BV 1534 A Plea FOR THE SABBATH-SCHOOL SYSTEM, DELIVERED FEB. 2, 1830, AT THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE Gettysburg Sunday-School, amuel BY sos. SCHMUCKER, Professor of Christian Theology in the Theological Seminary Published by the theological Students and other teachers of said school. GETTYSBURG : PRINTED AT THE PRESS OF THE THEOL. SEMINARY. H. C. NEINSTEDT, PRINTER. 1830. PREFACE. THE following discourse was delivered before the students of the Theological Seminary, and other teachers and friends of the Sunday-School of Gettysburg, as well as delegates from the different schools in the neighbouring country; who attended for the purpose of forming a County Union, auxiliary to the American Sunday-School Union. Soon after its delivery, a committee of teachers waited on the author, requesting the manuscript for publication. As two thirds of the sermon had been delivered extemporaneously, and the author had no desire to appear before the public, he declined acceding to the request. Several weeks afterwards, the same committee repeated their application, stating that a desire to see the sermon printed, and a belief that it would be useful, extensively prevailed. Under these circumstances, the author felt it his duty to write out his recollections of what he delivered, and commit them to the disposal of those, at whose request he, on this occasion, undertook to advocate the noble cause of sabbath-schools. PLEA FOR THE SABBATH-SCHOOL SYSTEM. PROV. XIV, 34. "Righteousness exalteth a nation." WHEN we cast our eyes over the history of the church, and contemplate her rise, progress and various fluctuations, we find, that, though there never was a time, in which the gates of hell prevailed against her, yet had she her seasons of adversity as well as of prosperity. At one time, we see the sword of persecution suspended over her by the hand of Pagan emperors, and the sacramental host of martyrs slaughtered by hundreds and thousands amidst circumstances of the most repulsive cruelty, or, chained to the stake, mingle their expiring breath with the devouring flame. At another, we see her reclining in the arms of imperial favour, and secularized by unhallowed union with civil power, and degenerating from century to century into a mere political engine: her simple doctrines being transformed into scholastic jargon, her holy precepts relaxed into a filthy system of mercenary righteousness, until all her glories are shrouded in Egyptian night. But He who commanded light to shine out of darkness, bade one constellation after another, arise amid the gloom that brooded over her; |