ng and a Christian; he was the pride of
princes, the flower of society and the delight of mankind." Roger Bacon,
of notoriety on account of his superior knowledge of physics, was the
bright Christian light of the thirteenth century. From this century all
the way through the reformation the revival of faith in God was the
revival of the golden age of learning or literature. When faith in God
expired in France the entire social fabric steadily declined until all
crumbled and fell as in the ruins of an earthquake. At the same time the
inhabitants, loosened from the restraints which faith in the living God
imposes, stained every part of the country with blood, and its glory and
grandeur perished. It has been well said that the rights of man can not
be well secured and enjoyed unless he is viewed in his relations to God.
Where government aims at and subserves this end it is a blessing.
Blackstone has well remarked that the whole should protect all its
parts, and that every part should pay obedience to the will of the
whole; or, in other words, that the community shall guard the rights of
each individual member, and that in return for this protection each
individual should submit to the law of the community. Faith lets God
down into the hearts of lawmakers, and a sense of accountability to him
must, most certainly, have a grand tendency to refine laws in their
first conception. At least it happens to be true that wherever God is
feared and law made the basis of the legislation and policy of a nation,
that nation is, in fact, found to excel in those interests which are
essential to a nation's well-being and glory. We challenge any man, or
set of men, to an estimate of the comparative purity and morals of the
nations of the earth. It is, and forever will be, found to correspond
with their religious systems. The great conflict which is now going on
in every civilized country is a conflict between faith and infidelity.
For the triumph of light and truth the very throne of God is pledged.
There may be difficulties to encounter, but these will be vanquished. As
well undertake to pluck the sun and stars from the heavens, and spread
the black curtain of one long protracted night over the world, as to try
to quench the light of immortal truth as it flows freely into the hearts
of so many millions and stirs up the deep fountains of human spirits.

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"Owing to the attitude of the churches for the last