. He was a man who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. With what words did Jesus commend his faith? (Verily I say unto you, etc.) He was a humble-minded man. How does that appear? (He said: I am not worthy, etc.) But he had a high opinion of Jesus. From what do we learn this? (He said: "Only say the word" etc.) What disposition did he show? (He showed trust.) How then did he show *Der kleine Katechismus Dr. M. Luthers in ausgef Cihrten Katechesen, von Johannes Kolb, Breslau, 1892. THE CATECHISM. that he believed in Jesus? (By trusting in the Lord that he could heal his servant with a word.) But the centurion proved in another way that he had faith. What did he say in conclusion to the centurion ? (Go thy way, etc.) Go thy way, said the Lord Jesus. What did the centurion do then? (He went his way.) Some might have hesitated and asked: "Is it certain that my servant is healed? Can I assuredly rely upon it?" How did the centurion show that he believed? (He showed it by going.) Yes, he was obedient to the Lord's command. There were two things therefore which showed that the centurion believed. What were they? (He had trust in the Lord, and he did what he was told to do.) Can you give me the name of a man of faith in the Old Testament? (Abraham.) In what way did he show that he be- lieved in God? (He went out of his country and from his father's house. And he was ready to sacrifice his son Isaac.) He did therefore what God commanded. Neither of these things EDUCATION was an easy task. Why did he never- theless obey the command although it must have been hard for him to do so? (Be- cause he trusted in God, that God would not tell him to do anything that was not good.) We see therefore that in Abraham also faith shows itself by trust and obedience. "What is faith ?" asked an unbeliev- ing physician of his friend, a merchant, in whose comfortable parlor the two were engaged in friendly conversation. He asked the question in the same spirit in which Pilate said: "What is truth?" The merchant smiled and called to his eight year old son who was sitting at an- other table. He had been laboriously unpacking a box of tin soldiers and was making them march up and down and was having a fine time. "Karl," said the father to the child, who found it hard to separate himself from his soldiers, "my dear boy, pack up your soldiers as quickly as you can, and go to bed. I think it is better that you should do so. But do it quickly." The child gave his THE CATECHISM 103 father a long, beseeching look, but seeing that the father was determined, he pressed back a tear, said not a word, gave his father a long, warm kiss, and hurried away. "There Doctor, that is faith," said the merchant. Then he called the boy back and whispered into his ear: "And when you bring me another such good certificate from school as the last one was, when vacation comes, I will take you with me to visit your aunt in Hamburg." The boy shouted for joy, and for a long time they still heard from his bedroom his jubilant cries. But the father said to his friend : " There, Doctor, that was faith. That boy has the stuff in him to be a man of faith. If he acts toward God as he acted toward me, as trustfully and as obediently, he will have faith." The Doctor with a serious look replied: "I think I understand the mat- ter better now than I would have done from a sermon." How then can we show that we have faith in God? (By trusting in Him and by being obedient to Him.) 104 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION The principles which govern such cate- chisation are explained in the Intro- duction to Kolbe's excellent Catechisation, and are briefly as follows: 1. The catechism explains itself. Noth- ing has to be committed to memory ex- cept the text of Luther's Catechism and the proof texts of the Bible. 2. The instruction must be intuitive. Much instruction in the catechism is anything but intuitive. The children are tortured with unintelligible sentences, abstract ideas and long sentences that have to be committed to memory. Such teaching gives no pleasure to the teacher and bears no fruit in the scholar. In- struction is made intuitive by the free use of the Bible story. Illustrations from life and literature will occur to the teacher, and will help to illuminate the subject. 3. The children must do independent work. The questions must be of such a character that the child is compelled to think in order to give the answer. 4. Every lesson must produce a defi- nite, comprehensible result. The ex- THE CATECHISM 105 amination at the close, and the review at the next hour must show that the children have mastered the lesson, not because they have committed it to memory, but because it has become their intellectual property. For example: The centurion showed in two ways that he believed in Jesus. What were they? Show that Abraham believed in God. How may we show that we believe in God ? This is the modern way of teaching the catechism. It is so simple, it teaches itself, but it is so effective that it will never be forgotten. It has become the intellectual and spiritual possession of the child. The painful acquisition of hundreds of unmeaning phrases is done away with. The catechism has become a beautiful garden instead of a wearisome desert. We call it the modern way but in reality it is a very old way. In follow- ing it, we are only returning to the methods of Francke and Comenius, and Luther and Gerson and Augustine, perhaps even, yes probably, to the methods of the Apostolic age. XI THE GOAL TN Christian writings of the fourth century we find an expression that is foreign to our modern phraseology. They speak of "making Christians," (Xgi- onavovq noidv). It contains a suggestion worth noting. Some look upon children as Christians by right of inheritance; others, by right of baptism. But whatever our theories may be, the object of all of us is so to teach and bring up the children that they may become mature Christians, Chris- tians by personal conviction and experi- ence. Or, as has repeatedly been urged in these pages, our object is to prepare them for participation in the obligations and privileges of the Christian church. If the church were merely an insti- tution, into which our children are in- troduced through the family and the 106 THE GOAL 107 Christian school by the methods that have been pointed out, our work would be finished when we had made them acquainted with certain facts and ac- customed them to certain rites and practices observed in the church. But the church is more than an in- stitution, it is a society or fellowship, it is "the communion of saints." To bring the child into living relation with this communion must be the object of all our efforts. The family will be broken up. The school advances its pupils to the point of graduation. But the church abides forever. It is the only society of this world that continues into the life that lies beyond. Even when we look upon the child as an incipient Christian, the object of our instruction must be to enable it, when it leaves school, to grow up in- dependently in the Christian life. The last year of the Christian school, the catechumenate proper, is therefore a time when our care of souls must in- clude what in the early history of the 108 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION church was called the scrutiny. The personal relation between pastor and child has an increasing importance. It has in view that impressive period in life when the great decision is made. Some churches observe Confirmation. The early Lutherans did not approve of it, but admitted candidates Confirmation . to the communion through "the catechism" at any