Books: The Life of Abraham Lincoln

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The marvel is that this did not embitter him against the church. But
all his life long he kept up such bonds of sympathy with the church as
were possible. He bore with the faults of the church and of ministers
with that patience which made his whole character so remarkably
genuine. He was a constant attendant at the services, he was favorable
to all the legitimate work of the church, and he was exceptionally kind
to ministers, though they were often a sore trial to him.

In childhood he would not rest until a clergyman had traveled many
miles through the forests to preach a memorial discourse over the grave
of his mother. When his father was ill he wrote a letter of religious
consolation intended for him: "Tell him to remember to call upon and
confide in our great and good and merciful Maker, who will not turn
away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and
numbers the hairs of our heads, and He will not forget the dying man
who puts his trust in Him."

Hugh McCulloch, in a personal letter to the author, January 28, 1889,
wrote: "He was, as far as I could judge, a pure man, and 'in spirit and
temper' a Christian." His pastor, Dr. Gurley, regarded him as a
Christian. Other clergymen who were acquainted with him did so.

J. G. Holland has preserved the following incident:

Colonel Loomis, who was commandant of Fort Columbus, Governor's Island,
in New York Harbor, reached the age at which by law he should be put on
the retired list. He was a very religious man, and his influence was so
marked that the chaplain and some others, determined to appeal to the
President to have him continued at the post. The Reverend Dr. Duryea of
Brooklyn was sent to Washington to prefer the request. "What does the
clergyman know of military matters?" inquired the President. "Nothing,"
was the reply. "It is desired to retain Colonel Loomis solely for the
sake of his Christian influence. He sustains religious exercises at the
fort, leads a prayer-meeting, and teaches a Bible class in the Sunday
School." "That is the highest possible recommendation," replied the
President. He approved the request, and the Christian officer was
retained there until imperative military duty called him elsewhere.

The religious strain that runs through his papers and addresses cannot
be overlooked. But there are two that deserve special mention. The
first is the "Sunday Order," which is as follows:

"The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the
sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference
to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the
Divine will, demand that Sunday labor in the army and navy be reduced
to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the
national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be
imperiled, by the profanation of the day or the name of the Most High."

The other is his thanksgiving proclamation. He it was who nationalized
this festival which had previously been local and irregular. His
successors in office have done well to follow his example in the
matter. Every November, when the entire population turns from daily
toil to an hour of thanksgiving, they should not forget that they are
thereby acting on his recommendation, and in doing this they are
strengthening the best possible monument to the grand, good man whom
the Most High mercifully gave to this country in the time of her direst
need.

"He was a _man_; take him for all in all
I shall not look upon his like again."

CHAPTER XLI.

TESTIMONIES.

We have now followed the career of Lincoln throughout. It is fitting
that this book should conclude with a record of what some observant men
have said about him. Accordingly this, the last, chapter is willingly
given up to these testimonies. Of course such a list could easily be
extended indefinitely, but the quotations here given are deemed
sufficient for their purpose.

H. W. Beecher:

Who shall recount our martyr's sufferings for this people? Since the
November of 1860 his horizon has been black with storms. By day and by
night, he trod a way of danger and darkness. On his shoulders rested a
government dearer to him than his own life. At its integrity millions
of men were striking home. Upon this government foreign eyes lowered.
It stood like a lone island in a sea full of storms; and every tide and
wave seemed eager to devour it. Upon thousands of hearts great sorrows
and anxieties have rested, but not on one such, and in such measure, as
upon that simple, truthful, noble soul, our faithful and sainted
Lincoln. Never rising to the enthusiasm of more impassioned natures in
hours of hope, and never sinking with the mercurial in hours of defeat
to the depths of despondency, he held on with immovable patience and
fortitude, putting caution against hope, that it might not be
premature, and hope against caution, that it might not yield to dread
and danger. He wrestled ceaselessly through four black and dreadful
purgatorial years, wherein God was cleansing the sin of his people as
by fire....

Then the wail of a nation proclaimed that he had gone from among us.
Not thine the sorrow, but ours, sainted soul! Thou hast indeed entered
the promised land, while we are yet on the march. To us remains the
rocking of the deep, the storm upon the land, days of duty and nights
of watching; but thou art sphered high above all darkness and fear,
beyond all sorrow and weariness. Rest, O weary heart! Rejoice
exceedingly, thou that hast enough suffered! Thou hast beheld Him who
invisibly led thee in this great wilderness. Thou standest among the
elect. Around thee are the royal men that have ennobled human life in
every age. Kingly art thou, with glory on thy brow as a diadem. And joy
is upon thee forevermore. Over all this land, over all this little
cloud of years, that now from thine infinite horizon moves back as a
speck, thou art lifted up as high as the star is above the clouds that
hide us, but never reach it. In the goodly company of Mount Zion thou
shalt find that rest which thou hast sorrowing sought in vain; and thy
name, an everlasting name in heaven, shall flourish in fragrance and
beauty as long as men shall last upon the earth, or hearts remain, to
revere truth, fidelity, and goodness.

