The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1922-10-07

structure the statues Of the illustri-
GUS names which have contributed
most to the progress Of christianity
during each Of the intervening one
hundred years Of christian history.
Abraham Lincoln was chosen to rep
resent the nineteenth century The
! Emancipation Proclamation repre-
seEts the browning act of his life.
When all else have been forgotten
this document will survive with the
eternal freshness Of perennial youth.
lie sprang up as root out of
dry fround. who shall declare lis
generation? When we looked upon
his yisage there was neither form
nor loneliness that we should de-
rire INN. We did. deem him strick-
en- Ct Go and afflicted. He was chi
out of the land of the living that
the land might live. He made in
terc. ssions for us and gave his life
as ransom for many; and with
his stripes we are healed.
AfTaham Lincoln is the one com
handing moral genius that las
arisen out OF the western world
Material attainment, intellectuai.
shrewdness and political talent have
ersrossed the chief energies Of fiis
hemisphere. Even the Christian
church on this continent deteriratss
towards the lower level Of things
concrete and material. The anil
slavery agitation produced a sDasm
of national virtue; but like hastv
spark it scarcely survived the attri-
/ ton which produced 1t. John
Brown, VIM. Lloyd Garrison and
Charles Sumner were filled with
moral sense was instructive and all
embracing. His reaction against
wrong was not born of the heated
issues of the passing hour. His NOR
al understanding was instructive
his ethical knowledge intuitive IF
4 slavery is not wrong, then nothing
| is wrong" This moral Dropositinn
! is as clear, concise and convincing
as any axiom of Euclid. When Int
a beardless youth he saw mani
body at auction in the slave market
in New Orleans His moral nature
instinctiveiy revolted. His eiacnla-
ton was spontaneous and prophetic:
by God, if l ever get o chance to
hit this thing, / will hit it hard"
And, by God, he did hit it hard
thirty years later in the Emancipa-
| ton Proclamation. This immortal
document was formulated in his soul
forty years before it was proclaim
ed Whence came his love of right
and hatred of wrong? 1t was not
transmitted through inheritance or
caught from the prevailing cult or
] absorbed from his crude envirnn-
ment, but like every other good and
perfect gift, it came from above
Abraham Lincoln walked and talked
with God. All genius is characterize
ed by llineliness and isolation. II
shuts itself up in a nutshell like
Hamlet, and yet deems itself mas
ter of infinit space. Genius is al
ways lonely amidst multitude and
must withdraw itself to the desert
/ place apart. 1t finds satisfaction in
seclusion and solace and solitude. In
default CT human companionship it
lseeks association and communion
with a higher source from which It
lsprang. Genius communicates thru
the ordinary channels of companion
ship only that which the average
man can appreciate and understand
Lincoln was lonely in the midst of
his cabinet His closest friends and
advisers understood that they must
stay here. While he went yonder.
He vouchsafed to them only as
much Of his secret as was aDDro-
pirate to their understanding. I'M
mediately after the battle of Antie-
tam, it is said that with hands he
hind his back, he walked up and
down the cabinet room, Oblivions If
the presence OF his. advisers; and
INDUCED in inner groanlngs of the
spirit too deep for vocal utterance.
But finally he CALCULATED: Il prom
Used God, i promised God, l prom
ised Go that if he would give me
victory at Antietam, / would dn
this thing" The Emancipation Proc
lamation was a covenant made in
Heaven. 1t was submitted to the
Cabinet for its information onlv "a
la VOW already registered on High.
After receiving the sanction nf
Heaven upon this Proclamation. he
no more thought Of submitting IT. tn
the consideration of the council of
his advisers than Moses dreamed of
Isubmitting the Ten Commandments
to the approval of the host which he
led.
Behold man without animosity
or bitterness of soul! He had no
/ Especial love and no particular ha-
treds. He freed the Negro without
loving him and subdued the South
without hating it. with charity
Tor all and malice towards nome"
was the moral axiom upon which his
mind moved. His devotion surnass-
! ed the ordinary human under
standing. Others knew in part and
loved in part; he comprehended the
whole. His contemporaries thought
in fractions, he in integers. He was
the only one in forty millions who
understood that the whole was great
Ter than any of its parts. No local pre-
JUDGES or sectional aspiritles could
warp him from this automatic truth.
The sure knowledge OF the sage.
the moral sense of the saint and
the practical wisdom of the states
man were his. The hasty l0nial
surgeon advised immediate abolition
Of slavery as the cancerous rlalady
II of the national body. They wnnld