ction. Abraham had a conviction that he ought to obey
God's leading. He took his journey to the "land that he knew not of," and
we have as the result the Hebrew race, and all that has come out of it for
the world.

The vision of which I am telling the story was at first only a conviction.
There were a few things of which I had become certain. Just how the
conviction seized me I hardly know, but I like to think that it came from
the same source from which Abraham's conviction came, and that thought
has made me confident in following this guiding gleam.

1. I became convinced that the real object of the Church is to _serve_ the
people, and that its claim for support should rest upon the same ground
upon which every other institution bases its claim for support--that it
gives value received. That has not always been the idea of church people.
They have considered the Church as a divine institution, and that because
of its divine origin and sacred character it can properly demand respect
and support. There was a time in the not very distant past when the
ministers of the Church, as its representatives, might demand reverence
and respect because of the position they occupied. There was much of
reverence and regard for "the cloth." But those days are past. Now the
Church is valued only for what it does. If it does nothing, it need no
longer look for respectful recognition. If it makes no contribution to
the community whose value can be seen and appreciated, it cannot expect
support or favorable regard. People do not care very much for clerical
dignity in these days. They are not asking what place a man occupies, or
what kind of clothes he wears, but what he does for the community. Is he
rendering valuable service? They are quite ready to pay for service that
is of real worth, but for dignity and traditionary sanctity they have
slight regard.

There are some who seem to think that the Church makes good by building
_itself_ up--that if it becomes strong as an institution, if it flourishes
in its outward aspects, it justifies its existence. They are well
satisfied if it increases in numbers, if it erects splendid and beautiful
buildings, if it contributes substantially to the glory of the
denomination to which it belongs, whether it really serves the people or
not. But it can never answer the ends of its existence by simply building
itself up as an institution. There have been periods in the history of the
Church when it was v