When we deal with the heart we must deal with religion, for religion controls the heart; and, when we consider religion we find that the religious environment that surrounds our young people is as favourable as their intellectual environment.  As in the case of education, lack of appreciation may be due in part to lack of opportunity to make comparison.  If we visit Asia, where the philosophy of Confucius controls, or where they worship Buddha, or follow Mahomet, or observe the forms of the Hindu religion, we find that except where they have borrowed from Christian nations, they have made no progress in fifteen hundred years.  Here, all have the advantage of Christian ideals, and yet, according to statistics, something more than half the adult males of the United States are not connected with any religious organization.  Some scoff at religion, and a few are outspoken enemies of the Church.  Can they be blind to the benefits conferred by our churches?  Security of life and property is not entirely due to criminal laws, to a sheriff in each county, and to an occasional policeman.  The conscience comes first; the law comes afterward.

Law is but the crystallization of conscience; moral sentiment must be created before it can express itself in the form of a statute.  Every preacher and priest, therefore, whether his congregation be large or small, who quickens the conscience of those who hear him helps the community.  Every church of every denomination, whether important or unimportant, that helps to raise the moral standards of the land benefits all who live under the flag, whether they acknowledge their obligations or not.

But lack of appreciation on the part of those outside the Church would not disturb us so much if all the church members lived up to their obligations.  How much is it worth to one to be born again?  Of what value is it to have had the heart touched by the Saviour and so changed that it loves the things it used to hate and hates the things it formerly loved?  Of what value is it to have one’s life so transformed that, instead of resembling a stagnant pool, it becomes like a living spring, giving forth constantly that which refreshes and invigorates?  What is it worth to the Christian, and what is it worth to those about him, to have his life brought by Christ into such vital living contact with the Heavenly Father, that that life becomes the means through which the goodness of God pours out to the world?

But, I go a step farther and ask whether the Church as an organization—­not any one denomination, but the Church universal—­appreciates its great opportunities, its tremendous responsibility, and the infinite power behind it.  If the Church is what we believe it to be it must be prepared to grapple with every problem, individual and social, whether it affects only a community or involves a state, a nation, or a world.  There must be some intelligence large enough to direct the world or the