convenient season. In spite of the many abuses which have attached themselves to the modern usage, it can still be made useful if proper in- struction and scrutiny precede. Other churches have introduced De- cision Day. Whatever form or name Decision may be chosen, it is well to Day recognize that this is a period when a definite choice of the Christian life may be made. What then are the essential elements of the Christian life which a pastor will seek to discover in his pupils? Faith . First of all is the acceptance of Christ as the Saviour. Christ must be apprehended as the One "who has THE GOAL 109 redeemed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood, and with His innocent sufferings and death, in order that I might be His own^ live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence and blessedness." Another element is jyrayer. Through Christ we may believe that God "is truly our Father, and we are truly His children, so that we may ask of Him with all cheerfulness and confidence, as dear children of their dear father." Formal acts of prayer, on waking and rising in the morning, on retiring at night, at meals, on entering and leaving the house of God, all these have their uses in the development of the Christian life. But prayer is more than an act. It is a habit. It is the atmosphere in which the child of God continually lives. A third element is obedience. The Christian necessarily conforms his life with the life which he has from Christ. 110 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION The Christ for us becomes the Christ The Mystical in us. Some theologians call Union it " the mystical union." This involves on the one hand the daily con- test against sin in its manifold forms, the daily "drowning of the old Adam in us." On the other hand, it calls forth the active service in the work of the King, the development of the life in which Christ is supreme. In this new life the agent is the Holy Ghost; the means is the word of God; the relation is the Holy Church universal, the communion of saints; the final goal is the life everlasting. XII A SOLUTION IV/TY theme may seem to involve only a question of method, the use of a week-day hour in place of or in addition to a Sunday hour. But it means far more. It illustrates and enforces a principle. The church must recognize its relation to the child in all stages of its growing life, assume its proper function of reli- gious instruction, and resist the ever- recurring temptation to delegate this function to any other agency. The question is being discussed from many points of view. Teachers, minis- ters and the press are on the Three incon- n i i . troverbble alert to find the way out of its Positions difficulties. Three incontrovertible posi- tions face us. Religion is a vital factor in education; the church cannot form an alliance with the state in the matter of religion; the church must exercise her in RELIGIOUS EDUCATION legitimate function in religious education. Three solutions of the question have been offered: Religion in the public school, the parochial school, l v ? Us _ r Wednesday the Sunday-school. None of Afternoon these meet the requirements. In their place is presented a simple, practical proposition. Let the public school re- store to the church a portion of the time which has been surrendered. Give us Wednesday afternoon for instructing the children who will avail themselves of the opportunity. In support of this plea we appeal to the public school. You owe your existence to the Christian week-day school. Your best friends and co-workers are to be found in our churches. All we ask is that you so arrange your course of studies as not to prevent us from giving, at our own expense, the instruction which we believe to be indispensable to all true education. But we appeal also to the churches, and especially to the ministry. This scheme throws upon you a very great A SOLUTION 113 task and a large responsibility. And you already have so many other things to do. But it is certain that nothing else that you can do will compare in permanence and value with your work in the Christian training of your children. Roman Catholic bishops tell us that without schools they would soon be without churches. Protestants will not be without churches, but they will have stronger congregations, more apprecia- tive people and more effective churches, when they take the same care of their children as do the Roman Catholics. Commissioner Harris says: "The pre- rogative of religious instruction is in the church, and it must remain in the church, and in the nature of things it cannot be farmed out to the secular school without degenerating into mere deism bereft of a living Providence, or else changing the school into a parochial school and destroy- ing the efficiency of secular instruction." Educational Magazine, 1902. Professor Coe says : " If we are to have common schools for the whole people 114 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION complete separation of church and state, and yet thoro religious education for Catholic and Protestant children alike, it follows that the religious function of the state schools should be permanently re- stricted to friendly recognition of the teaching function of the family and of the church, and sympathetic co-opera- tion with them. * * * But this im- plies that these communions voluntarily furnish, at their own expense, definite and systematic religious training for their children and for all children who can be reached. " Religion and Morals. Bishop Greer says: "The schools are doing their part, in their legitimate sphere, and are doing all they can do. Is the church doing her part in her legitimate sphere, and all that she can do? It seems to me she is not; and that with no other machinery or instruments or tools than what she now possesses she might do very much more than what she now is doing. " Convention Address, 1905. To all of these significant utterances of representative men I make this one reply, A SOLUTION 115 Give us Wednesday afternoon. Will not this simple concession on the part of the public school, and this one step forward on the part of the churches, once for all solve our problem ? To the public school we shall then be able to give our unquali- fied support, and in return utilize its vast resources. And the work of the Sunday school, correlated with that of the week- day church school, will acquire a greater significance. With a nine years' course of systematic instruction for all the chil- dren of our churches, in many cases with expert helpers, we may hope to attain re- sults that were impossible under the haphazard methods of the past. VIEWS AND COMMENTS VIEWS AND COMMENTS ANOTHER "THREE R'S" IN SCHOOL. It is a noteworthy coincidence that just as the dominant party in British politics is moving for the elimination of ecclesi- asticism and the advance of secularism in the common schools of England a strong interdenominational movement should be developed here for the introduction of religious teaching into the public schools of New York. We cannot ignore the authority nor doubt the sincerity and benevolence of the company of clergymen who the other day discussed this subject, and expressed themselves strongly in favor of having, by state enactment, one afternoon a week set apart for religious instruction in the schools.