in this world, as
well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of
Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need
saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His
example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to
Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of
practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing
meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of
helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their
home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are
finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual
contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say
this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among
the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in
their welfare.

THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.

Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most
extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be
mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday
School, it has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784,
Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the
religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the
close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools
springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight:
"Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who
knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?"
Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into
the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning
of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the
movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really
exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the
time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades,
have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have
followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves
to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday
School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the
introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State
and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The
thought that a million