The church of the open country; . ery swiftly, haveincreased. In the past ten years in the Middle Westthis increase has been in some sections about onehundred per Giving as a Timely Message. The churches ofspeculative farmers are churches whose most markedcharacteristic is giving. We are likely to think ofspeculation as a purely destructive process. It isthe acid bath in which the farmers social economyis dipped, which burns off all that is not permanentin the previous economy, and prepares for the put-ting on of the new order in which the farmer shalltill the land by science rather tha
The church of the open country; . ery swiftly, haveincreased. In the past ten years in the Middle Westthis increase has been in some sections about onehundred per Giving as a Timely Message. The churches ofspeculative farmers are churches whose most markedcharacteristic is giving. We are likely to think ofspeculation as a purely destructive process. It isthe acid bath in which the farmers social economyis dipped, which burns off all that is not permanentin the previous economy, and prepares for the put-ting on of the new order in which the farmer shalltill the land by science rather than by tradition. Butspeculation is a process of valuing things in Church, as all other things, comes to be esti-mated in terms of money. The doctrine of theexploiter is the doctrine of giving. This is the trans-formation which country churches need to make atthe present time. Other things in the country com-munity are valued in money. The farmer has been 1 Professor John Lee Coulter in the Statistical Journal,March, RENTER S BARN AND CABIN Church and Community 39 eager for cash with which to secure better machin-ery, suitable fertilizers for his land, education forhis children, and other aids to progress. He iseager to use money in preparing himself for thenew era into which he is going, and he is per-fectly right. It is important that religion be in-terpreted to him in terms of giving money. Theconsecration of wealth is the doctrine which theminister must preach to farmers in the day of buy-ing and selling. Program of Improvements. The country com-munity is profoundly affected in like manner byspeculation. The problems of the community cometo be those of new taxation for better schools, bond-ing the county for the construction of stone roads,,and securing contributions for libraries, for theorganizing of Young Mens Christian Associations,and other projects which call for cash. The old-fashioned farmer resists these demands. He is notaccustomed to spending large
Size: 1281px × 1951px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectruralchurches, bookye
