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Show A Lesson From Two Presidents In their words as in their lives, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln expressed those ideals which Americans prize highly to this day. One of their most cherished images that has come down to us illumed by time pictures them as men of faith and servants of God. President Washington, whose undaunted spirit set the tone for the nation in all the dacades since, summed up his religious feelings in these words: "We have abundant reason to rejoice that in this land the light of truth and reason has triumphed (Contimied on Page Foot) A Lesson From Two Presidents (Continued from Page 1) over the power of bigotry and superstition, and that every person may here worship God according to the dictates of his own heart." This was no empty piety but a statement of fact. In America we do have freedom to worship God "according to the dictates" of one's own heart. It is a basic freedom one for which we should be grateful. But, like all the freedoms, it is one that has to be practiced to be kept. Perhaps President Lincoln had this in mind when, speaking of the Civil War then raging across the land, he said: "The struggle today is not altogether for today. It is for a vast future, also. With a reliance upon Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed with the great task which events have evolved upon us." Great tasks are still upon us. The struggle is yet for the future. . In such times as these, the words of these two great Presidents may well be our guide. Throughout the nation, the Religion in American Life movement is asking all Americans to worship every week. For in worshipping God regularly, we can find that strength which makes for a strong spirit and an unconquered will to live at our best. |
