Chapter C: L. S. C. Reunion (2)

58. Q. With the dethronement of what emperor did all political relations between Rome and the Eastern Empire cease? A. Romulus Augustulus in 476.

59. Q. How did the emperors of the East continue to be styled? A. They continued to be styled emperors of the Romans, but legislation, government, and customs became thoroughly Hellenized.

60. Q. What was the mainspring of the success in life of Justinian who became emperor in 527? A. An unrestrained desire for great deeds and his wonderful good fortune in the choice of ministers.

61. Q. What military victories glorified the early years of his reign? A. Splendid victories over the Persians.

62. Q. What general began his career in this war? A. Belisarius, the general who imparted such eminent distinction to the reign of Justinian.

63. Q. What were Justinian’s most glorious and useful memorials? A. The composition of the celebrated collection of laws comprising the Institutes, the Digest or Pandects, and the Code.

64. Q. To whom was the work entrusted? A. To ten law-teachers, over whom the famous Tribonian presided.

65. Q. What are of special importance as among other memorable events which signalized the reign of Justinian? A. The successful wars which he waged against the Vandals in Africa and the Goths in Italy, and his expeditions to Sicily and Spain.

66. Q. Among the many edifices erected during the reign of Justinian which is the most famous? A. That of St. Sophia.

67. Q. To what epoch does the reign of Justinian partly belong? A. To the Roman epoch of the Eastern Empire.

68. Q. What does the reign of Heraklius from 610 to 641 form? A. An integral part of mediæval Hellenism.

69. Q. By what was Heraklius invited to ascend the throne, and how long did his posterity continue to reign over the empire of the East? A. The voice of the clergy, the senate, and the people invited him to ascend the throne, and his posterity till the fourth generation continued to reign over the empire of the East.

70. Q. In 627, after many brilliant actions, what defeat did Heraklius inflict upon the Persians? A. So severe a defeat that their empire was nearly crushed.

71. Q. Almost at the same time what unexpected and more terrible opponent arose in the Arabian peninsula whose conflict with Hellenism continues to the present day? A. Mohammedanism.

72. Q. What did the Mohammedans of Arabia wrest from the empire? A. Syria, Egypt, and Northern Africa.

73. Q. What was the Mohammedan religion called, and to what two dogmas was it limited? A. Islam, meaning devotion; its dogmas were the belief in a future life, and the unity of God.

74. Q. In what words was the latter expressed? A. “There is only one God, and Mohammed is the apostle of God.”

75. Q. Who was the next emperor of real historic value after the death of Heraklius? A. Constantine IV., surnamed Poganatus, or the Bearded.

76. Q. For what was the reign of Constantine especially memorable? A. For the first siege of Constantinople by the Mohammedans.

77. Q. How long did this siege last? A. For seven years, but was not carried on uninterruptedly throughout this time.

78. Q. What was the result of the siege? A. The Mohammedans were finally forced to relinquish the fruitless enterprise in 675.

79. Q. What formidable weapon did the Byzantines employ during this siege, the composition of which is now unknown? A. The Greek fire.

80. Q. What declarations of an œcumenical council he convoked at Constantinople in 680 did Constantine sanction by a royal edict, and thus reëstablish religious union in the empire? A. That the church has always recognized in Christ two natures, united but not confounded—two wills, distinct, but not antagonistic.

81. Q. When did the next siege of Constantinople by the Mohammedans take place? A. In the year 717, during the reign of Leo III.

82. Q. What was the result? A. In the following year the Arabs were driven away, having suffered a loss of twenty-five hundred ships and more than five hundred thousand warriors.

83. Q. What decrees did Leo III. issue in 726 and 730? A. A decree forbidding the worship of images, and another banishing them entirely from the churches.

84. Q. How did these decrees divide the nation? A. Into two intensely hostile parties, of iconoclasts or image-breakers, and image-worshipers, by whose contests it was long distracted.

85. Q. What action did Leo V. take in regard to image-worship? A. He not only banished the images from the churches, but also destroyed the songs and prayers addressed to them.

86. Q. What further order was made in regard to their worship by Theophilus who became emperor in 829? A. He forbade the word “holy” to be inscribed on the images, and also that they should be honored by prayers, kissing, or lighted tapers.

87. Q. After the death of Theophilus what action did the empress Theodora, into whose hands the positive power of the government passed, take in regard to the images? A. She herself worshiped images. The pictures were again hung in the churches, and the monastic order more than ever became potent both in society and government.

88. Q. During the reign of Alexius what storm suddenly burst from the west? A. The so-called First Crusade.

89. Q. Who was the Pope at this time? A. Urban II.

90. Q. By whom were the crusades first incited? A. Peter the Hermit.

91. Q. When did Jerusalem fall into the hands of the crusaders? A. July 15, 1099.

92. Q. Who were the leaders of the second crusade? A. Conrad III., king of Germany, and Louis VII., king of France.

93. Q. What was the ostensible intention of the crusaders? A. To free Eastern Christianity from the oppression of the Turks.

94. Q. What does our author say was their ultimate object? A. The capture of Constantinople and the abolition of the Byzantine empire.

95. Q. What was the result of the second crusade? A. It was wholly inglorious, being relieved by no heroic deeds whatever.

