The Portland daily press., 1893-03-01
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
These Closing Lecture of DR.. Blanchards
Historical Course.

Rev. Dr.. Blanchard delivered the con-
Guiding lecture of his course on Ameri-
can history last evening in the vestry of
Congress Square church. The subject
was abraham Lincoln, the Saviour of
the Union" The speaker began by say
ing: "One of the greatest of the great
commands, tonight, our thought, our
reverence, our love-Abraham Lincoln.
the Saviour of the Union. With all my
homage for Washington as one who was
great in intellect as well as morals, with
all my profound appreciation of the SER
vice he rendered to America, it is my
deliberate Judgment, after much study
and thought, that Abraham Lincoln is
the greatest man America has yet pro-
duced." DIR. Blanchard then pictured
the country as it was in 1860, when Lin
coin was elected President. There were
then thirty-three states in the Union.
Kansas came in in 1861, West Virginia in
1868 and the rest followed, with Wyoming
admitted in 1890. The North was in
creasing in population and in material
power. Love of freedom, hatred of
slavery were deepening. The South was
seeing the great advance Of the North,
was afraid that her old time power would
be overthrown. Hatred of smudsill''
and sfabolitionist'' abounded. Conviction
that secession would come without
spilling of blood was wide spread. In
that hour when Calhoun's doctrines
were to flame out in rebellion to the ma
ton, great leader was needed to save
the Union. What must be his qualities?
He must love freedom for all men. The
South loved freedom for whites. Hun
parian and Polish mobiles had loved free
dom only for their own order. The
leader in America in 1861 must love free
dom for all men. He must love truth,
he must love justice. He must have
faith in the people as able to govern
themselves. He must have faith in an
Overriding Providence. Besides these,
and as, in part, the result of these, he
must have patience, endurance OF body
and mind and absolute self reliance and
magnanimity so marked as to win all;
He must also have great intellectual
power.
DR.. Blanchard gave the bulk of the
lecture to the proof that Abraham Lin
coin possessed all these qualities of SUI
preme leadership. He praised w. II.
Herndon's life of Lindoln as the one
which most fully showed Lincoln as the
simple, honest, intellectual, loving, mag
unanimous man. As each characteristic
was named, Dr.. Blanchard gave illustra-
tive incidents, and 1passed all these to
prove that the great hour of need re-
ceived the great leader. Thus the story
of his preparation for the presidency
and his service in this was told. His pa
thence, his magnanimity, his great physi-
cal endurance, his great intellectual
power, his absolute self reliance, were
all required for those four years of war.
Shall we not then say that such man
was providential leader? If America
is to bless the world as the leader of de-
mocracy, as the majestic witness of the
strength of the government of the peo-
pie, by the people and for the people,
and If Lincoln saved the Union, may we
not all reverently declare that Abraham
Lincoln was right when he believed that
God used him as his servant?
Studious men, even now, are saying,
and posterity will confirm their words, of
Americans Abraham Lincoln was the
greatest; of the Union he was the sa-
yiOur.