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12 The Pastor and the Sunday School. (Continued from page 9.) The Mastery of a Situation. There are two things which may constitute a man a leader. One is appointment to a situation which is of itself nominal, and the other is mastery of the situation whose right is indisputable. “The public press announced some time ago that Emperoi' William of Germany was requested to visit the de partment of naval architecture. The architects and constructors had some newly finished battleships which they desired to expose for his admiration, and also some schemes for new battleships which they thought the Emperor would be glad to ex amine. The Emperor quietly and with manifest interest allowed himself to be taken through the department, and to have the experts give their ex planations as to the ships already built, or to be built. When the exhibiton ended the Emperor, to the surprise of all, ascended to an elevated platform and delivered a lecture on naval architecture, deal ing with the latest ideas and inventions in the naval world; gave his views as to the placing of the guns and other details of a battleship in a man ner so intelligent, exact and exhaustive that his audience was filled with surprise, and admiration. They found him a teacher where they had expected to treat him as a scholar. The crown of Germany imparts tremendous authority to the Emperor, and yet that revelation made in the naval department that day of his ripened naval culture inspired among the experts of the department more reverence than the splendors of his crown. He was a double sov ereign—by right of his crown and by the yet higher right of his intellectual and scholarly superiority. The Power of Thought and Knowledge. Every pastor is pastor of the Sunday school by virtue of appointment, but he who is pastor or leader by virtue of his thorough and superior knowl edge and understanding, is pastor indeed. I heard a splendid Sunday school pastor say a few weeks ago of another pastor who lives not a thousand miles from Atlanta: “Why, the man doesn’t know enough about Sunday school work to recognize a good Sunday school when he sees one, even though it happens to be in his own church — a bequest from his own predecessor.” I again intrench myself behind quotation marks from Dr. Hatcher: “On every point in a Sunday school the pastor ought to be a master. So far as the school is a piece of machinery he ought to know every wheel, pulley and band. So far as the school is a business body, he ought to know its outer and inner life, its organization, its methods and its finanical management. So far as the school is an institution he ought to know its history, its strength, its purposes and its equipment. So far as it is a school, he ought to know its teaching force, its ever recurring wants and its sources of supply. In a word, the pastor ought to know more about the school than any one else, or all others put to gether.” The Pastor and the Pupils,. I shift the quotation marks to Dr. Schauffer: “The pastor cannot afford to pass the Sunday school on the other side of the road, or merely to lift his hat to it in passing, or even to grasp it by the hand in a friendly way and wish it ‘good-morning.’ He and the Sunday school are not merely passing acquaint ances, they are intimate friends; they are fellow pilgrims in the kingdom, and a large part of the responsibility for its efficiency rests upon him.” Out of date long ago, if in fact he ever was in date, is the pastor who thinks to discharge his duty to his school, by coming to the school periodically, by special invitation. Arriving when school is half over, he stands before the school and stiffly says as he stiffly bows: “I am indeed glad to see so many nice little boys and girls here at Sunday school. All little boys and little girls should go to Sunday school and be good little boys and girls.” Thoughts, Knowledge and Deeds. And now that any pastor, who may have strayed into this meeting, may know the feeling that comes to his . congregation when after a long dis course, and just when they think he is preparing to bring his remarks to a close, he says: “There are four points I wish you to consider.” For this reason, and for some which I hope have more weight, I take a fresh start and ask you to consider four points on which depend a pastor’s success of failure as leader of Sunday school forces. First —What he thinks. Second —What he knows. Third —What he does. Fourth—What he does not do. Firstly—What he thinks. I believe that in reality more pastors fail here than in any other point If The Golden Age for October 11, 1906. a man is really going to be successful in Sunday school work he must have a different opinion of it from that held by many pastors. That father who says: “My boy, the Sunday school is a great thing. I value it highly. Go to it regularly,” while he sits at home, does not value it as highly as he may think he does. The Pastor’s Personal Touch. That pastor who says, “the Sunday school is a fine thing. Give of your best to it,” and does not go to it nor give of his best to it, does not value it as highly as he thinks he does. Last Sunday I heard a pastor say, in introducing a new honor system: “I mean to do my best to have my name lead that honor roll,” and the scholars knew without anything more being said what he thought of it. When the Southern Baptist Seminary gave place in their course for a chair for Sunday school lectures then we were convinced what they thought of the importance of the Sunday school work. When a pastor at the last convention of the At lanta Sunday school union made an engagement with every officer and teacher of his school to meet him at that convention, and allowed no other invi tation or engagement to break it, his officers and teachers knew what he thought of the importance of the Sunday School. To Impress the People. Can you imagine anything that would so impress the people of the convention and the people of Atlanta with the importance of Sunday school work as to see the pastors of Atlanta giving it their time? Suppose fifty ministers should attend one of these conventions. I see our faithful secretary turn pale at the thought, while the president is staggered at the mere mention of such an unheard of thing. Do you know that it is really difficult to get ministers enough to attend these Sunday school conventions to conduct the devotional services, and that even when 'hey are secured they evince a de cided inclination to escape as soon as they are through with their part of the program? Because they are too busy to be here? Not without qualifi cation. Because they are too busy to be here, un less they are convinced that this movement which means better Sunday schools for Atlanta, is of more importance than the things which keep them from it. A High Estimate Necessary. I