96. Q. What took place in Syria during 1187? A. The Christian authority was overthrown in Syria, and Jerusalem was captured by Saladin, the sultan of Egypt.

97. Q. What occurred to Constantinople during the fourth crusade, in the year 1204? A. After a siege of five months it fell into the hands of the crusaders.

98. Q. When and by whom was Constantinople recovered? A. In 1261, under the leadership of Michael Palœologus.

99. Q. When was Constantinople again attacked by the Turks? A. In 1453, under the famous Mohammed II.

100. Q. What was the result of the final decisive engagement? A. The city fell before overwhelming numbers, and passed under Turkish rule.

OUTLINE OF C. L. S. C. STUDIES.

NOVEMBER, 1883.

The C. L. S. C. readings for November include parts 10 and 11 of Timayenis’s “History of Greece,” for students having read the first volume; or from page 93 to the end of “Brief History of Greece,” for students of Class of ’87.

Chautauqua Text-Book, No. 5, “Greek History.”

Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

_First week_ (ending November 8)—1. “History of Greece,” from page 258 to “Arius,” page 293; or, “Brief History of Greece,” from page 93 to “The Battle of Salamis,” page 118.

2. Readings in German History and Literature in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, for November 4.

_Second Week_ (ending November 15)—1. “History of Greece,” from “Arius,” page 293, to chapter viii, page 328; or, “Brief History of Greece,” from “The Battle of Salamis,” page 118, to “Life of Socrates,” page 143.

2. Readings in Physical Science and Political Economy in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, for November 11.

_Third Week_ (ending November 22)—1. “History of Greece,” from chapter viii, page 328, to chapter iii, page 359; or, “Brief History of Greece,” from “Life of Socrates,” page 143, to “Causes of the Sacred War,” page 169.

2. Readings in Art, in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, for November 18.

_Fourth Week_ (ending November 29)—1. “History of Greece,” from chapter iii, page 359, to the end of part 11, page 342; or, “Brief History of Greece,” from “Causes of the Sacred War,” page 169, to the end of the book.

2. Readings in American Literature in THE CHAUTAUQUAN.

3. Sunday Readings in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, for November 25.

CHAUTAUQUA NORMAL CLASS.

Season of 1884.

J. L. HURLBUT, D.D., and R. S. HOLMES, A.M., INSTRUCTORS.

I. The course of instruction to be pursued in the Sunday-school Normal Department of the Chautauqua Assembly, at its session in 1884, will embrace lessons upon the following subjects, prepared by the instructors in the department. The full text of these lessons will be printed during the year in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, which should be taken by all who desire to prepare for the Normal Department.

_Twelve Lessons on the Bible._—(1) The Divine Revelation; (2) The Bible from God through Man; (3) The Bible as an English Book; (4) The Canon of Scripture; (5) The World of the Bible; (6) The Land of the Bible; (7) The History in the Bible; (8) The Golden Age of Bible History; (9) The House of the Lord; (10) The Doctrines of the Bible; (11) Immanuel; (12) The Interpretation of the Bible.

_Twelve Lessons on the Sunday-school and the Teacher’s Work._—(1) The Sunday-school—its Purpose, Place, and Prerogatives; (2) The Superintendent—his Qualifications, Duties, and Responsibility; (3) The Teacher’s Office and Work; (4) The Teacher’s Week-day Work; (5) The Teacher’s Preparation; (6) The Teacher’s Mistakes; (7) The Teaching Process—Adaptation; (8) The Teaching Process—Approach; (9) The Teaching Process—Attention; (10) The Teaching Process—Illustration; (11) The Teaching Process—Interrogation; (12) The Teaching Process—Reviews.

II. Students of the Normal Course should study in addition to the outlines in THE CHAUTAUQUAN, the following Chautauqua Text-Books (ten cents each): No. 18, “Christian Evidences;” No. 19, “The Book of Books;” No. 36, “Assembly Bible Outlines;” No. 37, “Assembly Normal Outlines;” No. 38, “The Life of Christ;” No. 39, “The Sunday-school Normal Class” (including the preparation of the Normal Praxes); and No. 41, “The Teacher Before his Class.”

III. Students of the Normal Course are also desired to read the following books: Chautauqua Text-Book No. 1, “Bible Exploration;” No. 8, “What Noted Men Think of the Bible;” No. 10, “What is Education?” No. 11, “Socrates;” and “Normal Outlines of Christian Theology,” by L. T. Townsend (price, forty cents). These books may be obtained of Phillips & Hunt, 805 Broadway, New York; or of Walden & Stowe, Cincinnati or Chicago.

IV. Students in special classes in churches or schools, or individual students who prosecute the course as given above, may receive by mail outline memoranda for examination, and if they can certify to having studied the lessons and text-books, and will also prepare the Normal Praxes named in Chautauqua Text-Book No. 39, and fill out the Outline Memoranda, may receive the diploma of the Chautauqua Teachers’ Union, and will be enrolled as members of the Chautauqua Society. Such students will send name and address, with twenty-five cents, to Rev. J. L. Hurlbut, D.D., Plainfield, N. J.

CHAUTAUQUA NORMAL CLASS—BIBLE SECTION.

_Twelve Lessons on Bible Themes._

LESSON I.—THE DIVINE REVELATION.

