The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1906-09-10
| PRESIDENTIAL
PREACHMEN1
Address at Oyster Bay Church Urges
Clean Living and Civic
Virtue.

OANtti i3u ~ t1ftst A3' = AttFtNStt
Roosevelt participated Saturday ia the
2ooth anniversary celebration a Christ
Episcopal church, which he attends dur
ing the summer stay at Oyster Bay.
The celebration Was held in the church
ediiiee, which bears the date 1905 on
It's cornerstone. Admission was limited
to the church membership and the cher
IN. x collation. followed III the parish
hall the president partaking and chat
ting freely with visitors and church
members
The president said IN part II can
not understand any American citizen
who has the faintest feeling III patriot
ism and devotion to his country failing
to appreciate THE absolutely essential
need Of religion, using il in III broadcast
and deepest sense To the welfare at this
country | Wish 70 emphasize the vital
importance To This nation 81 our people
being taught to realize that the highest
value ii christianity Inanifests itself
in the conduct al those who profess i'll"
The president then quoted the last Axe
verses in the first chapter III james, and
asked bis congregation to remember in
this connection the verse ending the sec
onl chapter. The president continued:
'I DO not know that / am prepared to
assent 10 the statement that we are
SO much worse than we used ID be, but
it il not Of Importance whether AZ a
matter ~ academic belief we hold that
things have grown better ar have grown
verse What II of vital importance is
that we should be resolved To 10 all il
our power FAT this present moment,
a. we'll as IN the future to make them
better; and If sc ARE i unit in the belief
it il open 10 Us To differ a. regards the
other matter
n dc feel that there has been a real
growth in broad Christian charity
do believe that The different creeds are
III the essentials ii really vital things,
coming closer and closer together all
the time because ! think that they are
grasping the fact that the way III which
they can best serve the Lord is not
w warning against one smother, but by
joining hand in hand, b. standing shout
der 10 shoulder III the great struggle
I against unrighteousness in the great
war for deeency, for honesty. for clean
living IN the home no less than in the
nation The worth If any creed must
in the long run be Judged largely biz
the conduct Of those who profess II It
lis tine conduct Of The average Christian,
not on SUNDAY but on week days. not
in the church alone, bat in his family
and in his relations 20 his neighbors
and 10 the state, that viii more than
anything else determine IN the eyes Of
the general public the worth 81 the creed
That man processes Ii man treats
! going to church OF mere devotion III
word to his creed, not as to the outward
/ forms Of his creed. NOT as incentive Ii
decent action, be II in very truth an
enemy to the creed he Processes; he Il
a drawback and not help TO the
church
~1he man Ii not good Christian
/ who in his business dealings fails u
1 remember il Il incumbent upon him IL
| hold d higher standard than his fel-
lows; that II is incumbent upon him
4 II he Is a very rich man. TO make It
evident alike III the way he earns and
the ways he spends his fortune that the
word al the Lord is 90 him living
truth and not dead doctrine. And, d
course. what I say applies even more
stBnglv TO the man ia public life than
to the man in business, than 10 the
man in private life.
More and more believe that people
who possess either religious belief o.
aspiration after religious belief art
growing to demand conduct as the ulti-
mate test Of the worth Of belief When
ever we read in the newspapers that some
man esteemed 20 Dc pillar of The
church has been guilty Of business dis
honesty, or political dishonesty OF Of
fenses against the moral law IN ans
shape Or way, al who are members 81
the churches SHOULD feel far greater
/ the churches shonld feel far greater
regret By far than those who are not
We cannot afford "a let il be supposed
4 for moment that We exact from those
who are attendants at, or members 81
4 churches any less strict observance d
the moral law. anything but more
strict Observance 81 the moral law, II
all relations OF life than we expect from
those who 40 not 20 To churches, o.
who do not belong TO them