* Those gen- tlemen were widely representative of Jew and Gentile, Catholic and Protestant, Episcopal and Independent, and we have * These benevolent clergymen proposed nothing of the kind. 119 120 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION no doubt that they represent, too, a con- siderable and most respectable public sentiment. There are many thoughtful men and women who regard with appre- hension the widely prevailing and, they fear, increasing irreverence, lawlessness and, indeed, actual viciousness among school children, and not a few of these are inclined to seek a remedy in the in- troduction of religious teaching. As one of the members of that conference neatly expressed it, there seems to them a need that the schools shall teach not only the old "three R's" of reading, 'riting and Arithmetic, but also the other three of reverence, righteousness and responsi- bility. There will be little dispute, we think, as to the desirability of that end. The question is one of the means by which it is to be attained. That the boys and girls, too of to-day are too often irrev- erent in speech and manner, regardless of the comforts and rights of others, and insubordinate against legitimate authority is painfully apparent. We do not refer VIEWS AND COMMENTS 121 alone to such young Hooligans as were arrested last week and punished for crimi- nal rowdyism in elevated railroad trains, though, indeed, they and many more like them are students in the public schools. But upon the better class residence streets and in the parks may be found boys be- longing to well to do and cultivated families who in their games scream out all manner of profanities, exult in annoy- ing passersby and exhibit defiance toward law and order. Granted that much of this is pure thoughtlessness. Thoughtless habit uncorrected often becomes fixed and incorrigible. It is not creditable that children should be permitted, even thought- lessly, to commit such excesses. It is not possible to view without grave concern the possibility that such habits will endure in maturer life. Home influences and parental discipline should no doubt correct the evil. But they do not, and we are forced to the con- clusion that in many cases those are negli- gible factors, if not actually infinitesimal. Parents, for the sake of their own comfort, 122 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION object to their children playing the Hooli- gan in their own dooryards, but let them go down the street and annoy other people without hindrance or reproof, while for an outraged neighbor to undertake the work of correction or even to complain of the nuisance is imperiously resented in the tone of "My child can do no wrong!" Nor are there lacking those among other- wise intelligent and reasonable men and women who practically disclaim respon- sibility for their children's conduct. They send them, they say, to school five days a week and to Sunday-school on Sunday, and it is the business of those institutions to teach them everything. Why should they pay taxes for the support of the schools if the father must stay home from the races or the club and the mother from the matinee or the bridge party to teach their children themselves ? Despite the need, however, there will be a widespread doubt of the wisdom of seeking to supply it in the way these clergymen have suggested. The intro- duction of anything like ecclesiastical or VIEWS AND COMMENTS 123 sectarian teaching into the public schools even if the people should permit it, which we have no idea they would do would bear with it a menace of mis- chief which these very men would be first to deplore: and the practicability of having religious instruction given in the schools without danger of sectarian propa- ganda is scarcely to be conceded.* Reverence for those things which the best general sentiment of mankind holds worthy of reverence, righteousness, in cleanliness of speech and thought and honesty of conduct, and responsibility, in regard for law and lawful authority, should be taught, we believe, in the schools as well as in the home. But we are also persuaded that they would best be taught, not by special teachers in special services, but by the regular teachers throughout all the ordinary exercises ; and we are in- clined to think that effort would most profitably be made toward that end by securing for all schools teachers who *Very true. But our' plan does not propose to introduce sec- tarian teaching into the public schools. 124 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION would exert such influences, and by arousing among parents a realization of the duty which rests upon them of at least actively co-operating with the schools in the right training of their children. New York Daily Tribune, May 7, 1906. SUNDAY-SCHOOLS ON WEDNESDAY In the unanimous opinion of the emi- nent clergymen of many denominations, too often inharmonious, who met in the United Charities Building this week to consider the "problem" of religious in- struction for the children in the public schools, something like a solution of that problem can be reached in a very simple way. The plan suggested, and apparently approved though evidently with varying degrees of hope by all of them is to establish what, for want of a better name, may be called Wednesday afternoon Sun- day-schools in the various churches and synagogues, to which all the public school scholars are to be sent under the same sort of compulsion that forces their at- tendance at the secular schools. The im- VIEWS AND COMMENTS 125 possibility of giving in the public schools any kind of religious instruction that would be acceptable to all the parents in such a mixed population as ours was frankly recognized, and this, it seems to us, marked a new and desirable appre- ciation of facts, but we cannot avoid the impression that the clergymen were un- duly confident as to the practicability of the schools they had in mind. Would there not be the same, and just as much, difficulty in making the children go to Sunday-school on Wednesday as there is in making them do it on Sunday? The latter day, according to the admission of many of the clergymen, has become for thousands little more than a day of recre- ation, and why they thought Wednesday afternoon would be otherwise used if the public schools were closed then is far from obvious. The suggestion that the truant officers could force the children to the churches as well as to the schools ignores the circumstances that there is practically no difference of opinion as to the value of primary education of the 126 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION sort now given by the city. For that reason public sentiment supports the tru- ant officers in the performance of their present duties. If they attempted to ex- ercise the same authority in sending chil- dren to church for religious instruction they would not be likely to get much sup- port from the parents who do not already see to it that their children attend the Sunday schools provided by all sects and denominations, and a large crop of as- sorted controversies and troubles would be almost sure to grow up. So, instead of agreeing with those at this meeting in holding the idea of a Wednesday after- noon Sunday-school to be a hopeful one, we are disposed to consider it almost hopeless. The clergy have the best of rights to advise the instruction of chil- dren in something more than the three R's of tradition, but it is a pity that they cannot give such advice without somehow always dragging in the public schools, the commendable purposes of which are as different as are those of grocery stores or sugar refineries. N. Y. Times, May 2, 1906. VIEWS AND COMMENTS 127 RELIGION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS One of the most striking and suggest- ive incidents in connection with the re- cent Conference on Federation was the reception given to the paper read before it by the Rev. George U. Wenner, D. D., president of