I. There is in me a something which is called mind. I do not know what it is. I can neither tell whence it came, nor whither it will go when it ceases to inhabit this body. That in me, which is thus ignorant concerning the mind, is the mind itself. There are therefore matters beyond my mental range. That is, my mind is limited, bounded, finite in its powers. What is true of my mind is true of all human mind. Here then is one of the first results of consciousness: FINITE MIND IN THE WORLD.

II. This finite mind did not produce itself; it sees in the body which it controls evidence of a design of which it is not the author. It turns to the phenomena of the universe and discovers in them the same evidences of design. It seeks the attributes and character of the designer or designers of human body and of natural phenomena, and finds them to be unlimited in action, unbounded by time or space, infinite in power, and uniform in manifestation. It therefore concludes that there is but one designer of all the phenomena of created nature, and that he is both intelligent and infinite. Here then is a second result of consciousness: INFINITE MIND IN THE UNIVERSE.

III. We have so far brought to view two powers, infinite mind in the universe and finite mind in the world, and between them a distance immeasurable and impassable from the finite side. They are extremes in the progression of the universe. Let us notice some facts concerning each of these powers:

1. The infinite mind is self-existent; eternal.

2. The infinite mind created finite mind in its own likeness. Both these points will be considered in our lesson on the “Doctrines of the Bible.”

3. The infinite mind has _provided a means of passing the distance between itself and the finite mind_, so that the finite might know the infinite; i. e. it has revealed itself to the finite mind.

4. The finite mind is the highest created existence. This is left without discussion for the student to amplify.

5. The finite mind exists because of the infinite mind. The gas jet burning above my head affords an illustration. It exists because of a well-stored gasometer two miles away; because of complicated machinery by which coal has been caused to yield up its hidden stores of light; because of a system of underground conductors that terminates in the burner on the wall. Without the burner and the light all these appliances would be useless; and they in turn exist only that there may be light. So the finite mind exists because of the infinite—nor can we think with satisfaction of infinite mind in the universe and no creation or correlated force.

6. The finite mind hungers to know the infinite; it peers into the measureless space which its eye can not pierce, and longs for the infinite to reveal itself. This fact is historical, “Canst thou by searching find out God?” has been the question of the ages; and the answer has been “the world by wisdom knew not God.” The cry of multitudes of hungering souls has been: “O, that I knew where I might find him.” As light is necessary to the eye, and air to the bird’s wing, and sound to the ear, that each may perform the work for which it is adapted, so a knowledge of the infinite mind that is of God, is essential that the finite mind—that is, man—may fulfill its destiny. And this knowledge is possible only through self-revelation by God to man. That such a revelation has been made we have already asserted. That the Bible is that revelation is our claim, which we will discuss in a future lesson. The present lesson will be content to inquire simply, how that revelation has been effected. We answer:

_God wrought it out in the presence of the race_ in ways unmistakable, exhibiting every attribute of his character, _even to those of mercy and forgiveness_. God wrought (not wrote). What we call the inspired Word is a mediate, not an immediate act of God. God wrought, the work extending through many ages, perhaps not even yet finished.

_Wrought_ (_a_) in nature, so that “the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made.” Creation then is itself a part of the revelation, but only a part; for out of it comes no hint of forgiveness or redemption.

(_b_) In man, _by spiritual manifestations_, _by intellectual enlightenments_, _by illuminations of conscience_, such as could not originate in the human soul. These revelations or workings of God in man mark a large portion of the history of thought through the ages; and in that dim twilight of the race, when men like Enoch walked with God, though history is but a shadow, yet it is the shadow of God working in man.

(_c_) In Providence—that is, in his ordering the work of the world. He not only “produced a supernatural history extending through centuries, ... and working out results which human wisdom could never have conceived, nor human power executed,”[J] but also he has directed all the workings of all history in accordance with the central purpose of his revelation.

(_d_) In grace, by his spirit revealing what the human mind could never have discovered for itself, redemption and atonement through forgiveness of sin.

IV. This divine revelation so wrought by God _has been, and is being reported_ that all the world may know and confess that “the Lord, he is the God.” Reported:

1. _Through Tradition._—There was an unwritten Bible before the written word, handed down from patriarchs to scribes; and even in lands destitute of the Scriptures, we trace the dim outlines of truth transmitted from ancient authority.

2. _Through Philosophy._—Wise men and thinkers have read the revelation in nature and gathered it up from human thought, and the highest philosophy, as that of a Socrates and a Plato, finds God.

3. _Through Prophecy._—In the earlier ages, and perhaps through all the ages, God has communed with chosen men who have lived in fellowship with himself; and has made them the mouthpiece uttering his will to the world.

4. _Through Preaching._—The pulpit, when it is true to its mission, voices the message of God to man.

V. _We find also that this divine revelation has been written out, under a divine direction_:

1. _In Various Books._—The Bible is not one book, but sixty-six books, a whole library, presenting the divine revelation under varied aspects, but all under one divine origin and supervision.

2. _By Various Writers._—Not less than thirty authors, and probably many more, shared in the composition of the Scriptures, but all wrote under a divine control, and expressed, each in his own style, the mind of the Spirit.

