The Duty of the Church in Relation to Sunday Schools [pp. 377-393]

Duty of the Church
promoted in this way; and there is no surer pioneer of religion,
among the uncultivated, than philanthropy. Its whole range
is opened to the person who is willing to be the friend of the
Sunday scholar's family, and an entire neighbourhood may be
blessed for the sake of the youngest of its inhabitants.
The office of teacher or any other agent in the Sunday school
is an unquestioned passport to any household, poor or rich, and
the latter rank of the congregation, as well as the former whether in or out of it, are accessible to such visiters. Sensible
parents, and well meaning people generally, will not deem such
attentions intrusive. The persuasion that the welfare of their
own offspring is an object of a stranger's solicitude, will soften
many a rugged disposition, and open the heart to unwonted
emotions. And in spiritual humanity it will be difficult to
decide which is the stronger claimant for Christian compassion, the child of the poor or rich.
Energetic action is one of the best means of promoting
healthful personal piety. It is the indolent professor who is
most liable to despondency, and to a disrelish of spiritual duties.
The prescription of the apostle springs from the principles of
nature, as well as religion, that if Christians expect to be otherwise than'barren and unfruitful in the knowledge of their
Lord,' they must add'energy' to their'faith.' In the words
of an eminent philosophical and evangelical observer of the
times, "there is, manifestly, something which requires to
be balanced or adjusted, and kept in equipoise, between the
principle of faith, and the principle of action. The one
has a tendency to exclude the other, or to overpower it.
But Christian excellence consists in the preservation of this
balance; and the preservation of it, we must add, greatly depends upon the circumstances of the times. Nowv, perhaps, for a season, faith and energy are both strongly
stimulated; and the highest style of Christian heroism is
reached. Again, the inducement of action being slackened,
faith is deprived of the invigoration it had received from the
contest with the antagonist principle; it triumphs, or rather
seems to triumph, for a moment; but presently becomes extravagant, then imbecile; and at length, utterly inert. We
need not be surprised to find that faith, though heaven-born,
can neither live nor be productive alone. Excellence of all
kinds, physical, intellectual, and spiritual, is the product, not
of the simple operation of some one principle; but of the op
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