Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1905-09-15
LESSONS FROM TWO LIVES.
by Rev. John b. Whiffor


Text: "Whosoever would be great |
among you shall be your minister, and |
whosoever would be first among you
shall be your servant. nt."-Matthew Xxx
26, 27.
And he spake of trees, from the
cedar that is in Lebanon even unto the |
hyssop that springeth out of the wall;
he spoke also of beasts; and of fowl
and of creeping things, and of fishes
i. Kings iv: 33.
Ninety-six years ago, the 18th of
February, two remarkable buds ap-
peared on the wondrous tree Of Life.
Long since they blosomed into beauty
and ripened into glory. Long since the
delicious exhalations filled the cham
bers Of many minds and sweetened the
labyrinths of many hearts. Long since
the rich perfume widened to the plan
cts utmost bound and bids fair to
lengthen to the length of all the cen
turies of recorded time. For as the
water when disturbed goes ripping on
and on in overwhelming undulations.
SO the influence of Lincoln and Oar
win is waxing more and more. They
are leading performers in that glorious
choir whose music is the gladness of
the world. One was born in home
Of culture, refinement and glittering
wealth; the other in hut of logs,
without a floor or window, in virgin
forest beyond the rim Of civilization.
One had a rich and famous ancestry,
with all the traditions of English aris-
tocracy back of him, and all the priv
ileges of social rank before him. The
other had a shiftless, fighting, coarse
and ignorant father. AS one grew he
had for his companions boys as highly
favored as himself. AS the other grew
he was forced to mingle with fight
ing, drinking bullies whose stories
were ingrained with oaths and whose
conversations savored of the sewer.
One had all the advantages of the
great universities and of walking the
flowery meads of literature and the
lovely gardens of epic and lyric song.
To the other such intellectual luxurles
had not even dawned on his imagina-
ton, or star-like lit up the vacant
spaces of his heart One was Tapped
in luxury and fed with nectar and
amDrosia the other lived as pioneers
and mountaineers do in lonely wids,
and as scouts on dangerous frontiers.
And yet from these homes so utterly
unlike there came two towering per-
sonalities, two exceptional and illus
trious men. One broke the shackles of
ignorance and superstition, enlarged
the horizon Of human thought, unlock
ed mysterious doors and ushered in an
epoch on the worlds calendar com
pared with which the golden ages Of
Pericles, Augustus, Leo X. and Of
England's virgin queen were only lead.
The other, with the spirit Of God upon
him, proclaimed liberty to the cap
tives and the opening Of the prison 10
them that were bound. He not only
liberated the enslaved and was as a
wall of fire to the defenseless, but he
piloted the vessel Of state through a
tempestuous and maddened sea to the
port of peace He saw the storm grad
ually lull and sweetly subside, until
an imperturbable serenity enwreathed
the deep like smile from tn, face of
God.
Lincoln and Darwin were providen-
tial men called of God to play impor-
tant parts on the central stage of the
worlds great theater. For the work
they did circled the nineteenth century
with wonder and crowned 1t with
glory. They are enrolled as benefac-
tors of the race and belong to the i'm
mortals of history.
If to be just loving, kind and true
to our fellowmen Is to be religious
then these men were religious clear to
the sockets Of their souls. Standing neal
the grave of Darwin, in the famous
pulpit of the Abbey, Canon Farral
said: "lf high purity and rigid per
formance of duty constitute a blessed
career; if what God requires of us Is
to do justly, love mercy, and to walk
humbly with him; If to do unto mer
whatsoever we would that they
, should do unto us be the law and the
prophets then do not hesitate to say
: that, rather than by the side of any
Journalist or any Pharisee, whose daily
words belle his vaunted orthodoxy
and make men turn with scorn from
[ his religion of denunciation and o.
r hate, l, for one, would rather take m!
stand at the Great Assize with one
who may have borne the stigma of
hereto, but who showed the virtues
Of saint" What he said of Darwin
| can be applied with equal force t
Lincoln. And 80 these twin-borl
!, mates of February IL, 1909, one WELD
lad