the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of New York and New Jersey. Dr. Wenner wrote upon " Week-Day Re- ligious Education." He strongly depicted the deficiencies of the present system of religious instruction, emphasized the im- portance of the principle of "unity" in ed- ucation, and ended by urging that the church ask the public school, which surely owes to it a large unpaid debt, that it should restore to the church one afternoon a week say Wednesday afternoon for purposes of religious instruction. This proposition was received with great applause, and was subsequently embodied in a formal resolution, which passed without a word of opposition and by unanimous vote. It is yet far too early to attempt to measure the significance of any action 128 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION taken by this Conference. It was nomi- nally representative of some thirty de- nominational bodies, with over eighteen million adherents. If the adoption of this resolution were to be regarded as really the matured decision and determined purpose of the united evangelical churches of America, it would be impossible to see in this action anything else than the for- mal reopening of a question long supposed to be settled, the serious renewal of a strife supposed to be ended. It has been for some time obvious to the intelligent observer that strong forces were making in this direction. The experience of France, which abolished religion from the public schools only to find it necessary, for the very children's sake, to restore it, has not passed unheeded. The results of exclusion from our own schools have awakened serious misgivings. The edu- cational system religiously is certainly far from satisfactory. But one would hardly have anticipated that so radical a proposition as this would have received so ready an endorsement in so high a place. VIEWS AND COMMENTS 129 We seriously doubt if the action of the Conference can be taken as really repre- sentative of any matured purpose on the part of American Protestantism, or any large portion thereof. Nevertheless, the passing of such a resolution is a most significant sign of the times. It certainly indicates a grave discontent with the present system in religious education. There is good reason for that discontent. The neglect of religious training even in professedly Christian families; the fact that the Sunday-school, at best, includes but a fraction of the children needing in- struction; and the further fact, according to the best authorities, that though the Sunday-school is often extolled as an "evangelizing agency," it yet graduates three students into the world to two into the church, creates a serious situation that it is quite impossible to ignore. Whether to "give us Wednesday after- noon," according to Dr. Wenner's im- passioned plea, is the coming solution of our difficulties, may be gravely doubted. But it was well that the entire matter 130 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION should be brought before the attention of the Christian world in a form to arrest attention. If this proposal of the Con- ference shall provide a thorough dis- cussion of the entire situation, it will even though it should have done no more quite pay for its existence. The Ex- aminer, November, 30, 1905, RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ON WEEK DAYS We believe three things to be true: First, that in the public schools there is no religious teaching of any kind worth the name, and that there never will be any more than there is now. Second, that home teaching by Christians is much less than it was. If it be asked on what ground we hold this opinion we answer that it is the judgment of many pastors and many of the best Sunday-school-teach- ers, that it is the testimony of many chil- dren, and is the judgment of and is ad- mitted by many parents when inquired of upon the subject, that the Sunday- schools are depended on for the religious instruction of the children. Parents who VIEWS AND COMMENTS 131 were devout Christians were in the habit of instructing their children, and also of requiring the children to learn the Sunday- school lessons at home. The larger part of the instruction now given is that im- parted to infants and little children by their mothers. This is the principal survival of the family teaching that was formerly very common in the Presby- terian and Baptist Churches, and generally in the more regular Methodists. The explanation of the expression "regular Methodists" is this, that there has always been a certain class of Methodists who depended exclusively on meetings and emotional appeals, but the bone and sinew of the denomination, while desiring to be moved upon by the Spirit and by the preaching of the Gospel, fol- lowed Mr. Wesley's plan and constantly read the Scriptures and religious books, observed family prayers, took their chil- dren to the regular worship of the House of God, and took great pains to endorse every good maxim and to intensify every appeal made by the pastors. The third 132 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION thing that we firmly believe is, that were the Sunday school absolutely perfect in government, in teaching force, in system, in punctuality, one hour a week would not suffice, without other means, to make a permanent impression upon any but a small minority of the scholars. What, then, can be expected when it is impossi- ble to suppose that the Sunday schools answer the description here supposed? The evangelical churches have much to learn from Catholic methods in the teach- ing of children. Other denominations have very much to learn from the Luther- ans. The Presbyterians and Baptists need to remember to put in practice their former methods; but circumstances have changed. Most people now live at long distances from their places of business, and the great majority, especially in cities, spend from a fourth to a third of their lives away from home, including in this the summer hegira. If the public authori- ties would consent to Dr. Wenner's proposition, it would give a great impetus to religious education of children. Such a VIEWS AND COMMENTS 133 method could not be made popular by mere discussion. It would be necessary to have the plan tried in some school or some section of a large city. In case it succeeded it might then spread. At all events something should be done. We have a proposition which, after we have given it a little more thought, will be of- fered to pastors situated so as to make it feasible. Meanwhile we commend to them and to all parents, to Christian teachers of public schools, to public school superintendents and committees, to con- sider whether the plan could be tried in their section. Some communities are so homo- geneous that there would be no difficulty in making the experiment. The Chris- tian Advocate, February 8, 1906. RELIGION AND THE SCHOOLS It is claimed by some that our common schools are irreligious, and while this assertion is largely urged in the interest of some particular form of religion, there is enough foundation for the assertion to make worth while an inquiry as to actual 134 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION conditions and as to how they may be improved. It is not strictly true that our schools are irreligious. They hold the same relation to religion as the state to its citi- zens. By law and precedent the right of citizenship is accorded to all, irrespec- tive of creed or religious conviction; yet we are a Christian nation, preserving the religious characteristics of the first settlers as has been uniformly recog- nized by the highest courts of the states and the nation, by the constitutions