Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1915-08-01
Striking Sermon Based on
Life of Great Eman-
cipator.
WAS AN INSPIRED MAN
When Martyred Man Was
Killed Heart Of World
Was Broken.
CBy GEORGE w. RIPLEYD

10y NII4O w MI l'lA I y
God chose Abraham, of Ur in the
land of Chaldca, to raise him up n
people, a peculiar people, that would
obey and keep his commandments
and the law of Sinai. as delivered to
that people by Moses Gods law giver
God called again, another Abraham
through the voice of the American
people. whose surname was Lincoln,
to preserve, protect ana defend his
people,
| hold that the American nation Is
that great nation that Jacob spoke OF
at the time that he blessed the twelve
patriarchs, and that we are descend
ants of Manasseh, who should become
Il great nation, and we are that great
nation, and no nation should ever
conquer this great nation Old Eng
land tried us In the revolutionary war
to make our rorcfathers buy the tea
they shipped over here, but failed,
and our forefathcrs went aboard the
English ships and threw the cargo
OF tea overheard into the sea. And
again, in the war of 1872, the English
government claimed the right to
search our ships on the high seas ana
take the men off our ships and make
them bear arms against our govern
ment, but again they failed.
Abraham Lincoln in his first in
augural address said: 81 hold that
in contemplation Of universal law, and
Of the constitution the union of these
states is perpetual. Perpetuity is mn
piled, if not expressed in the funda-
mental law of all national govern
ments. II is safe to assert that no
government proper ever had pro-
vision i'm it's organic law for its own
termination. Continue to execute all
the express provisions of our national
constitution, and the union will en-
dure forever, it being impossible to
destroy it except by some action not
provided for in the instrument itself"
The Union Forever.
Descending from these general
principles we find the proposition that
in legal contemplation the union is
perpetual confirmed by the history
OF the union itself. The union is
much older than the constitution. 1t
was formed, in fact, by the articles
of association in INA. 1t was matured
and continued by the Declaration OF
independence in 1916. 1t was further
matured, and the faith Of all the thir-
teen states expressly plighted and en-
gagged that it should be perpetual, by
the articles Of confederation in IT'S. |
And finally, in 1887, one Of tho de-
Clared objects for ordaining and cs-
tablshing the constitution was, to
form a more perfect union"
"But, if destruction of the union by
one or by a part only OF the states be
lawfully possible, the union Is less
perfect than before the constitution
having lost the vital element of per-
petuity 1t follows from these views
that no state upon its own mere mo-
: Ia, FttII = ht.
that resolve and ordinances to that
effect are legally void, and that acts
Of violence within any state or states
against the authority of the United |
States are insurrectiOnary or rcvolu- |
tiOnary according to circumstances" |
Reliance in God.
"My countrymen. one and all, think |
calmly and well upon this whole sub
Ject. Intelligence, patriotism, chris |
tianity, and a firm reliance on Him |
who has never yet forsaken this ia I,
vOred land are still competent to ad |
Just in the best way all our present |
difficulty"
"In your hands, my dissatisfied fell
low-countrymen, and not in mine, is |
the momentous issue Of civil war. |
The government will not assail you.
You can have no conflict without be- !
ing yourselves the aggrcssOrs; you.
have no oath registered in heaven to
destroy the government, while | shall
have the most solemn one to pre-
serve, protect and defend it,"
II am loath to close, we are not
enemies, but friends. We must not
be enemies, though passion may have
strained, 1t must not break our bonds
of affection The mystic chords OF
memory, stretching from every bat
tlefiold and patriot grave TO every liv-
ing heart and hearthstone all over
this broad land. will yet swell the
chords Of tho union. when again
touched az surely they will be, by the
better angels of our nature"
with malice toward none, with
charity for all, with firmness In the
right. as God gives us to see the right,
let US strive to finish the work we
are in; to bind up the nations wounds;
to care for him who shall have borne
the battle, and for his widow, and his
orphan: to do all which may achieve
and cherish a just and lasting peace
among ourselves and with all nations"
These were words OF a president
whose heart throbbed with tenderness
and compassion. while pressing to its
Just conclusion a war whose present
and duration, or whose
revolutionary outcome, not one mem
Der OF his administration had ex-
pected. Once before, on the nine
teenth of November, 1864. at Gcttys-
burg. Lincoln In an address. equally
brief. had given to the world a mas
tcrpiece OF pathetic expression. whose
final phrase remains to this day a
bosom-text of the highest patriotism.
Full OF Gratitude.
Abraham Lincoln. as he stood on
the threshold Of q new administra-