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country and then went to college, after which we never saw much of him. Of course, I have a feeling of just pride that he was a member of the Dutch Reformed church and that I had the privilege of opening the doorway of the church to. him. The honor I feel is not so much that he was a very brilliant man intellectually, that he occupied high office or commanded the plaudits of the people, as that he was a sincere Christian man and devoted himself to the service of his fellowmen and his Divine Master."

Soon after Theodore joined the church he felt the necessity of putting his profession into practice, showing his faith by his works; and so he became a teacher in a mission Sunday school and taught the poor, neglected little fellows the way to Jesus, to a right life and to heaven, and taught it for two years until he went to Harvard and there continued this class of service till his graduation, and in every department of church activity and church benevolence he was in the forefront until the day of his death.

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the most profoundly religious men this nation or any other nation ever had. He was one of the most powerful believers I ever saw; and one of the most prodigious religious actors I ever beheld. Religion is a science and an art. As a science it is a system of doctrines to be believed, as an art it is a system of duties to be performed. Mr. Roosevelt had the science of religion down to a perfection in the most simple and sincere faith in the cardinal doctrines of our religion, and he practiced it vigorously, as an art, in the multitude of secular acts. He believed firmly in knowing the will of God; but he put the heavy emphasis of his life on doing that will in every day life, for after all religion consists as much or more in doing secular things,

from a religious motive, as in doing the religious things themselves. God has so planned it that we are to spend most of our time in so-called secular service; but the religious motive sanctifies it and makes all of life sacred. That was the theology and practice of Theodore Roosevelt.

A most complete illustration of his devotion to doctrine and duty, to faith and works, is furnished in an address which he made to the men's Bible class in the Methodist church at Oyster Bay.

He had accepted the invitation of Rev. W. I. Bowman, the pastor of the church, to address the brotherhood and the appointment was made for four o'clock. Invitations were sent to other congregations, and the church was crowded, and thousands of people stood on the outside. The President came down from Sagamore Hill, at the appointed hour, with his own little Bible, which bore the evidence of much wear. As his Scripture Lesson he read I. Corinthians, thir teenth chapter, whose first three verses are: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." And whose last verse is: "And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

No man of our times ever incarnated that chapter more completely than Theodore Roosevelt. His life was one continuous expression of love to God and fel

lowmen. He believed that love was everything, and he acted out the love which he believed, insistently, from the time he entered the stage of action till the time he left it.

He preached a real sermon to the brotherhood. His subject was that men must practice the religion which they profess, and that, if they do not practice it, they are self-deceived in counting themselves professors. He took as his main text James 1:22: "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." During his sermon he had a slip of paper on which he had jotted down different texts, which he made the basis of the various divisions of his message. Some one in the audience saw that slip and asked Dr. Bowman if he could secure it for him as a souvenir, and the pastor wrote the President and received from him the following answer:

DEAR BROTHER BOWMAN:

I have taken pleasure in autographing the memorandum of those texts.

With all good wishes, believe me,

Faithfully yours,

(Signed) THEODORE ROOSEVELT.

The memorandum of texts was as follows:

Matt. 7:1.

"Judge not, that ye be not judged."

Matt. 7:16.

"Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?"

Matt. 25:37-40.

"Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

"When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?

"Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?

"And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me."

James 1:27.

"Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this: To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." James 3:17, 18.

"But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy.

"And the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace."

Those texts, that seem to include about all of human living, the preacher practiced to the minutest detail. His love for the missionary cause and his respect for the ministry are illustrated by this incident:

At the White House one day, and in a confidential chat with the President, I told him one of my sons was going as a missionary to Japan. He instantly said with deep feeling, "Oh, I am so glad. I am so proud of that boy and I feel so proud for you. God bless him and bless you." He said, "I have told you so many times that I consider the Christian ministry as the highest calling in the world, most intimately related to the most exalted life and service here and destiny beyond, and I consider it my greatest joy and glory that, occupying a most exalted position in the nation, I am enabled, simply and sincerely, to preach the practical moralities of the Bible to my fellow-countrymen and to hold up Christ as the hope and savior of the world. I believe down deep in my soul, as you know, my friend, that I have preached the same gospel that you and your boy are called to preach.

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ARMY AIR PLANES DROPPING WREATHS ON ROOSEVELT'S HOME, SAGAMORE HILL, JAN. 6, 1919.

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