The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-10-25
D|XIELAND METHODIST
CHURCH DEDICATED BY
REV. c. jenkins
Continued from page one.)

aeance in dress in food and in drink.
1t does not encourage costly enter
tsinments and voluptuous feasts; it
checks dissipation and creates senti-
Llent against alcoholics
The church is great reclamation,
agency; 1t picks up outcasts and
downfaflen, and puts them on their
fset again.
1t gives start to paupers: strength
ems indigents and detectives; and
protects and educates orphans. With
it began hospitals for the sick,
schools for the ignorant and super
stitious; and asylums for the unfor-
tunate. Only where there is Chris
tian influence are these things done
by the state; the state got the idea
from the Christian church.
The church is a wise spender. 1t
purchases food that strengthens;
clothing that warns; education that
elevates; and administers charity
that reclaims, and medicines that
cure
The church expensive? Why, it
costs less than tobacco, less than cold
drinks. less than confectionaries, less
than theatres. less than picture
shows, less, far less. than, alcoholics.
, These thin?s mage no monetary re-
turn, while the church is more lu-
erative than merchandise. more pro-
drctive than agriculture, more en-
riching than mines of mineral; for
it protects property, saves the human
tody, enlarges the mind, and brings
/ salvation to the immortal soul
The Sociological View
The church is the greatest sociolo-
sical organization. Sociology, they
sai', is new science. In the schools
it is; but in the church it is as old
as the laws of God. Sociology is the
science of smooth human relation
ship. The church holds the solution
for every human rupture. Love
God with all, and neig,hbor az self
Love suffereth long and Is kind. BY
these principles marriages coalesce
families unity, neighbors are har-
mOnized feuds are eliminated
states are fraternized, nations are
,pacified, and wrongs are rectified
The very basis of the church il
|, universal brotherhood; the creden.
tials of the Master were sight fol
, the blind, strength for the lame
cleansing for the lepers, hearing fol
the deaf, life for the dead, and saliva.
: tion for the poor. Only under tht
; law of brotherhood can capital ant
labor be brought together. No laws
of dead morality can make mer
sacrifice; ithrequires the living in.
terests of love and kinship; ana the
church alone teaches this.
Church Bonds International
The brotherhood is universal ant
the church influence is International
carrying to the world its principles
Of peace and justice, and economics
T and social betterment l know OF
, nothing but the Christian church
that even tends to bind the nations
J into brotherhood Not social bonds
, ror Intellectual bonds, nor domestic
bonds. Commerce and religion make
} the nations touch, but how different
is the touch,
Commerce without Christian prin.
ciples gives baubles for pears, bright
prints for ivory, trinkets for costly
jewels, and playthings for warmin 6
frrs. 1T saps the substance of the
weak. keoning them in poverty anC
Ignorance. that the strong may grow
III the fairness of wealth; in com.
merce without Christ. cowardice
takes that meanest form where
strength Expresses weakness; and il
the weak revolt, commerce calls out
cohorts and brushes heIplessness
and the strong annex the weak tc
their own advantage.
But Christianity is a civilizer and
a nation builder. 1t lifts people from
iungles and ignorance; it gives
clothes for nakedness; homes in
place of leafy booths; business for
stagnating brains; machinery for
empty hands; it produces intelli-
Sence and productivity. 1t teaches
men to dispose wisely of their pro-
ducts; it builds civilization that
products may multiply. When re-
ligion and commerce go hand in
Land. they initiate to the advantage
OF all concerned. and the result is
widespread reciprocity,
! The church casts reflection Of
its light, the light of God, which
goes from man to man till it reaches
: far beyond the confines of church
membership. Men who neither care
tor nor love it are influenced and
. blessed by it. Its liciht is carried tC
the slums in the form of charity; II
goes into the court and softens
Justice with mercy; it follows the
army and Sootbes tho or farino -,