, 1922-02-09

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ties of Language. His coined phrases are worn
smooth and dateless In current speech. But more
than that, his habit of thought has guided the
thinking of errand boy and President. His faith
~quickens the faith OF us all. Shelley wrote OF
Keats:
He is made one with nature: there is heard
HIS voice In all her music. from the moan
or thunder to the song OF nights sweet bird:
He is a presence to be felt and known
In darkness and In light. from herb and stone
Spreading itself where'er that Power may move
which Yields the world with never-wearied love.
sustains 1t from beneath and kindles 1t above.
In such wise the man whose birth we celebrate
has entered Into the life Of his people and
is In process of penetrating the wider circles of the
whole worlds life. This. on Its earthward side.
is the Immortality Of Abraham Lincoln.
The man had a thousand Boswells but no great
one. Some 1900 books or pamphlets have
been issued dealing with the various phases OF
the subject. But If the choice must be made
between the books other men have written about
him and Llncoln's own words. the letters and ad-
dresses hold first place. He can be trusted as the
best witness In his own case. His word was MS
good as his bond. and his life was as good as his
word. Speech was the water from a living well.
under which the stream of character never failed.
Probably the majority " of men desire to be count
ed on the side Of truth. But few will make any
great effort to find what Is true. And. Sir Thomas
Browne declares. not every man Is n fit champion
Of truth. For when the man who Is right In prin-
clple fails In the trial by combat. the cause suffers
In his defeat.
Abraham Lincoln was not a speculative phllos-
ppher. an originator of systems OF thought. But
he was one of the greatest opponents and defend
ers OF truth In It's applications and Illustrations
In human experience that the world has ever seen.
His life and w~ords-which are insepnrable-per-
Tectly teach the balance between thought and act,
principle and practice, general truth and particu-
lar fact.
The same Is true Of the letters, which are full
OF keen and kindly applications to the life Of each
onc OF us and of the whole people. Even with
Gettysburg and the second Inaugural In mind. we
have found u more nearly complete and satisfying
expression Of the man In his letters than In his
addresses. In them he confounds the enemies OF
the Republic. admonishes, warns, and lnstructs his
people. aud comforts the broken-hearted with u
tenderness that had blossomed upon the graves OF
Nancy Hanks and Ann Rutledge and upon those OF
his children.
For IN THIS man reason and emotion were
Joined like form and color In n flower. He re-
jolced IN the exercise Of his mind. but he had none
Of that Intellectual arrogance that denies all IL
cannot comprehend or prove. The charge Of athe-
ism is the most futile Of all that have been brought
against him. AZ AN inquirlng boy he read Tom
Paine and wrote an essay along radical lines, but
the pressure of human need constrained him to
yurn 10 Divinity.
Prayer was the very breath OF his Inter life.
Gen. Daniel Sckles was hardly the man to Invent
a plous tale. lie hns repeated to many witnesses
the story Of Iincoln's prayer before Gettysburg.