Greenbrier independent. [volume] (Lewisburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1859-1980, 1896-04-16
I Continued from first page.l

SOW"uCu .IFVW JHet puyo'J
of inspiration, say again and again
he was inspired by God, and l can't
see how any one who, believing in
that doctrine, can regard him as any
thing else.
NO MERE MAN OF DESTINY.
From Caesar to Bismarck and Glad
stone the world has held its states
men and its soldiers-men who rose
to eminence and power step by step,
through a series of geometrical pro-
gression, as it were, each advance
ment following in regular order, one
after the other, the whole obedient
to well established and we'll under
stood laws Of cause and effect. They
were not what we call " men of des-
tiny" They were "men of the
time" They were men whose ca
rcers had beginning, a middle and
All end, rounding of lives with his
tories, full it may be of interesting
and exciting events, but comprehen-
sive and comprehensive simple,
clear, complete.
The inspired men are fewer.
Whence their emanation, where ard
how they got their power, and by
what rule they lived, moved and
had their being, we know not
There is no explanation to their lives.
They rose from shadow and they
went in mist. We see them, feel
them, but we know them not. They
they did their Office, Gods mantle
about them and they passed away !;
Gods holy light between the world
and them, leaving behind a memory,
half mortal and half myth. From
| first To last they were the creations
of some special providence, battling
the wit of man to fathom, defeating
the Vaccinations of the world, the
flesh and the devil, and, their work
done, passing from the scene as mys.
teriously as they had come upon it.
Tried by this standard, where shall
we find an illustration more impress
sivp than Abraham Lincoln, whose
career might be Chanted by Greek
chorus as at once the prelude and the
epilogue of the most imperial theme
of modern times.
HIS INSPIRATION UNDOUBTED.
Born as lowly as the Son of God.
in a howell; Of what ancestry we
know now not and care not ; reared
in perjury, squalor, with no CLEAN
of light or fair surroundings; with
out external graces, actual or &C.
quired; without name or fame or
official training; it was reserved for
this strange being, late in life, to be
snatched from obscurity, raised to
supreme command at q supreme mo-
ment, and intrusted with the destiny
of nation.
The great leaders of his party, the
most experienced and accomplished
public men Of the day, were made
to stand aside, were sent to the rear,
while his fantastic figure was led by
unseen hands to the front and given
the reins of power. 1t is inmate
rial whether we are for him OF
against him; wholly immaterial.-
That, during four years, carrying
with them such a pressure of re-
sponsibility as the world never wit.
messed before, he filled the vast
space allotted to him in the eyes and
actions Of mankind, ii is to say tina,
he was inspired of God, for nowhere
else could he have acquired the wis
dom and the grace Indispensable &c
his mission.
Where did Shakespeare get his &c.
MUS? Where did Mozart get his
| music? Whose hand Spota tho Iyr.
of the Scottish plowman and stayed
the life of the German priest? God
God, and God alone; and as surely
as these were raised up by God. in.
spired by God, was Abraham Lin.
coin and thousand years hence nc
story, no tragedy, no epic poem will
be filled with greater wonder, or be
followed by mankind with deeper
feeling, than that which tells Of his
life and death.