(_c_) As the representative body controlling the secular school places the oversight of the system and its details of management in the hands of a general executive officer, or superintendent, so the governing power of the church entrusts the management of the Sunday-school to one of similar name—a superintendent. (_d_) As the secular school is within and subordinate to the community, and alongside of the home as its aid and supplement, so the Sunday-school is within and subordinate to the church, and beside the Christian home as its supplement. Let us gather up these propositions concerning the Sunday-school into a general definition. _Definition._ The Sunday-school is a department of the church of Christ, in which the word of Christ is taught for the purpose of bringing souls to Christ and building up souls in Christ. As suggested by this definition, we make the following propositions: (1) The Sunday-school is a _school_. (2) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for the church. (3) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for the prayer meeting. (4) The Sunday-school is not a substitute for home training. (5) The Sunday-school is _in_ the church as an integral part. (6) The Sunday-school is subordinate to the church. (7) The Sunday-school is an aid to the Christian home. _II. The Purpose of the Sunday-school._ 1. The chief purpose of the Sunday-school is the _spiritual education_ of the soul. By education we do not mean the mere putting in possession of knowledge. There have been learned men who were not educated men; men of wide knowledge, but with the power of _self-control_ and _self-use_ undeveloped. By education we mean leading the soul out of its natural condition, into a condition where it can do what God meant it to do, and be what God meant it to be. Spiritual education will therefore be the development of a soul by nature averse to divine control, into a condition of oneness with the divine will, such as is made possible by the at-one-ment of Jesus Christ. This process involves, (1) conversion, and (2) upbuilding in Christ, and would produce, if unhindered, a character that would reach toward the measure of the fulness of Christ. But many souls in the church have never reached farther than the first or preparatory step in spiritual education—the step which we call conversion. Hence, 2. A second purpose of the Sunday-school is upbuilding in Christ, and this is possible only through searching study of the Word of God. As the astronomer must know all the intricacies of his science, and be able with the telescope to read the heavens as an open book, and scan their farthest depths, so the Christian must know the hidden mysteries and deep things of God as revealed in the Bible, which is both text-book and telescope to the soul.