Such was our Lincoln. With wonder and admiration we stand in his presence and feel the magnetism that attracts us to the man. His goodness constituted his greatness.
As the world brings its frankincense of praise to offer as an incense at his shrine, in him men can see such an embodiment of true and glorious manhood that to him can fittingly be applied the word picture of Shakespeare's ideal:
"The qualities are so blended in him that all the world can stand up and say, Here is a man."
A little doctor of divinity in a large Baptist convention stood on a step and thanked God he was a Baptist. The audience could hear him but not see him, so some one shouted, "Get up higher." "I can't," replied the minister, "to be a Baptist is as high as I can get." He was mistaken,—there is something higher than being a Baptist or any other kind of an enthusiastic sectarian, and that is being a man. It is quite possible to be a churchman higher than the highest steeple and yet not have the affections which cluster around the throne of glory and find their nutriment in the bosom of God.
Lincoln's religion was that of character, the greatest force in the universe. He gave us a life by which to know him, a life overflowing with good works, full of that seriousness which comes from seeing and dealing with eternal realities, a continuous exhibit of unselfishness.
The pure and unblemished character of this man, his integrity of deed, his honesty of purpose, his faith in God have given him an everlasting place in the affections of the people, and the example which he has left behind nerves the heart and strengthens the arm and inspires the courage of others to emulate him and follow in his footsteps. No higher or better type can be placed before American youth as an exemplar and spur for ambition.
He is not a Christian who, however orthodox in his beliefs, has not love and devotion, self-sacrifice and honesty, truthfulness and manliness.
No power is like character,—this was the power which Abraham Lincoln possessed and which carried with it the blessing of God, gaining for him the attachment of a continent and the personal love and loyalty of the Anglo-Saxon race.
We may truthfully describe this man, whose greatness was his goodness, as Tennyson describes one of his heroes: he was
"Rich in saving commonsense,
And as the greatest only are—
In his simplicity sublime;
Who never sold the truth to serve the hour,
Nor paltered with eternal God for power;
Whose life was work, whose language rife
With rugged maxims hewn from life;
Who never spake against a foe.
Let his great example stand
Colossal, seen in every land,
Till in all lands and through all human story,
The path of duty be the way to glory."