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TABLE OF CONTENTS
SECOND PERIOD—1774-1800 Ch.4—Mr. Otterbein called to Baltimore Ch.5—The Otterbein Church in Baltimore Ch.6—The Movement Toward a Separate Church Organization Ch.7—The First and Second Conferences THIRD PERIOD—1800-1815 Ch.10—The Conferences of 1801-1814 Ch.12—The Departure of the Leaders FOURTH PERIOD—1815-1837 Ch.13—The First General Conference—1815 Ch.14—The General Conferences of 1817-1833 FIFTH PERIOD—1837-1885 Ch.15—The General Conferences of 1837 and 1841 Ch.16—The General Conferences of 1845 and 1849 Ch.17—The General Conferences of 1853-1861 Ch.18—The General Conferences of 1865-1881 SIXTH PERIOD—1885-1897 Ch.19—The Nineteenth General Conference—1885 Ch.21—The Twentieth General Conference—1889 Ch.23—The Twenty-First General Conference—1893
PART II DEPARTMENTS OF CHURCH WORK Ch.1—The United Brethren Publishing House Ch.2—The Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society and Its Work Ch.3—The Church-Erection Society Ch.4—The Woman's Missionary Association Ch.9—The Young People's Christian Union Ch.10—The Board of Trustees of the Church
PART III THE ANNUAL CONFERENCES Ch.1—A Group of Early Conferences Ch.2—Other Conferences Organized from 1835 to 1853 Ch.3—Conferences Organized Since 1853
PART IV HISTORICAL AND STATISTICAL TABLES Appendices Index
NOTICE OF ATTRIBUTION Work originally published in 1897. Scanned, proofed and minor spelling corrections by the United Brethren Historical Center. Electronic edition ©2006 United Brethren Historical Center Suggested Citation:
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History of the Church of the United Brethren in Christ by Daniel Berger |
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CHAPTER VIII I. A VIEW OF THE EARLIER WORK p.533 It will probably remain always impossible to determine when the first distinctively United Brethren Sunday school was organized. Most of the early Sunday schools in America, and in England as well, were not conducted under denominational auspices. The American Sunday-School Union, organized in 1824, consisting of representatives of various denominations, was for many years the dominating organized agency in the American Sunday-school work, and under its influence, and by the direct activities of its Sunday-school missionaries, the early schools of the country were widely conducted on the union plan. The union is still a strong organization, and is performing a large work in the Sunday-school field, but with the later rapid growth of the denominational agencies the place of the union holds a diminished relation. The earliest Sunday-school union formed in America was organized in Philadelphia in 1791, under the name of "First-Day or Sunday-School Society." The date of its organization was twelve years before the first Sunday school was organized in the city of New York. The New York Sunday-School Union was organized in 1816, and the Massachusetts Sunday-School Union in 1825. Several other unions were organized, generally of a local character. In Great Britain, the early home of the modern Sunday school, the London Sunday-School Society was p.534 organized in September, 1795, under the management of an equal number of Churchmen and Dissenters. This was succeeded in July, 1803, by the London Sunday-School Union, which continues to hold in the work in England the relatively prominent position once held by the American Sunday-School Union in the United States. In distinctively denominational work the Methodist Episcopal Church was early in the field in the United States, its Sunday-school union having been organized in 1827. The Congregational Church followed in 1832. The admirable Sunday-school organization of the United Brethren Church, which has done so much to quicken interest and activity in the Sunday-school work, was deferred to a time over thirty years after the later one of these dates, but the distinct denominational schools were everywhere familiar long before. The Church in its earlier years, as has been seen in these pages, was disinclined to gather up statistics, and even records were often not carefully preserved.
To say that Sunday schools were to any considerable extent
organized from early dates, would be to assume what was not generally true
among the Christian denominations. But there are evidences that religious
education of the children received early attention, and the Sunday schools
seem to have sprung up as they did among the people of other churches. Mr.