of most of the states, and by legislation for Sunday observance and the protection of Christian morals. So in our schools an education is provided for all without re- gard to creed, and the only restriction is against propagating any particular type of religion, not against religion itself, or the morality underlying our Christian civilization. In fact and practice prayer and reading of the Bible in nearly all the states and in most schools, continue a survival of what was universal in the for- mative period of the nation, when the VIEWS AND COMMENTS 135 school was a recognized adjunct of the church. Our cosmopolitan population and the entire passing over of primary and sec- ondary schools into the hands of the state have minimized the recognition and teaching of religion in them, and while not irreligious, our schools have become non-religious to a far greater extent than is desirable for the future good of the nation. Our people are firm in the conviction that education is fundamental in a free republic, and that public schools open to all must be maintained. Equally strong is the conviction that there can be no true education without religion. The recon- ciliation of these two ideas is the problem which confronts thoughtful minds. There is a growing persuasion that the great need of the schools is more religious instruction and a better grounding of our future citizens in Bible morality and Christian ethics. How to secure this in a school where Jews, Romanists, Protestants, and in- fidels are expected to meet on common 136 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ground is confessedly difficult. It is far more so with us, than in countries where the separation of church and state is more recent or less complete, and where the schools are under more direct govern- ment control. Other Christian countries have met the same problem and found a temporary, if not a final solution. In Germany religious instruction is given precedence and at least five hours a week in every school is given to it. In England, while the Non- Conformist Churches and adherents have protested against schools under the control of the established church, all expect and desire that in the national, as well as the board schools, re- ligious instruction, of a non-sectarian type, should be provided for every child. In France, the separation of church and state has completely secularized the schools, yet provision is made for religious instruction, by setting apart Thursday of each week for such instruction as the churches may desire to give. How is it with us ? As has been said, in the vast majority of our schools there is VIEWS AND COMMENTS 137 a recognition of religion in the opening exercises, but even this is often protested against, and inadequately meets the need. Religious instruction has to be otherwise provided. The Roman Catholic Church meets the problem by the parochial school, and agitates continually for help from the state in its support. Some Protestants, as the Moravians and a por- tion of the Lutheran Church, also main- tain parochial schools, but with no de- mand or expectation of aid from the public treasury. Our own church experimented somewhat in this line, but with us, as with most Protestants, this solution has not met with favor. The dependence for religious instruc- tion of the children consequently has been on the Sunday-school, and the important sphere this has come to occupy has called special attention to its limitations, and the need of better methods. One hour a week, with teachers inadequately trained, and attendance voluntary and irreg- ular, with no means of enforcing study- surely the religious training afforded by 138 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION the Sunday-school must be meagre and unsatisfactory. Where not reinforced by home teaching, its results are disap- pointing. These considerations make pertinent the suggestion of Dr. Wenner, of this city, that a modification of the plan adopted in France be introduced in our American system. There, one whole day is sur- rendered to religious instruction under direction of the church. He suggests that surely here a half -day, e. (jr., Wednes- day afternoon, could be surrendered to the churches for such religious instruction as they may provide. Under this plan the school curriculum could be arranged so that the absentees should not suffer serious loss, and the non-church children need not be turned into the street. Under it the attendance on the instruction given by the church should be the basis of an excuse for absence, and be enforced as part of the regular school curriculum. When the importance of systematic reli- gious instruction of the children is con- sidered, this suggestion is worthy of care- VIEWS AND COMMENTS 139 ful consideration. There are difficulties in working out such a scheme, but they are not insuperable, and the end to be attained is well worth the co-operation of school boards and the churches in secur- ing for it a trial. The Christian Intelli- gencer, February 28, 1906. WEEK-DAY RELIGIOUS EDUCATION At the recent meeting in New York of the Inter-Church Conference on Federa- tion, Dr. G. U. Wenner read a paper on " Week-Day Religious Instruction," which made a deep impression on the Confer- ence, and afterward received favorable notice from the religious press in general. The Conference unanimously adopted the following resolution prepared by him: "Resolved, That in the need of more systematic education in religion, we recom- mend for the favorable consideration of the public school authorities of the coun- try the proposal to allow the children to absent themselves, without detriment, from the public school on Wednesday, or 140 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION on some other afternoon of the school week, for the purpose of attending re- ligious instruction in their own churches; and we urge upon the churches the ad- visability of availing themselves of the opportunity so granted to give such in- struction in addition to that given on Sunday." The resolution gives the gist of the paper, which, however, removes the ob- jection that might be urged against turn- ing upon the street a crowd of children who might not be required by their par- ents to attend religious instruction. Dr. Wenner says: : 'This does not involve the closing of the public school on Wed- nesday afternoon, and turning the non- church children into the street. It simply asks that the children attending the church school shall be excused for their absence. The course of study might be so arranged that absentees would not suffer an irreparable loss. Music, eti- quette, or ethics, or some other substi- tute for religion, might be given to those who remain." VIEWS AND COMMENTS 141 We do not intend to argue the subject in this article further than to state a few propositions, which may be readily de- fended, if not deemed almost self-evident: 1. No education is complete that lacks religious instruction. 2. This instruction is not given in the public school. 3. The public school, under present circumstances, cannot give it. 4. The home in most cases does not supply it. 5. The present Sunday-school is in- adequate to give it in sufficient measure. 