BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Colonist, Volume XXVII, Issue 3880, 29 March 1884, Page 1 (Supplement)

BAPTIST SUNDAY SCHOOL.

It The:: anniversary jof■' the* Baptist Suh'day .School.iwas celebrated %: tea;' and* public meeting;;6n March 25thV The meeting ;Wafl presided: overiby MrJames Wilson. ! ' Mi':iT/;EiEr,D, junior, the Secretary,' presented thes rreporfc, which showed that there were. 110,' scholars on the roll; that'during the year a Band of Hope had been started'in connectionAvith the school; that the children had; subscribed "£7 6s towards the Maori missions, :and that the -library had" been largely added to. -■; ■■' ;-( • ' v ;;> ;,; Mr T. Pjettit, the Treasurer, gave a statement of receipts arid expenditure, which showed la i balance in hand of two pence half-penny, r. . : '; ..:-.Mr 'R.:,Snodgbas3 spoke on the import, an'ce of Bands of Hope, and having the grace of God in -the heart to prevent persons from going to excess. He' congratulated the teachers and scholars an the satisfactory report that had been given on the past year's labors. . TheEev H. J. Lewis spoke of the unity existing between Baptists and Independents, they were '■ first cousins. The grandest gathering he had ever witnessed was the Sabbath Schools Centenary gathering at Bradford, at which sixty thousand teachers and scholars took part. A Lancashire magistrate had paid an important testimony to the influence of Sunday Schools, when he said lie attributed the absence of riot and bloodshed during the last terrible cotton famine in Lancashire to the teaching the boys and girls had received in the Sunday Schools. There was never a time when Sunday School work was more* necessary. If the Bible.was excluded from the day schools, it was all the more important that it should be well and thoroughly, taught in the Sunday Schools. It was necessary for Sunday Schoolteachers to.have a high ideal of their work, which was a high/dioly, and grand work. It was also necessary for them to take all the pains, and have:all thepatiencepossible. Their love for the scholarsl should also be greati The most ordinary -became eloquence wHeri steeped in i love. They 'should likewise'have faith,; and a-sfcrong belief'in .the power of God to bless their work. It was not the wpilk that-:made the-greatest rioisa that wasdoinig the most good. InJ England, the finest and best students have "borne/ from little village churches."-A female' Sunday School teacher once labored for two years without' any apparent results > from: her labors; and then she, was instrumental ;;iri the conversions of David Livingstone, who afterwards became the noted „Afr,ican: traveller ,and missionary; He urged upon the teachers, to take coflrage; to be strong |in $ieir .faith ,of/God; 'to Be strong iri ' their' love ,for ,\the f ; children; to persevere, in .their • labors, a,nd-<God would bless them. '' <'..'■!•■.'.•;••: .<;■; ;; The Eev'W. Lee fett himself to be some-, what at a disadvantage, iis he hW,nofc ( hear.cl what the previous^ speakers ha'^L said, so...they, would hsye^o'eicuseh'im if he gave a speech; similar to any preceding one. ! All recognised the importancei of Sunday school jvprk. : ..The. leac jer's had much' 'heed ■of every iencourage-; merit,1 as'they were ulikely to b'e;,discburaged P through having'td^wait so,long,'to' ( see visi.blej jeSults fromr -their labors'.;;' T]i& larmer h^d.to^ (io'a deal 'of' !prejsaratofy''wGrit,'lan'dA'ad3o:' wait long- and p^tiehtlv'fpr ,tne' harvest, ff ;,S v o. it wa's 'with"; the' JSu'Tiday''_scpool' ;^pa'ctierj but! the haryesJb ri;.would" a^suVed.|y;-;cpme,',l /and I !.'a*. glorious harvesf it Sv6uld r b^l, ',' Di- Morrison,^ the: 'noted J MsMonary1 'Tvh^jhad labored, iii,. bhina,%nd Atho^^ ha'd^trarislalgd 'tSe! Bible'ißto?, the language'- of; t&ar, cbiintryj' was 'led. to give', iiisheart t'oGo'd throdgH the earnest labors j 6f a: SdnSay's'chp^l'tijttch'er, an^d the influeucf j of t that hutable,teacher's work 'would be felt , even' in "Although the", SundayVciiool teacher might'n'bt be brought " r to the {rontsiyhile pursuing^ hid duties, it wisquite possible.for him.to do more permanent good tha'njthe)mini3temu 'the pulpit, or tKe man who harangued the crowd. The aim of every, teacher should be the conversion of . each scholar, and their motto should bo " My class t f or Jesus.". With the education they! were receiving, and the training, there was i tf reason, wby .some, of the, New Zealand boys"! with the love "of God in their hearts should not become more eminently useful than anyr missionaries' that "have h'ithertp gone forth.!, Eacli person 'should do the w;ork the, Lord J has giveii'.them to do, arid do it well. ,God^, needs quiet, workers, and there was great need' . for' the or in the world. 'Sunday, school.^ teachers -were doing; the grandest possible j «ork • for-Jesus Christ by implanting His «■ truths in the hearts .of the young. Let them ' t go oh doing their work faithfully, for success . and reward were "absolutely certain. .',.., Mr T. Field, jun. (the Secretary) said some. peoi)iu believed in the Salvation Army, and ? some condemned ,the Army, but he believed iv;it, and bad been so much to, their meetings ' that: they would have to excuse him if he spoke in a stain like the Salvationists. He thought they.should devote their all to God, ' arid have one. object in view, namely, the jjlcry of God. ■■. :God should have a kingdom in :each heart, and they should not be afraid or backward in speaking to tbeir fellow men ' concerintig the spiritual welfare of their souls. Everyone _ should, become a miseionarv, woiking.for Je-Üb. If each one in tuat mee'in" beexme suclt thpie N\eio sufficient to turn Nelson upside down, and ciuso a gieat ievi\al of it li^ion. If the congiegationq ft no up tho miniiteis would be encoutaged to laboL moie earnestly. Let each woik for the salvation of souls , let teachers, seholais, and p ( uents unite intlns holy woik, and God would help them. Tne Pistol (the Ilev T A\son Cvio) moved of thanks, fhst, to the childien for the exdpllent style in which they had sung their - hjmns; secccd, to the woithy Chahman ; third, to the ladies foi tbeir land and , efficient supeivision at the tea;' fouitb, to the Eev "W. Lee and the other speakeis j and,, . bst, but not least, toJ the teachers for .t^eir ,t faithful and' earnest labots in the School. ,j Eacli vote was carried V hearty acclamation. \ Tho singing which lotet sp ( ersed the ad- t dresses was "^'really excellent, and added \ greatly to the Success of'the meeting. r«