Otterbein, in his own church in Baltimore, seems to have preserved the
methods familiar to him earlier in the Reformed Church. In the schedule of
rules drawn up by him in 1785 for the government of the pastors and people of
that church he placed this among the duties of the pastors: "The preacher
shall make it one of his highest duties to watch over the rising youth,
diligently instructing them in the principles of religion, according to the
Word of God. He should catechise them once a week : and the more mature
p.535 in years, who have obtained a
knowledge of the great truths of the gospel, should be impressed with the
importance of striving, through divine grace, to become worthy recipients of
the holy sacrament. And, in view of church membership, such as manifest a
desire to this end should be thoroughly instructed for a time, be examined in
the presence of their parents and the vestry, and, if approved, after the
preparation sermon, they should be presented before the church and admitted."
Dr. Drury, who has made a very careful study of Otterbein's life and times,
in speaking of Mr. Otterbein's frequent visits to different places in
Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, says that "even before 1800 he
established Sunday schools and prayer-meetings in connection with these
extended labors."1
There is little probability that these Sunday schools possessed to any marked
degree the characteristics of the Sunday school of the present time. But this
remark would apply equally to the Robert Raikes and many other schools of
that period. The object seems to have been definite religious teaching for
the young, without organization into classes, the ministers or teachers using
such skill in the work as they possessed. About this same time J. G. Pfrimmer
was engaged in similar work of teaching the children, as is indicated in an
entry in Newcomer's Journal, dated May 21, 1800. "To-day," he says, "I came
to Brother Pfrimmer's. About thirty children had assembled at his house, to
whom he was giving religious instruction. Some were under conviction. I also
spoke to them. Their hearts were sensibly touched. May the Lord convert them
truly."2 The General Conference of 1837 was the first to take official recognition of the duty of the ministry to instruct the children in the knowledge of Christ. The clause enforcing this duty is a very earnest expression, but Sunday schools as such are not mentioned. The same is true of the succeeding General Conferences up to 1849. In the Book of Discipline as revised by this conference there is a distinct and strong utterance. The conference said : Whereas, The Sabbath-school institution is in every way worthy of our highest regard and untiring efforts to promote as a branch of the Christian church ; therefore, Resolved, That we labor to have Sabbath schools organized throughout the Church. Resolved, That all our ministers, both itinerant and otherwise, do all consistently in their power to organize Sabbath schools in our societies wherever practicable. p.537 Resolved, That our Printing Establishment furnish the Church, as soon as practicable, with books of suitable character for Sabbath schools. This was an expression so vigorous and direct as to seem in tone quite modern. The conference of 1853, however, went quite beyond this, and placed upon the ministers about every duty that is now laid down. It required that they preach each year at each appointment a sermon on the importance of the Sunday-school work, that they use all proper means to organize schools and collect funds for the purchase of libraries, and collect and report to the annual conference full statistics pertaining to the schools. All this meant indeed a very effective organization of the work. A further step in 1857 was to connect the Sunday schools of the Church with the Home, Frontier, and Foreign Missionary Society, and to provide for weekly collections for the society. II. A GENERAL ORGANIZATION. Notwithstanding the lateness of the General Conference in taking official action relating to this department of work, the work itself was going right on. Many of the ministers and teachers were interested, and schools were being organized and instruction was being conducted after the methods of that time. But the time for advanced action came at last. In May, 1865, Rev. Isaac Crouse, of the Sandusky Annual Conference, presented to the General Conference, at Western, Iowa, a carefully laid plan for a general organization of the Sunday-school work of the Church. The organization was called the "Sabbath-School Association of the United Brethren Church." The constitution and rules, or by-laws, as arranged by Mr. Crouse, provided for a general superintendent, a secretary, a treasurer, and a publication committee, and included plans for p.538 raising funds for book publication purposes and for assisting needy schools, and for organizing distinctively United Brethren schools. The whole paper was adopted, with scarcely a suggestion of amendment, and Mr. Crouse was himself immediately chosen to the office of general