6. The parochial school, which might solve the problem, seems to many to be uri-American, and certainly is not popu- lar with Protestants. Dr. Wenner's proposition seems to offer the best present solution of the prob- lem. A plan somewhat similar is now in practical operation in France. Per- haps, by way of experiment, Saturday afternoon for a period of two hours might be chosen. The practical application of Dr. Wen- 142 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION ner's idea is the matter that concerns us most in this article. It seems to us that in his resolution he puts the initiative at the wrong place. " The public school author- ities" are not likely to make the start. The churches must do this in some way. The best way which occurs to us at this writing is to do this through the local ministerial society, which exists already or may be formed. The ministers ought to take the lead. It is their legitimate business to do so. Their efforts would receive the support of the Christian people; and the "school authorities" would fall into line. In small communities a single religious school might do the required work. The pastors or competent day-school teachers could do the teaching. In larger towns the children of the same or allied denom- inations might be gathered into one school. Of course, the details would have to be worked out by committees and modified by experience. The matter of instruction must naturally be Biblical and Christian, but not confessional or sectarian. VIEWS AND COMMENTS 143 The scheme will not be generally adopted at once, if at all. There must be an object-lesson first. It seems to us that one of our larger inland towns ought to give it. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, for ex- ample, the residence of the indefatigable Dr. Schmauk, who has done so much in preparing graded lessons, is an ideal place for the experiment. Easton, Carlisle, and York offer favorable conditions. And there are scores of other towns throughout the country which ought to take to the idea. The places mentioned are more particularly known to the writer. We most earnestly commend to the consider- ation ox the Protestant clergy of these cities the matter of week-day religious education. Prof. J. A. Singmaster, in The Lutheran Observer. THE CHURCH AND THE SCHOOLS A proposal is being seriously considered by representatives of many Churches, not all of them Christian, to secure the co-oper- ation of the state and city educational authorities with the churches in a plan for 144 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION the religious education of school children. At a meeting, in New York, of which an account will be found in our news columns, representatives of our own church, of the Roman Catholics, Methodists, Presbyte- rians, Congregationalists and Jews, joined in more or less qualified commendation of the proposal of a committee appointed some months ago to consider the matter. The proposal was that public school children, who might desire it, or whose parents desired it for them, should be excused from the Wednesday afternoon session of the public schools that they might receive instruction in their respec- tive churches. Of this plan Bishop Greer said: "If it does not succeed it will not be the fault of the schools it will be the fault of the churches. At all events it is an experiment that is well worth trying." We are not so sure of that. It seems to us an experiment of very doubtful ex- pediency; one that we would much rather leave untried. With all that Bishop Greer said in commendation of the great VIEWS AND COMMENTS 145 patriotic work of the public schools, with his indignant repudiation of the aspersion that they are "godless," we are in hearty accord. We agree with him entirely, too, that it is not the business of the public schools to give religious instruction. But neither is it their business to see that it is given. "It is for the churches to give religious training," said Bishop Greer, "that is what the churches are for." "What they ask," he continued, "is that they have the opportunity of doing what they exist to do." This "opportunity" of which Bishop Greer speaks would amount under this proposal to the opportu- nity to compel attendance at "religious instruction by the use of the same system that the state has devised to ensure at- tendance at public schools. The churches apparently, to ensure their " opportunity," propose to invoke the aid of the truant officer. Moreover, they propose that one- tenth of the time which the state con- siders necessary for the child's instruc- tion and for the full employment of which the tax-payers are paying, shall be taken 146 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION for use by instructors of whose pedagogi- cal competence the state has no knowl- edge, and over whom it can exercise no control. The public schools need all the time they can get for their work. They have not an hour too much. The supposi- tion that one session out of the ten in each week can be given to " relatively un- important" studies shows a strange ig- norance of the conditions under which the school curriculum is devised, and of the anxious care with which the various ele- ments in education are balanced against one another, that every minute may be used to the utmost. We want no inter- ference of the state in education by the church and no interference by the church in education by the state. The plan seems to us bad in itself, even if it were found practicable. It would prove even worse in the results to which it would in- evitably lead. For surely the benefit of re- ligious instruction would be a question- able quantity if children found it so uninteresting or their parents were so indifferent to its value that they must be VIEWS AND COMMENTS 147 dragged to the church to receive it. The church must win her children; she can- not force them into allegiance. We do not wish to create in this coun- try conditions that are distracting the English Church and Parliament and in- juring the efficiency of both. We cannot forget that the plan has the support of the traditional enemies of public educa- tion. To opponents of the American sys- tem we would say in challenge and to its friends in warning: Hands off the public schools. The Churchman, May 12, 1906. RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS To the Editor of the CHURCHMAN : As secretary of the Missionary Thank- Off ering Committee lam enjoying an un- usual opportunity to confer with laymen and clergymen all over the country, re- specting the points of strength and weak- ness in the work of our church. I find a large number of intelligent people who share the opinion which I have ven- tured to form upon this subject. That opinion is that we are bringing annually 148 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION into vital relation with Christ a number of men, pitiably small, when regard is had to our great scheme of church organiza- tion and to the power of the message with which we are entrusted. In the great ma- jority of parishes there is little vital re- ligion among men. In the relatively small missionary work of the church the men have hitherto taken an insignificant part. I state what I believe to be facts, not at all in a spirit of hopelessness and depres- sion, but as one who is awestricken in the presence of so great an opportunity for the work ot Christian education. I be- lieve it was Horace Bushnell who, in reply to the question, "Has not Christianity been a failure ?" replied, "How can it have failed? It has never been tried." This was an exaggeration; but only an exaggeration; not a statement wholly false. In searching for the causes of weakness in the church, would it not be wise to consider whether this is not one of them that we are not giving Chris- tianity a fair trial ? I venture to affirm that what we need VIEWS AND COMMENTS 149 is more direct and positive teaching, in the pulpit, at missionary conferences and in the columns of the church papers, re- specting the essence of Christianity, which I take to be this that it is absolute devo- tion to Jesus Christ as not onlv our Lord m but our Friend. We have a simple mes- sage; but, if properly delivered, it will find a lodgment in every soul. As our Gospel is the good news of the redeeming love of our Friend, so our message is the proclamation of our duty to Him. That duty is twofold; first, to make ourselves fit to associate with Him and hold com- munion with Him; second, to co-operate with Him in bringing all men everywhere into the personal relation of friendship with Him. But "how shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed ? