The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-04-21

, material side of religion. When the
hearts of the people of Judah turned
from the Lord, the temple fell into
decay, and the offerings for Its sup
port steadily declined. When there
was turning unto the Lord it was
manifested by ali awakening OF IN
terest in the Lords house, and
marked improvement in the Iiberality
of the people. 1T was not mere com
cidence; IT was a matter OF cause ana
effect There Is in this present life
an essential connection between ,spir-
ituality and an interest in the ma
terial side of the Kingdom of God.
When the heart is fixed on God one
cannot DO indifferent TO the material
int rests OF Gods church, any more
than one can love q neighbor and be
utterly unconcerned about his mate
rial surroundings. The man who does
not care penny whether his neigh
Dor is comfortably fixed or not does
not love his neighbor, and the man
who does not care a penny whether
the house set apart for the worship
of God is a disgrace to the com
munity or not does not love God. In
| either case there may be an album
dance of sentinentality but in neither
case is there a particle of love.
There are people who wish that
there Was no material side of relig-
/ Ion. and there are people who seem
to think that they may get rid of II
/ by ignoring It, But the results OF
i their experiments taus far has not
been encouraging. We know that the
/ man who refuses to Join the visible
/ church on the ground that ii la SUI
/ ficient to worship God in spirit, usu-
ally enes by not worshipping God st
all, az the man who undertakes TO he
+ thankful without giving expression to
his thanks eventually ceases to be
thankful altogether, And there is the
good brother who has grown SO spir-
ituai that he had no use for a house
Of brick or stone in which to wor-
shi"' God, and therefore contributes
nothing toward the building of tho
new church. Wesknow him too we'll;
hts spirituality ia not only Invisible
+ to men; il Is too thin To- be discerned
/ by angels. He is like the man who
grows so ecstatie under the sermon
that il is painful 20 hear the eiink II
filthy lucre" falling into the collee-
/ ton plate. And the man who has
become SO spiritual that he does not
observe stated hours OF prayer be-
cause, as he says. he lis always pray,
( ingwho does not know his end.
There Is nothing more clearly es
taDfished by experience than that We
] who have H material as we'll as Il
spiritual nature must take the mate
! rial into account In cur religion. W.
must giorfy God In our bodies "a
Well as in Our spirits which are hi,
/. We must use our material ta'ngs a
means OF grace. We must teatn our
children that they can no more serve
God by 'tust loving him" after the
fashion Of sickening seutimenraitsts
than a child can do his duty toward
hts mother by just loving her. after
the fayYaion OF some willfml but senti-
mental children The child who really
loves his mother ia his heart will love
her In his Will, and hands and fee,
also, and he who really loves God
Will love him with ali that he has.
Watch that man who has just turned
unto the Lord. How deeply interested
| he his suddenly become in all tho in
forests ~ the church How quick hs
! is Il discover that the roof is leaking,
How careful he Is To have stated hours
/ Of devotion And how cheerful ne ia
! In Ills giving
Golden Text.-~-Then the people re-
| toiced, for that they offered willingly.
/ Il Chron. %: Q