... Four years ago, O Illinois, we took from your midst an untried man,
and from among the people. We return him to you a mighty conqueror. Not
thine any more but the Nation's; not ours, but the world's. Give him
place, O ye prairies! In the midst of this great continent his dust
shall rest, a sacred treasure to myriads who shall pilgrim to that
shrine to kindle anew their zeal and patriotism. Ye winds that move
over the mighty places of the West, chant his requiem! Ye people,
behold a martyr whose blood, as so many articulate words, pleads for
for fidelity, for law, for liberty!

Noah Brooks:

He became the type, flower, and representative of all that is worthily
American; in him the commonest of human traits were blended with an
all-embracing charity and the highest human wisdom; with single
devotion to the right he lived unselfishly, void of selfish personal
ambition, and, dying tragically, left a name to be remembered with love
and honor as one of the best and greatest of mankind.

W. C. Bryant:

Oh, slow to smite and swift to spare,
Gentle and merciful and just!
Who, in the fear of God, didst bear
The sword of power, a nation's trust!

In sorrow by thy bier we stand,
Amid the awe that hushes all,
And speak the anguish of a land
That shook with horror at thy fall.

Thy task is done; the bond are free:
We bear thee to an honored grave,
Whose proudest monument shall be
The broken fetters of the slave.

Pure was thy life; its bloody close
Hath placed thee with the sons of light,
Among the noble host of those
Who perished in the cause of Right.

J. H. Choate:

A rare and striking illustration of the sound mind in the sound body.
He rose to every occasion. He led public opinion. He knew the heart and
conscience of the people. Not only was there this steady growth of
intellect, but the infinite delicacy of his nature and capacity for
refinement developed also, as exhibited in the purity and perfection of
his language and style of speech.

R. W. Emerson:

He had a face and manner which disarmed suspicion, which inspired
confidence, which confirmed good will. He was a man without vices. He
had a strong sense of duty.... He had what the farmers call a long
head.... He was a great worker; he had a prodigious faculty of
performance; worked easily.... He had a vast good nature which made him
accessible to all.... Fair-minded ... affable ... this wise man.

What an occasion was the whirlwind of the war! Here was the place for
no holiday magistrate, no fair-weather sailor; the new pilot was hurled
to the helm in a tornado. In four years,--four years of battle-days,--
his endurance, his fertility of resources, his magnanimity, were sorely
tried and never found wanting. There, by his courage, his justice, his
even temper, his fertile counsel, his humanity, he stood a heroic
figure in the center of a heroic epoch. He is the true history of the
American people in his time. Step by step he walked before them; slow
with their slowness, quickening his march by theirs, the true
representative of this continent; an entirely public man; father of his
country, the pulse of twenty millions throbbing in his heart, the
thought of their minds articulated by his tongue.

J. G. Holland:

Conscience, and not expediency, not temporary advantage, not popular
applause, not the love of power, was the ruling and guiding motive of
his life. He was patient with his enemies, and equally patient with
equally unreasonable friends. No hasty act of his administration can be
traced to his impatience. He had a tender, brotherly regard for every
human being; and the thought of oppression was torment to him.... A
statesman without a statesman's craftiness, a politician without a
politician's meannesses, a great man without a great man's vices, a
philanthropist without a philanthropist's impracticable dreams, a
Christian without pretensions, a ruler without the pride of place and
power, an ambitious man without selfishness, and a successful man
without vanity.

O. W. Holmes:

Our hearts lie buried in the dust
With him so true and tender,
The patriot's stay, the people's trust,
The shield of the offender.

