THE SUNDAY-SCHOOL CONCERT.
GENERAL CLINTON B. FISK.
It was a happy thought on the part of somebody to prepare a Sunday-school Concert exercise, which should embody so much valuable information and afford so great pleasure and holy joy, as does that of the Jubilee Concert exercise, prepared by the Rev. G. D. Pike on substantially the same basis as that first introduced by Rev. A. E. Winship, of Massachusetts.
It was my good fortune on Sunday, January 12th, to participate in the exercises of a concert, conducted in accordance with this exceedingly well arranged programme, in the Sunday-school of the Congregational church at Stamford, Conn., Rev. G. B. Willcox, D. D., pastor. It was a glad day in that, to me, the most attractive of all New England villages. If any other town in the East can furnish a roll of better men, women and children than those who adorn the beautiful Christian homes of Stamford, then I want to go there and attend a Jubilee Concert exercise.
The preparation at Stamford was complete. All, from the excellent pastor up to the oldest deacon, and down to the youngest child, took part. The able and enthusiastic superintendent, Mr. Junius Smith, is a born missionary, and he led his Sunday-school host into the work with great earnestness. The church was filled at an early hour of the evening, and when the great throng sung that sweetest of all Jubilee Songs, and one which has stirred the hearts of the best people on two continents, “Steal away to Jesus,” that wonderful, weird, plaintive melody fell upon my ears with almost the effect with which the Jubilee Singers have a thousand times rendered it with their matchless voices and marvellous power. Hon. Oliver Hoyt, one of Connecticut’s wisest and best senators, impressively invoked the Divine blessing. The facts in relation to the organization, successful progress and grand achievements for the Master of the American Missionary Association were admirably brought out by the tersely-prepared exercises. The pastor, superintendent, teachers and scholars all had their part and did well. Rev. G. D. Pike, whose head and heart are crammed full of well-devised plans for the up-lifting of the Freedmen, and through the uplifted Freedmen of America the redemption of Africa, made one of his most forcible pleas in behalf of the Association. The writer of this imperfect sketch followed with an exhortation in his Methodist way. The collection was taken and a happy day closed.
The Sunday-school Jubilee Concert exercise, if generally used, will be instrumental in fixing facts in the minds of young and old. I bespeak for it the examination of Sunday-school superintendents, and I most heartily bespeak the generous consideration of all good people in behalf of the American Missionary Association.
THE WILDERNESS AND THE SOUTH COUNTRY.
A Discourse on the Duty of the American Churches to the Despised and Outcast Races.
PREACHED IN THE INTEREST OF THE A. M. A. TO THE 1ST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, JACKSONVILLE, ILL.,
BY THE PASTOR, REV. E. CORWIN, D. D., DEC. 22, 1878.
Joshua xii. 8: “In the mountains and in the valleys, and in the plains and in the springs, and in the wilderness and in the south country.”