Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1864-01-06
CLEARFIELD Pa WEDNESDAY, JANUARY g. 1864
PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

In the course OF the eloquent sermon
! preached last Thanksgiving day, by the Rev.
| Phillips Brooks, Rector of the Protestant
| Episcopal Church of the Holy Trinity, we
find the subjoined passage;
To-day Will any man or woman blame
us if we stand in the anticipation of certain
ty, and cry above the open grave of slavery,
that only waits till its corpse be brought to
1T with the decency Its reverend age de
mands Thank God the hateful thing is
dead | am speaking solemnly; | am speak
ing earnestly | am speaking as a man
whose heart is too glad for utterance, in the
washing from his cOuntrys robe, even
though it be In the red water of her chill
dren's blood, of such stain as she has worn
before the nations through these years of
her melancholy beauty. What has done it?
Not the proclamation of last New \ ear s
day, Though zee ought to h0nt. God, as not
the least mercy Of these times, that ,oe hare a
man to lead as, so honest, so true, so teach
able at the lips Of the ALmighty, as to 10rite
those immortal lCOrls that made race for
ecer .Jreel Not any public document, not
any public act has done the work nothing
but the hando God leading back His chosen
people into the land of universal freedom,
into which He led the fathers, and out of
which the children so wofully went astray T"
What is here said of President Lincoln
will find an echo in the heart of every one
who views without prejudice the course of
affairs since the breaking out OF the present
war. No man except " Washington has shown
so much integrity Of purpose and action in
his great office as President Lincoln and
however men may have differed from him
at times with regard to particular matters,
no one has ever charged him with insinceri-
ty, or illlberalIty, or the stubborn pride of
opinion, or desire to bind the public policy
to suit his own selfish ends. What a recent
London newspaper saidof him, viz: that he
was the justeSt man who ever held the reigns
Of power, speaks the whole truth as 1t is
felt by every body in these days. None but
blgoted opponents now dispute this Nh;
Lincoln has nobly vindicated his aims and
character in the face of all the world, and in
a spirit of confidence, begotten of expert
ence and patriotism, the people generally
are beginning to concentrate the force of their
opinion in a faith in him.
No man in his high Office ever acted
more uniformly III spirit ofpatient investi-
CATION, with a more thorough anxiety to
learn the right course, and to pursue it in
such way as TO combine the masses of the
people in the great struggle In which we are
engaged Mr. Lincoln can in no sense be
regarded az partisan President. He has
shown the egreatest disposition to give all due
weight to the counsels Of MEN of all par
ties who seem to be actuated by any correct
motive. Other men In his place might have
been stricter Republicans in the limited ap-
plication of the word, though we think it
more than likely that they would have exer-
cised that moderate liberalism which is the
prevailing characteristic of the party. 9th
crs might at times have acted with more
sternness of determination, through we
think it probable that their energy would
have been apt to take mistaken directions
or outrun the course Of public sentiment
But few could have so happily blended pru-
dence with unremitting perseverance in a
great cause, or have accomplished so much
with SO few real errors In short, he is be-
yond all questions the right man in the right
place He is the man of the times, and we
sincerely rejoice that the people are mani
Testing so unanimously their abiding conf
dence and trust in him.-PhTa North A
7peyicGR