3. _Through Various Ages._—Moses may have begun the writing, doubtless from earlier documents. Samuel, David, Solomon, Isaiah, Ezra, Matthew, Paul, John, each in turn carried on the work through a period of sixteen hundred years. The book grew like a cathedral, rising through the centuries, under many successive master-builders, yet according to one plan of one divine Architect.

4. _In Various Languages._—Two great tongues, one Semitic, the other Aryan, were employed, the Hebrew in the Old Testament, the Greek in the new; but the Hebrew of Moses is not that of Daniel a thousand years later.

VI. _We find this divine revelation preserved_:

1. _By being stereotyped into Dead Languages._—A living language is ever changing the meaning of its words; and truth written in it is in danger of being misunderstood by another generation. But the words of a dead language, like the Hebrew and the Greek, are fixed in their meaning, and once understood are not likely to be perverted. Soon after the Bible was completed, both its languages ceased to be spoken, and have been kept since as the shrine for the great truths contained in the Word.

2. _By being translated into Living Languages._—The Bible has been translated into all the tongues of earth, and thus its perpetuation to the end of time has been assured. No other work has been read by so many races, and no other is so capable of being understood by the masses of mankind.

3. _By being incorporated into Literature._—If every copy of the Scriptures in the whole world were destroyed every sentence of it could be reproduced from the writings of men, since it has become an integral part of the thought of the world.

4. _By being perpetuated in Institutions._—The Jewish church perpetuates the Old Testament; the Christian church the New; and while either endures, the Bible containing the divine revelation must endure.

VII. _We find this divine revelation proved_:

1. _By Testimonies._—The child looking upon the opened page of the Bible at his mother’s knee, accepts her testimony that it is the word of God, and thus each generation receives the book from the preceding generation with a declaration of its divine origin.

2. _By Probabilities._—Such has been the history of this book in its relation to the world, and its triumph over opposing forces; such has been its early, continuous and present acceptance; that there is every probability in favor of its being, what it appears to be, a divine book.

3. _By Experience._—There are many who have put this book to the test in their own lives; have tried its promises; have tasted its spiritual experience; have brought it into contact with their own hearts; and have obtained from it a certain assurance that it comes from God.

4. _By Evidences._—If any reader will not accept the Bible upon the testimonies of others; if he fails to see in its behalf the weight of probability; if he has not been able to put it to the test in his own experience, there is yet a strong line of argument appealing to his reason, and proving the book divine.

VIII. _We find this divine revelation searched_:

1. _Through Curiosity._—There are some who read and study the Bible from no higher motive than desire to know its contents.

2. _Through Literary Taste._—There are others who read the Bible from an appreciation of its value as a work of literature, recognizing the high poetic rank of David and Isaiah, the historic worth of Joshua and Samuel, the philosophic thought of Paul.

3. _Through Opposition._—In every age there have been searchers of the Bible actuated by the motive of unbelief; men trying to find in it the weapons for its own destruction. Yet even their study has often proved serviceable to the believer in the divine revelation.

4. _Through Spiritual Desire._—Multitudes have studied the Bible, multitudes are studying it now because they find in it that which their spiritual nature craves, the knowledge of God. They feed upon the Word because it satisfies the hunger of their spirits.

IX. We find this _divine revelation circulated among men_. The history of the Bible since its translation into English has been the history of multiplication. Language after language has had the Bible added to the library of its language. Unwritten languages have had characters invented for them to represent their words and the Bible has thus become the first book of the new-made written language of the people. All the leading languages of the world have thus been put in possession of the Bible, and the signs of the times point to a speedy realization of the hope that soon all the nations of the earth will know the divine revelation of our Father which is in heaven.

CHAUTAUQUA NORMAL CLASS.

_Twelve Lessons on the Sunday-school and the Teacher’s Work._

LESSON I.—THE PLACE, PURPOSE AND PREROGATIVES OF THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL.

_I. The place of the Sunday-school._

1. The Sunday-school is one of the means employed by the Church of Christ for bringing men under the influence of the Gospel. It is not designed to fill the place of any of the other accepted agencies of the church.

2. The Sunday-school does not, and should not accomplish the work belonging to the pulpit and the pastor, nor does it subserve the purpose of the church meeting for prayer and interchange of Christian experience.

3. The Sunday-school can in no sense do the work of the Christian home. It is an agency differing from all other agencies of the church, and is made necessary by the nature and extent of the body of truth accepted by the church, so necessary that without it the church would be to a certain extent crippled.

4. It is a school, _organized and officered as such_; occupying a well defined place in the religious system of the church, having a specific purpose, and entitled to certain prerogatives.

5. As a school, its constituency is a body of teachers and pupils, associated together voluntarily, but not without responsibility and accountability.

6. The Sunday-school in its theoretic constitution is the parallel of the secular school.

(_a_) As the latter derives its life from the community, so the Sunday-school derives its life from _the religious community, the church_.

(_b_) As the community delegates the power of control over the secular school to a representative body which exercises supreme authority over its affairs, so the church entrusts the management of the Sunday-school to her representative executive body, by whatever name known.

(_c_) As the representative body controlling the secular school places the oversight of the system and its details of management in the hands of a general executive officer, or superintendent, so the governing power of the church entrusts the management of the Sunday-school to one of similar name—a superintendent.

(_d_) As the secular school is within and subordinate to the community, and alongside of the home as its aid and supplement, so the Sunday-school is within and subordinate to the church, and beside the Christian home as its supplement.

