New Britain herald., 1916-02-14
HONOR LINCOLN AT
 PATRIOTIC SERVICE
"Great Emancipator" Lauded at
 Trinity Church Gathering

| Delegations from practically all the
 lodges of the city attended the Lin
 coin Patriotic Service at Trinity Meth
 odist church last night. The exer-
 cises opened with the singing of My l Country 'tis of Thee" followed by the
 rendition of Lincoln's Gettysburg ad-
 dress by Charles l.. Wood, assistant
 pastors of the church. "The Star
 Spangled Banner" led by Mrs. How | ard Horton, was then given. Rev.
 Warren F. Cook, the pastor, delivered ! the address of the evening on Lin l coln.' He spoke follows:
 It becomes more fitting each recur- 1 ring year to pause at this time in this ] month and consider the life of the | great American statesman and world
 benefactor, Abraham Lincoln. The
 apostle said of Jesus, "Wherefore God | hath highly exalted Him and given | Him a name which is above every l name. With the exception of one 1 word which, we believe, is peculiar to | the character of Jesus, we can fitting Iy use this text of scripture in appli- cation to Lincoln. Indeed there are
 many ways in which this greatest American resembles this greatest Israelite and there is much scripture used by Jesus with reference to Him. seIf, His missiOn and the truths He came to promulgate, which could aptly be used of Lincoln's character and mission. Jesus declared that
 lie came that men might have life and that they might have it abun- dantly." How truly could we say of Lincoln that his mission was 8 mis- sion of life giving. From the early years of helpfulness in the small com munities in the middle west unto the great act of liberation brought forth in the emancipation declaration, Lin- coln's life is one round of inspiring and enriching and ennObling life. In truth, he did come among us that men-men who never before had known what full life was-might have life and that they might have it abun dantly. When Jesus, during His early ministery, stood up in the syna- gogue in his home town to read to His own people, you remember how He chose that passage from the prophecy of Isaiah and declared that His mis- sion was to fulfill this prophecy. "The spirit of the Lord is upon me- he cried, "because He hath sent me to heal the broken hearted; to preach deliverance to the captive, and re- covering of sight to the blind; to set 1 at liberty them that are banished, and l to proclaim the acceptable year of the ! Lord" How well that fits the life l and mission of Abraham Lincoln,- humble, sympathetic, believer in jus- tice and equality, he came to bring l, light to blind eyes; comfort to broken hearts; liberty to the enslaved and to proclaim new day in the Kingdom of the Lord.
 The Apostle John, referring 70 Christ says: "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He laid down His life for us: And we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. of black men, and mothers and children could and did raise a voice to heaven and cry, as his great soul passed back to God Hereby per ceive we the love of God, because he, Abraham Lincoln, laid down his life for us. In fact, we cannot limit tmS cry to the black race for in the death of this great man all America became free as she never had been free be- fore.
 Self Government.
 Slavery was abolished as a national institution. and the foundation pillar of the Declaration of Independence all men are created free and equaI- was upheld against the selfishness and greed and the mistaken notion that one man has the right to rule another a against his will "When the white man governs himself, that is self gov declared MT. Lincoln, ''but when he governs himself and also gov erns another man, that is more than self government,-that is despotlsm. No man is good enough to govern 1 another man without that other mans consent Allow all the governed an equal voice in the government; that and that only is self government. Slavery is founded in the seltieshness of mans nature, opposition to 1t in his love of justice. These pr1nc1pleS are an eternal antagonism. Repeal | the Missouri mprOmise-repeal all | compromise-repeal the Declaration | of Independence-repe all past his 1 tory still you cannot repeal human 1 nature.'
 Near eighty years ago." he con- l tinues, i've began by declaring that ] all men are created equal; but now, l from that beginning we have run down to the declaration that for some men to enslave others, is a sacred 1 right of government. These prin- l ciples cannot stand together They i are as opposite as God and man. ] mOn."
 Belief in God.
 Such convictions and such fearless | declarations make Lincoln immortal l These truths never go out of fashion. l By the insistence upon these funda- | mental principles came not only the | liberation of the black man-far more ] the liberation of truth and the white l man from untruth, which was blinl- | ing and shriveling him in his sup | posed right. It is a terrible thing 1 when people are wrong and think 1