at it can be applied
successfully to all controversies. We are interested in platforms; we
attend conventions, sometimes traveling long distances; we have wordy
wars over the phraseology of various planks, and then we wage earnest
campaigns to secure the endorsement of these platforms at the polls. The
platform given to the world by The Prince of Peace is more far-reaching
and more comprehensive than any platform ever written by the convention
of any party in any country. When He condensed into one commandment
those of the ten which relate to man's duty toward his fellows and
enjoined upon us the rule, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself," He
presented a plan for the solution of all the problems that now vex
society or may hereafter arise. Other remedies may palliate or postpone
the day of settlement, but this is all-sufficient and the
reconciliation which it effects is a permanent one.

My faith in the future--and I have faith--and my optimism--for I am an
optimist--my faith and my optimism rest upon the belief that Christ's
teachings are being more studied to-day than ever before, and that with
this larger study will come a larger application of those teachings to
the everyday life of the world, and to the questions with which we deal.
In former times when men read that Christ came "to bring life and
immortality to light," they placed the emphasis upon immortality; now
they are studying Christ's relation to human life. People used to read
the Bible to find out what it said of Heaven; now they read it more to
find what light it throws upon the pathway of to-day. In former years
many thought to prepare themselves for future bliss by a life of
seclusion here; we are learning that to follow in the footsteps of the
Master we must go about doing good. Christ declared that He came that we
might have life and have it more abundantly. The world is learning that
Christ came not to narrow life, but to enlarge it--not to rob it of its
joy, but to fill it to overflowing with purpose, earnestness and
happiness.

But this Prince of Peace promises not only peace but strength. Some have
thought His teachings fit only for the weak and the timid and unsuited
to men of vigor, energy and ambition. Nothing could be farther from the
truth. Only the man of faith can be courageous. Confident that he fights
on the side of Jehovah, he doubts not the success of his cause. What
matters it whether he shares in the shouts of triumph? If every