It put the audience into an atmosphere above materialism and prepared them as warriors in their contest to sing, "Onward, Christian Soldiers."

Mr. Thompson said to me:

Mr. Roosevelt was afraid to use the Scriptures in the Old Party days, lest the leaders misunderstand and suspect him of hypocrisy, but when the spirituality of men was brought to the surface by the sacrifices and moral issues of the Progressive contest, then the long-treasured Scripture came to the surface and caught a return feeling from the other spiritually minded men.

As before shown, Mr. Roosevelt was constantly repeating Micah 6. 8 as containing his creed. The New York Bible Society asked Mr. Roosevelt to write a message to be put into the copies of the New Testament which were presented to the soldier boys going to the front. For this purpose he selected his favorite Scripture and applied it as follows:

The teachings of the New Testament are foreshadowed in Micah's verse: "What more doth the Lord require of thee than to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God."

Do justice; and therefore fight valiantly against the armies of Germany and Turkey, for these nations in this crisis stand for the reign of Moloch and Beelzebub on this earth.

Love mercy; treat prisoners well; succor the wounded; treat every woman as if she was your sister; care for the little children, and be tender with the old and helpless.

Walk humbly; you will do so if you study the life and teachings of the Saviour.

May the God of Justice and Mercy have you in His keeping. THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

June 5, 1917.

Such an interpretation of this scripture could only be possible to one who had the spirit of Him who lives in the Book and uncovers its truth to his disciples.

He told Tammany when he ran for Governor that if elected he would run the State on the Ten Commandments. He styles the Bible in one of his California lectures "as the book which has been for centuries the great guide to righteousness and clean living."

Mr. James Morgan, one of his biographers, wrote me: "I do not know of any other public man who has made so much use of the Bible texts and examples. He evidenced a wide acquaintance with it."

The needs of the poor and neglected always moved him deeply. His own ancestors came over as emigrants, and the steamer decks crowded with these lonely people would appeal much to him. The Rev. E. Robb Zaring, D.D., the editor of the Northwestern Christian Advocate, gave me the following incident:

When Dr. Len F. Broughton, a noted Baptist minister, returned from England, he asked the purser of the ship if he could not hold a service for the steerage passengers. The purser hesitated but finally agreed. After it was over, Dr. Broughton called on the purser, and the latter, after declaring he had been seventeen years a purser on the seas, said that this was only the second time he had granted a request for a service in the steerage. He said: "The other time it was not a minister but a layman who made the request." When the appointed time came the layman took his own Bible, read several passages from Holy Writ, prayed in three languages, and then spoke to them of America and gave them some seasonable advice, as to their future

careers in this country. Who was the layman? He had once been President of the United States-Theodore Roosevelt.

The Great Teacher said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." That assertion has been too much muddied by mysticism. It is literally true. Man has a spiritual nature and he needs to keep it cultivated and alert if he enjoys a full life. He can only keep his sense of God's nearness very real and his own mission clear as he does his daily tasks when he worships in a genuine way. The Bible will help him to do that by delineating a God of love and understanding-by outlining ideals, by bringing to him dependable reassurances, exhortations, and promises and always in due season. The Bible is fine literature, but it is something more, and it will demonstrate that something more "to everyone who reads it with a teachable and honest heart." It does indeed contain the "bread of life."

CHAPTER XVI

DID HE JOIN THE CHURCH?

"Every man who is a Christian at all should join some church organization."-Theodore Roosevelt.

And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.-Acts 2. 47.

R

ELIGION was as natural to Mr. Roosevelt as breathing. It blended with his whole life as color does with the rose. He did not need to constantly proclaim its presence any more than he did his sturdy health. And yet he recognized that it made requirements as certain as did his alert brain.

He exhibited the presence of religion in his life in deed and declaration as he did his thought in spoken and written word. But he also just as certainly gave religion credit for early inspiration and direction as he did Harvard for helping him prepare for his lifework. When necessary and opportune Mr. Roosevelt would as naturally announce himself to be a Christian as he would that he was a loyal American. He was not satisfied merely to give evidence that he was an American by a consistent life, but he frequently and publicly proclaimed it. But even that was not sufficient; he further affirmed it by joining organizations known to stand for pure Amer

icanism and then added a share of his talents to make those organizations successful in spreading American doctrines. Could he be less consistent with his religion? No, and therefore he announced himself a Christian by joining the church as the institution standing for the Christian religion and organized to spread it in all the world. He did not wait for an opportune time, but facing it as a duty he acted.

The writer visited the Rev. Dr. J. M. Ludlow, a retired minister living at East Orange, New Jersey, and he told the story of receiving Mr. Roosevelt into church membership:

Theodore came to see me quite frequently as a boy. He was delicate-looking but very plucky and full of grit. The traits shown in his manhood were evident as a boy. He stuttered some when talking. When about sixteen years of age he came into my study looking a little more serious than usual and said that he wanted to talk with me about a personal matter. He proceeded: "You know how carefully I have been instructed in the Bible and in Christian doctrine in my home by my father and devout aunt and mother. I believe in God and my Saviour and in the teachings of the Bible as you preach them and as taught in my home. When a man believes a thing is it not his duty to say so? If I joined the church, wouldn't that be the best way to say to the world that I believed in God?" He was always like that to see his duty was to do it. He then asked me if he would be allowed to join the church. I told him he would be very welcome. My "Board" elected him to membership on my approval, and a few days afterward I received him into Saint Nicholas Dutch Reformed Church, of which I was then pastor.

It will be seen that he wanted to announce his faith in God to the world and he decided that the