The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-05
REV. j. r. STOUT SAYS ABRAHAM
WAS SPOKEN TO BY
GOD,
AS TRULY AS HIS NAMESAKE
WAS A SEER OF REVEAL
TIONS.
Elder Phelps and Pastor Andreasen
Speak Some Matters of
ChurchIy Moment.

Rev. J. F. Stout, D. D., last night
delivered the last in a series of Sunday
evening lectures on Great Protest
ants" the subject being Abraham Lin
coin. He said in part:
The subject for the evening is diff
ficult because it is a modern character.
We are accustomed to treat the men of
God OF the Hebrew race as under a
special divine direction and protection,
while we at the same time assume
that the men Of today do their work
unaided of God, and Independent of
His direction. Yet it is evident that
this modern man of God trusted and
wrought. and poured forth his heart S
best treasures as directly under God
as has any one in all the years.
We have proclaimed Abraham Lin
coin as great Protestant, a man who
for the love of man protests against the
wrongs that aff1ict the race. His great
ness is measured easily in three ways.
First, by his victory over the unhelpful
circumstances of his early life Com
ing from parents of good family, but
vantages for getting the rudiments Of
education. with no influential friends
or helpers he yet gained the necessary
foundation; used odd moments in
study, absorbed the best in every good
book on which he could lay his hands;
mastered the processes of reasoning by
the study of mathematics; despised the
small obstacles which stood in his way;
swept them aside; made friends out of
enemies; compelled the respect of all:
made himself necessary to his state and
nation; and from the cabin Of his youth
mounted, as was his right, to not only
the highest position in the gift of the
American nation. but to the highest
place in the affection of the people,
Second-His greatness appears by his
victory over forces that were in them
selves seemingly invincible. He had
opposed to him the most gigantic con-
spiracy of the years. 1t was made up
of men who were great in finesse, I'M
scrupulous in method, and remorseIess
in the pursuit of their ends. They were
on the popular side, entrenched in pub
lie power and common prejudice and
bound together by self-interest. His
tory has known no conspiracy so pew
erful and we'll equipped which is wor-
thy to stand beside it, The whole mat
ter in its broader aspects was a part
of that persistent struggle of the CEN
turtles between despOtism and individ-
ual freedom; between arbitrary wrong,
cOnsecrated by tradition and law, and
the unfolding recognition of private
rights; between the thralldom of public
opinion and the liberty of conscience;
between the greed of gain and the
golden rule of Christ. This enemy,
made up of many, opposed our man Of
destiny. and under God he conquered,
and because he was used in the accom-
plishment of one of the greatest vic
tories of the ages. he must be great.
Third-His greatness is seen by con-
trast. His was a great era replete
with great names. Seward, and Sum-
ner, and Stanton, in statecraft; Grant,
Sheridan, Sherman, in arms; Garrison
and Phillips as agitators-yet by his
side all others seem to wane. All ma
tiOns delight to honor him, and to the
lovers Of liberty the world over he is
increasingly the object Of generation
and love, and every year adds to the
appreciation of the work he wrought
and the height of character to which he
attained.
Acknowledging his greatness, it re
mains to outline the facts by which he
is shown to be entitled to stand with
the men of God as His chosen Protest
ants against the wrongs that Cypress
His own. He cultivated and developed
divine attributes. A list Of earth's So
called great men will reveal that most
have been men of Vaulting am bitiOn who
have used their splendid abilities to de-
StrOy their enemies and advance their
own interests; but it was not so with
him. 1t would be a matter of congrat-
ulation if we could say that he publicly
prOfeSsed to be Christian, but we can
| congratulate ourselves on the knowl-
edge that the sum of his greatness was
made up of units that were Christian
| He was humble and never boastful OF
his power. He was tender a true phi
lanthrOpist, in love with men and doing
his utmost forN their good. He was
merciful and his record was marred by
no stain during his whole life against
that virtue. He had in high degree
that moral courage without which a
son of God Is a disarmed hero at the
mercy of his foes. He was loyal. bear
ing his burdens on his Utmost heart by
coos help. He was conscious or oil
vine mission. This. in some way. all
his biographers assert. He is to be
judged in the light of a Protestant in
his relation to slavery. and it is this
which furnished him his mission 1t is
stated as a historic fact. and verified
by persons present at that time and
now living, that at one time the ven
cradle Rev DR.. Akers. reaching the
climax Of his discourse, turned the
powers of his genius on the evils OF
slavery until the people were breath
less with interest, when suddenly he de-
clared that it was borne in upon him