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Page 18
It is the mission of the Sunday-school to gather in these
destitute ones, from the street, and from their Christless homes. The
Sunday-school must become a spiritual home for them. The earnest
teacher can and ought to find out who of his pupils belong to this
class, and apply to such the needed instruction and exhortation. In
_their_ case it is truly the object of the Sunday-school to lead them
to Jesus, to labor for their conversion, to Christianize them. This,
as a matter of course, also applies to those, even from Christian
homes, who were baptized, and perhaps also, to some extent, instructed
in divine things, but who have gone astray, and thus fallen from their
baptismal covenant. All such, who are not at present in covenant
relationship with Christ, who are turned away from Christ, must be
turned back, _i.e._, converted.
Now this difficult work, this great change, can be accomplished
only through the power of God's Word. "_The law of the Lord is
perfect, converting the soul._" "_The Gospel of Christ is the power of
God unto salvation._" The words of Christ, "_they are spirit and
they are life_." If sinners, whether young or old, are to be
reclaimed for Christ, it must be through that Word which "_is
quick_"--_i.e._, full of life--"_and powerful and sharper
than any two-edged sword_."
Let the Sunday-school teacher depend on nothing else than this
Word of God. It is always accompanied by the Spirit of God. It is the
living seed of the new life. Let it be used prayerfully. Let it be
taught carefully. Let it be taught clearly. Let it be impressed and
applied to heart, and conscience, and life. Drive it home personally
and individually to the impenitent pupil. See him by himself, visit
him in his home, teach him in his class. Cease not your prayers and
your efforts till the Word so lodge and fasten itself in the mind and
conscience that it makes him realize his own sinfulness and need of a
Saviour, and also that Saviour's readiness to save. This is God's way
of salvation. This is the Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church. The
Sunday-school teacher who follows this way will win souls. The
impenitent sinners of his class will be brought to repentance toward
God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ: or in one word, they will be
converted; whilst those who are already Christ's will _grow in Grace
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ_.
CHAPTER IX.
CATECHISATION.
We have spoken of the importance and benefits of home training
and instruction. We endeavored to show that Christian parents are
under the most solemn obligation to instruct their children in the
truth of God's Word. We also endeavored to show that, in order to give
their children a clear understanding of the saving truths of the
Bible, they could do no better than to diligently teach them Luther's
Small Catechism; that this was really Luther's idea and purpose when
he wrote that excellent little religious manual; that the first
catechetical class ought indeed to be in the family, with father and
mother as teachers;--that this home class ought to be carried on so
long and so persistently, that in it the children would become
perfectly familiar with the contents of the book; so familiar indeed,
that they would know all the parts that Luther wrote perfectly by
heart. Luther's Small Cathechism, _i.e._, the parts that Luther wrote
himself, is really quite a small book. By giving only a little time
and attention to it each week, the parents could easily, in a few
years, have all their children know it as perfectly as they know their
multiplication table. And such ought to be the case.
After these beginnings have thus been made, and while the home
instruction is still going on, the work of the Sunday-school teacher
comes in as a help to the home class. In every Sunday-school class
there ought to be, with each lesson, some instruction in the
Catechism. To this end each teacher, in a Lutheran Sunday-school,
ought to be familiarly at home in this most important text-book. The
teacher should endeavor so to teach these lessons, that the pupil
would learn to love and appreciate the Catechism more and more. Thus,
the school ought to be a helper to the home. And thus, home and school
together, working in harmony for the same end, would prepare the
children for the pastor's catechetical class.
If this good old-fashioned custom were kept up in all our
households and schools, then would the pastor's catechetical class be
more of a pleasure and a profit to himself and his catechumens. It
would then be the pastor's part, as it should be, to review the
contents with his class, and thus to find how well the preparatory
work had been done. Then could he devote his time and energy to what
is really the pastor's part of the work, viz., to explain and set
forth clearly the meaning of the Catechism, and show how it all
applies to the heart and life of every one.
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