secretary. Rev. W. J. Shuey was elected general superintendent, and Mr. J. B. King treasurer. The latter, resigning soon afterward, was succeeded by Rev. Solomon Vonnieda. Each of these men continued in office twelve years. In 1869, after an experience of four years, the constitution of the association was materially changed, since which time it has remained substantially the same. This forward step grew rapidly in favor with the people, and after a few years funds came liberally into the treasury. One-fourth of these, under the earlier provisions of the constitution, might be devoted to book publication, and in 1874 this work was begun. The Pioneer Library, consisting of ten volumes, was first issued, and further work was undertaken; but the sales not being sufficient to justify publication, this feature of the work was discontinued. Three-fourths of the money thus contributed was appropriated for Sunday-school supplies for needy schools. The Chautauqua Assembly movement, organized in 1874, which at first contemplated the better equipment of Sunday-school teachers for their work, attracted from the beginning the favorable attention of teachers in the United Brethren Church, and some of them received their diplomas with the first classes graduating from its department of normal instruction. In 1886 the Sunday-School Board, believing that a larger number of our teachers could be enlisted through a denominational organization, formed the Bible Normal Union. The board was not mistaken in this. The number taking the courses of lessons was greatly increased. The courses were substantially p.539 the same, and by arrangement with the Chautauqua authorities teachers completing the Bible Normal Union course were entitled to receive the Chautauqua normal diploma, as well as the handsome diploma awarded by our own board. From 1877 Col. Robert Cowden, who had been elected by the General Conference as general secretary, was employed by the board to give all his time to the Sunday-school work. Much attention was given by him to holding Sunday-school institutes, assisting in Sunday-school conventions, and delivering addresses on various phases of the work. These labors, extended widely through the Church, proved highly useful in helping to stimulate teachers to higher ambitions in seeking for better qualifications and for larger results from their work. Several assemblies on a larger scale were attempted, but these proving financially unsuccessful, efforts in that direction were abandoned. In 1881 a Home Reading Circle was organized, upon the general plan of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle. This was done in the belief that success would attend it similar to that reached by the Bible Normal Union. This hope was disappointed, and, after six years of trial, it was abandoned, and our people were counseled to cooperate with the Chautauqua Reading Circle. A better experiment was tried when it was decided, in 1890, to offer questions on the International lessons. The arrangement has met with wide favor, and the results are highly satisfactory to those who have taken the examinations. The Home Department for the study of the Sunday-school lessons has received favorable attention among our people, and numerous successful classes have been p.540 organized. Considerable numbers of persons who cannot attend the schools are thus brought into living touch with them, and receive many of the benefits the school itself bestows. The publication of Sunday-school literature, such as lesson helps, song-books, and other supplies, does not come under the direction of the Sunday-School Board, but has from the first been a part of the business of the general Publishing House. These forms of literature, already spoken of in these pages, have uniformly met with hearty acceptance by the people of our Sunday schools and Church, as well as among people of other denominations, their circulation being larger than our schools could use. They are prepared in the English and German languages. The United Brethren Church has kept in close touch with the great union movements of the Sunday-school world. When the International Lesson system was inaugurated in June, 1872, to begin its first lesson course with January, 1873, our Publishing House began at once the preparation for it, and issued its first lessons with the beginning of the course. Our Church has had a representative on the International Lesson Committee since 1884, Bishop Kephart being the representative since June, 1896. Colonel Cowden, our Sunday-school secretary, was for fifteen years a member of the International Executive Committee. The activity of our people in the Sunday school is perhaps fairly indicated by the annual statistics. In the Year-book for 1897, the statistics for 1896 show an enrollment of officers, teachers, and scholars, of 290,861. The membership of the Church as reported for the same year is 238,782, the Sunday-school enrollment being in excess 52,079.
1 Life of Otterbein, p. 248. 2Newcomer's Journal, p. 67 |
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