Religion plays an important part in the making of any nation. The spirit of faith and the spirit of patriotism seem to have a genuine affinity for each other. The national hope of Israel was born in the heart of a man whose name has been handed down as that of the father of the faithful. It was finally realized under the leadership of a man chosen of God as the mouthpiece through which the law was given. Long before nationality was an achieved fact, the love of God and the hope of a country were intermingled in the hearts of the sons of Jacob. This is probably a chief reason for the deathlessness of the race. Through the fabric of American history, the Christian religion is woven like a golden thread. Many things have contributed to the glory of our past, but nothing else has contributed quite so much as has this fact. Many things enter into the making of our hope for the future, but this is the most important among them all. The Pilgrims came seeking a spiritual refuge. It was on bent knees that they first greeted the country which they had chosen for their home. Their memory is perpetuated by a monument which stands near the place where they landed. It carries five symbolic figures, representative of Pilgrim qualities. It is appropriate that the central one among them is the figure of Faith. It was in the spirit of faith that they laid the foundations of American life in their section of the country. What was true of the northern settlements was true of the southern ones as well. Practically everything that was a part of the old Jamestown settlement is gone. It is significant that one of the most abiding of the old landmarks at Jamestown was the ruins of an old church in which the colonists first lifted their voices in the praise of God. Among the American people, the church and state have always been organically separate, but they have always been spiritually united. The state has guaranteed protection to the church. In return, the church has given moral and spiritual support to the state. The state can well afford to maintain such an attitude. It has no other bulwark so strong as is the church. The perpetuity of the state depends most largely upon the very things for which the Christian religion stands. Among them are virtue, loyalty, and fraternity. Statesmanship is a necessity in the activities of a nation, but it is not the fundamental necessity. Diplomatic shrewdness may often be helpful, but it is not a foundation upon which rests the existence of any country. Rich economic development, splendid cities, cultured citizenship—all these are things that enter into the highest grade of national life, but they are not the fundamental requirements of existence and strength. The hardy virtues that make good men are the foundation stones upon which any sound national life must be built.