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these chains of prejudice, and take the instead of being poor, diseased in body truth for what it is really worth.

If you were a lawyer trying a case, and they would bring irrefutable testimony that a certain person had committed a certain crime, and that that commission had been witnessed by a number of people and these witnesses gave their testimony to a jury, it would carry conviction every time. Then all we ask is to give us half the weight that is due our testimony as given to the world at large, and we will prove this wonderful work, not by the members of our church alone, but by the Catholics, by the Episcopalians, by every other denomination on the face of the earth-even the heathens from far-off India. Everywhere they are crying out in their rejoicing in the knowledge of this great truth that is giving freedom to the world. All you have to do to learn it, all you have to do to establish these facts in your mind, is to study. You cannot know without study, you cannot know without information; but know the truth, and you can find that by your own study, and if you go at it honestly and sincerely. Then let the facts lead you; wherever they go you follow. One fact never crossed another; truth is truth the world around, and it never crosses; all must be harmony, and all is harmony in the truth.

Now, this being true, apply the rule. Apply the rule of this church to the everyday affairs of life; bring it forward in the transaction of your business; give a square deal and an honest endeavor, and let your conduct be governed by the principle of love. If you do that, you will be successful; there is no such thing as failure.

And so with your health. Practice the rules as laid down by our Savior in the New Testament and in our books, and

and racked in mind, a slave to fear, a slave to ignorance, you will be free, your body will be sound and your mind will be sane; all will be harmony in God Almighty's kingdom of universal good. That is the religion that we teach. It is a religion that proves itself, but it cannot be proven to any person who will not know the truth.

Let love be the foundation upon which you build. Fill your mind with intelligence, sincerity, a square deal, a desire to do right, and it is not hard to do right if you try; and you do not have to try a great deal before it becomes more or less a habit. I think that the experience of all of us is that we have grown better since we learned the truth. I think the experience is widening and deepening throughout the entire earth, and I rejoice from the bottom of my heart that this church has been one of the great centers from which this immense growth has gone forth. We do not prefer anybody. . God Almighty loves his children all alike; we are all equal in the Divine mind; there are no big I's or little you's; no one has inspiration more than another, if all seek, ask and knock. Inspiration comes in answer to prayer-the prayer of understanding. All may talk with inspiration; all may talk this truth, if they get the Divine Mind to direct them. That is the foundation of all truth, of all knowledge, and of all inspiration. Divine Mind guides, controls; Divine love protects and covers you as you go along the pathway of life, shielding you from the dangers, so to speak, of the side-ways as they pass along; covering you with happiness, prosperity, health and comfort. God Almighty's truth sustains you in every step you take.

Now that is the rule of life that our

Savior has given us in this great thought: "You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

If the world will take these thoughts, simply as they are given forth, with the greatest simplicity with which we can present them, study to find out if it is true, prove all things and hold fast to that which is good, we will all be in one church; professional preachers and professional religions will be relegated to the rear, and instead of having a great temple here and a great temple there, the Universal All will be the Universal Temple of the Universal Family of Man, and then we will all live in the truth, and we will be in what is termed in Revelations the Millenium, where God Almighty's love reigns supreme, and nothing can come near us or about us but that which is sent by Divine love. Our lives will be a success, and the world will be happier; wickedness will have passed away, war and rapine will disappear, and universal love, universal good, universal All in All will manifest itself in every department of human life and human endeavor.

LINCOLN'S KNOWN FAITH IN

DIVINE INFLUENCE

Religious Convictions of Former President Affirmed by Personal Friend and Associate

Maj. J. B. Merwin, a civil war veteran and personal friend of Lincoln, spoke on "Lincoln, the Christian Statesman," and A. S. Taylor, another civil war veteran, who met Lincoln several times during the war, told stories of the war-time President at the Sunday afternoon assembly of the Young Men's Christian Association.

"I knew Lincoln intimately from 1852 till the time of his assassination," said.

Maj. Merwin, “and I know that Lincoln came to be one of the most profoundly religious men of his time, although he was not a sectarian, and, I believe, never formally joined any religious denomination. Yet, of the 187 biographies of Lincoln which I have received from various authors, only two make any allusions to his religious principles and temperance habits."

