Item: i78069

Authentic

England. Huddersfield. Christian Medal
CENTENARY of SUNDAY SCHOOLS
1880 White Metal Medal 4.4 centimeters (diameter of the round part) (35.66 grams)
HUDDERSFIELD HIGHFIELD INDEPENDI AUGUST 14TH 1880 CENTENARY OF SUNDAY SCHOOLS 1880 ROBERT RAIKES, Bust of Robert Raikes left.
SUFFER THE LITTLE CHILDREN TO COME UNTO ME, Jesus Christ with children and mothers.

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Jesus’ teachings referring to little children (παιδίον, paidíon) and infants/babies appear in several places in the New Testament and in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.

New Testament

The King James Version of Matthew’s gospel relates that:

At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?
And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,
And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become
as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.
Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.
But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.
Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!
Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. (Matthew 18:1-10)

The word translated as converted in the King James Version  (Greek: στραφητε, straphēte) literally means ‘turn’. It is translated as “turn” in the English and American Standard Versions and as “change” in the New International Version. Elsewhere in the New Testament, the change of heart demanded by John the Baptist and by Jesus often uses the word metanoia (Greek: μετάνοια). German theologian Heinrich Meyer suggests that Jesus’ challenge to his disciples is to “turn round upon [the] road), and to acquire a moral disposition similar to the nature of little children”.

The Kingdom of Heaven is compared to little children at several other places in the New Testament:

• Matthew 19:13-15
  

  Then were there brought unto him little children, that he should put his hands on them, and pray: and the disciples rebuked them.
  But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
  And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.

• Luke 18:15-17
  

  And they brought unto him also infants, that he would touch them: but when his disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
  But Jesus called them unto him, and said, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
  Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.

Gospel of Thomas

Another saying referring to small children can be found in the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas. The two passages (Matthew 18:1-6 and the passage in Thomas) are different in tone. However, both start by comparing those who enter the Kingdom of Heaven to children, and then make references to eyes, hands, and feet. In Matthew, Jesus suggests that these offending parts should be “cut off,” whereas the passage in Thomas takes a different tone in describing spiritual cleansing and renewal:

From the Gospel of Thomas:

22. Jesus saw some babies nursing. He said to his disciples, “These nursing babies are like those who enter the (Father’s) kingdom”. They said to him, “Then shall we enter the (Father’s) kingdom as babies?” Jesus said to them, “When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then you will enter [the kingdom].”^[4]

Robert Raikes (“the Younger“) (14 September 1736 – 5 April 1811) was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman, noted for his promotion of Sunday schools. Pre-dating state schooling and by 1831 schooling 1,250,000 children, they are seen as the first precursor schools of the English state school system.

Raikes was born at Ladybellegate House, Gloucester, in 1736, the eldest child of Mary Drew and Robert Raikes, a newspaper publisher. He was baptised on 24 September 1736 at St Mary de Crypt Church in Gloucester. On 23 December 1767 he married Anne Trigge, with whom he had three sons and seven daughters. Their younger son William Henley Raikes became colonel of the Coldstream Guards, having fought for the British in the Napoleonic Wars. Their oldest son Reverend Robert Napier Raikes had a son General Robert Napier Raikes of the Indian Army.

Sunday schools

Robert was a pioneer of the Sunday school movement, although he did not start the first Sunday School. Some already existed such as that founded by Hannah Ball in High Wycombe which is the first documented known case.

He inherited a publishing business from his father, becoming proprietor of the Gloucester Journal in 1757. He then moved the business into Robert Raikes’ House in 1758. The movement started with a school for boys in the slums. Raikes had become interested in prison reform, specifically with the conditions in Gloucester gaol and saw that vice would be better prevented than cured. He saw schooling as the best intervention. The best available time was Sunday as the boys were often working in the factories the other six days. The best available teachers were lay people. The textbook was the Bible, and the originally intended curriculum started with learning to read and then progressed to the catechism.

Raikes used the paper to publicise the schools and bore most of the cost in the early years. The movement began in July 1780 in the home of a Mrs Meredith. Only boys attended, and she heard the lessons of the older boys who coached the younger. Later, girls also attended. Within two years, several schools opened in and around Gloucester. He published an account on 3 November 1783 of Sunday schools in his paper, and later word of the work spread through the Gentleman’s Magazine, and in 1784, a letter to the Arminian Magazine.

The original schedule for the schools, as written by Raikes was “The children were to come after ten in the morning, and stay till twelve; they were then to go home and return at one; and after reading a lesson, they were to be conducted to Church. After Church, they were to be employed in repeating the catechism till after five, and then dismissed, with an injunction to go home without making a noise.”

There were disputes about the movement in the early years. The schools were derisively called “Raikes’ Ragged School”. Criticisms raised included that it would weaken home-based religious education, that it might be a desecration of the Sabbath, and that Christians should not be employed on the Sabbath. Some leading ecclesiastics-among them Bishop Samuel Horsley-opposed them on the grounds that they might become subservient to purposes of political propagandism. “Sabbatarian disputes” in the 1790s led many Sunday schools to cease their teaching of writing. Notwithstanding all this, Adam Smith gave the movement his strongest commendation: “No plan has promised to effect a change of manners with equal ease and simplicity since the days of the Apostles.”

By 1831, Sunday schools in Great Britain were teaching weekly 1,250,000 children, approximately 25 percent of the population. As these schools preceded the first state funding of schools for the general public, they are seen as the forerunners of the current English school system.

Huddersfield is a large market and university town in West Yorkshire, England. It is the 11th largest town in the United Kingdom, with a population of 162,949 at the 2011 census. It lies 14 miles (23 km) southwest of Leeds and 24 miles (39 km) northeast of Manchester.

Huddersfield is near the confluence of the River Colne and the River Holme. Within the historic county boundaries of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is the largest urban area in the metropolitan borough of Kirklees and the administrative centre of the borough. The town is known for its role in the Industrial Revolution, and for being the birthplaces of rugby league, Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, and the film star James Mason.

Huddersfield is home to rugby league team Huddersfield Giants, founded in 1895, who play in the Super League, and Premier League football team Huddersfield Town A.F.C., founded in 1908. The town is home to the University of Huddersfield and the sixth form colleges Greenhead College, Kirklees College and Huddersfield New College.

Huddersfield is a town of Victorian architecture. Huddersfield railway station is a Grade I listed building described by John Betjeman as “the most splendid station façade in England”, second only to St Pancras, London. The station in St George’s Square was renovated at a cost of £4 million and subsequently won the Europa Nostra award for European architecture.