Centenary Celebration.

Thames Star, Volume XI, Issue 3607, 19 July 1880, Page 2

Centenary Celebration.

The centenary celebration services of the founding of Sunday Schools took place yesterday in the various places of worship on the Thames. The founding of Schools by Bobert Eaikes is a well known story. The founder of these useful institutions was a printer in Gloucester. Chambers' Encyclopaedia gives the following account of him :—" Business leading him into tbe suburbs of the town, inhabited by the lowest class of people, he was struck with concern at seeing a group of children, miserably ragged, at play. He was informed that 'on Sunday the street was filled with a multitude of wretches, who, having no employment on that day,.spent their time in noise and riot, playing at chuck, and cursing and swearing.' To check this deplorable' profanation of the Lord's Day, he engaged four women, who kept day schools, to instruct as many children as he should send them on the Sunday, in reading and the church catechism, for which, they were to receive one shilling each. In a short period, a visible improvement was effected both in the manners and morals of the children, who came in considerable numbers; they attended church with their mistresses, and a great mauy learned to read and say their catechism. Such was the origin of the Sunday schools. This excellent scheme was noticed in the Gloucester newspaper in 1783; but a letter from Mr Eaikes, from which the above account is taken, published in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1784, first drew general attention to it. Numerous schools, formed on the same model, sprang up in all the principal towns; and a society, under high patronage, was formed in London in 1785 for the establishment and support of Sunday schools throughout the kingdom, which in fourteen years expended £4000 in payment of teachers. Her Majesty, Queen Charlotte, admitted Mr JRaikes to an audience, and expressed her high approbation of his plan. This was tiie first stage of the Sunday school. The great impediment to its prosperity was the expense of hiring so many teachers. Even in Gloucester, the birthplace of the Sunday schools, after Mr Bailees death in 1811, all the Sunday schools were closed for a time owing to want of funds. Whoever first conceived the idea of gratuitous instruction, has nearly as great merit as Mr Kaikes himself; but probably it was suggested by necessity to mauy minds in > different places at the same time. It was \ the means of starting Sunday schools on a new career of success, and tbe idea spread so rapidly, that by the year 1800, the teaching was almost universally gratuitous. A higher class of. teachers offerld their services ; the schools ceased to be filled by the very poorest alone; handsome buildings were erected in connection with the different churches and chapels, or by general subscription, and that system was organised which, has coffered the land with schools. The secular teaching, which in certain instances included writing and arithmetic, was not of a very high order; but it placed the key of knowledge in the hands of multitudes who would otherwise have been unable to read ; and the religious instruction with which it was combined has moulded the character of some of the best men in England; In 1803, the Sunday School Union was formed, which, by its numerous publiea-

tions, its travelling agents, and its connection with branch societies in every part of the kingdom, has exercised great influence on the Sunday School cause. The Institute of the Church of England, which operates in a similar manner, is of later date. Within the last twenty years, the Sunday School has entered upon a third stage of its history. The improvement and multiplication of weekday schools obviate the necessity for teaching reading in Sunday" schools, so that they have gradually become restricted to religious instruction. This for a time threatened to affect their popularity, but as the teachers were earnest men, they cultivated the art of teaching with considerable success. Sunday schools have prospered, in Scotland, where religions teaching alone ever prevailed, and the stability of this modern invention is accomplished. The Sunday School found its way into Scotland as early as the year 1782; but it i was not till 1/86, when the Society for promoting Religious Knowledge among I the Poor was formed, that it was publicly recognised; nor till 1797, when the Gratis Sunday School Society was originated, that schools became general/ At first they met with considerable opposition from portions of the ecclesiastical courts, but they are now supported by all the churches. Sunday School Unions exist in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and most of the large towns. The names of Dr Chalmers, James Gall, the author of the Lesson System, and David Stowe, the author of the Training System, deserve mention in connection with the progress of Sunday Schools in Scotland. In Ireland, Sunday schools had been partially anticipated in County Down in 1776 ; but it was not till 1785 that the system pursued by Mr Raikes was adopted; since which, its history has been analogous to that of England. The Sunday School Society for Ireland. was established in 1809. Sunday schools were introduced into New York in 1816, through the exertions of some benevolent ladies, from which they have spread themselves through the United States. They are now to be found wherever the English tongue is spoken. They thrive vigorously- in the Protestant churches of France; and more recently have been planted in parts of Germany and Italy. The Roman Catho lies, in this country at least, have numerous Sunday schools. Of the numbers of teachers and scholars who are weekly assembled in the schools throughout the world, no estimate can be formed; but it is stated on good authority that there are in the United Kingdom about 300,000 teachers and 3,000,000 scholars."