monplace
devout observances and conceits may therefore be pointed out.

Obviously, the canon of conspicuous waste is accountable for a great
portion of what may be called devout consumption; as, e.g., the
consumption of sacred edifices, vestments, and other goods of the same
class. Even in those modern cults to whose divinities is imputed a
predilection for temples not built with hands, the sacred buildings and
the other properties of the cult are constructed and decorated with some
view to a reputable degree of wasteful expenditure. And it needs but
little either of observation or introspection--and either will serve the
turn--to assure us that the expensive splendor of the house of worship
has an appreciable uplifting and mellowing effect upon the worshipper's
frame of mind. It will serve to enforce the same fact if we reflect upon
the sense of abject shamefulness with which any evidence of indigence or
squalor about the sacred place affects all beholders. The accessories
of any devout observance should be pecuniarily above reproach. This
requirement is imperative, whatever latitude may be allowed with regard
to these accessories in point of aesthetic or other serviceability. It
may also be in place to notice that in all communities, especially in
neighborhoods where the standard of pecuniary decency for dwellings
is not high, the local sanctuary is more ornate, more conspicuously
wasteful in its architecture and decoration, than the dwelling houses
of the congregation. This is true of nearly all denominations and cults,
whether Christian or Pagan, but it is true in a peculiar degree of
the older and maturer cults. At the same time the sanctuary commonly
contributes little if anything to the physical comfort of the members.
Indeed, the sacred structure not only serves the physical well-being
of the members to but a slight extent, as compared with their humbler
dwelling-houses; but it is felt by all men that a right and enlightened
sense of the true, the beautiful, and the good demands that in all
expenditure on the sanctuary anything that might serve the comfort of
the worshipper should be conspicuously absent. If any element of comfort
is admitted in the fittings of the sanctuary, it should be at least
scrupulously screened and masked under an ostensible austerity. In the
most reputable latter-day houses of worship, where no expense is spared,
the principle of austerity is carried to the length of making the
fittings