The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1911-06-06
DESIRABILITY OF
HOUSE OF GOD
Extracts From Sermon Preached BY
Or. Webb At Bay Street Presby-
terrain Church Sunday.

fy., VINO predCneQ tue ueuichtoiy oOi
non, said in part as follows:
zone thing have l desired Of the
Lord, that will l seek after; that l
nay dwell in the house of the Lord all |
The days of my life, to behold the
beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in
MS temple. Psalms 27:4.
David was a great man-great In
intellect and great in character. He
rose from the sheepfold to the throne;
he organized armies, and won famous
battles; he wisely administered the
and widely expanded the
domain of Israel; he organized the
state, and wrote sweet poetry. When
we drop down into the heart Of this
man Of elaborate experience and d.
vine inspiration, and inquire % to the
ruling passion of his life, we read the
text for an answer. To him the
House OF God was worth all the ware
houses in Egypt, all the palaces in
Jerusalem, all the dwellings in all the
land.
ION this happy occasion when a peo-
pie are assembled to dedicate the
work of their hands-to set apart the
memorial Of their sacrifice and devo-
tion-it is proper to stand on the
threshold and inquire as to the value
Of the deed. There ia a tendency to
undervalue the worthfulnsss Of the
church. Men are contrasting 1t with
the farm and the mill, with the factory
and the furnace, and charging that II
is an institution, not Of production
but Of consumption; and SO reaching
the conclusion that the House OF God
is not worth the costs Of It's erection
and maintenance.
ct. 1 argue, in the first place, tina
the House Of God Ia the promoter ant
conservator of the highest forms o
civilization.
Refinement of spirit, elegance o
manner, honorableness in dealing, a.
tainment in culture, development Q
wealth, distinction In arts and arms
these are the signal attributes Of ely
ilization. Their absence indicates tn
barbarian and the savage.
; "It is the testimony Of history, {
travellers and Of missionaries that th
lands which are destitute Of the Hous
Of God are low in the scale Of virtu'
weak in the resources Of happiness
deficient in the decencies and decoruI
of life, and restricted in the comfort
> Of home and society. Some two tho'
sand years ago, before the advent
the House Of God, our forefatheI
were but painted savages, wanderin
on the shores of the German oceal
drinking their beer out of huma
skulls, dwelling in rudest huts, an
subsisting on the meagerest food. TT
Anglo-Saxon of today, conditioned
he is by all the splendors and luxurit
of the present century, is but the chi
o of the House of God. His fields ar
q factories, his school-houses and
, braries, his railroads and steamboat
, telegraphs and telephones, his scien'
and culture,-all the comforts and lu
y uries which crown his existence toda
we're made possible by the spirit whiC
. his religion engendered and the aspir
ton which his Bible created. e
. plain it as you may, the fact of hi
!. tory is that no churchless people ev
q climbed to such splendid heights.
The world is not without an h
f. toric illustration of the tragic cons
quences to civilization when a peop
firing of the House of God, dismanLl
% the place of worship. In a previo
\. century, the legislature of France
10 creed God a non-entity, death an ett
v. nal sleep, abolished worship, al
+ closed the House of God. Then
courtesan was enthroned as the &C
= dess of Reason; the guillotine pour
e stream of blood down the stree
he daily; prisons were crowded with t
at noblest and best Of the land, and tn
to emptied by indiscriminate slaughte
~ marriage was superseded and twer
thousand bastards were born to Pa
- in a single year; human skins We
actually tanned in the tanneries, a
ce employed as common leather. 7
he atrocities and madness OF the Pa
Dr. Commune demonstrate the carnival
Of misery which would follow upon
st, demolition Of the House of God.
Sitting, then, beneath the dome
ce history, which is philosophy teach
he by example, here are the facts VIII
DR. - ---