Maj. Merwin said that just before leaving Illinois to be inaugurated President, Lincoln had a long talk on his religious beliefs with an intimate friend, the Hon. Newton Bateman, who was at that time State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and later became President of Knox College. The interview was later reduced to writing by Mr. Bateman, who gave it to Maj. Merwin.

The interview, as Maj. Merwin read it, is as follows:

"Mr. Lincoln said: 'I know that God hates injustice, slavery and intemperance; I see a terrible storm coming and I know that God's hand is in it. If there be a place and a work for me, and I think there is, I believe that I am ready for it. I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know that I am right; Christ teaches it, and Christ is the Son of God. Douglas says that he doesn't care whether slavery is voted up or down, but God cares, humanity cares, and I care, and with God's help I shall see that His will is done.""

Maj. Merwin added that he knew of his own knowledge that Lincoln always carried in his bosom a copy of the Testament, which he referred to as "This rock."-Washington Star.

In this world it is not what we take up, but what we give up, that makes us rich. Henry Ward Beecher.

THE INCOMING AND OUTGOING

It can be said truthfully that no man ever entered the White House with a larger degree of well-wishing than Woodrow Wilson.

The hope of success for his administration is not entirely unselfish. are a great nation, and our interests are manifold and vital. While all of us may be partisans at heart, we have too much at stake, from a material point of view, to deliberately desire anything but a continuance of the peace and prosperity which we have so long enjoyed. In addition to this, the new President commands the respect and esteem of the American people. He is honest and God-fearing, a man of ideal private life, and with a blameless public character. He is a scholar, thoroughly acquainted with the history of his own country, and conversant with the affairs of other nations. He has his faults and his short-comings, including the pedagogue's natural regard for his own views, a disposition to indulge in theory, and a lack of national experience, but all of these weigh but lightly in the public mind. The disposition to give him more than the ordinary opportunity to demonstrate his ability and his capacity is universal. There has been no captious criticism of anything which he has said or done since. his election. He is given everywhere the credit for honest intention. For his own sake, as well as for the sake of the nation, he is given a hearty Godspeed.

Whatever else may be said, there is no doubt that President Taft leaves the White House with the nation bigger and better than when he took the oath of office. New States have been added to the Union, domestic commerce has grown tremendously, foreign trade has expand

ed, social reforms have been accomplished.

It is a splendid legacy to which President Wilson has fallen heir. He becomes the trustee of the people, and it will be his duty so to administer his trust that, four years hence, he can point to still further advancement in our moral and material welfare. There is, of course, a deep political significance in the change of administration which his incoming typifies. He will, however, be a truly great President if he subordinates petty politics. and mere partisan advantages to the higher and greater considerations of progress in every phase of our national life. Washington Herald.

A SWISS PROPOSAL

In remote Alpine hamlets and villages, especially in the Bernese Oberland, there still exist ancient and pretty customs of proposing marriage by the language of flowers.

If a maid accepts a bouquet of edelweiss from a man she at the same time accepts him as her fiance, the idea being that the man has risked his life to obtain the flowers for the woman he loves.

Another method which exists in the Canton of Glarus is for the young man to place a flower-pot containing a single rose and a note on the window-sill of the girl's room when she is absent from home and wait, perhaps days, for a reply.

If the maid takes the rose the young man boldly enters the house to arrange matters with her parents, but if the rose is allowed to fade away the proposal is rejected without a single word having been exchanged between the couple. Sometimes a fickle girl will keep a young man waiting a day or two for an answer, but whatever it may be, it is considered final.

A

John W. Eighmy

and the unlimited power conferred on man by the fiat God, as recorded in this first chapter of Genesis, the beauty, grandeur of the sublimity of man's inheritance seem far above and beyond the comprehension of the human intellect. What a

when he prayed to his Creator, saying: "What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visited him; for thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor. Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou has put all things under his feet: all sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the sea." (Psalm, 4-9.)

