Tending directly toward the same object, is the religious enterprise now commonly known as the Institutional Church. It is a distinct gain to the church if the people in its vicinity discover that it is anxious to help them to a better and happier life in this world, as well as guiding them to happiness in the next. The Divine Founder of Christianity never ignored the fact that men have bodies which need saving, as well as souls, and some of His followers are following His example. Their churches do not stand closed and silent from Sunday to Sunday, but are open every day and evening, busy with some form of practical helpfulness. Temperance societies, coal clubs, sewing meetings, dime savings banks, gymnasiums, boys' clubs, and a host of helpful associations tending to the betterment of life, find their home under the roof of the church, and the pastor and his helpers are finding out the social and economical needs of the people by actual contact with them and devising means to supply them. The critics say this is not the business of the church, but they are not found among the people who derive benefit from this form of thoughtful interest in their welfare.
Of all the products of this prolific nineteenth century, the one most extensive and most profitable to the church still remains to be mentioned. Though this century did not see the birth of the Sunday School, it has witnessed its wonderful development. In June, 1784, Robert Raikes published his famous letter outlining his plan for the religious instruction of children on the Lord's Day, and before the close of the year, John Wesley wrote that he found Sunday Schools springing up wherever he went, and added with prophetic insight: "Perhaps God may have a deeper end therein than men are aware of. Who knows but some of these schools may become nurseries for Christians?" Within five years, a quarter of a million children were gathered into the Sunday Schools. So much had already been done before the beginning of the century. But even then men did not realize whereunto the movement was destined to grow. Probably no enterprise has really exerted a deeper and stronger influence on the religious life of the time. Children have entered the schools, passed through their grades, have become teachers in their turn, and their descendants have followed in their footsteps, until now we can scarcely bring ourselves to believe that a little more than a hundred years ago the Sunday School was unknown. The organization of Sunday School Unions, the introduction of the International Lesson System, and the City, State and National Conventions are all the developments of this century. The thought that a million and a half of Sunday School teachers are now engaged in every clime, Sunday by Sunday, in teaching the children and young people the truths of Christianity is enough to fill the mind of the Christian with thankfulness and hope.