New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1909-02-24


man In eur time or In any time, for
the matter Of that. who patterned his
Life more fully on: that Of the Wan OF
Sorrows. Both were born poor, one
En- stable and the other. In cabin
not so, good as most stables. One was
the Saviour Of mankind and the other
the savior Of his country. Both taught
lowe and mercy. both. elung to. truth,
both regarded the substance more than
the form, and both were heard gladly
by the common people. Both. were de-
nounceG by those in place and power,
both were reformers, both eame to-
bring liberty to the. captive; and both
at last gave their. Lives for mankind
Both were meek, both were sat1 BOTH
taught In parallels. and both set their
faces against the. worship Of Mann
mon. Other simi1arIies- can be shown.
but enough have been stated to- reveal
the fact that, whatever Lincoln Said Of
theology, he was true, follower OF the
Nazarene In Life. and deed Those who
count the life and the deed more than
the word will rate him. accordingly
All Of Mr.. LfncoIns- Biographies
speak of certain mystical tendencies En-
his character: These have doubtless
been magnif1ed beyond their true
worth. For example,, there IS the state
ment that he dreamed of a rapidly
moving ship just before great events
in his Life. There is also the story Of
his having seen two images of him
self In mirror, one pafer than the
other. from which occurrence Mrs Lin
coin is said to have predicted that he
! would be elected twice to the pfesl-
deney and the last term would be
short. He is also said himself to have
i had premonft1ons that he would be as-
sassfnatef People have even gone to
| the length of alleging that President
Lincoln believed Tn spirftfsm and some
times consulted medium. So far as
I know, there is no evidence to prove
the truth of this. As for the other
phenomena mentioned, they are scarce
II Of the highest character, whether
true or false The order Of mind that
looks for sign might be impressed
by them, but the evidence OF the no.
blest and finest spirituality in Lin
coins whole life so infinitely tran
scends these psychic signs and won
ders, even it they are worthy OF cred
enee at all, that they may as well be
discarded. They are more of the non
essential and trivial that have gath
cred about this great name.
1 Mr.. Lineoln's biographers also ae-
cuse him Of having been fatalist Is
this the whole truth? There is no evil
dence in his resistless energy in trying
to move public opinion, no Indication
in his tenacious will and masterful
character, no hint in his clear reason
ing power or common sense philoso-
ply, that he was fataIist in the ae-
cepted sense of the term He was q
thorough believer in cause and effect.
but that does not constitute a fatafist.
It still leaves room for individual mi
tiative in setting up causes.
He was also profoundly convinced
of an overruling Providence in human
affairs. II it is meant that he was a
fatalfst In the sense that he believed
God and Gods law governs the world
the charge may stand, but that does
not imply fatalism since it leaves
wide latitude for the choice Of the in
dividual- In large way, like Napo-
leon Bonaparte, Mr.. Lincoln may have
felt that a man brings his destiny
with him. Most great souls born into
the world with a work have felt the
same, But that by no means reduces
man to a machine, a blind pupnet OF
forces over which he has no control
The true man is master Of his own
Il world, and few men have revealed
more of this mastery over all given
! into their hands than Abraham Lin
coin. Whatever his words may have
said, his life aud deeds said beyond
any question of doubt that he was
anything but Il fatalist Those who
call him SO have surely failed to go be.
meath the mask of his personality
8 They belong to the same school that
called him materiaIfst because he
was cautious and careful and reasoned
his way slowly and surely. Yet there
has been no man in modern times that
dwelt more in the moral world than
Lincoln There has been no man that
had profounder faith in God and his
Intervention for righteousness than
Lincoln No man had frmer belief
in the final triumph of the invisible
forces Of justice and truth Do these
things belong to the materiaIist and
fataIist2 The man that says so does
not know the meaning of words.
+ Mr.. Lincoln was such many sided
man that it would take several char
aeters rolled into one to furnish his
counterpart. He was a combinati ton
between Jewish prophet and Ken
lucky frontiersman- composite pho
tograph of a patriarch, a Greek law
giver and an Illinois horse trader
Iincoln's tenderness for animals and
many other points in his character sug-
gest the most ChristIike monk of the
middle ages ST Fra nciS of Assist