function or desire of the Men and Religion Forward Movement to make any recommendation upon this point, but we would strongly urge that wherever these efforts are undertaken they should be really representative of the societies. now doing such work. If a federation is to be organized in any given city it would seem to us. that due recognition ought to be accorded to such movements as the Federation of Bible Classes, or Brotherhoods, The Men's and Boys' Department of the Sunday-school, Christian Welfare Enterprises, and Young Men's Christian Association, and that the Federation should seek so far as possible to assign to each of these their specific part of the task and then hold them responsible for doing their work. After very

careful consideration of this topic we are convinced that any federation which attempts to proceed without the recognition of these other organizations will fail of its largest usefulness.

In closing this report the Committee of NinetySeven desire to again express their gratitude to Almighty God for the nearly two years working for his Kingdom which they have been permitted to undertake in this great Movement, and they desire to express their sincere thanks to the thousands of splendid Christian men throughout these countries who have cooperated with them in bringing this campaign to its successful conclusion.

It has been a labor of love upon the part of

each member of the Committee-many of whom have given time and money without stint, and we ask this Congress to receive this report and to discharge us from further duty.-In the Name of God-Amen.

THE CLAIMS OF THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION ON THE MEN OF NORTH AMERICA.

HONORABLE WILLIAM J. BRYAN

I need not tell you that I have been interested in politics. That has been the active work of my life, and I have no intention of reducing my interest in matters of government. I was never more interested than I am today, and yet I believe that important as government is, the influence of government upon a life is very small compared with the influence that religion exerts upon a life. Had I been successful in my races for high office, I would have done what I could to improve the condition of the people. But had I employed the best of plans, selected the wisest of leaders and had their most hearty cooperation, and had I succeeded even beyond my expectations in doing good to the country, the good that I could have brought would to each individual have been insignificant in comparison with the good that each individual can secure for himself through religion, and that which religion brings into the life. I have made the statement as strong as I could make it, and I want you to understand that no government can be so good but that men may be miserable under it; and no government can be so bad but that men may be happy under it. So much more depends upon

the ideals that guide a life than upon the form of government under which we live. Religion is the one supreme influence in life. It is not a visionary thing, it is not a dream, it is the one eminently and always practical thing. No man can hope either to give largely any service or draw from life largely any satisfaction unless he has a conception of human questions which shapes and moulds his conduct. How can a man have any conception of life unless he recognizes that this world is built upon a plan; and how can he conceive of a plan of life, a plan for the world, without recognizing that back of the design is the Designer, and back of creation is a Creator? What has this to do with life? you ask. It has everything to do with it. The moment that you recognize that you are a part of God's plan then the first and foremost thought in your life is to understand that plan and to work in harmony with it. In other words, unless you begin with God, life is a riddle that you will never be able to solve. But begin with the idea of God, God all-wise, of God all-powerful, and God all-loving, and then there follows as a necessary sequence this question: What would that God have me to do? And the sense of responsibility to a God is the greatest force and influence that enters into a man's life. Take from man the conscience that lives in the presence of God unto whom he is responsible for every thought and word and deed, and there is nothing except fear of punishment by his fellow-men that will

restrain him from wrongdoing. If that guardian who never sleeps is inside, a man does not need to be watched by a policeman, but take away that inward monitor and you cannot surround a man with enough policemen to keep him straight through life.

If a man is going to build, he must have a foundation to build upon, and the Christian religion begins with God as the foundation. On that belief in God we put the second stone-belief in the Bible as the word of God. If any of you have been led to regard that Bible as a man-made book, if any of you have been sceptical and have been disposed to reject its authority, I want you to put your Bible theory to the test. If this Bible is a man-made book why don't those who reject it make another Bible better than it, and give it to us in its place? A student one day said to his professor, after having devoted a little time to the Proverbs, "Professor. I don't think there is anything remarkable about that book. It seems to me that any man might say what is said there." The professor said, "Well, now, young man, you just take two days off and write two chapters and bring them to me." He didn't return to school. Why don't those men who scoff at the Bible produce a substitute? For eighteen hundred years this Bible has stood and we love it today, and we bless it today and our faith in it grows year by year.

Our Bible performs its miracles today, and before I will take into consideration a substitute