TEACHING THE YOUNG METHODS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 35, 11 February 1908, Page 3

TEACHING THE YOUNG METHODS OF SUNDAY SCHOOL WORK.

LECTURE BY MR. G. HOGBEN. In his lecture <",n "Modern Methods of Sunday School Woik" at the Congregational Church, C'onstabla-street, la^t evening) Mr. G. Hogben, M.A., interested a large audience io one of the problems of the day — namely, the function of. religion in th: teaching of the young. "The fundamental aim of education," dcchied the lecturer at tlic outstt, "is lhe development of the moral and spiritual charact-r of tho child in order that ho may become an eftioiont member of the ideal Society of the Kingdom of God.'" A man's religion, he ront-nded, was the key to his character, and a. man's ' character was the index to his relicion. They had been compelled to dissociate religion from education in the common schools of the country, but such a procedure had not been logical. The teaching of elementary religious ideas was as much a part of tho .curriculum in a public school system as the teaching of arithmetic or history. It was the sins of the people that had caused the exclusion of religion. The sin lay in the inculcation of ideas into the mind of the child quite foreign from his nature. Ho refeircd to the teaching of abstract dogma which a child coulS no more understind than a prattling infant grammar. It would be an egregious blunder to introduce such formal teaching of tho dogmas of the different -churches into the school syllabus. It had been said that education was a preparation of the child for after life, but true education was a part of the life of the child from infancy to manhood. Ho held, therefore, that for years to come there coiild bo no practicable, workable basis "of religious education in«ide the fitatc schools. Of simple Bible teaching he v,M«i by no means so confirmed in his opinion, but would leave tho discussion of the vexed question to others. EDUCATION AT HOME. It was for the parents, as acknowledged by " the fcjlate to control the religious education of the child, though it had been justly averred by a great writer .that it vrquld be better if some parents looked to the child for their religion. The speaker considered, however, that tho experience of home was too nariw for it to be the sole source of education. The Sunday school was therefore "necessary to establish the re- j lalion between the day school on the I ono hand, and the church on the oth?r. Its main function wns to supplement the. woik of the day school by giving an elementary religious eduration with a* clear knowledge of suitable portions of the Bible. It ivns also necessary* to link' the teaching of <he home, with the teaching of tho church. Parents should never neglect the religious instruction' of the children, and thero was deep wisdom in the old system of reading chapters from the Bible and the Pilgiims 1 Progress. The Sunday school and the day school could not make up Tor tho neglect ( of these things, which meant a training of the child nn the habits of common ,- goodness. Sir Oliver Lbdg?.' whoso authority was preeminent, roundly asserter that religion was net a thing, in his -conception/ for special hours or .for a special day, but | a reality that permeated the whole of life. •• • METHODS OF WORK. Tho lecturer then forsook th? general question of religious education to propound and explain certaju improved methods 'of woik. Dogma should not be absolutely \excludetf, but '-'the.se, should be no abstrueo 'doctrine, and the statement ' should bo as simple as possible. The methods of nature study were recommended to . show the immanence of God in nature, as exemplified by the order an,d beauty of the universe ; and the interdependent of man and the lower forms of lifo. Other dogmas would be the fatherhood of God, and itha brotherhood .of man: These would suffice .to the ago of fifteen years, after ,which tl?e more serious problems m,ight bo assailed, ' such, 'for instance, as the relation of the Kingdom of God ! to ' modern society, politics, and commercial life and ..industry. Tho Bible should also be studied, and the state of primitive society in the various period brought home by pictures, and it possible by acting, as was already clone in America. - The leceurer also offered numerous suggestions as to the necessity of frequent, conferences with other, teachers, examination by . competent inspcctoi'3, the careful preparation of lessons,* and tho choice of the most suitable textbooks .Mr. W. Gray, M.A., Principal of the Training Collage, also spoke, in genera) supplementing the remarks of Mr. Hogben, and urging chiefly a reform of th? curriculum. He pleaded ernestly for the preservation of the fable, th* faiiy tale, and the history us a means of education. It was necessary always in teaching that lhe teacher should keep in close jcont.ict v r ith the taught. A better equipment of Sunday school >vas aUo a matter of urgent necessity. In the intervals between the addresses the choir sang various hymns, and a collection was taken in aid of the mission fund. The Rev. D. Hird, M.A., occupied the chair.