pirations of my lamented predecessor, which found expression
during his life, the measures devised and suggested during his brief
administration to correct abuses, to enforce economy, to advance
prosperity, to promote the general welfare, to insure domestic
security and maintain friendly and honorable relations with the
nations of the earth, will be garnered in the hearts of the people
and it will be my earnest endeavor to profit and to see that the
nation shall profit by his example and experience.

Prosperity blesses our country. Our fiscal policy as fixed by law
is well-grounded and generally approved. No threatening issue mars
our foreign intercourse and the wisdom, integrity, and thrift of our
people may be trusted to continue undisturbed the present career of
peace, tranquillity, and welfare. The gloom and anxiety which have
enshrouded the country must make repose especially welcome now. No
demand for speedy legislation has been heard; no adequate occasion
is apparent for an unusual session of Congress. The constitution
defines the functions and powers of the executive as clearly as
those of either of the other two departments of the government, and
he must answer for the just exercise of the discretion it permits
and the performance of the duties it imposes. Summoned to these
high duties and responsibilities, and profoundly conscious of their
magnitude and gravity, I assume the trust imposed by the
constitution, relying for aid on divine guidance and on the virtue,
patriotism, and intelligence of the American people.

ATHANASIUS (298-373)

Athanasius, patriarch of Alexandria, owes his great celebrity
chiefly to the controversy with the Arians, in which for half a
century he was at the head of the orthodox party in the Church. He
was born at Alexandria in the year 298, and was ordained a priest at
the age of twenty-one. He accompanied his bishop, Alexander, to the
Council of Nice in 325, and when under thirty years old succeeded to
the bishopric, on the death of Alexander, His success in the Arian
controversy was not achieved without cost, since, as an incident of
it, he spent twenty years in banishment. His admirers credit him
with "a deep mind, invincible courage, and living faith," but as his
orations and discourses were largely controversial, the interest
which now attaches to them is chiefly historical. The following was
preached from the seventh and eighth verses of the Forty-Fifth
Psalm.