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The World's “Fifth Sunday School Conb ention
The Story of the Greatest Gathering in Sunday School History.
By GEORGE T. B. DAVIS.
HERE recently assembled in Rome,
Italy, the greatest Sunday school gath
ering in the history of the world. For
five days, May IS to 23, about 1,500
delegates, representing 37 different
lands, nearly all evangelical creeds, and
26,000,000 Sunday school adherents, met
together to hear reports of progress
throughout the earth and study the best
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methods of winning the world to Christ through the
medium of the Sunday school. From beginning to
end the keynote of the Fifth World’s Convention
was the Sunday school as a missionary force. It
was clearly brought out that the hope of evangeliz
ing the world lies in the potential energy, as yet
largely untouched, of the Sunday school.
Near the close of the Convention there occurred
the most epoch making event since the inaugura
tion of the International System of Sunday School
Lessons a generation ago.
There was formed the World’s Sunday School As
sociation to rapidly develop and promote Sunday
school work throughout the entire world. Bishop
Hartzell was chairman of the committee which
brought this action before the convention and in
moving its adoption he declared it was the most
important movement he had ever been privileged
to endorse. Without doubt it will mean an unpar
alleled advance of Sunday schools during the next
few years. The lot fell to England to have the first
President of the World Association in Rev. F. B.
Meyer, of London; but to America was given the
Chairman of the Executive Committee, Dr. George
W. Bailey, of Philadelphia.
The convention may almost be said to have be
gun when two specially chartered ships sailed from
New York and Boston on April 27, carrying nearly
500 American delegates to Rome. Stops were made
at the Azores, Gibraltar and Algiers where mis
sionary conferences were held and large sums of
money raised for missionary ♦work. In all nearly
$20,000 was raised for missionary and Sun
day school work as the two ships journeyed toward
Rome.
The convention in Rome was held in the beauti
ful hall of the Methodist Episcopal Church build
ing. It is a big structure in the heart of the city
resembling an Italian palace in appearance, and
containing not only the church with two audito
riums but a college as well. The hall seated about
1.000 or 1,200 people and was fittingly decorated
with flags of all nations. The chief presiding offi
cer throughout the convention was Mr. E. K. War
ren, of Michigan, president of the gathering.
Following a greeting to the convention by Rev
erend Enrico Piggott, President of the Italian Na
tional Committee, came a real surprise and the most
thrilling scene of the entire conference. An Ital
ian young lady advanced toward the platform. It
was announced that she was the granddaughter of
Garibaldi, the liberator of Italy, was a teacher in
the Methodist Sunday school, and that she would
also welcome the convention to Rome. At these
words, as she stepped upon the platform, the con
vention went wild with enthusiasm. Amid vocif
erous applause, and the waving of handkerchiefs,
the audience rose on masse and cheered continuous
ly. Tears coursed down almost every cheek. The
speaker, Miss Italia Garibaldi, was so overcome by
emotion that she could scarcely utter her greeting.
At last, in tremulous tones she gave a brief and
fitting welcome. Her opening sentence revealed her
full fledged loyalty as she said:
“Dear Friends: —It is with the greatest pleas
ure that I fulfill a duty which has been given to me
to welcome to this great city of Rome the members
of the World’s Fifth Sunday School Convention,
and this pleasure I feel, not only as an Italian, but
as a member of the Rome Sunday school in which
I have always worked since I have been a little,
girl, and in which I have always been greatly inter
ested. ’ ’
At the opening session there was also present
the American ambassador to Italy, Hon. Lloyd Gris-
The Golden Age for June 13, 1907.
com, of Philadelphia. Mr. Griscom is only in thi
thirties, and is said to be the youngest ambassador
in history. He, too, heartily welcomed the congress
to the Eternal City. Before the meeting concluded
a message of greeting was sent to the king of Italy,
and a cordial and stirring letter to the convention
from President Roosevelt was read.
The second day of the convention was a memora
ble one. It was not forgotten that it was the
anniversary of the day of Pentecost. The delegates
began it by spending a half hour in prayer in their
rooms. During the morning they attended the va
rious Protestant churches in Rome where commun
ion services followed the preaching; and in the
afternoon the convention sermon was preached at
the Methodist church by Dr. G. Campbell Morgan,
of London. It was a masterly exposition of the
familiar passage in Mark 10:13, 14, 15. Here is
a bit of his stirring message:
“And where was all this great movement in
which we are rejoicing today born? In the white
heat of revival. When men began to feel again the
burning passion for the coming of the kingdom of
God, when missionary zeal was fanned to a flame,
when evangelism was the watchword of the saints,
then men also began to think of the children, and the
child began to take its rightful place in our midst.
Believe me, Christ ’s words were not ideally or care
lessly spoken, and when He said, ‘Of such is the
kingdom of God, 7 He was making His appeal to that
which alone can be found to provoke man to holy
service in the cause of children.
