The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1892-08-31
- inooIn the Immortal. :

- Lincoln. the immortal.
From Henry WAitersoa's LoaisviIe Courier
Journal
From Cesar to Bismark and Gladstone
the world has had its soldiers and its
statesman, who rose to eminence and
power step by step through a series Of
eeometricsl progression, as i were, each
promotion following in regular order, the
whole obedient to well established ard
well understood laws Of course and effect
These we're not what We call "men Of
destiny" They we're men Of the time
They were men whose career had q
beginning, g middle and an end, round
ing of life with history, full, it may
be, Of interesting and exciting events,
but comprehensive and comprehensive,
simple, clear, complete.
The inspired men are fewer. Whence
the emanaiion, where and how they got
their power, and by what rule they liyed
moved and had their being, we cannot
see. There is no explieation to their
lives. They rose from shadow and they
went in mist. We see them, feel them
but we know them not They arrived,
Gods word upon their lips, they did
their Office, Gods mantle upon them, and
they passed away, Gods holy light be-
tween the world and them, leaving be-
hind a memory half mortal and half
myth. From first TO last they were
distinctly the creations Of some special
providence, battling the wit Of man 10
fathom, defeating the Vaccinations Of
the world, the flesh and the devil until
their work was done, and passing from
the scene as mysteriouly as they had
come upon it s; Luther. to wit; Shakes
peare, Burns, even BOnaparte, the
archangel Of war, havoc and ruin not to
90 back into the dark ages for examples
Of the hand Of God stretched out to raise
up, 10 protect, and to cast down.
Tried by this standard, and observed
in an historic spirit, where shall We find
an illustration more impressive than in
Abraham Lincoln, whose life, career and
death might be chanted by q Greek
chorus as at once the prelude and the
epilogue Of the most imperial theme OF
modern times2
Born as lowly as the Son Of God in a
hoyel Of what real parentage We know
not; reared in penury, squalor, with no
gieam Of light, nor fair surrounding a
young manhood vexed by weird dreams
and visions, bordering at times on mad
ness; with1uta a grace, natural or acquired
singularly awkward, ungainly, even
among the uncouth about him grotesque
in his aspects and ways; it was reserved
for this strange being, late in life, with
out name or fame, or preparation, to be
snatched from obscurity, raise1 TO
supreme command at a supreme moment.
and intrusted with the destiny of
nation
The great leaders of his party were
made to stand aside the most experienc-
ed and accomplished public men Of the
day, men Ike Seward and Chase and
summer, statesmen famous and trained,
we're sent to the rear, while this unknow
and fantastic figure was brought by IN
seen hands to the front and given the
reins Of power. 1t is entirely immaterial
whether we believe in what he said or
did, whether We are for him or against
him that, during four years, carrying
with such q pressure Of responsibility
as the world had never witnessed before,
he filed the measure of the vast space
allotted him in the actions Of mankind
and in the eyes of the world, is TO say
that he was inspired of God, for nowhere
else could he have acquired the enor-
nous equipment indispensable to the
situation.
Where did Shakespeare get his genius
where did Mozart get his music? Whose
hand smote the Tyre Of the Scottish plow-
man and stayed the life of the German
priest? God alone, and, as surely as
these were raised up by God, inspired of
God was Abraham Lincoln and, a
thousand years hence, no story, no
tragedy, no epic poem viii be filed with
greater wonder than that which tells of
his life and death. If Lincoln was not
inspired Of God, then were not Luther,
or Shakespeare, or Burns. If Lincoln
was not inspired Of God. then there is no
such thing on earth as special provi-
dence, or theinterposition Of divine power
in the affairs Of men.