The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1864-02-18
Upton, IOWA, FEB. 49,. 1864.
The Character of Ppe.idcu, Lincoln.

The Character of President Lincoln.
The Rev. Hepry Fowler, If Auburn,
in his Thanksgiving sermon, dre% the
following picture Of the President, which |
will be recognized Us q striking portrait
in many particulars.
THE progress Of the Prcsidcu, Illus
trates the progressed the people. Arthur
Stanley speaks u Samuel the prophet as
= mediator between tue old and the new,
IN Jewish history. His two sided sym,
pathy enabled him TO unite the passing
and the coming epoch, Such su epoch
Of perplexity, transition, change is not
often witnessed. IL every such passage
Of u nation there ought to be a character
like tina. Of Samuel. Misunderstood and
,nisreprcscntcd 1t the time; attacked
from boa, sides; charged with not going
far enough and with going too far; charg
ed with saying too much aud saying too
little; he slowly, conscientious| y aud hon.
estly works out the mighty problem, lie
was not founder of new state Of, ,,hinss
like Moses: he was not a champion of,he
existing order Fittings like Elijah, lie
stood between the two; between the liv-
ing and the dead; between the past aud
the present; between the old and the new;
with that sympathy for each which at
such period is the best hope for any Per
manent solution of the questions which
torment it. His duty is carefully to dis
tinsuish between tlut which is temporal
and that which is eternal. lie has bu,
little praise from partisans; but is the
careful healer binding up the wounds Of
the age, in spite of itself; the good sur
geou, knitting together the dislocated
bones OF the disjointed times.
such man was Samuel among the
Jews; such man was Athanasius among
the early Christians; such man is Abra-
ham Lincoln in this day. The explana-
nation for his every act is this: He cx-
ccutcs the will Of the people. He repro
sents controlling majority. If he be
slow it is because the people are slow. If
he has done foolish act, it was the
stupidity Of the people which impcI'ed it.
His wisdom consists in carrying cut the
good sense ofthc nation. His growth in
political knowledg ge, his steady movement
toward emancipation, are but the growth
and movement Of the national mind
Indeed, in character aud culture, he is a
fair representative Of the average Ameri-
can. His awkward speech and yet more
awkward silence his upcouth manners,
his grammar self taught aud partly for
Cotton, his style miscellaneous, concret ed
from the best authors, like a reading
book, and yet oftertimos Of Saxon force
and classic purity; his humor an nrgu
ment, and his logic joke, both unsea
G sonablc at times and irresistible always
his questions answers, and his answer
questions; his. guesses prophecies, AM
|. fulfllment ever beyond his promise; hon
est yet shrewd; simple yet reticent
heavy and yet energetic; never despair
ing and rever sanGuine; careless in forms
conscientious in essentials; never sacrtic
ing a good servant once trusted, neve
deserting good princi pie once adopted
not afraid of new ideas, not despsing ole
ones; improving opportunities to confes
mistakes, ready to ! arm, getting at facts
0 doing nothing when he knows not wha
; to do; hesitating at nothing vixen b
Q secs the right; lacking the recognized
qualification Of a party leader, and ye
S leading his party as no other man can
e sustaining his political enemies in Mis-
o souri, to their defeat, sustaining his po
J. litical friends in Maryland to their vic'c
n ry; conservative in lis sympathics an
II radical in his acts; Socratic in his styl
" and Baconinn in his method; his relisio
s consisting in truthfulpess, temperance
u king good people to pray for him, an
o publicly acknowledging in events tn
y hand , + God, he stands before you as tn
y type of "Brother Jonathan" D not pc
.s feet man and yet more precious than flu
l. gold"