Not Stones, Nor Wood, Nor The Art

Human Life, From The Cradle To The Grave, Is A School. At Every Period Of His Existence Man Wants A Teacher. His Pilgrimage Upon Earth Is But A Term Of Childhood, In Which He Is To Be Educated For The Manhood Of A Brighter World. As The Child Must Be Educated For Manhood Upon Earth, So The Man Must Be Educated Upon Earth, For Heaven; And Finally That Where The Foundation Is Not Laid In Time, The Superstructure Can Not Rise For Eternity.

There Are Three Points Of Doctrine The Belief Of Which Forms The Foundation Of All Morality. The First Is The Existence Of God; The Second Is The Immortality Of The Human Soul; And The Third Is A Future State Of Rewards And Punishments. Suppose It Possible For A Man To Disbelieve Either Of These Three Articles Of Faith And That Man Will Have No Conscience, He Will Have No Other Law Than That Of The Tiger Or The Shark. The Laws Of Man May Bind Him In Chains Or May Put Him To Death, But They Never Can Make Him Wise, Virtuous, Or Happy.

The Conflict Between The Principle Of Liberty And The Fact Of Slavery Is Coming Gradually To An Issue. Slavery Has Now The Power, And Falls Into Convulsions At The Approach Of Freedom. That The Fall Of Slavery Is Predetermined In The Counsels Of Omnipotence I Cannot Doubt; It Is A Part Of The Great Moral Improvement In The Condition Of Man, Attested By All The Records Of History. But The Conflict Will Be Terrible, And The Progress Of Improvement Perhaps Retrograde Before Its Final Progress To Consummation.

The Firmest Security Of Peace Is The Preparation During Peace Of The Defenses Of War.

The Origin Of The Political Relations Between The United States And France Is Coeval With The First Years Of Our Independence. The Memory Of It Is Interwoven With That Of Our Arduous Struggle For National Existence. Weakened As It Has Occasionally Been Since That Time, It Can By Us Never Be Forgotten, And We Should Hail With Exultation The Moment Which Should Indicate A Recollection Equally Friendly In Spirit On The Part Of France.