Education as a Factor in Religion.
By W. S. Sadler
A strange inconsistency is found in the work of many ministers and church leaders, often affecting entire denominations. This inconsistency is brought to light in their earnest zeal for the promotion of the church, accompanied with little or no interest in giving a Christian education to the children. A biographical sketch of Archbishop Feehan, which recently appeared in the Chicago Tribune, assigned as one of the great reasons for his success in extending the work of the Catholic Church in Chicago, his invariable policy in all church extension, which was this: “The school first, the church next.” Concerning the recent discussion of the falling off of membership in the Methodist Episcopal Church, Father McGuire, of the St. James Church, Chicago, in speaking of the increase of Catholicism in contrast with the decrease of Methodism, had this to say: “The last year has shown a large increase. Our success is due largely to the fact that we try to reach all the people. We have six or seven services a day, in all parts of Chicago, suited to all classes of people. We keep our people because we educate them. We have not fifty thousand children in schools in Chicago to no purpose. Education must be under the influence of religion, or what will lead the child to think of religion? The Roman Catholic always grows stronger.” In view of the solemn times in which we live, and of the importance of the work committed to us, ought not Seventh-day Adventists to be wide-awake to the importance of the proper education of the children? Ought we not to display the same zeal, energy, and perseverance in giving our children a distinctly Christian education, that is displayed by the Catholics in giving to their children a Catholic education? W. S. Sadler.