Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1877-02-23
Do Churches Pay2


The tendency of our times is to reduce
everything to the pecuniary standard, and
while there is something quite gross in this
materialsm, there is also that which is high
ly commendable. As man is constituted and
society arranged We do not SEQ how the Pc
cuniary basis eau be Ignored, though, as we
have limited, there is such thing as carry.
ing the matter too far. And this question
of churches must and should be put along.
side Of every other matter pertaining to the
well-beiug of society. We do not say the
pecuniary considerations are the highest, or
of greatest moment, any more than the real
worth Of an education can determined by
the money it costs. But churches, like cul
ture and art and literature have their pecun-
larry side, and in this article we wish to look
at them with respect to that side. OF course
the indirect as we'll as the direct bearings Of
churches on financial prosperity are to be
considered, and so the remote as well as i'm
mediate results are to be taken into account.
When reduced to its ultimate analysis,
a church. with its house of worship, minis.
ter, public services and outgrowng beuevo-
ence is a money tax on the community in
which it is located, and the question is, does
itpay2 We build and keep in repair high
ways, sustain schools by public tax, and do
it because in the united judgment of the
people it pays to do these things. Not that
the people Of a certain town received back
directly or indirectly during the year 1876,
for instance, all the moneys expended on
highways or schools, but in the long run they
are satisfied they will get back the aggre-
gate of all the moneys devoted to these
matters. Do churches stand in the same
list Of "paying institutions ?" Of course
the support Of churches is voluntary mat
ter, while schools and roads are maintained
by equitably apportiOued taxes on all the
people. Nevertheless a church is tax on
the community where it is located, even
though borne by few.
The elements Of our civilization are very
complex, and the farther civilization ad.
vances, the more that completely increases,
and therefore we cannot analyze or dissect
human society and say, our district schools
do so much, our academies aud colleges do
each so much more, the newspapers perform
another definite part, a public library does
this exact amount, aud our churches contrib.
ute another portion giving the particular
and exact amount which each one Of these
forces contributes to the general and aggre.
gate good which we call civilization. The
chemist can analyze the soil or water, or a
patent medicine, or commercial fertilizer,
but no chemistry can thus reduce this CON-
pick civilization to its primeval elements or
forces the most that can be done is only an
approximate analysis. AS an enlightened
people do we believe 10 the value of schools
aud colleges roads aud telegraphs and pa
pers and books and libraries and agricultural
societies, etc., because an impossible analysis
has been reached? No, but because the
experience of generations has shown the pc.
cuniary value OF tbs to the community
state, or nation. The experience of the
ages has demonstrated the fact that civiliza-
ton could not exist without them; even
more, that they are the integral factors of
our civilization, and they have given to our
fields and merchandise and herds auC
stocks their commercial value. Society
might exist of course with the loss of thes,
forces, but it would be a defective, depro
} ciated and imperfect society, just as a mar
may still be man though he suffers the los,
of one of his arms, but he would be les
complete and serticeable to himself or 9th
ers with one than with two arms. A mar
with two arms is the divine idea Of fully
equipped man, and the loss of one arm mol
: only imposes disadvantage, but inActs
| loss. The divine ideal Of perfected human
society or civilization has not been revealed
and we can not therefore say just what i
, would be; all we know anything about is tina
J which has been revealed or exists Civil
zation as it now exists is the most porlec
form yet known; what its points are We ca
! determine, and it needs no words Of our
to say that among the great determining
D forces of our civilization the Christian churci
occupies no unimportant position, The dis
f tinctive feature of our modern civilizatio
- was born of the Reformation; it was nur
: tured and grew with the growth Of tina
0 great moral upkeaval and it sprang lorwar
to new life aud new conquests with the new
f; life Of the churches under the inspiring guiC
ance Of White6eld and the Wesleys. Tn
}. founders Of our own New England--thO
Q which LougfellOw calls the "cOrner stone {
y nation, first, homes for the
o wives and children, then temples for III
# worship Of the Most High God, and the
" school houses for the proper culture of the