Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1875-11-26

cOciely' ne Would always buy of or beg
| of, and get upon what he regarded the right
| side. and then he was himself then he was a
host! He was never afraid of being lonely,
meanipg of these lines Of t Se noe, he ahew The
"Thrice best IL he to whom is given,
| The instinct that can tell
Is most invisible
When, as delegate from Massachusetts TO
| the national convention in philadelphia in
1913, he repudiated the action of the conyen-
ton; standing, as he did, almost alone re-
| sistiDg the complimentary attentions of such
| man as Daniel Webster and the other great
leaders of the whig party, these Were his
words TO his constituents: mo hope of DO
| ltical reward, no fear OF ridicule or denunci-
alton Will deter me from acting TAP 10 niy con-
| t-ti0Hs Of Gu'g." Wing they knew, and demo-
crat they knew, but what was this? Here
was a new factor in politics. tbsiUictiOnS OF
outy! Mr.. Wilson had espoused the cause OF
1reeGom nom convictions of duty; and from
that moment his pathway TO the emlnencs
ne secured, and from which he stepped of
into the unseen world, was just As sure as
there is a God in Heaven or that has said
'Them that honor me will honor!'
~ is customary 10 speak OF the services
which great men render a sacred cause.
| There is another aspect of this subject. No
great man ever helps great cause so much
as mat great cause develops, elevates, aud
tune of Henry Wilson that he had the moral
instinct TO espOuse the cause of freedom; TO
SEND down the roots of his maturing man
nno a. mo sucn strong and generous soil; and
all tne ouhetiDgs and storms of the conflict
which he encountered only made him
stronger and more heroic. He did not es-
ponse a cause to ride on IL into power. He
IoOk IL Tor better or worse; to rise with il or
fall with II; and when this cause rose he rose
upon Its crest, and that, partly, because the
cause itself and his conservation to in had
made him worthy to rise: had maize him one
OF Its tTuest and best opponents and cham
pions; and If other men have failed under the
severe tests which he withstoOd. IL may be
partly, because they were never so hinder
tuition TO the same holy cause they were
serving themselves. III you tell me that
Henry Wilson devoted his whole life To the
cause of human freedom; that there was no
danger he would not dare, no toll he would not
endure, 10 self sacrifice be would not make to
advance Y, 10 make its triumphs permanent
then you Lave explained TO me the pheGome-
non OF such man If he advanced the calse,
the cause also advanced him. Norman can
GeyOte his Lifeline 10 the study au,, adyo-
cacy of such principles as lie at the fourtda-
ton OF our free Institutions without being
ehnoblod. IL was what made the giants of a
hun dred years ago. 1t is what has made the
giants OF our own time. Mr.. Wilson had
Etmarkaole native endowments, p-Od igioIs
ei ergy, Industry and persistence: the pro
loundest conception OF the sacredness and
Naice OF Tree Institutions; prophetic in
snrct rs 10 their ultimate triumph. but he
was ali the time breathing the atInoSphere
and uncer the tuition 10 the principles of the
c3Gse which he advocated, and that gave a
glow and glory TO bis character and his
life, a. when the morning sun greetS the up-
illted dome OF this structure, within which
ne served, and where he surrcndered his
spirit back to the Col who gave it, There
j. sense IN which IL is not IrTeyerent TO say
mat he was inspired by that cause. 1t was
lDsplratlon thai he was permitted 10 G II up
u AT which was behind in the labors of those
who had gone before him. This gave him
patience under provocatiOn; a spirit of for
glEeneSS and fOrbearance TO ward of those
arrayed against him; cOmpoSure and
serenity alike In defeat and success He
knew that the cause was moving On in
sunshine and cloud. Whether in debate upon
this floor, whether upon the battle-fisidS
where our soldiers were using. other argu-
ments, he saw The pillar OF the cloud by day
and OF the ire by night, always leading on
the hosts of Freedom: moving as they moved.
pausing as they paused, never forsa king
them II was no afterthought with him; il
was re measure OF political expediency which
led him I'm 1875 TO travel over portions OF the
South, giving utterance to sentiments of
klndliness TO those who had lately been in
arms against the nation. On the first of May
1852, when the guns which had been pointed
at Fort Sumter, and which had driven back
our forces upon this city after the first battle
OF Bull Run, were still making the ears OF
this nPtiOn Jingle with shame, Mr.. Wilson
had So id upon this floor, "After the conflict,
when the din OF battle has ceased, the HUI
name and kindly AMI charitable feelings of
the country, and Of the world, will require
US to deal gently with the masses of the
people who are engaged in the rebellion"
ne n: mao 70 h0suilty against men in that con-
hict. He had hostility only against tha,
crime against man and that sin against
mans Creator with which the Judge of eli
IL, lie earth was dealing with the nation upon
judgment he was content, for the enemies of
his country were also men, and they were
not the nrst OF whom 1t might be said
IF amer, forgive them, for they know not
what they dO.'
1t was natural that Henry Wilson sbould
become Christian the very moment ne
gave his careful attention to the Claims Of
the Lord Jesus as Teacher and o. Savior
II was like him when he became a Christian
TO confess il before men. He never sun
pressed his convictions of duty. He had
never been wanting in the moralitieS of life
he was pure-minded husband and a tender
Iather; a dut1tul son; firm and untiring
advocate OF the temperance cause: man
strictly. straight, forward and upright i'm all
ms dealings with men. But he saw that
neither upon the basis of public service nor
of private worth could he stand before him
with whom We have TO do. He therefore
made public confession of his repentance
for sin and faith in the Lord Jesus and
Natick.
Confronted with eternity all men are
equal; just as some of the heavenly bodies
are so remote from earth as to annihilafe
their distance from each other The same
truth which comforted and re assured those
sustained and cheered this dying statesmen
of the American Republic. Two thousand
years or eartly change and progress, in in
situations, in customs, i'm manners have not
changed the heart of man; have not changed
the eternal truth OF God. Is was the saga
clous instinct, the moral genius of Napoleon
thC tsI Whit itu ullu 10 SAY: '"ChrlSt
proved Himself TO be the Son Of the Eternal
by his disregard of time. All His doctrines
SIGNIFY one and the same thing: Eternity"
and SO when any man, with the instinct of
Immortality stirring within him, comes to
the verge where he looks or upon eternity
when 20 longer star inland" but, upon the
very brink,
His soul has sight Of that immortal sea, which
he loves all his earthly posterity; all that |
which has distinguished him from the rest |
OF his race; the elevation to which the men
OF his generation have lifted him; the isola- |
ton o: honor TO which he has been consecra- |
ted; the loneliness of the great, and becomes |
only purely man again, with the same frail- |
ties, the same anxieties, the same Affection |
ate yearnings and tenderness; with the same |
need Of q divine comforter as the humblest |
and most unknown of his fellow-mortals
1t cannot be said of Henry Wilson that he |
died and made no sign; that living in the |
irScteenth century, which dates from the |
birIn OF the Lord Jesus Christ; living when |
the power of His life and death has been felt |
by every nation on the face of the earth: has /
gone into institutions; has gone into laws: |
has made even tyranny and Oppression en-. |
durable; has clothed the horrors OF war with /
something Of gentleness and humanity: has /
lifted the nQfiOna fnfn n bind ~