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Show ROOSEVELT LAUDS METHODIST CHURCH all the good tunes to the service of the devil. He accomplished so much for mankind man-kind because he also refused to leave the stronger, manlier qualities to be availed of only in the Interest of evlL The church he founded has throughout its career been a church for the poor as well as for the rich and has known no distinction of persons. It has been a church whose members, if true to the teachings of Its founder, have sought for no greater privilege priv-ilege than to spend and be spent in the interest of the higher life, who have prided prid-ed themselves, not on shirking rough duty but on undertaking it and carrying it to a successful conclusion. I come here tonight to greet you and to pay my tribute to your past because you have deserved well of mankind, because be-cause you' have striven with strength and courage to bring nearer the day when peace and Justice shall obtain among the peoples of the earth. At the conclusion of his address the President was heartily applauded. The hymn "See How Great a Flame Aspires" As-pires" was then sung. During the singing sing-ing President Roosevelt retired from the hall. , - - NEW YORK, Feb. 27. President Roosevelt' was the principal speaker at the John Wesley bl-centennlal . celebration, cele-bration, which took place last , night at Carnegie hall under the auspices of the Metropolitan Twentieth Century Thank Offering commission, which waa organized to raise $1,000.000 ' for " the Methodist denominations in this ' city. Thousands were disappointed, as the hall seats only 3100. ( President Rosevelt was given a great ovation when he stepped upon the platform. plat-form. He spoke in part as follows: Since the days of the Revolution not only has the Methodist church increased greatly in the old communities of the thirteen original States, but it has played a peculiar and prominent part in the pioneer growth of out country and has in consequence assumed a position of Immense Im-mense Importance .. throughout . th vast region west of the Alleghenles which has been added to our Nation since the days when the Continental Congress first met. Th pioneer preachers warred against the forces of spiritual evil with th same fiery seal and energy that they and their fellows fel-lows showed in the conquest of tha rugged continent. They had In them the kerolo spirit, the spirit that scorns ease if It must be purchased by failure to do duty, the spirit that courts risk and a life of hard endeavor if the goal to be reached is really worth attaining. Great la our debt' to these -men and scant the patience we need show toward thelr critics. At times they seemed Sard and narrow to those whose training and surroundings had saved them from similar sim-ilar temptations; and they - have been criticised, as all men, whether missionaries, mission-aries, soldiers, explorers or frontier settlers, set-tlers, are criticised when they go forth to do the rough work that must Inevitably Inevi-tably be done by those who act as the first harbingers, the first heralds of civilization civ-ilization In the world's dark places. It is easy for those who stay at home in comfort, com-fort, who never have to see humanity In the raw, or to strive against the dread- 1 ful naked forces which appear clothed, hidden and subdued in civilized life It Is easy for such to criticise the' men who, in rough fashion,, and amid grim surroundings, sur-roundings, make ready the way for the higher life that is. to come afterward;: but let us all remember - that the un-, tempted and the effortless should be cautious cau-tious in passing too heavy Judgment upon up-on their brethren who. may show hard- 1 nee, who may be guilty of shortcomings, shortcom-ings, but who nevertheless do the great deeds by which mankind advances. Thea pioneers of Methodism had the strong, enTlItant virtues which go to the accomplishment accom-plishment of such great deeds. Now and then they betrayed the shortcomings natural nat-ural to men of their type; but their ahort-comlngs ahort-comlngs seem small Indeed when we place beside them the magnitude of th work they achieved. And now, friends. In celebrating the wonderful growth of Methodism, In rejoicing re-joicing at the good it has done to the country and to mankind, I need hardly ask a body like this to remember that the greatness of the fathers becomes to the children a shameful thing if they use it only as an excuse for Inaction instead of as a spur to effort for noble alms. .Wesley said he did not intend to leave. |