Let us gather up these propositions concerning the Sunday-school into a general definition.

_Definition._

The Sunday-school is a department of the church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is taught for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ and building up souls in Christ.

As suggested by this definition, we make the following propositions:

(1) The Sunday-school is a _school_.

(2) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for the church.

(3) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for the prayer meeting.

(4) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for home training.

(5) The Sunday-school is _in_ the church as an integral part.

(6) The Sunday-school is subordinate to the church.

(7) The Sunday-school is an aid to the Christian home.

_II. The Purpose of the Sunday-school._

1. The chief purpose of the Sunday-school is the _spiritual education_ of the soul. By education we do not mean the mere putting in possession of knowledge. There have been learned men who were not educated men; men of wide knowledge, but with the power of _self-control_ and _self-use_ undeveloped. By education we mean leading the soul out of its natural condition, into a condition where it can do what God meant it to do, and be what God meant it to be. Spiritual education will therefore be the development of a soul by nature averse to divine control, into a condition of oneness with the divine will, such as is made possible by the at-one-ment of Jesus Christ. This process involves, (1) conversion, and (2) upbuilding in Christ, and would produce, if unhindered, a character that would reach toward the measure of the fulness of Christ.

But many souls in the church have never reached farther than the first or preparatory step in spiritual education—the step which we call conversion. Hence,

2. A second purpose of the Sunday-school is upbuilding in Christ, and this is possible only through searching study of the Word of God.

As the astronomer must know all the intricacies of his science, and be able with the telescope to read the heavens as an open book, and scan their farthest depths, so the Christian must know the hidden mysteries and deep things of God as revealed in the Bible, which is both text-book and telescope to the soul.

3. A third purpose of the Sunday-school is the development of the teaching power in the church. “Go teach,” in the Revised version becomes “Go disciple.” Sunday-school teaching therefore becomes _disciple-making_. In this respect its aim is the same as that of the church. To accomplish it by preaching, the church provides years of careful training for her ministers in special schools. As careful training is needed by the Sunday-school teacher, and the school itself is the only means by which the end can be secured.

_III. The Prerogatives of the Sunday-school._

The Sunday-school exists within the church and because of the church. Yet though a part of the church, it maintains a separate organic life. As a member of the body it has certain _rights_ which we call Prerogatives. We name the most important.

1. _Care._—As no member of the body can be neglected without physical loss, so if any part of the body of Christ be left without watchful care, spiritual loss must ensue. The Sunday-school has a _right to the care_ of the church, exercised (_a_) officially by the governing body, that no want may be left unsupplied, and (_b_) individually that sympathy, help, prayer and interest may never be lacking, and that ample provision may be made for the efficient working of the school.

2. _Support._—The Sunday-school has a right to the pecuniary support of the church. It never should be crippled by lack of means to carry out its plans. The school should not be expected to provide for its own necessary expenses. The voluntary contributions of the school should never be applied to the support of the school as such. Systematic giving should be taught, and should include all the benevolent operations of the church, even to the extent of contributing toward the general church expenses, but that the school should use its funds for defraying its own expenses is clearly an evil.

(3) _Recognition._—The school has a right to be recognized as an established agency of the church. This recognition should include (1) regular notice from the pulpit of the time and place of holding its sessions; (2) the same prominence to the annual meeting for the choice of officers that is given to the same meetings of the church, and (3) its importance as a church agency should be recognized by giving to the school official recognition in the governing body of the church.

(4) _Pastoral Supervision._—The school has a right to the watchful oversight and regular presence of the pastor. It is not necessary that he should superintend the school—it is better not. It is not necessary that he should be burdened with its cares. But it is essential (1) that he use it as a field of pastoral labor; (2) that he give to it the encouragement of his commendation; (3) that he extend to it the sympathy of his presence; (4) that he know as to the character of the work being done within it.

(5) _Coöperation._—The Sunday-school has a right to the hearty coöperation of the whole church, so that (1) there may be no lack of teachers to do the work of the school, and (2) that the work of the teacher may be understood and appreciated in the Christian family, which is the church unit; and (3) that teacher and parent may work in perfect harmony.

This is not intended as an exhaustive treatment of this subject. It presents in outline some salient points concerning the Sunday-school, and leaves the student to continue by himself the line of thought suggested, and to this end reference is made to “Hart’s Thoughts on Sunday-schools,” “Pardee’s Sunday-school Index,” and the “Chautauqua Normal Guide,” by J. H. Vincent, D.D., 1880.

FOOTNOTE:

[J] J. H. Vincent, D.D.

EDITOR’S OUTLOOK.

DR. HAYGOOD’S BATTLE FOR THE NEGRO.

