1905 The Church and the Young Man. 2. The Problem of Commercialism. 3. The Problem of Church Federation. 4. The Church and the Working Man. 5. The Problem of Authority in the Religious Life. The all-absorbing topic at present is the Student Volunteer Convention at Nashville, some further mention of which will appear in the next issue of the RECORD. Auburn is not falling behind her oldtime spirit and enthusiasm. The delegation from the Seminary was at first to number fifteen men. The skillful work of an able committee however secured, instead of funds for a possible fifteen men, money to cover the expenses of a sure eighteen. Such being Dr. Schauffler presented "The minister's relation to the Sundayschool" from the viewpoint of the minister as teacher. In pressing the importance of the work with children he said, "The hope of the Church of the future is in the children of the present." the case there should be a vital touch between the Sunday-school and church services, between the pastor of the church and the scholars of the Sunday-school. Many have sought to solve the problem. Some have organized children's churches. Others have undertaken the superintending of their schools themselves, not trusting to the laymen available. A striking fact in this connection is that above one-half of the ministers of the Borough of Manhattan are superintendents of their own Sunday-schools. The point at issue is to reach the young people and to do this there are five avenues of approach: the eye-gate, ear-gate, nose-gate, mouth-gate and touch-gate. Only the eye-gate and ear-gate are ordinarily available to the teacher, so the appeal must be made as strong as possible to these. Two ways of appealing to the eye-gate and ear-gate were noted by Dr. Schauffler in the object sermon and in blackboard or paper outline work. Object sermons make a vivid impression upon the mind's eye, because any mind can grasp a likeness. For instance take a match; strike it and there is a small flame which doesn't seem to amount to a great deal. Yet the lamps of a great cathedral might be lighted with it, or with properly arranged dynamite and fuses a whole village might be destroyed by simply applying the lighted match. So we illustrate the power of the tongue. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth! The true worth of such work lies in its simplicity. Just so soon as we develop the complex the force is gone. The magnet uncharged is powerless; attach the wires of a dry battery and immediately we can pick up great weights. So far, good. We see the grace of God entering the heart of a life heretofore entirely passive and making that life a power among men in drawing them upward. But having reached this point we should not begin to explain the operation by the arrangement of the atoms, by polarization and all the molecular movements. It then becomes complex and the whole effect is gone. Simplicity here is an absolutely necessary quality. The blackboard work consists in an appeal mainly to the eye-gate. The arranging of important headings and truths on the blackboard or paper serves to fix them in the mind. Many illustrations may make clear a hidden truth to the child. The suggestions here were: Do not strive to make the work beautiful but rather plain and legible. The ethic is often lost in the artistic. Simple, interesting and forceful analogies make pictures in the child's mind and heart, the impressions of which are often lifelong. Our thoughts have of late been brought very close to those unseen things which lie beyond our present life. Twice has God's hand taken from our midst one whom we loved. Dr. Darling was taken home on Saturday, February 3, and our fellow student Frank Putnam on Sunday, February 18. Dr. Darling was a matchless friend to the students, as to all others who came within his sphere. His patient and untiring endeavor to help men to solve the perplexing problems of our theological course made him very dear to all. His lofty and joyful faith shed on every one an influence which drew man nearer to God. The shock of Mr. Putnam's death was the more severe because so unexpected. His three years here in the seminary were typical of his whole life, a life devoted entirely and unswervingly to the ideals of his Christian convictions. No thought of self ever hindered his activity, for his whole being was given to God's work. God has taken these dear ones from us, but our lives have been enriched from having known them, and thereby has God blessed both them and us. They "live again in minds made better by their presence.' It is one thing to appreciate a blessing and another to show that appreciation. All Auburnians have a justified pride in the Silliman Club House, but our friends Professor and Mrs. Reed have taken upon themselves to show their appreciation in a substantial way. They have added much to the beauty and attractiveness of the reception room by adding two very fine pictures to those already given. These pictures are very appropriate and harmonize admirably with the equipment of the room. The titles are, "The Pastures of Judea," and "Nazareth." We all thank Professor and Mrs. Reed most heartily for the further expression of their interest and friendship manifest in the gift. NOTE-Book Reviews are omitted in this number for lack of space. MAY 10, 1906. The publication of the