Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-28

by doing so 1 can influence any one TO
give up the use of intoxicating liquor.
Here are three things which have ex-
erted an influence upon my life and al
of them became controlling Influences
when ! was young. The fourth thing 10
which l refer has been ever more % .ent
] became a member OF the church "a
fourteen, when / was only two-th.rds rs
old as one must h to sign decd Did
| know anything about creeds? No. /
was not only too young 10 nave any
knowledge Of creeds, but / have been too
busy since lhat tine to give the ma Ter
much study, and / see no prospect Of
leisure at this time. In fact. am almost
afraid to take deep interest in trrels
for fear IL might disturb my donest ic
relations. My father was a Baptist. ana
at the time Of my oirth ny mother was
Methodist. bur she afterward joined the
Baptist Church with NY father. | Joined
the Presbyterian Church-first the cum
beriand and afterward took my letter 10
the Presbyterian Church because there
was no Cumberland church where 1 at
tended college.
My wifes father was brought up A
Presbyterian, but became a Methodist.
and my wife entered the Methodist
Church before we Were married, but aft
erward joined the Presbyterian Church
with me In Nebraska however, we
usually attend the Methodist Church. be-
cause it Is more convenient 20 our home.
We haze three children. our eldest is an
EpiscopaliaR, our second n Methodist and
our third a CongreGationalist. And
have five grandchildren. through whom
We hope 70 connect ourselves with other
branches OF the Christian church You
see how embarrassing it would be for ne
TO lay too much emphasis upon creeds
but l have a firm hold upon Tie princi-
pies which underlie all the churches. 4
have defended Christianity around the
world, but 1 have never made a speech
upon religion that could not be made
with equal propriety in my church call
ing itself Christian church.
When / say that morals rest upon reli-
gion [ use the word religion in its
broadest sense. | Use II as Tolstoi used IL
when he defined religion the relation
that man fixes between himself and his
God. and he added that morality is the
outward manifestation of this inward re-
lation.
One cannot build moral character with
out plan OF life. and he can only plan
life when he understands that the world
is built upon a plan. The first fact that
confronts man is God.
We have given the atheist too much
latitude. We have allowed him to ask
upon ourselves the burden of answering.
Why not take turn-about in asking and
answering? The Christian begins crea-
ton with an all-wise, all-powerful and
ail-loying Creator-a sufficient cause for
all that may come after. Where does
the atheist begin? Ask him. and his
trouble begins. Can he go farther back
than matter and force? Can he explain
the origin of either matter or force? Is
1t not more satisfactory to begin with
God and reason down than to begin with
inanimate clay and reason up? II the
atheist insists that he cannot believe In
God until he can fully understand such
a being | reply that his own logic VIII
drive him to suicide.
Why does the atheist desire TO live
when he does not understand the mys-
terry of his own life? One need not un-
derstand the sun to believe that there
is sun and to enjoy the benefits con-
ferred by the suns rays He need not
understand electricity to enjoy the in
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