New Britain herald., 1916-02-14

he died as he died, because he was | what he was"
 Bancroft records that as Lincoln
 left his home in Springfield to come i to Washington as president he said l to his friends there: I know not l how soon 1 shall see you again A l duty has devolved upon me greater 1 than has devolved upon any man since Washington. He never would have 1 succeeded except for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. On the same Almighty place my reliance. Pray that I may re- celve that divine assistance, without which l cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. I know
 there is a God. and that He hates the
 Injustice of slavery. 1 see the storm
 coming and I know that His hand is
 Tn It. If He has a place and a work
 for me, and I think He has, I believe
 l am ready. I am nothing. B':t truth is everything. I know I am right, because I know liberty is right, for Christ teaches it, and Christ is
 God"
 we all know how Lincoln believed in prayer. In conversation with Gen. Slckles, after Gettysburg, he said he had mad no anxiety about the results Of the battle of Gettysburg, at which Gen. S1ck1es expressed surprise and pressed him for an answer. Lincoln hesitated, but finally replied in these words: Well, I will tell you how it was. In the pinch of your cam paign up there, when everybody seemed panic stricken, and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our af- fairs l went into my room one day. and locked the door, and got down on my knees before Almighty God and prayed to Him nightly for victory at Gettysburg. 1 told him that this was His war, and our cause was His cause, but that we could not stand another Fredericksburg or Characteristic. And I then and there made a solemn VOW to Almighty God that if He would stand by our boys at Gettysburg, I would stand hy Him. And He did and I will. After that q don't know how it was, I can't explain it), but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that things would go all right at Gettysburg and that is why I had no fears" Did you ever hear any thing which sounded more like u Christian testimony on the power and comfort of prayer than that? We could fill hours in quoting words to show this mans close relation to his God.
 Qualities of Greatness.
 But let me pass now for little while to consider some of the qualities of Lincoln's greatness. Lives of great men all remind us that we may make our lives sublime" If this be true it is well that we see the character istics which define their greatness. It will be evident to you that I can not go far in this,~ else I would keep you all the day. Let me just name 1 three great pillars of the mans char i acter-and perchance they will sug- ! gest others to you.
 First this-His deep sense of the 1 of duty.
 His duty to God and his duty to. :ellow-men. All I have been saying lbout his faith and his prayer life how how deeply he felt his duty to tod. ''If I can learn Gods will" he ries, 'I will do it." q trust shall be willing to do my duty ,hough it cost my life.' The sense Of lis duty to God was bound up in a ,ense of his duty to a cause. If God las work for me to dO, he says,
 
 eady." In his speech at Cooper In ,titute New York he said: 'If our sense of duty forbds then let us stand ,v our duty" Let us have faith of fight makes might and we see that 'aith. let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.
 Again. 'The purposes of the Lord gre perfect and must prevail You must not give me praise, it be- ongs to God' How different are ,hese utterances from those of many public men who fear to allow any hing that may be interpreted as r. igious crossing their lips. And how hey flash to us the depths of a great soul who knew his duty well and lered to follow it to the last.
 Just as strong is his feeling of duty oward his fellow men-indeed- this vas his cause-this was duty to God n earth.
 IngersoFs Tribute.
 Robert Ingersol in a splendid tribute such as he could give, leaves .s these words: "A great man stoop- ng. not wishing to make his fellows eel that they were small or mean. He cared nothing for place but everything for principle. He knew hat slavery had defenders but no de- fense. With him men were neither great nor small, they were either right or wrong. Their manners, clothes, titles rags and race, he saw the real,-beyond accident, policy, he saw the end. Wealth could not purchase, power could not awe. this divine, this loving man. He knew no fear except the fear of doing wrong Lincoln was the grand est figure of the fiercest civil war. He is the gentlest memory of our world.
 Sound Sense