annual Catalogue has been The Catalogue delayed until the Legislature had passed and the Governor had signed the bill consolidating the Governing Boards of the Seminary, and shortening its name. This bill appears in full on the last pages of the Catalogue, and a partial list of the new Board of Directors on its second page. An examination of this imperfect list will reveal the fact that, as in the past, the Seminary is to be governed by representative ministers and men of distinction in secular life. A comparison of the new Catalogue with that of last year shows a gain of six in the number of students enrolled, the present total being fifty-nine. This is the largest enrollment, with the exception of one year, since 1900. Twenty-four states and countries and thirty institutions and seven denominations are represented in the student body. This is an impressive illustration of the non-sectional and interdenominational character of the institution. The array of distinguished names among those who have given lectures or addresses before the students during the year emphasizes the direct touch in which the Seminary keeps with leading men and movements in the church and society. In this respect she has no intention of falling behind those institutions which are located in the great centers of population. The addition of nearly a thousand books and pamphlets to our Library indicates the growing usefulness of that important factor in the Seminary life. Attention is called to the new Social Service Scholarships, yielding $150 each. These are awarded to students who have excelled in the department of Sociology. Holders of these scholarships devote three months of the long summer vacation to Settlement Work in some great city. Last year three men held these scholarships, two worked in New York, one in Chicago. The aim of the curriculum as indicated in the outline of work given by the various professors is, not to train an occasional man to become an expert in some one branch of theological learning, but rather to give each man a well-rounded equipment for the actual work of the preacher and pastor. This is also illustrated by the extensive courses offered in Religious Pedagogy, in the Sunday-school, and in the English Bible. The chief events of the current year, as reported, are the inauguration of Professor Dulles at the opening of the fall term, the action of the Commissioners, Trustees and Presbyteries governing the Seminary, which led to the change in its name and mode of government, and the appointment of an Endowment Committee. Notice appears of the death of a Commissioner, General Charles W. Darling of Utica on June 23, 1905; of a Trustee, Mr. Albert J. Pitkin of New York on November 16, 1905; of a Professor, Dr. Timothy G. Darling on February 3, 1906; and of a student, Mr. Frank L. Putnam of the class of 1906 on February 18, 1906. Professor Reed succeeds Dr. Darling as Secretary of the Faculty, and the Rev. Charles G. Burd has had charge of the instruction in Elocution. Books. The page of Book Reviews is never a page to skip, though it may sometimes be a page to skim. The Book Reviews in this issue of the RECORD are particularly worth reading, and all Auburn graduates will feel a genuine pride and sense of proprietorship in the two books given this last year by the Auburn professors to the press, which receive a prominent place among the reviews of this Commencement number. The pleasure is keen and exhilarating with which we read the evidently sincere criticisms, genuinely appreciative and full of praise, of Professor Beecher's The Prophets and the Promise, and Professor Hoyt's The Work of Preaching. In response to a very frequent request from students and Alumni we are glad to include in the book department of this number suggestive lists of books for the pastor's library. These lists are brief, but they are comprehensive, and they are recommended by the professors of the different departments. The list in each department forms a good nucleus about which to gather a library for that special line of work, and the lists as a whole make a good foundation for any pastor's or student's working library. They are books that are worthy of an intimate acquaintance, whose covers and pages ought to show marks of the owner's friendship with them. The Board of The change in the government of the Seminary which was begun two years ago is at last completed. The long and cumbersome title, Trustees of the Theological Seminary of Auburn, in the State of New York," gives place to the more usable title of "Auburn Theological Seminary," so that now the Seminary is officially and legally known by the name by which it has been commonly called. The old Boards of Commissioners and Trustees consisting of sixty-nine members have been consolidated into a single Board of Directors, consisting of not more than twenty-eight members. Eighteen of these have been elected by the Presbyteries, and they met on April 3, and proceeded to the election of six of the nine they are entitled to elect. One of these, President Wilson of Princeton University, felt constrained by reason of other duties to decline the election, and the other five, President Stryker of Hamilton College, Mr. Robert Cluett of Troy, Mr. Charles P. Mosher, Mr. Fred H. Fay and Hon. George Underwood, all of Auburn, have accepted their elec |