ople, and all of the people know more than any part of
the people. A democracy is stronger than a monarchy, because, as the
historian, Bancroft, has said: "It dares to discard the implements of
terror and build its citadel in the hearts of men." And a democracy is
the most just form of government because it is built upon the doctrine
that men are created equal, that governments are instituted to protect
the inalienable rights of the people and that governments derive their
just powers from the consent of the governed.

We know that a grain of wheat planted in the ground will, under the
influence of the sunshine and rain, send forth a blade, and then a
stalk, and then the full head, because there is behind the grain of
wheat a force irresistible and constantly at work. There is behind moral
and political truth a force equally irresistible and always operating,
and just as we may expect the harvest in due season, we may be sure of
the triumph of these eternal forces that make for man's uplifting. Have
faith in your form of government, for it rests upon a growing idea, and
if you will but attach yourself to that idea, you will grow with it.

Fourth, the subject presents itself in another aspect. You must not only
have faith in yourselves, in humanity and in the form of government
under which we live, but if you would do a great work, you must have
faith in God. I am not a preacher; I am but a layman; yet, I am
not willing that the minister shall monopolize the blessings of
Christianity, and I do not know of any moral precept binding upon the
preacher behind the pulpit that is not binding upon the Christian and
whose acceptance would not be helpful to every one. I am not speaking
from the minister's standpoint but from the observation of every-day life
when I say that there is a wide difference between the desire to live
so that men will applaud you and the desire to live so that God will be
satisfied with you. Man needs the inner strength that comes from faith
in God and belief in His constant presence.

Man needs faith in God, therefore, to strengthen him in his hours of
trial, and he needs it to give him courage to do the work of life. How
can one fight for a principle unless he believes in the triumph of
right? How can he believe in the triumph of the right if he does not
believe that God stands back of the truth and that God is able to bring
victory to His side? He knows not whether he is to live for the truth or
to