“Relations,” Something for All to Think About.—
That excellent paper, the Sunday-School Times, presents the following common-sense, Christian answer to a question, the principles of which should commend themselves to every Christian worker:— “What is the relation between this organization and that?” is a favorite question these days. Sometimes it is asked as tho the bodies inquired about were distinct, as in this question from a Maryland reader:— In brief, what is the relation the Young People's Meeting should sustain toward the church and the Sunday-school? In brief, the “Young People's Meeting,” the “church,” and the “Sunday-school,” are one, and therefore they don't “sustain relations,” except as one's right eye and left eye sustain relations. The Christian “church” is the existing body of Christ's followers on earth. The Sunday-school is the church teaching. The Sunday morning or evening congregational service is the church worshiping. The “Young People's Meeting,” or “Society,” is the youth of the “church” banded together for work and worship and study. As well ask, “What is the relation the son and the daughter should sustain to the family?” They are the family. They each have their own work to do, and in doing that work with all their might they make the family a living power in the world. Part of their work is to help each other. How?—In every possible way that lies within reach. If they are hard enough at work they won't have time to ask about their “relations.”