LEAVES FROM THE TREE OF LIFE. FIRST LEAF. Value of Truth--Only One True Religion--Faith the First Principle--Faith a Principle of Power--How Faith Comes--No Man Can Find out God--Deity Must Manifest Himself--God the Father of the Race--Personality of God--The Great Lawgiver Governs Himself by Law. There is nothing more valuable than truth. Religious truth, or that which relates to God, our duty to Him, His laws and purposes, and the means by which we may now come to Him and eventually be exalted in His presence, is really priceless. To obtain a knowledge of religious truth, both young and old should be willing to make every exertion and to offer any sacrifice. There are many systems of religion in the world, but only one can be correct, for the simple reason that there is but one God for the inhabitants of the earth to worship and obey. If there were many true Gods to whom mankind owed reverence there might be several true religions. God is the author or revealer of true religion. Men may invent and arrange methods of worship, imagine and think out doctrines, and formulate and enforce creeds; but they are of no value as a means of salvation. God must be approached and served in the way which He ordains, or the worship and service will not be accepted. The first principle of true religion is faith. This is the beginning of righteousness. It is the very root of the tree of life, and its sap runs through all the branches. "Without faith it is impossible to please God." And "Whosoever cometh to God must believe that He is." Faith, in its simplest sense, is the assent of the mind, and its assurance of the existence of things unseen by the natural eye. This is belief. In another sense, faith is a motive power, a principle of action. Examination into the secret springs that prompt us in the common affairs of life will show that faith moves us to exertion and incites us to perseverance. It is the assurance we feel of the existence or attainment of things unperceived by the senses, which urges us onward and inspires us with energy. In a higher sense, faith is a spiritual force. It reaches up to the heavenly spheres. It lays hold upon eternal things. It acts upon the grosser elements, and moves spiritual essences and immortal intelligences. It is in its fullness all powerful. By its exercise God made the worlds, bringing order out of chaos, light out of darkness and visible things out of the invisible, all moved by that spiritual energy called faith. By its power Christ stilled the winds and walked upon the waves, healed the sick and raised the dead. Elijah, by faith closed the heavens, that they rained not, and overcame the might of death, passing with his body into the mansions on high. By faith, Job beheld the coming of the Redeemer, and Paul ascended to the third heaven. And by faith men and women can overcome the influences of earth and time, and rise to communion with angelic beings, and even with God, the highest and holiest of all.