“There are two soul qualifications in dealing with
children: be Christ’s, be the child’s —absolutely
His, absolutely devoted to the child. And if you
will find me the Sunday school teacher, the father
(I never lecture mothers), that is wholly Christ’s
and wholly the child’s, then I will find you a work
er, an apostle, a co-worker with Christ who will
lead the little ones to Him.”
A large part of the convention was taken up with
reports giving a birdseye view of Sunday school
conditions throughout the world. Many of these
were intensely interesting and stirred the hearts
of the audience with new enthusiasm for assisting
the work in lands where the movement is yet in its
infancy and where the work is carried on under the
greatest difficulties. For example, in Belgium there
are only 2,300 scholars enrolled in the schools; in
Tunis, 2,000; in Bulgaria, 3,000; in Spain, 6,500,
in Egypt 11,391. In many other countries the num
ber in the Sunday schools is large and the work is
growing and developing at an astonishing rate.
In Japan there are 64,000 in the schools; in France,
67,000; in India, 300,000; in Germany, 900,000; in
Great Britain, 2,250,000 in Free Church schools, and
7,000,000 altogether, but not all are affiliated with
the Association. Last comes America with about
14,000,000. In making his report, Mr. William N.
Hartshorn, the Chairman of the International Ex
ecutive Committee, said in part :
“I am to speak for the army of 14,000,000 Sun
day school workers in the United States. Our
God whom we worship is none other than the Lord
God of Israel. Our creed, the Sermon cn the
Mount. Our practice the twelfth of Romans. Our
spirit, that of the Christ. Our purpose that of ser
vice.
“Our vision for organized work in the township,
the county, state, the nation and in the world will
not be realized until the isolated and discouraged
school in every country has come into sympathetic
and helpful relations to the Sunday schools that
have wise leadership. God is swinging wide open
to the Sunday school workers of the world the door
of opportunity.
“Ihe estimated population of the United States
is about 85,000,000. Children of school age, 5 to
18, 23,000,000; number of Sabbath schools, 150,000;
number of officers and teachers, 1,500,000; number
of scholars, 13,000,000; total enrollment, about
14,000,000. Per cent of population enrolled in the
United States, 17.”
The most unique of all the meetings held during
the convention was the gathering in the ruins of the
famous Colosseum at 4 p. m., on the last day of the
convention. There, where Christians were thrown
to the lions and suffered martyrdom in great num
bers; there, in the fullness of time, assembled
Christians representing a score or more of different
peoples to praise the God whose worship the Caesars
thought they were destroying forever. The exer
cises at the Colosseum included the reading of se
lections from God’s Word by Marion Lawranee,
the singing of “All Hail the Power of Jesus’
Name,” the reading of a poem by Rev. F. B. Meyer,
prayer by Dr. M. Rhodes, of St. Louis, the singing
of “Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow,”
and the apostolic benediction by Bishop Hartzell.
The next convention will be held in 1919, but the
Executive Committee has not decided in what city
it will convene. Previous to this it is planned to
have a specially chartered ship sail from New York
in December, 1908, carrying nearly or quite 500
Christian leaders to make a Sunday school cruise
around the world. It is expected that the English
delegates will board the ship as it passes through
the Mediterranean and numerous conferences and
conventions will be held in Egypt, India, China,
Japan and other countries.
•4 *
The ‘Bugle Song.
The splendor falls on castle walls,
And snowy summits old in story
The long light shakes across the lakes,
And the wild cataract leaps in glory.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
0, hark, 0, hear! how thin and clear,
And thinner, clearer, farther going!
O, sweet and far from cliff and scar
'Hie horns of Elfland faintly blowing,
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying,
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying.
O love, they die in yon rich sky,
They faint on hill or field or river;
Our echoes roll from soul to soul,
And grow forever and forever.
Blow, bugle, blow, set the wild echoes flying,
And answer, echoes, answer, dying, dying, dying!
—Alfred Tennyson.
•8 14
In Spite of Himself.
One of the Justices of the Supreme Court tells of
a young lawyer in the West who was trying his
first case before Justice Harlan.
The youthful attorney had evidently conned his
argument till he knew it by heart. Before he pro
ceeded ten minutes with his oratorical effort, the Jus
tice had decided the case in his favor and had told
him so. Despite this, the young lawyer would not
cease. It seemed that he had attained such a mo
mentum that he could not stop.
Finally Justice Harlan leaned forward, and in
the politest of tones said, “Mr. Blank, notwith
standing your arguments, the court has concluded
to decide this case in your favor.” —Sunday Mag
azine.
« *
Harold S. Borland, the man who graduated at the
foot of the class of 1860 at West Point, distinguish
ed himself while reciting to Captain Benton in ord
nance by a remarkable answer to the question,
“Mr. Borland, how many pieces will a twelve
pound shell burst into?” —the average number hav
ing been determined well by experiment. “Gin
ger” threw his eyes, unexpressive but very blue,
on the floor and deliberated a while; then slowly
lifted them to a point near the ceiling over Cap
tain Benton’s head, still deeply reflecting, and
finally responded, “Not less than two.”
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