Abraham Lincoln was a model in every respect but one. It was a mistake on the part of this great and good man that he never identified himself openly with the Church. I know what can be said in favor of his position. It is not, however, satisfactory. If all men were to act in this matter as Lincoln did, there would be no Church. This is obvious. Hence the mistake which he made. Otherwise, as to his personal habits; as to his confidence in God; as to his faith in man; as to his conception and use of the Bible; as to his habits of prayer; as to his judicial fairness; as to his sympathy with men—in all these respects, as in many others, Abraham Lincoln is a character to be studied and imitated.
[26] From 'The Homiletic Review,' Funk & Wagnalls, Publishers.
TO THE SPIRIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN[27]
(Reunion at Gettysburg Twenty-Five Years After the Battle)
BY RICHARD WATSON GILDER
1888
Shade of our greatest, O look down to day!
Here the long, dread midsummer battle roared,
And brother in brother plunged the accursed sword;—
Here foe meets foe once more in proud array
Yet not as once to harry and to slay
But to strike hands, and with sublime accord
Weep tears heroic for the souls that soared
Quick from earth's carnage to the starry way.
Each fought for what he deemed the people's good,
And proved his bravery with his offered life,
And sealed his honor with his outpoured blood;
But the Eternal did direct the strife,
And on this sacred field one patriot host
Now calls thee father,—dear, majestic ghost!
[27] By permission of Houghton, Mifflin & Company.
LINCOLN AS A TYPICAL AMERICAN
BY PHILLIPS BROOKS