ing for righteousness, he finds that the latent energies of his nature are released. At the close of the war a Governor of one of our states, addressing the returned soldiers, used these memorable words, "We welded our selves to our duty as by fire, and there stole into our minds a supernal illumination, and into our hearts a mysterious strength." This experience is ever reproduced in all who weld themselves as by fire to duty, to truth, to beauty, to righteousness. The illumination and the mysterious strength never fail. “I considered myself," said John Milton when he threw himself into the struggle for English liberty, "a member incorporate of that truth whereof I was persuaded." When one makes such a complete dedication of himself to truth his brain grows clear, his will strong, and something of the splendor of truth descends upon him.

The long experience of man goes to show that what we call the moral virtues -righteousness and goodness in all their forms have survival value. They con

form to the Nature of Things. When man battles for them he is not struggling in a vacuum, he is sustained. He finds "the Friend behind phenomena" coöperating with him.

Because of this long experience his mind has been so fashioned that he cannot believe that the Supreme Power is lacking in those qualities which are of supreme worth. Shall not he who formed the conscience do right? Men make sacrifices for righteousness and truth in perfect confidence that they will prevail. Men assume, instinctively, that the universe is on the side of the moral virtues. They will not act on the contrary assumption. Because this faith lasts amid all changes and discouragements and produces great and shining characters and is fertile in honorable activities, it must be essentially true. Falsehood is not a permanent builder.

This intuitive assumption is a clear and steady conviction of the elect minds of the race. The men who have served most

faithfully and with the greatest personal devotion the cause of beauty, truth, goodness are the most certain that these values are wrought into the very constitution of the world and reflect the nature of the Eternal. Men cannot permanently think to the contrary, or act on any other supposition. The moral virtues are indispensable to the preservation of the race. Humanity can no more survive and progress without them than it can dispense with air and water.

If the Universe is not on the side of the moral ideal, then the finest and noblest minds in humanity have been the most deluded. Socrates was wrong when he said that "no evil can befall a good man either in this world or the world to come." The martyrs of every noble cause have needlessly cast away their lives. Jesus was the most foolish and deceived of all when he died on Calvary to reconcile men to a fatherly God.

We are certainly put to intellectual confusion, if philosophers and seers, who by

universal consent are regarded as the noblest exponents of our humanity, were but blind leaders; if the ideals which have been the inspiration and strength of the world do not contain that which is of permanent worth. We lesser men look up to the sovereign spirits of the race for light and power, and these elect and radiant ones who stand on the very summit of human excellence we find are all looking up-not into the void, but to a divine excellence from whence cometh their help. A conviction which lasts amid all changes and discouragements, produces the greatest characters, and is prolific in noblest activities, must be fashioned of truth. Falsehood, illusion, build neither character nor civilization. As the Power that worketh in us sustains us in our effort after truth, righteousness and goodness may we not hold the faith that it is true and righteous and friendly to our divinest aspirations?

Thus far we have spoken of God as Power. In this form he manifests him

self in the physical world, but we are justified in thinking of him through the loftiest symbol we know, which is spirit. The Creator is not less than the noblest of his works. A fountain cannot rise higher than its source. Of the universe as we know it man is the ripest product, and what is highest in man is the best revelation we have of what is highest in the universe. When therefore we think of God through the terms of the human spirit we have taken the loftiest symbol we know. We have used our clearest, largest lens to look upon the Everlasting. He may be inconceivably more than our highest thought; he cannot be less. The term "spirit" is no more anthropomorphic than "power." And our right to use it stands the test of experimentation. When we try out our daring venture of faith we find that the rational structure of the world is not alien to our minds. In our discoveries we are but thinking God's thoughts after him. We can interpret nature because the intelligence there at work