There is something sublime in the spectacle of an earnest man contending for his cause. The sublimity is heightened when we remember that his cause and his convictions are identical, without any reckoning of the cost. Of this character was the figure of Dr. Atticus G. Haygood on the Chautauqua platform, uttering brave words for the Negro, his former slave, but present fellow-citizen. Nor did we have to wait till opportunity made him heard at Chautauqua. From the close of the war until now, he has been a moulder and leader of the best sentiment in the South, and has occupied advanced ground upon all questions relating to the education and welfare of the liberated slave. His recent book, “Our Brother in Black,” is the ablest contribution we have had to the “Negro question.” It breathes throughout the same generous, Christian sentiment and sympathy that characterize all his utterances and his work elsewhere. Nor is the word “battle” too strong a term to be used. When we remember the jealousies, hates, and prejudices of long standing, and greatly intensified by the war; and how they have been kept alive by designing men on both sides; when we bear these things in mind, it is easy to see that it has required no little courage for a Southern man, in the midst of Southern people, with their sentiments and feelings, to take up the black man’s cause and advocate it in words of bold, plain truth.

Dr. Haygood is the Christian, and not the politician. When he praises, as he does without stint, the work accomplished for the Negro by the people of the North, it is not the work of that particular politician, with his promise of “a mule, forty acres, and provisions for a year,” but of teachers, secular and religious, who, with a motive higher than the personal, have sought the elevation, moral and intellectual, of the Negro. He pleads no apology for his Southern brethren who have met these benevolent workers with opposition, social ostracism, and other forms of persecution, but utters his condemnation of this spirit whenever and wherever manifested.

And the results of the first twenty years’ history have justified his high and hopeful views. It is only two years since Senator Brown, of Georgia, said of the Negro, in a speech delivered in the United States Senate: “He has shown a capacity to receive education, and a disposition to elevate himself that is exceedingly gratifying, not only to me, but to every right-thinking Southern man.” The results show that the Negro has a real hunger for the education he so greatly needs. It is shown that in the year 1881, forty-seven per cent. of the colored school population was enrolled as attending the public schools, whilst in the same year there was enrolled fifty-two per cent. of the white population. Though both figures are painfully low, and suggest a condition of great illiteracy, yet, when we remember the past of the Negro—how he has been trampled down and trodden under—the figure 47 at the end of his first twenty years, is both encouraging and significant.

But Dr. Haygood finds his strongest hope in the religious nature of the Negro. The religious element of the race was very manifest in the days of slavery, and since its freedom still more so. The moral and religious progress of twenty years is encouraging. Of seven millions, the entire colored population, a million and a half are communicants of the various churches. Whilst their notions are crude, their conceptions of religious truth often painfully realistic and grotesque, yet their religion is real and worthy of confidence. More than to all other influences combined, to the black man’s religion is due the shaping of his better character. It is from this basis, and working along this line, that Dr. Haygood sees the success of the future. His closing word at Chautauqua is a statement of the whole theory which will commend itself to the sympathy and judgment of right-thinking Christian men everywhere: “Mere statesmanship can not solve this hard problem. It is not given to the wisdom of man; but God reigns, and God does not fail. We are workers with him in his great designs. When we stand by the cross of Jesus Christ we will know what to do. We can solve our problem, God being our helper. But on no lower platform than this—the platform of the Ten Commandments and of the Sermon on the Mount.”

THE POLITICAL OUTLOOK.

In a few months we shall be in the midst of another presidential campaign, and one as exciting, perhaps, as the country has known. Already we see earnest preparations for the fray. The party managers are busily laying their schemes; the question of candidates and the measures to secure victory are being thoroughly canvassed by the rival parties.

What now strikes the thoughtful person as he considers the political outlook is the lack of party issues. Two great parties are seen on the eve of a tremendous struggle for the reins of government; but when the question is asked, what are the living issues at the bottom of this fight? one is puzzled for a reply. The situation is about this: instead of coming before the people with certain great principles as a ground of contention, one party has for its cry, “Put the rascals out;” and the other, “Let us keep the rascals from coming in.”

Our feeling is that the case should be different. Are there no living issues important enough to serve as the rallying cry of political parties? Must parties live on a past record? Is there nothing for them to do but to glory in what they have done, and point a finger of contempt at the other side? By no means is this the case. There are to-day vitally important matters pertaining to the public welfare which call loudly to our political leaders for attention; and the party which shall take hold of these matters in an earnest way, and boldly present itself as the champion of principles of truth and justice and purity, ought to be, and must be, the party of the future.

The reform of the civil service might very well be a party issue, but it is not. Neither of the great parties shows a disposition to take a hearty and united stand in favor of such reform. Some prominent men in both parties have it at heart, and the movement which has been seen can not be claimed as a party movement. The reform of the tariff wise men see to be one of the crying needs of the hour; but how hopelessly at sea seem our party leaders in dealing with the question. It can not be said that any principles of tariff are a party issue. There is a wide diversity of sentiment among those who have the management of the parties; on either side are seen free-trade men and protective tariff men; and probably some have their opinions yet to form upon a subject so live and important as the tariff. The nation has a yearly surplus revenue of $100,000,000, to get rid of which extravagant and needless appropriations are made; the embarrassment of certain branches of industry in our land, as things are, is evident; but to which party can we point as the one intelligently and earnestly bent on tariff reform? The time may come when the prohibition of the liquor traffic will be the underlying principle of a great political party, but it is not now. We may have our opinions as to which of the great parties bidding for the suffrages of the people is the more a temperance party, but either is a great way from being ready to adopt as an issue the righteous principle of prohibition. In just one State to-day (Iowa), one of the parties appears as the supporter of this principle. Turn to another State (Massachusetts), which sometimes is thought to lead all the rest in moral ideas, and see the same party fighting neither for this principle nor any other, but simply to wrest the power from Governor Butler.

