ll.

Some sort of recognition of these two facts--that Sunday School
teachers are in most cases very inadequately trained for their work,
and that the work itself is of great importance, and of equally great
difficulty--has led to the issuing of many quarterlies, International
Lesson Leaflets, and other Sunday School aids. Necessary as such help
may be under present conditions, they cannot possibly meet the many
difficulties of the case. If the central committees, who issue these
leaflets, were composed wholly of the wisest men and women on earth,
it would still be impossible for them to give lessons to the millions
of children in their various denominations which should meet the
personal needs, and daily interests of these young people.

[Sidenote: Sunday School Training]

As a consequence, Sunday School teaching is and must be largely
theoretical and still more largely exegetical, and with neither theory
nor exegesis is the young mind of the developing child very much
concerned. What he needs is not the historical side of religion or of
that great body of religious literature which we call the Bible, but
a living faith which links all that was taught by the prophets and
apostles, centuries ago, with what is happening in the child's own
town and family at that very moment. It is a wide gap to bridge, and
it cannot be bridged by a semi-historical review backed by picture
cards, golden texts, and stars for good behavior. These things are
merely the marks of an endeavor to fitly accomplish a great task,
an endeavor almost absurdly out of proportion to this aim, rendered
significant, however, because it is the earnest of a great faith and a
great hope.

So far as Sunday Schools help children, it is because of this spirit
of faithfulness, and not because of the form which it has assumed.

In choosing, then, whether you shall send your child to a Sunday
School, choose by the presence or absence of this spirit. If you know
the teachers of the Sunday School to be earnest, loving, and devoted,
you may with safety assume that their personal influence will make up
for what is archaic in their method of teaching. Where the spirit is
present only in a few, or where it manifests itself only occasionally,
as at seasons of revival, you may well hesitate to let your child
attend. A great improvement would come about if parents would show
a greater interest and encourage proper teachers to take charge of
classes. It is a thankless