n unselfish and
true--why, the errors of men, the mistakes men might make in their
judgment, would not be an obstacle in the way of the progress of this
great nation in the work which God has given her to do. They would make
jolts, but nothing more. Or in the course which God has appointed her to
run she would go to her true results. There is no power that man has
ever seen that can abide; there is no power of which man has ever
dreamed that can regenerate human character except religion; and till
the Christian religion, which is the religion of this land--till the
Christian religion shall have so far regenerated human character in this
land that multitudes of men shall act under its high impulses and
principles, so that the men who are not inspired with them shall be
shamed at least into an outward conformity with them, there is no
security for the great final continuance of the nation.

Copyrighted by E.P. Dutton and Company, New York.

THE COURAGE OF OPINIONS

From 'Essays and Addresses'

We have spoken of physical courage, or the courage of nerves; of moral
courage, or the courage of principles. Besides these there is
intellectual courage, or the courage of opinions. Let me say a few words
upon that, for surely there is nothing which we more need to understand.

The ways in which people form their opinions are most remarkable. Every
man, when he begins his reasonable life, finds certain general opinions
current in the world. He is shaped by these opinions in one way or
another, either directly or by reaction. If he is soft and plastic, like
the majority of people, he takes the opinions that are about him for his
own. If he is self-asserting and defiant, he takes the opposite of these
opinions and gives to them his vehement adherence. We know the two kinds
well, and as we ordinarily see them, the fault which is at the root of
both is intellectual cowardice. One man clings servilely to the old
ready-made opinions which he finds, because he is afraid of being
called rash and radical; another rejects the traditions of his people
from fear of being thought fearful, and timid, and a slave. The results
are very different: one is the tame conservative and the other is the
fiery iconoclast; but I beg you to see that the cause in both cases is
the same. Both are cowards. Both are equally removed from that brave
seeking of the truth which is not set upon either winning or avoiding
any name, which will take no opinion