We judge of the coming national campaign by that now in progress in different States, and we see it is to be marked by a lack of high and worthy party issues. It will be—what it should not be—a contest without great underlying principles. Let whichever party may triumph, the victory can not be regarded one of living principles; it will be rather the success of individuals to whom the majority of the people choose to commit the reins of authority, or the triumph of a party which the people prefer for its record, or to which they give a blind and unthinking preference. Whatever the outcome of the impending political struggle, we have faith in the perpetuity of our institutions, and that there is a nobler destiny for the American people than they have yet attained.

HISTORY OF GREECE.

The installment of Grecian History required in the C. L. S. C. course is not extensive, but has been prepared with much care, and is adapted to its purpose. A careful study—enough to give possession of the principal facts stated, can hardly fail to kindle the desire for further knowledge of a people who had so many elements of greatness, and for centuries surpassed all others in knowledge and culture. The most advanced nations of to-day are largely indebted to the Greeks. Modern art and literature bear witness to the indebtedness. The race had wonderful capabilities. Their country, climate, blood, early habits of self-control, or all these together, secured in that corner of Europe a class of stalwart men, physically and intellectually capable of great deeds.

Much of their early history is, of course, fabulous. The gods, goddesses, heroes and kings, whose councils and exploits are rehearsed, were but myths. Yet the legendary traditions respecting them have charms that attract and hold the reader. We may utterly discredit the story, but pay homage to the ability and versatile genius of the writer, whose glowing words so paint the scenes described. Only a slight basis of fact is conceded to some of the most captivating Homeric descriptions; yet they are in an important sense true. False in history, but sublimely true to the conceptions of the greatest of poets, as a bold delineator, peerless in his own, or any other age. If the ideal of the divinities thought to be interested in the affairs of men falls far below the conceptions of a monotheist, and seems unworthy of a philanthropic heathen, the portraiture is both complete and captivating.

When the mists, that for centuries shrouded Greece and the neighboring isles, are dispersed, and we recognize the certain dawn of the _historic_ period, though the descendants of those mighty heroes and kings that were deified as sons of the gods, shrink to the proportions of men, they are still found to be mighty men, whose noble deeds and achievements have been an inspiration to millions in the generations since. Excepting only such as have the true light, and are blest with Christian civilization, we adopt the statement “No other race ever did so many things well as the Greeks.”

Let the book be closely studied. If the cursory, objectless reader lacks interest, and tires in the work, the student feels more than compensated for his toil.

A COLLEGE REFORM.

The present agitation touching college courses of study is one from which good is likely to come. There is danger, however, that we swing to the other extreme. That undue prominence in the ordinary college curriculum has hitherto been given to classical studies, and too little room made for the modern languages, natural science, and English literature is coming to be widely felt. But the true reform is not utterly to eliminate the classics; it is not the part of wisdom to decry as folly the study of the dead tongues.

The oration of Charles Francis Adams, Jr., last summer at Harvard, published under the title of “A College Fetich,” was quite as unexpected and sensational as that of Wendell Phillips on another similar occasion. Mr. Phillips arraigned his _alma mater_ that her sons were no more active in social reforms, while Mr. Adams charged upon her that, in retaining the dead languages as a required part of the course of study, she was guilty of worshiping a fetich. This grandson and great-grandson of a President, whose illustrious ancestors one after another were inmates of Harvard’s halls, makes against the venerable institution, the most serious charge that her graduates, upon leaving her, are not fitted as they should be for practical life. She sends them forth, he affirms, with a smattering of the dead languages, which is quite without advantage, instead of with a thorough knowledge of what can be turned to practical account and will qualify them for the duties of active life. He would have a drill in the classics no longer required of the college student; but would allow him to win his A. B. by pursuing other and more useful branches of study. Mr. Adams’s bold claim against Harvard, if sustained, would of course hold against other colleges, and against some others would hold in a higher degree.

But we think his statements are too sweeping, and the reform he advocates, because it goes too far, would not be a wise reform. We would not abolish the study of Latin and Greek in our colleges. They are dead tongues, but it does not follow that time spent in their study is wasted. On the contrary, we would have them taught with such thoroughness, by such qualified and skillful teachers that the college graduate will go out with something more than a smattering of them. It is a fact which can not be disproved, that from a study of the classics comes a mental discipline and a mastery of good English, such as can be acquired from nothing else. But that too much comparative attention has been given to these branches is freely conceded. There is a want of more thorough study in our higher institutions of the natural science, the modern tongues, and the models of our own language. The true reform is to cease to magnify Latin and Greek at the expense of these other things, and to give to the latter their due attention. Of the wisdom of elective college courses there can be no doubt. It may not be always best for the young man who has not in view one of the learned professions, but a business life, to spend years in the study of the ancient languages. But it is our judgment that a knowledge of these should always be required of the candidate for the Bachelor of Art’s degree. Certain things are in the air, and we rejoice. Natural science, that field of study in richness so exhaustless, is attracting the student as never before. The importance of gaining a knowledge of languages now spoken, other than our own, is being felt as it was not once. We welcome the indications that promise a college reform. Let us have it without over-shooting the mark.

EDITOR’S NOTE-BOOK.

