Coopersville High School - Zenith Yearbook (Coopersville, MI)

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IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIC. h.S.llllllllllllllllRODEOllllllllllllllll 1931 lllllll|l|||||||| has found but three Sunday School members guilty of crime out of 4,000 tried before him. My friends, this proves that it is not the Sun- day School member who unscrupulously murders and steals from his neighbor,but the unfortunate boy and girl who has not been given the advantage of religious nurture. The Sunday School member in almost every instance is among the most highly honored and respected citi- zens of the community. But, my dear friends, the Sunday School cannot teach the people unless it reaches them. 1‘ifty million unreached people means fifty million untaught people. Twenty-seven million children and youths not in Sunday School means twenty-seven million spiritual illiterates. Is it of any benefit to those children that the Sunday School teaches a way to religious nurture when it does not reach them? What avail is it to them that the Sunday School builds true Christian character w hen they do not know it? The church must find a way to reach these children and account for them from childhood to maturity. This means that fathers and mothers must send their children to Sunday School. It means that men and women must give their services and money to this great cause upon which depends the future character of the people of the United States. It is a cause that is worth our ef- forts. If it is worth the effort of our government to see that its citizens are properly educated intellectually, then it certainly is worth the ef- sort of the church and Sunday School to see that the children are properly educated morally. Few persons realized when Robert Rakes took children out of the slums of London and organized the first Sunday School, that he was inaugurating a reform destined to surpass any reform made from the first Christian era to the present. This little Sunday School was des- tined to grow until it became world wide in its influence in building Christian character and in training of the heart and conscience. As great a good he did as did the founders of our public school in laying the foundation for our public school system. Let us do our part and let us give those millions of spiritual il- literates a chance to live the triumphant Christian life so that at the end of our course all of us may be able to say with Paul of old, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not to me only, but to all that love the Lord’s coming.” When we have thus done our part, eternal peace and happinese will be ours. Page Thirty-one

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llllllllllllllllle.H.S.IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlRODEOlllllllllllllllll 1931 lllllllllllllllll who are highly educated but who are in our prisons because their re- ligious development has been neglected. Thus we see what a vital necessity the Sunday School is. Wood- row Wilson, the great war time president said, “ 1 lie world will never be sale for democracy until Godliness and intelligence are made the common possessions of the whole human race. 1 his statement by Wilson clearly shows that the character of a nation depends upon the character of its citizens. Just as the efficiency of an automobile de- pends upon the efficiency of each of its parts, so the character of a great government depends upon the individual character ol each of its citizens. We call ourselves members of a Christian nation, yet there are within our country fifty million men, women and children who care nothing for religion. Our great government realizes that a democracy cannot long endure whose citizens are mentally untrained. Hut at the same time there are in our counti v twenty-seven million children and youth who belong to no religious institution of any kind. 1 hey are growing up in spiritual illiteracy. Is our great country destined to be filled with intellectual giants and moral infants? Is our great gov- ernment destined to fall as did the government of Rome, because its moral structure has crumbled? At one time Oueen Victoria of England entertained the noblemen from all parts of Europe. During the course of her entertainment she asked each man to give a speech on the reason for his country’s place in the world. Bismark, of Prussia, rose and told at great length why his country was great, headers of the other nations followed, Fin- allv Oueen Victoria rose and said, with her hand on the Bible, “Adher- ence to this Book is the reason for my country’s greatness.’’ 1 he question that most clearly rises before us w ith this example is, “How long can a nation endure when more than half of its citizens are grow - ing up m spiritual illiteracy?’’ There is something wrong with our great church system. If you were to point to the weakest spot in the protestant church today, you would put your finger on that army of twenty-seven million children who are not receiving any religious training. The Sunday School is doing a great and lasting work for somew hat less than half of our children. By means of their attendance their spiritual life is being properly developed. The ideals of the Sunday School teach obedience to the law' of God and man, true humbleness, and love for God and for our neighbor. It is there that we learn such gems as: “Be not de- ceived, God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches.’’ “Remember thy creator in the days of thy youth” and “A wise son maketh a glad father, but a foolish son is a heaviness to his mother.” Other ideals taught by the Sunday School are: “Love thv neighbor as thyself, and “Whatsoever thou would that men should do unto you, do you also unto them.” When we take into consideration that with every Sunday School meeting such lessons as these are taught, we may well conclude that the Sunday School is today the greatest institution for the building of Christian character that can be found anywhere out- side of the home. But permit me to prove my statement. |uvenile Judge Faucdt, of Brooklyn, informs us that in 18 years on the bench he Page Thirty

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