The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1914-02-21
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
If a man die shall he live?

lHougn uedu, may ne yet speak
1t is merely poets fancy, or is it
plain historic truth that the spirits of
great ones gone yet rule us from
their urns? We are answering that
now under the heightened shadow of a
great, good man and stirred through
and through with the endless inspira-
ton of his life and words. The theme
that suggests this meditation IS an
inspiring one.
1t takes me up into an exceeding
high mountain.
l see more than your kindly faces,
more than a bare chapter of American
History, more than a Nations filial
devotion to a second Father, great,
strong and wise. | see God, "moving
In a mysterious way His wonders to
perform"
see "the tumult and the shouting
die, the Captains and the Kings de-
part" and with the warm life blood of
a plain mans great, loving heart, |
see the index finger of the Eternal
withe across the face of History for
all time that Government of the peo-
pie by the people and for the people
shall not perish from the Earth"
Somewhere in the top of the noun
tciiio a lliN opl lll' SlluSSltS lOI lie.
The hoof of a passing chamios might
stamp 1T out or a stray sunbeam drink
it dry. But the everlasting tides are
back of it. 1t swel!s to the brim, it
overf1oWs its banks, it trinkles down
the mountain side, it gathers into rivu-
let's, it combines into a torrent. it wild
ems and deepens amongst the plains,
until as majestic river it fertiizes a
('nntinnnt npl hnn,t. IL.
commerce of a Nation.
That is Cod in Nature.
Somewhere on the American from
tier in the early years of the last CEN
fury was a plain cabin and low born
babe. Poverty might have stunted its
growth or stern adversely crushed it
to earth. But the swell of the ever
lasting tides was back of its life. 1t
rose above its hard conditions, it sur
mounted every restraining obstacle, it
burst the bands and cast aside the
cords of its narrow environment;
broading and deepening it went. it
flowed forth in to ;he Nations life,
blessing, not cursing, healing, not
hurting, saving, not destroying. That
is God in History.
And that is Abraham Lincoln in the
story Of this Republics preservation,
development, and supreme mission.
| find it hard to think how any man,
who believes that Gods in His world,
that He shapes the destinies of Ma
tons and inspires the makers thereof,
can doubt for an instant the Divine di-
rection of Abraham Lincoln's life,
from that day when we see him
Little broken hearted boy weeping by
the outstretched form of a dead mo
Their and then travelling a hundred
miles to secure her Christian burial,
to that other day ending with a night
of unspeakable tragedy, wherein he
fell amidst Il nations stunned sorrow
at the hand of Winged Emissary of
fate, flown forth from the shadows of
that mystic world" where the wit of
man is baffled and Gods will reigns
alone.
It's the story of life-current.
Strong without rage, withour DER
flowing full' because back of and be-
meath the current of that life is the
swell of the Everlasting Tide.
Knowing what Abraham Lincoln
was and did, knowing the times and
seasons into which he came, you can
only account for him through God.
Colonel Henry Waterson has called
him "inspired of Cod. Yes, or diff
ferently, if you will, "chosen of God"
and fitted by the Divine Ruler of men
and Nations into the hour and work
for which such an instrument was
most peculiarly needed.