The trustees of the Garfield monument to be erected in Cleveland, Ohio, have more than one hundred and thirty thousand dollars on hand, and they expect to secure a sufficient increase to this sum, at an early day, to complete the work. This, with the fund of more than three hundred thousand dollars which the American people contributed and presented to the widow of the lamented Garfield, is positive proof that our republic is not ungrateful.

* * * * *

The old statement that a low grade of moral character may exist in the same community with a high grade of mental culture may be true of any type of the best modern civilizations, but it is not necessarily true. Education, like the gospel, may be the savor of death unto death, but moral death need not be its effect. A good illustration of the elevating tendencies of education in the community is found in the fact that since the compulsory school law went into operation in New York, juvenile crime in that city has been reduced by more than thirty-six per cent. And yet it is said the law has been only partially enforced.

* * * * *

Scientific temperance education has been by legislative action introduced into the public schools of Vermont and Michigan, and at the last session of the legislature in New Hampshire it was by a unanimous vote introduced into the schools of that State. The W. C. T. U. is laying its hand on legislatures in a very effective way, and we may look for an abundant harvest in the next generation. “Long voyages make rich returns.”

* * * * *

Prince Bismarck is a timber merchant, and why should not a dealer in timber be called a merchant? But this is not all. He is a large distiller of spirituous liquors. The Germans do not object to his occupation as a distiller, for their drinking customs are on a low grade. Public opinion, in this country, would not long tolerate a statesman, even of great abilities, who manufactured distilled liquors for sale as a beverage. And herein we see one point of difference between these two nations on a great moral reform.

* * * * *

The _Scientific American_ of a recent date says: “Too much reliance is placed on the sense of taste, sight and smell in determining the character of drinking water. It is a fact which has been repeatedly illustrated that water may be odorless, tasteless and colorless, and yet be full of danger to those who use it. The recent outbreak of typhoid fever in Newburg, N. Y., is an example, having been caused by water which was clear, and without taste or smell. It is also a fact that even a chemical analysis sometimes will fail to show a dangerous contamination of the water, and will always fail to detect the specific poison if the water is infected with discharges of an infectious nature. It is therefore urged that the source of the water supply should be kept free from all possible means of contamination by sewage. It is only in the knowledge of perfect cleanliness that safety is guaranteed.”

* * * * *

Mr. Henry Hart, of Brockport, N. Y., manufactures a C. L. S. C. gold pin of beautiful design for gentlemen, and another one attached to an arrow, which is equally handsome, for ladies. Either one makes an appropriate badge for members of the Circle to wear in everyday life, and at times it will serve to introduce strangers when traveling or in strange places, who have a common sympathy in a great work, and thus aid the possessor in extending his circle of acquaintances.

* * * * *

One of the most embarrassing questions in the management of colleges and universities is, how shall trustees superannuate a certain class of professors, whose days of usefulness in the recitation room are past. When that problem is solved the unity and peace of the management will, as a rule, be secured.

* * * * *

The New York _Herald_ is led to pronounce against capital punishment because in many cases the law against murder is a dead letter, and produces the following historical reference to confirm the statement: “It appears that from 1860 to 1882 a hundred and seventy persons were tried in Massachusetts for murder in the first degree. Of this number only twenty-nine were convicted, and only sixteen paid the extreme penalty of the law. Of those convicted one committed suicide, and twelve got their sentences commuted. Here, then, during a period of little more than twenty years were a hundred and seventy murders in one State, and only sixteen executions.”

* * * * *

They have one hundred and fifty miles of electric railway in operation in Europe. Active preparations are making by rival inventors and corporations in New York City to introduce electricity on a large scale as a safe, rapid, and cheap motor. As in lighting houses, towns, and cities we have passed from the tallow candle to kerosene, and then to gas, and on to the electric light, so by many steps and advances we are almost ready to accept electricity as the moving power of railway trains.

* * * * *

The pardoning power of the general government is liable to work pernicious results in the regular army. Cases of embezzlement and fraud among army officers have been growing in number since our civil war, and laxity in the enforcement of the laws against these offenders is a growing evil. General J. B. Fry, an officer of repute, and a graduate of West Point, thus points out the evil: “The interposition of higher authority in favor of offenders has been so frequent since the war, especially from 1876 to 1880, as to be a great injury to the service. Many of the evils which have been exposed recently are fairly chargeable to executive and legislative reversal of army action. * * * When the strong current of military justice is dammed by the authorities set over the army, stagnant pools are formed which breed scandal, fraud, disobedience, dissipation, and disgrace, sometimes even among those educated for the service.”

* * * * *

Cable intelligence, received September 3, shows that the Baron Nordenskjöld, as a Greenland explorer, has accomplished a large part of his original purpose. The expedition entered West Greenland in latitude 68°, and proceeded 220 miles inland, attained an altitude of seven thousand feet above the sea level. In 1878 Lieutenant Jansen, of the Danish navy, penetrated fifty miles from the coast, and reached an “icy mountain, in lat. 62° 40′, five thousand feet high.” But no explorer has since done anything worth mention toward solving the mystery of Greenland’s interior physical geography. The expedition with Professor Nordenskjöld has gone farther and seen more of the “immense desert of ice;” and the latest telegrams claim that some important scientific data have been obtained.

* * * * *