LL worshipers throughout Christendom, of every sect, creed or class, believe in the Omnipotence of their God. To them He is their Supreme Power, and no greater has ever been known or imagined. The first chapter of Genesis, the great-grand expression was that of David est and grandest in the Old Testament, tells us God created men in His image and after His likeness; male and female created He them, and God blessed them, and said unto them: "Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth, and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." Here we are taught that God created ALL. When He had finished His works, including man-and when I say man, I mean both man and woman, for He created man male and female-He reviewed all creation and pronounced it very good. All was then in a state of perfection. There was no evil. Man in his essential state was perfect. He was the image and likeness of his God, possessing all Wisdom and Power, in common with his Creator. He was given absolute power over all. There was no reservation; you may search the Scriptures from Genesis to Revelations, and no limitation can be found placed on man's dominion, in his mission of multiplying and replenishing the earth and subduing it. Neither has man's dominion ever been withdrawn, and today man may exercise it to the fullest extent, the same as in the beginning. When we study the works of creation bers.) Joshua caused the sun to stand

Man is a monarch. He has no superior in this material universe. He is free; he has no obstruction; he now possesses all power, if he claims and utilizes it in accordance with Divine law.

As we survey the past, commencing at the dawn of creation and coming down through the annals of Jewish history, what marvelous works have been wrought by man. The advancement of civilization from the lowest to its highest state is his handiwork. All the sages. philosophers and mighty men of Israel, with their understanding and intense realization that all wisdom and power come from God, performed miracles, so-called, so great as to dazzle human conception. Moses was given power by which he healed Miriam of her leprosy. (12 Num

still in the midst of the heavens, and hasted not to go down for a whole day. (Joshua, 10-3.) Elisha restored life to the widow's son. (1 Kings, 17.) Moses received power from God to divide the waters of the sea, so that the Israelites, who were being pursued by King Pharaoh and a host of the Egyptians, could march through as on dry land, and when they were safely on the other side, and Pharaoh and his followers were about to march through, Moses closed those waters and destroyed them all. (14 Exodus.) Isaiah healed Hezekiah of his sickness, and prolonged his life for fifteen years. (2* Kings, 20.) Elisha worketh wonders by increasing the widow's oil, so that she was enabled to sell, and pay her husband's debts and live on the remaining proceeds, (2 Kings, 4,) and again he was given power to heal Naaman of his leprosy and make his flesh like that of a young child. (2 Kings, 5.) The Old Testament is replete with man's wonderful works, the inheritance of his Creator. But as centuries advanced he lost his God-given heritage by following the dictates of mortal mind, the antithesis of God. He became subservient, and yielded to material decrees, and as he trusted to human instrumentality, lost his dominion. He became like the prodigal son, who deserted his father's house and wandered into a far country. He degenerated, and the race was fast drifting to decay.

The world needed a new awakening. A new dispensation was necessary, which came when the Babe of Bethlehem first saw the light of celestial life. Thus dawned a new light, which was to enlighten every man that cometh into the world. Man's lost dominion was restored. It became exemplified in the life and teachings of our beloved Savior Je

sus Christ, the Son of God, as He journeyed over the hills and through the valleys of Judea and on the plains of Palestine, demonstrating such power from the Creator that new impetus was given mankind to regain its lost heritage.

Space will not permit of here rehearsing the many wonders performed by the Son of God, to whom all power was given in heaven and in earth. (St. Matthew, 28-18.) The narrative given by the Apostles of his work surpasses human description. His mission was to teach man the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and bring him back to his original state of perfection, possession, all power from the Father. He ordained twelve Apostles, and sent them forth to preach His doctrines, heal the sick, and cast out devils. (St. Matthew, 10.) Again, He appointed other seventy, and sent them forth to perform His works. His decree to mankind was that the works He performed should be done by man, and even greater works, because He was to return to the Father. He told the people that whatsoever they should ask in His name, that would He do, that the Father might be glorified in the Son. "If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it." (St. Matthew, 14:12-15.) Man regained his lost dominion. What he had forfeited by relaxing his trust in God was restored to that degree he recognized and acknowledged Christ as his Source of Wisdom and Power. When man works in obedience to Divine law he cannot fail. He may suffer defeat for a season, but trust in his Redeemer will cause him to triumph over all difficulties. "Truth crushed to earth will rise again."

Man is Master if he wills, not a slave. There is no condition, circumstance or situation he cannot control. Prison bars will not hold him if he lives at-one-ment

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