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except they be sent?" It is not enough that we have a mes- sage. It is not even enough that we utter 150 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION it ourselves and send others to do like- wise. We must devise means to bring within range of the message those for whom it is intended. I am not speaking at the moment of the heathen but of two classes of people who sustain a geograph- ical or family relationship to our parish churches the men and the children. To reach the men and the older boys, the M. T. O. movement has been inaugu- rated and already God has blessed its progress. I do not refer to the money- raising aspect of the movement. Money giving, except as an expression of devo- tion, is of little or no subjective value. I speak of the anointing of blind eyes to see the vision of a world to be won for Christ and the unstopping of deaf ears to hear the cry of souls that must be saved. The working of these miracles is the primary purpose of the M. T. O. But what about the children? It is plain that they cannot "believe in Him of whom they have not heard." The lack of insight into the heart of Christianity upon the part of this generation of VIEWS AND COMMENTS 151 adults shows that they have been defec- tively taught. What about the rising gen- eration ? Here is a great opportunity and a solemn responsibility. Of course nor- mal children do not want to be taught and will not come voluntarily. By the time we have trained the parents to com- pel them to hear our message the chil- dren will be parents themselves and we shall have the work to do over again. As a matter of course, we compel children to receive secular instruction. We know that interest and even zeal will come with the recognition of ignorance and the vision of knowledge. Accordingly it is pro- posed in New York, as you explain in your issue of May 12th, to allow Christian instruction in a child's own church on Wednesday afternoons to count in lieu of an afternoon's attendance upon public school. Christianity must be imparted to the children of the church, not by preaching but by careful and systematic teaching. What place more appropriate than the parish church? What thought more important to the child than the 152 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION thought that to learn to know Christ not to know about Him is an essential part of education ? Yet in your editorial you say -."Surely the benefit of religious instruction would be a questionable quan- tity if children found it so uninteresting or their parents were so indifferent to its value that they must be dragged to the church to receive it. The church must win her children; she cannot force them into allegiance." Am I manifesting an unchristian spirit if I ask whether these are the words of one who believes that the future of our nation and of our church depends upon bringing young children to Christ? But you say: "The public schools need all the time they can get for their work. They have not an hour too much. The supposition that one session out of the ten in each week can be given to 'relatively unimportant' studies, shows a strange ignorance of the conditions under which the school curriculum is devised, and of the anxious care with which the various elements in education are balanced VIEWS AND COMMENTS 153 against one another, that every minute may be used to the utmost." Not at all in a controversial spirit, may I ask the writer of these words this question: "What is the relative importance of secu- lar education and of the knowledge of Christ?" Of course school hours are all too short for learning. Art is long and time is fleeting. But the real question is : Shall the little time for learning be de- voted exclusively to other subjects than learning to know Christ? It is proposed, you say, "that one-tenth of the time which the state considers necessary for the child's instruction and for the full employment of which the tax- payers are paying, shall be taken for use by instructors of whose pedagogical com- petence the state has no knowledge, and over whom it can exercise no control." "The state" means you and the rest of us. As far as we churchmen and our children are concerned, it is proposed that the teaching shall be done in our own churches and under the direction of our own clergy. Whose fault is it if we have 154 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION no knowledge of their " pedagogical com- petency," and if we exercise no control over them ? Finally you observe: "We want no in- terference of the state in education by the church, and no interference by the church in education by the state," and you close by a reference to the conditions that are distracting the English Church and Parliament. Is it your opinion that the separation of church and state should be so complete that our people as a whole are to be indifferent whether or not the children receive religious instruction from the church of their parents' choice ? If you do not mean this, what do you mean ? In England they are at least dis- tracted over the effort to solve this diffi- cult problem. Because of its difficulty shall we give it up in advance ? The plan proposed in New York avoids the chief difficulties which have caused trouble in England, yet your language seems to im- ply that we proposed to try an experiment which has failed. May those of us who believe that Christian education alone can VIEWS AND COMMENTS 155 appease the hunger of the age call upon you for some constructive suggestion ? If you have a better plan than this, we solemnly adjure you to make it public. Do not tell us: "The churches are open; the children ought to go voluntarily and be taught there." We have tried this ex- periment and it has failed. Do not say: "This matter of Christian instruction is the business of the parents." Perhaps so; but the parents are not attending to their business. Do not point to voluntary attendance upon Sunday-school as the solution of the difficulty. The Sunday- school is a blessed institution, but it reaches only a corner of the field. The point is, Mr. Editor, that multitudes of the children of the Church are dying or growing up without being brought to the knowledge of Christ. This is your fault and mine. What are we going to do about it? Your only reply so far is, " Hands off the public schools." Nobody has suggested laying hands on the public schools. The proposition is to lay hands upon your children and mine, and to 156 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION bring them within reach of the voice of Jesus Christ. Instead of opposing, will you not help? G. W. PEPPER. Philadelphia (The Churchman, May 26, 1906.) RELIGION AND THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS To the Editor of the CHURCHMAN: Your editorial of May 12th concerning the proposition to have the public school authorities excuse the children of such parents as desire it from attendance at school on Wednesday afternoons, in order that they may be instructed elsewhere in religious subjects, has not been replied to in your issue of to-day. Failing a more competent