Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-09-06
WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN.
Each Furnishes . Type Of Religioua
Character OF High Ord or.

From the Boston Herald
From the ecclesiastical point Of view Abra-
ham Lincoln was no more Of religious man
than George Warrington was. The one had q
spiritual training in the log cabin and in the
rough practical life Of the early west; the other
grew up under the high bred culture Of the
colonial churchmen of Virginia. Neither OF
she men was communicant in any religious
organisation. Each was called to administer
public Affairs in trying positions and under
circumstances Of the greatest gravity, and each
has furnished us with type Of religious char
acter ofa high order. Washington was natur-
ally serious man, conscientious and faithful
70 his obligations, and yet 30 reserved in
the expression Of his own feelings that he
never communicated his religious convic-
tions to others. Lincoln had this same grav-
ity, with quick sense Of humor that admi-
he was forced into the breach that he showed
the spiritual side Of his life. He was as reticent
a. Washington, but in his various public utter.
ances you trace the convictions Of a man in
whose mind spiritual realities strongly marked
ana controlled his views Of practical life, and
calm writing upon the event in which he fell
that Coos purpose may be something different
from the purpose Of party, and that the event
would surely show what Gods purpose was. A
mans reng1ous BELIEF when put under thie
pressure has no nonsense in it, and it is evident
from the fragmentary utterances Of Lincoln, in
which he brought his perfectly honest soul face
to face with his Maker, that no man among us
ever more truly endeavored to conform the
ruling Of men and the guiding Of affairs, so far
as single human will can affect them, to the
will Of God. He rises, in the disclosures which
the Century biography gives us to higher spir.
itual plane than any American statesman after
Washington has reached. When you come
nearest to the man himself, to the very inInost
core OF him, there is nothing rotten or unsound
he is manly through and through, and his man.
illness has the fear Of God in it. In Mr.. Lodges
studies Of Washington, and in the present Lin.
coin biography, these two statesmen are ap.
preached on the side of character. There ID
little appeal to our vanity about them; they
stand in their majesty as men and have the
truth told about them. It is this revelation OF
their truthfulness and sincerity to the very
core which makes the test of fuller knowledge
concerning them simply q foil for presenting
their individual character in q still stronger
light; and it Is seen in these larger revelations
that what may be broadly called religious
purpose entered into and profoundly affected
their lives. There is something in the recent
disclosures concerning both that draws us I'M
consciously nearer to them and invests their
lives with fresh meaning; and it is believed
that in both instances this broader and higher
interest is due to their avowed purpose to fol-
low the will of God, 30 far as in the handling OF
public affairs they could ascertain what that
will was. 1t is in this light that both Of these
statesmen are now regarded by the American
people with fresh interest.