Report of Missouri Farmers' Week. 



295 



also interest themselves in farm improvement and every phase of 

 rural life betterment. 



A general and early revival of religion is the only hope of the 

 rural churches, and without it all our programs will fail. The 

 problem must be solved, not by the experts, but by the aspirations 

 and insistent call of the Lord's people. 



A resident ministry and longer pastorates are greatly needed 

 on the rural field. The grouping of our rural churches is also 

 greatly to be desired. 



It is time for us to rediscover God and return to our first love ; 

 it is time for us to rearrange our schedules, and give God a place 

 on the program; it is time for us to readjust our values and put 

 God's Kingdom first. We must honor God's Word; we must take 

 time to pray; we must keep the Lord's Day holy; we must go to the 

 Lord's House to worship ; we must pay God what we owe Him ; we 

 must bear testimony to God's grace; we must supply the world's 

 need; then will His Kingdom come and Zion will prosper. The 

 family altar and the family pew are in almost universal neglect and 

 decay. These bulwarks of private and public devotion must be re- 

 established without delay. 



ADDRESS. 



(Rev. Clarence E. Hatfield, Hoberg, Mo.) 



There are times when to talk religion is merely a waste of timf . 



I have always thought that when a man is 

 milking a cow and the cow kicks and upsets 

 the milk and the milk goes down Brother 

 Jones' boot leg, that would be an awful poor 

 time to talk rehgion to Mr. Jones, but if 

 you come along and see that, and you had a 

 cow that kicked you sometime in the past, 

 and you know how to break the animal of 

 her habit and tell Brother Jones, then when 

 that is done he will listen to you while you 

 talk religion. If he has been trying to raise 

 barley or some other crop where the land 

 needs grass or cowpeas to bring it into the 

 production it ought to enjoy, and the 



preacher has given just a year or two to these problems that Mr. 



Jones needs to have solved, and he can go out to the farm and 



Rev. Hatfield. 