person to answer your objec- tions, may I make several suggestions in this connection ? (1) There is no complete and fully formulated proposition before us as yet, other than what is roughly stated above. At the same meeting where one speaker said that he would consider it beneficial to have truant officers compel attendance, VIEWS AND COMMENTS 157 another said that there would be nothing to prevent some parents though he thought that there would be very few of such from taking advantage of this to keep their children at home for other rea- sons than to have them taught religion. Certainly many of us agree with you " that it is not the business of the public schools to give religious instruction," and "neither is it their business to see that it is given." So also your statement that this is a demand for " 10 per cent" of the work hours of the school week depends upon the hour when the children shall be excused, and this is not yet determined. Evidently while discussion of details is quite to the point, condemnation of the scheme for such reasons is quite prema- ture. (2) Your next objection is that "The public schools need all the time that they can get for work. They have not an hour too much." Comparing our educational system with that of other Christian na- tions, we are alone, so far as 1 know, in not providing for religious instruction 158 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION within the school week. As a people, we have decided, and most of us think very wisely decided, that we shall not have religion taught by the state. But having surrendered these hours which other na- tions use for religious training, to purely secular training, does our secular training for that reason outstrip all others the Germans, for instance? Yet they in- variably have religion among their set tasks of the week. Or is it true again, as you claim, that there are no "relatively unimportant" studies which might be put on the Wednesday afternoon public school schedule? Here are certain subjects taught in the public schools to children of fourteen years and under, which do not all appear to be of first importance: Carpentry, sewing, cooking, drawing, hygiene, singing, construction work (fancy boxes, etc.). But now suppose it be asked if we have not our Sunday-schools to teach religious subjects on Sunday ? The best answer to that would seem to be that, barring rare exceptions, the Sunday-school simply VIEWS AND COMMENTS 159 does not do the work and this in a day when there is little or no religious instruc- tion at home, and therefore children must be taught outside. Two things, certainly, are accomplished in our Sunday-schools: in the person of the teacher the child comes into contact with a maturer Christian and often a highly consecrated character, and furthermore it is brought to public worship. These are splendid results, the value of which cannot be over- estimated. But still crowds of children slip away forever from Sunday-school, never becoming church members, owing to the fact that religion soon ceases to interest and appeal to them perhaps it never did and those who do pass on into church are inadequately taught. Among the causes for this failure we may note that, first, there is not time enough. Could you teach a child to read if you had him as one of an often dis- orderly class, for a lesson of from twenty to thirty-five minutes once a week, or could you teach him arithmetic, or re- ligious truths, or anything, except in a 160 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION most superficial manner ? As a matter of fact, you cannot and you do not, even if you are a clever teacher. And as a second cause of failure the teaching staff is not adequate for the work, often as to train- ing and generally as to numbers. Leav- ing aside that class of teachers who stay at home because it rains or a friend calls, what the teacher accomplishes is com- monly more in the line of character build- ing than instructing, and if anything of real value is done by a good teacher, be sure that the pupils are met outside the regular Sunday-school session, and that brings us back to this question of week- day work. It is necessary here that we should recognize that the standard of religious instruction which Christian people in America are contented with is shamefully low there is nothing like it certainly among the Northern nations of Europe. To say nothing of the average, your good Sunday-school pupil can glibly recite the catechism, but, even if in an advanced grade, what can he tell of the doctrine of VIEWS AND COMMENTS 161 the Atonement or the evidences of the Resurrection of our Lord ? He knows the graphic stories of the Old Testament, but the profounder things concerning the struggles of the ancient Hebrew church are beyond him, while the beauty and majesty of the Hebrew prophets is a closed book even to many an older churchman who never had his eyes opened in his youth. The life of our Lord is learned in outline fortunately the church year prevents our getting far from that but how much thorough knowledge is there of this greatest of subjects? Think also of the life of St. Paul, the early church, church history, including the Reformation and our Amer- ican church, the story of Christian Mis- sions and the formation of our Prayer Book no wonder that the men who are interested in seeing some real and thor- ough work done among our children and young people are discouraged. Nor does it lessen the discouragement to be told to go back and be content with one-half hour on Sunday ! There is simply one way 162 RELIGIOUS EDUCATION to meet the problem. We must have op- portunity to teach the children on a week- day, and we must have them taught by persons who have been trained to the work, and this not to supplant but rather to supplement the Sunday-school. But here one may perhaps say. Take the children during the week if you will, but take them after school hours. Does such an objector know children after school hours? Still some of us will take them some of us are already taking them tired little bodies though they are, and going home to study their evening lessons later on, too. But we dare not neglect them while we are waiting for their elders to provide a fair and proper time for this important part of their work. Again, another objector may say that, if clergy and parish staff, commonly hard worked enough, are to do this work, what is to become a regular parochial routine ? The reply is that parochial duties must always be taken up in the order of their importance, and the older parishioners must be educated up to seeing that this VIEWS AND COMMENTS 163 may demand a sacrifice on their part. * * * * * It can be done and it will be done if we realize that the place for the children is in the front ranks. We elders must look over their heads. Other objectors doubtless will also raise other points everything can be criticized but this question is up now, and be sure it is with us to stay until we solve it. Whether or not we get Wednes- day afternoon or any portion of it, whether one favors or objects to any particular scheme, the fact remains that the children are knocking at the door of the church, and I venture to say that as the church answers this appeal which is now begin- ning to sound in her ears, so she deter- mines her own future. That future is to be built up out of these very children, by the aid of the spirit of God, and He surely will not lavish His grace upon any church or any religious body which neglects them. THORNTON FLOYD TURNER. New York. (The Churchman, June 9, 1906.) 25 CENTS WILL ^CREASE TO SO DAY AND TO $i.ol ON OVERDUE E PEN ALTY " E F URTH SEVENTH DAY LJ t/U 248518