Keep It Up

Five Church of Christ ministers from Washington dropped in at the White House last week to present Harry Truman with a large new Bible. The President, who knows his Bible well, embellished the occasion with some pertinent texts. "A great many people," he observed, "know of the passage in Isaiah which reads, 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks.' But not many people know that further on the Bible says, 'Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears.'" The second passage the President quoted is from Joel (3:10), one of the minor prophets. "They call authors of certain sections of the Bible the minor prophets," the President said, "but they are minor only in that the books are short, and that's really a point in their favor."

From Bible-reading, the talk turned to the problem of divorce. The President and the ministers agreed that religious couples stick together. Harry Truman could not recall a divorce on either side of his family. "You can't go wrong," he told the ministers, "if you found your principles on the fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of the Gospel of Matthew"*

The President then explained why he is not a constant churchgoer. The reason: too much fuss and publicity about it. "When I go to church I go to worship," said Harry Truman. "I never like to be a two-headed calf at a church service . . . You know, Cal Coolidge used to attend the Congregational Church at 10th and G Street, and he just about broke it up." When he does go to church, the President commented, "I like to sneak up on 'em."

The ministers reminded him that they always remember the President in prayer. Said Harry Truman: "That's what keeps us going. Keep it up."

*The Sermon on the Mount.

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