THE ASSEMBLY HERALD PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY ORDER OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. A. W. HALSEY, D.D., JOHN DIXON, D.D., WILLIAM H. Scorr, Committee CONTENTS FOR AUGUST, 1912 Rev. James Russell Miller, D.D. 415 THE BOARD OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK. Alexander Henry, D.D., 416 THE BOARD OF FOREIGN MISSIONS—Outlook for the Coming Year 418 THE BOARD OF MINISTERIAL RELIEF. B. L. Agnew, D.D., LL.D., Cor. Secretary THE BOARD OF CHURCH ERECTION. Duncan J. McMillan, D.D., Secretary THE BOARD OF EDUCATION. Joseph Wilson Cochran, D.D., Secretary 449 452 454 456 459 461 462 OUR CHURCH, ITS BOARDS AND OFFICERS THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY. Office, Room 515, Witherspoon Bldg., 1319 Walnut The Board of Foreign Missions.-Office, 156 Fifth Alexander Henry, D.D. Bus. Sup., and Trees., Frank M. Braselmann. The Board of Church Erection.-Office,156 Fifth Ave., The Board of Ministerial Relief.-Office, 1319 Walnut Permanent Committee on Temperance. -Office, 72 Conestoga Bldg., Pittsburgh, Pa. Secretary and Treasurer, John F. Hill, D.D. THE ASSEMBLY HERALD is the Official Magazine of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A., published for the HORACE P. CAMDEN, Bus. Mgr. Tenth and Scull Sts., Lebanon, Pa. 1328 Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. Entered at the Lebanon, Pa., Post-office as second-class matter. THE ASSEMBLY HERALD D The Magazine of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A. AUGUST, 1912 Rev. James Russell Miller, D.D R. MILLER, whose death occurred in Philadelphia on the 2d of July, 1912, was widely known throughout our own and other lands through his writings. As Editorial Superintendent of the Board of Publication and Sabbathschool Work, a position which he filled with distinguished ability from 1880 to the time of his death, he had the editor ial oversight of all the books and periodicals issued by the Board. He gave special attention to the Westminster Teacher, through which thousands of Sunday-school teachers received inspiration and instruction; and he was also much interested in Forward and the other Sundayschool publications of the Board. He was a prolific writer of devo tional books, which have had a remarkably wide circulation. A number of these books have been translated into foreign languages. In addition to his literary work Dr. Miller had the privilege of being helpfully associated in pastoral work with three of the fore most churches of Philadelphia. From 1869 to 1878 he was the pastor of the Bethany Church, to which, with the aid of the Superintendent, Hon. John Wanamaker, he was able to give an impetus which has made it one of the leading churches of our land. From 1881 to 1897 he was connected with the Holland Memorial Church, and saw it grow from an humble mission field into a church of some 1,200 members with a school of above 1,600. Dr. Miller resigned from the Holland field to devote himself exclusively to the editorial work of the Board, but the call of the pastorate was too strong to be resisted, and soon he was again laboring in an obscure mission which through his tireless labors was destined to develop into the important St. Paul's Church, with its splendid plant, 1,500 members and flourishing school of 1,300 teachers and scholars. Dr. Miller was the pastor emeritus of this church at the time of his death. PUBLICATION AND SABBATH SCHOOL WORK ALEXANDER HENRY, D.D., Secretary Looking Forward to Rally Day Planning for Rally Day. Such a day needs to be carefully planned for quite awhile in advance. We have to decide what we will do, and how we will do it. It is desirable that the representatives of the different organizations of the Church, which are to participate in the Rally Day services, should confer together so that their plans will not in any way conflict, but rather combine for the accomplishment of the ends in view. The pastor and superintendent should be leaders in the preparation for Rally Day, and it may be well for them to call the conference which will determine the plans and provide for their execution. it is possible to enlist the interest of all the members of the congregation-the old as well as the young-Rally Day will be a far more helpful day for the church at large and for each department, than it would be if observed by only one organization. There are, at least, three aspects of church work that should be united in making Rally Day a success. These are the congregational service held on Sunday morning; the Sunday school; and the young people's societies. In churches where the Sunday schools meet in the afternoon, Rally Day can be held in the morning for the congregation, in the afternoon for the Sunday school, and in the evening for the young people. The pastor, with his elders, should plan for the morning service; the superintendent, with his officers and teachers, for the Sunday school service; and the officers of the young people's SABBATH SCHOOL WORK societies, in conference with the officers of the church, for the evening service. These plans should then be combined, and an invitation sent to the families of the church, announcing the services of the day and urging a full attendance upon them all. This need not interfere with any special invitations that may be sent to members of the Sunday school or young people's societies. Plans for the Sunday School. What shall our Sunday schools set before them on Rally Day as their plans for fall and winter work? The answer to this question will be determined, to some extent, by local conditions, but there are some matters of a general character that should be of interest to us all. The first is the proposed increase of twenty-five per cent. in our Sunday school membership. This is a suggestion of the Sunday school Board, growing out of its twenty-fifth anniversary of missionary work. The Board feels that its mission of religious education to the boys and girls of our land does not include those only who are living in communities where there is no Sunday school. There are multitudes of our American youth who are growing up in ignorance of God's Word and entirely without Christian training, in the very shadow of some of our city churches. It is a startling fact that there are in the United States as many boys and girls who are attending no Sunday school as there are in our schools. It is our duty to find these youth and bring them into some school where they may study the Word of God and fit themselves for Christian manhood and womanhood. The Board suggests that each Sunday school sets before it on Rally Day as a definite aim, the effort to increase its membership twentyfive per cent. before the close of the Church year. If this should be done by all our schools, it would add three hundred thousand new members to the Sunday school. 417 which can qualify upon seven points is known as a Progressive school; the one that attains them all, is a Standard school. Many of our schools are "Progressive," but few are, as yet, "Standard." It would be well for schools that have not reached the entire ten points to enter upon a new effort on Rally Day to accomplish this. While the offering is not the The Offering. most important feature of Rally Day, it has an important place. Some ten years ago, the General Assembly recommended that our Sunday schools devote their Rally Day offerings to the work for the foreigners in America. The Sunday school Board publishes religious papers and Sunday school helps in foreign languages, and sends out colporteurs to work among the foreigners in the United States. The expense of this work is more than $20,000.00 annually, while the Rally Day contributions of our Sunday schools amount to about $10,000. This makes it necessary to take money for our foreign work that might be spent in promoting Sunday school missions. We are hoping that the gifts this year will show an advance upon those of former years. |