is a force worth serious consideration.

Religious faith has produced the finest architecture, the finest
painting, the finest music, the finest literature in the world.

The late John Philip Sousa, the famous composer and bandmaster, said
that the reason why there was not so much great music produced in the
twentieth as in the nineteenth century was that religious faith had
declined. According to him, creation is based on faith. This may be
claiming too much, but his testimony as a composer is interesting.

The American philosopher Paul Elmer More, who died in 1937, and who was
one of the most profound scholars in the world, after prolonged thought
and study and observation, came from agnosticism into a complete and
passionate faith in the Christian religion and in the incarnation. He
said that while love was the main principle in religion as a way of
life, the most important contribution to humanity made by religion was
hope. Hope in the destiny of man, in the superlative value of the
individual, in the Personality of our Father in Heaven.

I might add that if hope deferred maketh the heart sick, hope destroyed
maketh the heart dead.

The most unfair, last word to describe religious faith is the word
anesthetic. Religious faith is a comfort to the old, the sick, and the
suffering; but in general it is not a sedative, it is a tonic. It is a
dynamo; it is a driving force. Henry Drummond, the most effective
speaker on religion I can remember, said to a group of students: "I ask
you to become Christians not because you may die tonight but because you
are going to live tomorrow. I come not to save your souls, but to save
your lives."

Religion adds an enormous zest to daily life; it makes everything
interesting. It keeps alive the capacity of wonder. I myself am
interested in everything in the world, from a sandlot ball game to the
nebula in Orion. The mainspring of my existence, the foundation of my
happy and exciting life, is Christian faith.

I suggest to those recently married and those about to be married that
they are entering into a relationship that can bring them the highest
and most lasting happiness or the most crushing disillusion and despair.
Such a relationship is particularly remarkable because of its intimacy,
an intimacy far transcending that of friendship, love of parents, or any
earthly emotion. As Thomas Hardy said, marriage annihilates reserve. In
this amazing intimacy every care should be take