A conviction is a great thing. It is the egg out of which all great enterprises are hatched. Almost everything that is worth while was once wrapped up in a conviction. 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.