J. R. Lowell:

On the day of his death, this simple Western attorney, who, according
to one party was a vulgar joker, and whom the _doctrinaires_ among
his own supporters accused of wanting every element of statesmanship,
was the most absolute ruler in Christendom, and this solely by the hold
his good-humored sagacity had laid on the hearts and understandings of
his countrymen. Nor was this all, for it appeared that he had drawn the
great majority not only of his fellow-citizens, but of mankind also, to
his side. So strong and so persuasive is honest manliness without a
single quality of romance or unreal sentiment to help it! A civilian
during times of the most captivating military achievement, awkward,
with no skill in the lower technicalities of manners, he left behind a
fame beyond that of any conqueror, the memory of a grace higher than
that of outward person, and of a gentlemanliness deeper than mere
breeding. Never before that startled April morning did such multitudes
of men shed tears for the death of one whom they had never seen, as if
with him a friendly presence had been taken away from their lives,
leaving them colder and darker. Never was funeral panegyric so eloquent
as the silent look of sympathy which strangers exchanged when they met
on that day. Their common manhood had lost a kinsman.

Wise, steadfast in the strength of God, and true.
How beautiful to see
Once more a shepherd of mankind indeed,
Who loved his charge, but never loved to lead;
One whose meek flock the people joyed to be,
Not lured by any Cheat of birth,
But by his clear-grained human worth,
And brave old wisdom of sincerity!

* * * * *

Great Captains, with their guns and drums,
Disturb our judgment for the hour,
But at last silence comes;
These all are gone, and, standing like a tower,
Our children shall behold his fame,
The kindly-earnest, brave, foreseeing man,
Sagacious, patient, dreading praise, not blame,
New birth of our new soil, the first American.

Clara Morris:

God's anointed--the great, the blameless Lincoln.... The homely,
tender-hearted "Father Abraham"--rare combination of courage, justice,
and humanity.

H. J. Raymond:

But there was a native grace, the out-growth of kindness of heart,
which never failed to shine through all his words and acts. His heart
was as tender as a woman's,--as accessible to grief and gladness as a
child's,--yet strong as Hercules to bear the anxieties and
responsibilities of the awful burden that rested on it. Little
incidents of the war,--instances of patient suffering in devotion to
duty,--tales of distress from the lips of women, never failed to touch
the innermost chords of his nature, and to awaken that sweet sympathy
which carries with it, to those who suffer, all the comfort the human
heart can crave. Those who have heard him, as many have, relate such
touching episodes of the war, cannot recall without emotion the
quivering lip, the face gnarled and writhed to stifle the rising sob,
and the patient, loving eyes swimming in tears, which mirrored the
tender pity of his gentle and loving nature. He seemed a stranger to
the harsher and stormier passions of man. Easily grieved, he seemed
incapable of hate.... It is first among the marvels of a marvelous
time, that to such a character, so womanly in all its traits, should
have been committed, absolutely and with almost despotic power, the
guidance of a great nation through a bloody and terrible civil war....

Carl Schurz:

As the state of society in which Abraham Lincoln grew up passes away,
the world will read with increasing wonder of the man who, not only of
the humblest origin, but remaining the simplest and most unpretending
of citizens, was raised to a position of power unprecedented in our
history; who was the gentlest and most peace-loving of mortals, unable
to see any creature suffer without a pang in his own breast, and
suddenly found himself called to conduct the greatest and bloodiest of
our wars; who wielded the power of government when stern resolution and
relentless force were the order of the day, and then won and ruled the
popular mind and heart by the tender sympathies of his nature; who was
a cautious conservative by temperament and mental habit, and led the
most sudden and sweeping social revolution of our time; who, preserving
his homely speech and rustic manner, even in the most conspicuous
position of that period, drew upon himself the scoffs of polite
society, and then thrilled the soul of mankind with utterances of
wonderful beauty and grandeur; who, in his heart the best friend of the
defeated South, was murdered because a crazy fanatic took him for its
most cruel enemy; who, while in power, was beyond measure lampooned and
maligned by sectional passion and an excited party spirit, and around
whose bier friend and foe gathered to praise him--which they have since
never ceased to do--as one of the greatest of Americans and the best of
men.

Henry Watterson:

He went on and on, and never backward, until his time was come, when
his genius, fully developed, rose to the great exigencies intrusted to
his hands.

Where did he get his style? Ask Shakespeare and Burns where they got
their style. Where did he get his grasp upon affairs and his knowledge
of men? Ask the Lord God, who created miracles in Luther and
Bonaparte!... Where did Shakespeare get his genius? Where did Mozart
get his music? Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scottish plowman, and
stayed the life of the German priest? God, God, and God alone; and as
surely as these were raised up by God, inspired by God, was Abraham
Lincoln; and a thousand years hence, no drama, no tragedy, no epic
poem, will be filled with greater wonder, or be followed by mankind
with deeper feeling, than that which tells the story of his life and
death.

THE END.

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