Article April 28, 1917 Issue

Teaching in the Sunday School

EZRA W. PALMER

Teaching Christian Science to the children is a highly important work, and a Christian Scientist who undertakes to unfold the budding thoughts of the young cannot be too consecrated or too spiritually minded. That Mrs. Eddy recognized the necessity and importance of this work is shown by the careful provision she has made for the Sunday school in Article XX of the Manual of The Mother Church. In "Pulpit and Press" (p. 9) she says, "Ah, children, you are the bulwarks of freedom, the cement of society, the hope of our race!"

A careful study of the basis of this work as outlined in the Church Manual (Art. XX, Sect. 3) discloses that the teaching in the Sunday school is intended to implant in the minds of the children the absoluteness and supremacy of God, good, the infinite, divine Mind. This is shown by the fact that the first lessons are based on the Ten Commandments, the Lord's Prayer with its spiritual interpretation as given by Mrs. Eddy on page 16 of Science and Health, and the Sermon on the Mount. A study and comparison of these first lessons will show that they are based on the omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence of God. We may well ask ourselves why Mrs. Eddy chose these topics for the first lessons. She undoubtedly chose them for this purpose because they furnish a firm and eternal foundation on which the thought of the child can rest. God is the basis of all being, life, and action, and, as St. Paul says, "other foundation can no man lay than that is laid."

From the enduring basis of "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," "Our Father which art in heaven," and "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," the lessons unfold. No erroneous thought can enter these fundamental teachings. No subtle mesmerism of dualism or of pantheism can mystify them; and provided the teacher firmly plants these simple yet tremendously profound lessons in the child's thought, he does the child a most vital service, because it is most essential for him to know his creator in the days of his youth. The child should be taught to understand God and to know and rely upon divine protection. Error does not spare even a child, and though young he may have to face the aggressions of evil. He should therefore gain confidence in God, and not only have the assurance but gain the understanding that through divine strength he can vanquish evil.

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