do verily believe that, if the pastors of Atlanta placed on Sunday school work a sufficiently high estimate to'write now in their book of engagements, “December 5 and 6, meeting of Atlanta Sunday School Union,” and invited the officers and teachers of their schools to be with them in that engagement, no Sunday school building in Atlanta could hold the results. To that belief, I add this, that if all the pastors of Atlanta gave to their Sunday schools and to the Sunday School Union that hearty support which a few are giving, Atlanta would have the best revival it has ever had, and the pastors would have such success as they have never had before. The Mastery of Knowledge. Second —What he knows. Not appointment, but real mastery, makes a man master of a situation. I have emphasized this point before. The day has passed when a Sunday school sham hid what was underneath. Our laymen know enough about Sun day school work to recognize a man who knows what he is talking about when they see him. The household that runs smoothly is that one whose mistress konws thoroughly its every depart ment, and knows just how it should be conducted, though her hands never touch it. Third —The success of a pastor in Sunday school work depends on what he does. Should a pastor superintend his own Sunday school? The weight of opinion says he shall not, except in rare cases, and that temporarily. Shall the pastor teach in the school? I say most emphatically yes. By what right do we set aside the man who has had most training for teaching, who has the most thorough knowledge of the Bible? The pastor should teach every Sunday. What class? Every class. Do you catch my point? That pastor who really teaches his school is not the pastor who sits before one class on Sunday, but he who teaches his teachers beforehand. “An experienced Bible school worker said to a young brother in the ministry: ‘How many teachers are in your Sunday school?’ ‘Thirty-two.’ “ ‘Would you spend as much time in preparing to instruct them in teachers’ meeting as you spend on the preparation of your Sunday morning sermon?’ “ ‘I certainly would not.’ “ ‘Do you think that, if you did, you would get more results than you now obtain from your morn ing sermon?” The young preacher did not answer, but gave impression that he did not think that the teachers’ meeting was of very great importance. But think, suppose he could have inspired those thirty-two teachers! Ah! If we but knew enough to know opportunity when it is thrust into our very hands! The pastor has an opportunity for much personal work in the Sunday school. How the little folks love to come early, if they know they will get a few min utes’ chat with a pastor they love, by so doing! Happy is that school that has a pastor who in spires every one connected with it to do his best work. Some pastors have obtained good results by having charge of a teachers’ training class during the sessions of the school, if they cannot get it together at another time. Pertinent Literature. Not least among the things the Sunday school pastor does is to read. When you see a bookshelf holding “Yale Lectures on the Sunday School,” “The Pastor and the Sunday School,” “The Pastor and Teacher Training,” “Pastoral Leadership of Sunday School Forces,” “Organized Sunday School,” and some others like them —if you see a book shelf like this, and the books look like they have been read, open your eyes, ye congregations who are wise enough to call a Sunday school pastor. Such a man is not far off. One of the most dangerous tendencies in some schools is a tendency to separate the school from the church, or congregation. The watchful pastor guards against such a ten dency most carefully. Perhaps an honor roll makes attendance at church of sufficient importance in the eyes of the Sunday school, as to be necessary to Sun day school honors. Perhaps each Sunday a hymn that is to be sung at the church service is practised a few moments by the entire school, so they will feel at home when they go into the church, and perhaps the pastors who feel they cannot attend Sunday school because it tends to bring them down from the elevation they need for their sermon, would find that having come in touch with God in the preparation of the sermon, and having touched the throbbing young life of their Sunday school in its session—as they stand, having touched each of these, they are better able to bring them into touch with each other and so many magnificent ser mons would not fly so wide of their mark. “Sins of Commission.” As to what a pastor should do in the actual work and sessions of the school, perhaps thirdly is the best answered by Fourthly—What a pastor should not do. A pastor should not do that which some one else can do. The work that is his own, and his only, as pastor, he dare not entrust to any one else, but every other office can be filled by some one else. If not now, then it is his pastoral duty to see that some one is in training for that office. We may admire that man who alone and unaided seeks to carry out some undertaking or support some dying cause, or dying Sunday school, but it is admiration mixed with pity. The strong admira tion of our hearts and minds is called forth by that pastor who knows an unset jewel when he sees it in its pewter setting, and uses it to crown the work of the Lord. “My Wish to Help the Work.” I have filled my time, but I have not emptied my heart. If there has been pleasantry in what I have said you have been responsive to it. If there has been presumption, you have been patient. If there has been worth, I am sure it will be recognized, but to me, stronger than the element of pleasantry, or presumption, or worth, is the element of a great pathos in it. It is not a message from myself. It is a message from the Atlanta Sunday School Union, and through it a message from the Sunday schools of Atlanta, and if God has answered my prayer, a message from God. It is not for the sheep to entreat the shepherd, save only as the shepherd reads entreaty in the eyes of his flock, but I have voiced that entreaty. Thousands of Sunday school sheep in Atlanta are in danger for want of wise leadership. It is pitiable to see them running this way and that. Many are near precipices. Some have fallen over. In many cases a piteous bleating for the shepherd is heard, a piteous cry for a wise leader. You place too much responsibility on the pastor, do you say? It is not I who has placed it. God placed it there when He called him, and the pastor assumed it when he accepted the call. Not to do all the work, but to lead all the flock, is his respon sibility. It is a high calling, a holy calling. Atlanta loves, Atlanta honors, her pastors, but even if our mouths be dumb, the eyes that look up to, and the twenty five million feet that follow, plead for a wise pas toral leadership of Sunday school forces.