The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1922-10-13
A SUNDAY SERMON

the Baptist Church of this City,
this life is not all. How easy it is
for us to forget this, because we are
SO happily surrounded with the ma
terial things Of life. We are taught
that the present enjoyments are but
for a moment and cannot be compared
with the future happiness of the chill
dren of God.
Paul says "look not upon the things
which are seen but upon things which
are not seen for the things which are
seen are temporal but things which
are not seen are eternal" IF in this
| life only we have hope in Christ, we
are of all men most miserable"
Jesus says, "In my Fathers house
are many mansions: if it were not so,
| would have told you. ! go to pre-
pare place for you. And If ! go to
prepare place for you, l will come
again, and receive you unto myself,
that where am there we may be ali
So" It is of untold value to mankind
to have hope like this established
in their hearts.
Again the church is Of value be-
cause it seeks to build up the moral
powers of the community.
Would it make any difference il
there were no churches in the COM
munity? Would the moral tone of
the community be different? If we
were to stop the mouths of the preach
ers and close the doors of our church
es would we not do away with one Of
the valuable assets to our communi-
ty? / think our churches are vitality
related to the business of the COM
munity. 1t enhances the value of
property. To remove the churches
would mean that your property would
be worth less. Statistics show that
| the church is the greatest factor in
worldly success, both of men and ma
tions. The success of communities
and nations depends on certain fun
damentals-integrity, faith, industry,
brotherly kindness and interest in
the souls of men.
But to what do we owe these fun
damental qualities? Statistics show
we owe them to the religion of
Christ. Religious conditions are vital
ly related to business success and ma
tional progress. The state of relig-
ion forms good barometer of bus
mess conditions. Every panic has
been foreshadowed by a decline in re-
ligious principles.
We are told that 80 per cent of
building permits in cities are taken
out by church people. 70 per cent of
the bank accounts held by church
people and 70 per cent of the good
books written by them.
| You may feel well off and content
| ed if you have few mortgages
/ stocks and bonds in the safety vault;
and the bank official may show you
the steel vault and the great irof
gate, but all this is not guarantee
of its security-you are dependent af-
ter all upon the integrity of the peo-
pie. The development of America
I is largely due to the teachings of
the church. The question has been
asked why South America is so back
ward as compared with North Amer
lea. The answer given is, that the
people who discovered South Amer
lea came in search of gold, while
those who came to North America
came in search of God. Let us not
kick down the ladder by which we
have climbed.
If our church is of any value to us
then let US support it with our man.
hood and money as an institution
worthy of our best. If Jesus thought
enough of the church to give His
own life for it, surely we who have
access to all its benefits and blessings
should honor it more often with our
presence, more largely with our purs-
es and more earnestly with our pray
ers.