Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-02-15
Published by Request. ]

service this morning these representa-
tives of the Woodbury. Council of Uni
ted American Mechanics, an order
whose patriotic and seryiceable aims,
are worthy of our highest respect and
praise Likewise we have with us to-
day members of the GAR, that fast
diminishing remnant of those brave
and loyal men who responded two score
years ago to their countrys CALL We
can never be too generous in our praise
of them. nor dare we ever forget the
debt of gratitude that we owe to them,
and to their comrades who fell on the
field. or who have since dropped out
of the ranks, in response to That
summons which we must all obey. We
are glad to be honored with their pres
ence in our church to-day. And 1T
has seemed to me that 1t would be
fitting this morning to make the sub
ject of our study a single character,
the one man so closely allied to the
war in which some of you fought, so
inextricably interviewer with the his
tory of the country of which we are
all loyal and true citizens. Tomorrow
celebrates the birth of Abraham Lin
coin, therefore, to-day let our thoughts
be of him.
AS Mont Blanc among the mountains
of Switzerland so stands Abraham
Lincoln among the men who tower IN
American history On the proud re-
cord of the 18th century are many
names familiar to fame, but none that
shines with such peerless lustre as
that of the first martyr-presldent.
Since Washington, he is the most con-
spicuous. the most majestic, the most
uniformly great man that one beholds
in looking back over the wide field OF
illustrious biography. AS is often the
case with heroes and benefactors, he
was lessS Scurately measured by
ts1bse who taood about him, than by
wtso have stadied him across
ltsa vista bf two score years. The
World sees now what contemporaries
were slow to believe, that in him, the
Creator had purposely embodied quail
ties which fitted and destined him to
be the supreme man for momentous
crisis. For we shall miss the i1dis-
pensable key to the solution OF his
life. if we fail to see in it, first OF all,
the manifest link between Providence
and destiny. God works through
persons,-it has been and always
will be his method He makes the
world better as fast as he can induce
individual men to be better. He car
ries on. great movements, by placing
at the head of them great human lead
ers. AT the beginning OF the career
of each nation says one, stands
great man into whose single personall-
tv God hath compacted all those quail
ties for which he would have the ma
ton stand.'' Law begins in Moses,-
Athens takes its rise in the mind OF
Cecrops Thebes grew out of the
wisdom of Cadmus. Great upheavalS
in history. y.-great social uplifts,- are
wrought through man, the real dy-
manic of society. God links some
man or woman to his purposes and
then they issue in pivotal and epochal
events. Luther must be at the head
AMI front of the reformation in Ger
many. John Knox must pioneer the
march of a free conscience and a free
Bible in Scotland. Wesley must break
the ecclesiastical bondage in England.
Truth never prevails until it is in
carnated. Providence plus persons
equals history.
ssMr. Lincoln's rise to fame and pow
err saws Mr.. Curtis in The True
Abraham Lincoln, was almost as sud
den and startling as that of Napoleon,
for it may be truthfully said that
when he was nominated for the pres
idencv. he was an unknown man. He
{ had occupied no important position, ne
had rendered no great public service,
his reputation was that of debater
and politician. and did not become ma
tional until he delivered a remarkable
sneeeh at Cooper Union, New York.
His election was not due to personal
popularity. nor to the strength of the
PARTY he represented, nor to the JUS
! flee Of his cause but to factional
strife and jealousies among his oppon-
ents. When the American people
were approaching the greatest crisis
in their history, it was the hand Of
Providence that turned the eyes OF
the people of the north, to this plain
man Of the prairies, and his rugged
figure rose before them, as If he had
been created to be their leader The
popular story-telier of the cross roads,
became an orator of immortal fame
The rail-splitter of the Sangamon, be;
came the most honored and respected
man of his generatio almost OF any
generation. Such men are not accl.
dents. History itself is a great and
complicated. play, with the world as
stage, and the great actors are chos-
en- BY infnite wisdom and fitted for
the parts they are to act Abraham
Lincoln is unexplainabie, except as
the visible and known quantity II
Gods equation of American rights and
liberties. He was the mouth piece oi
the Almighty q new Moses called fol
a new deliYerance He achieved more
ID American craftsmanship than any
other president, legislator, or diplo
mat. in the history OF the Republic
NoTE--1 have necessarily drawn from many
II, 49, - nm az fIsin address,. II