Sunday School

Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)

a gathering for religious instruction held usually in a church before or after regular Sunday exercises. Such gatherings are nothing new. Organzations of this sort have existed for centuries within all churches embracing a large membership. The Catholic church in particular has a well organized system of catechetical instruction, but the term as used generally is applied to the modern Protestant Sunday school. In this sense we may say the first Sunday school was organized by Robert Raikes at Gloucester, England. He was led to this step by observing the great number of workmen's children who seemed to be worse than wasting their Sundays. He began by employing women who kept school on week days to receive children on Sundays. He paid each of these teachers a shilling a day for her Sunday's work. Raikes began his experiment in 1781. The movement so commended itself to the churches all over Great Britain that in five years' time it is estimated there were quarter of a million children receiving regular instruction in Sunday schools. The movement spread to London where the first Sunday school was formed in 1803. Sabbath schools were opened throughout Scotland and in the Protestant portions of Ireland. New England was slow to take up the movement, considering it not only an improper use of the Sabbath but an infringement on the home. The first American Sabbath school was opened in Philadelphia in 1790. A society for the promotion of the work was formed in New York in 1816. The first national Sunday school convention was held in New York in 1832. A world convention was held in London in 1889. Instruction varies greatly in different parts of the Union. The usual method of procedure consists in introductory prayer, singing, and possibly an address, after which the school breaks up into sections or classes taught by various teachers. At the close of class instructions the school comes together as a whole for a review of the leading thoughts of the lesson and for closing remarks, singing, and the like. Many churches build special rooms for the accommodation of Sunday school classes. In 1872 the plan of international lessons was agreed upon. Committees of Bible students lay out a series of lessons for each Sunday of the year. These lessons have been adopted very generally in all English-speaking countries. The following world statistics were revised for the World's Sunday School Convention held at Jerusalem in 1904: Europe: Schools. Scholars. United Kingdom . . . . . 53,590 7,300,340 Austria-Hungary . . . . . 239 10,572 Belgium . . . . . 83 4,616 Bulgaria . . . . . 35 1,576 Denmark . . . . . 990 72,800 Finland . . . . . 7,611 165,140 France . . . . . 1,475 61,200 Germany . . . . . 7,742 826,341 Greece . . . . . 4 180 Holland . . . . . 2,020 206,000 Italy . . . . . 261 12,160 Norway . . . . . 1,000 75,000 Portugal . . . . . 18 1,419 Russia . . . . . 83 15,679 Spain . . . . . 90 5,419 Sweden . . . . . 6,000 300,000 Switzerland . . . . . 1,762 122,567 Turkey in Europe . . . . . 30 1,420 Asia: India and Ceylon . . . . . 8,719 333,776 Persia . . . . . 107 4,876 Siam . . . . . 16 809 China . . . . . 105 5,264 Japan . . . . . 1,074 44,035 Turkey in Asia . . . . . 516 25,833 Africa . . . . . 4,246 161,394 North America : United States . . . . . 140,519 11,329,253 Canada . . . . . 10,750 684,235 Newfoundland and Labrador . . . . . 353 22,766 West Indies . . . . . 2,306 111,335 Central America . . . . . 231 5,741 Mexico . . . . . 434 13,797 South America . . . . . 350 150,000 Oceania: Australasia . . . . . 7,458 595,031 Fiji Islands . . . . . 1,474 42,909 Hawaiian Islands . . . . . 230 15,840 Other islands . . . . . 210 10,000 Total . . . . . 262,131 22,739,323 The total number of teachers was reported at 2,426,888. In the United States Pennsylvania leads the Union with a Sunday school enrollment of one million and a half. Next in order come New York and Illinois.