is the government of all; its powers are delegated by all; it represents all, and acts for all."

Such was the opinion of the greatest nationalist Judge, laying down the law of what should be, to make a nation. Following up his steps and passing far beyond, came the greatest nationalist Executive, with a firm hand, holding together warring elements with power, wisdom, and patience, welding them strongly together, so that in a day when his eyes had long been closed, that which the great Judge had said should be, should be made to be. Over the silent forms of those fallen in the most terrible conflict of the long struggle for the perpetuation of the nation, the great Executive carried forward the reasoning of the great Judge-away from the bloodless language of law into words filled with the ichor of the love of mankind, into words immortal with unquestioning faith:

"It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us-that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotionthat we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that the nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

THE MERIT OF A MIGHTY NAME

JUDGE W. G. EWING

HE people of America exalt themselves in the estimation

Lincoln, for even now, scarce half a century distant from the Titanic struggle in which his splendor dawned, there is more of honest merit in his mighty name than ever bore the burdens of a crown, or through slaughter won a throne. Martin Luther waited nearly three centuries for the full recognition of his mighty achievement; and Shakespeare nearly a century longer for the universal acclaim of his splendid genius; and so with scores of others whose great names now belong to the rich heritage of the world. The rule through all history seems to be that it is "Time that sets all things even," and gives to every man his own, but in the instance of the great Lincoln, an awakened sense of justice superseded Time, and wrote his name high on the scroll of the immortals, even while the Nation in tears, followed him to the grave.

Few persons realize the brevity of Lincoln's public career, or at least his public life in any national sense. It is limited to seven brief years. There are several men in this audience to-night who have a larger inter-State acquaintance, a more extensive law practice and as much professional reputation as Lincoln had at the time of his debate with Douglas. That debate gave him a national reputation; his Cooper Union speech a year later, gave an international reputation; the year following came the presidency, and four years later, his assassination-thus in seven short years this marvellous man passed from the seclusion of a private citizen in a frontier town, to imperishable renown.

I have been much impressed with Lincoln's uniqueness in this he was the only occupant of the presidential office

to whom the presidency gave lasting distinction. The really great men who have held that office, such as Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Jackson, Grant, all had achieved enduring fame before the presidency came to them, and would have lived as long in history and the grateful memory of men without the presidency, as with it. But that office was Lincoln's opportunity; he went to it from comparative obscurity, and in four short years, by virtue of the power of his position, achieved immortality. The presidential office did not make him great; it found him greatas great in his humble Springfield home as in the Nation's capital-but the presidency gave to him the opportunity to demonstrate his greatness-inherent greatness. It is noticeable to us all that the magnet which attracts the world to Lincoln to-day, is exactly the qualities of mind and heart— intelligence, gentleness, humanity, and sincerity—which he manifested among his associates, from his flat-boat experience to his residence in the White House.

On the annual recurrence of this day, the youth of America should be taught the beautiful story of a life begun in poverty, sustained by constant struggle, and yet inseparably interwoven with the most heroic efforts of men, for men-a life replete with lessons of industry, economy, sobriety, and integrity, illustrating in the fullest degree the possibilities that are open under republican government to every earnest, honest child, to rise from the lowliest walks of life to the very palisades of enduring fame.

No young man can study the life of Lincoln from childhood to his assassination, without being impressed with its beauty, simplicity, and moral grandeur and feeling the promptings of a laudable ambition to so order his own life that he may leave the world wiser and happier and better for having lived in it.

Lincoln's character was many sided, and every phase of it was a manifestation of strength, if not of absolute greatness; that peculiarity which at one time some people thought weak and frivolous in his heroic combination, namely, the love of the humorous, the "baiting place of wit," is now, I believe,

regarded by all thoughtful and candid men, as the only surcease from anxious, troubling thought that visited his sad and earnest life. To my mind it is clear, that the humorous phase of Lincoln's character was one of the secrets of his marvellous power-was the ready, and possibly the best, means of securing for his most serious thought and real purpose, the consideration of the common people; for it must be constantly borne in mind that he was in fact not only a very serious and thoughtful, but sometimes a much depressed man; and if he sometimes caused the people to laugh, it was that he might compel them to think. His object was not mirth, but thought; and thousands of times I doubt not, he has said to his own sad heart,—

"If I laugh at any mortal thing,

'Tis that I may not weep."

Lincoln could

Genius never needs an introduction to itself. not have been unconscious of his wonderful talent and power as a leader of men. When in 1858 he applied to the unfortunate condition of American institutions the scriptural saying, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," he heard, even then, the distant rumble of Freedom's gathering hosts, and when, a moment later, he added, "I do not expect the house to fall, but I do expect it will cease to be divided," who can question that his prophetic soul foresaw the end from the beginning, and possibly his own great part in the gigantic struggle that was to enthrone Freedom, and mark the dawn of a splendid era in the civilization of the world?

His life was cast in a crucial period of the world's history, during a time when a great moral principle-greater than any man, as great as all men-was struggling for universal recognition, the principle of the equal right of all men to life and liberty, he became involved in the struggle, gave to it his best thought, his highest endeavor, and finally the principle took possession of him and dominated his life. Taken for all in all, tested by the highest standard of true greatness, history must accord to Abraham Lincoln a place second to

that of no one of the century that gave him birth—an era without parallel in the development of art and science; rich in invention, statesmanship, philosophy, oratory, and song; the era of Von Moltke, Humboldt, Bismarck, Hugo, Browning, Carlyle, Gladstone, Sumner, Douglas, Beecher, Emerson, Grant. Surely, for one to attract with a splendor all his own, in such a galaxy of learning and genius, is an absolute demonstration of greatness.

We cannot, however, contemplate the life and character of Lincoln without realizing the fact that his greatness could not have been made manifest to the world, but for the unremitting discussion of human rights by the Garrisons and Greeleys and Sumners and Lovejoys and John Browns.

The old line Abolitionists of fifty years ago, were the marked and masterful men of their time; once hated, derided, and shunned as "the pestilence that walketh in darkness and the destruction that wasteth at noonday," these faithful vanguardsmen of freedom patiently bided their time; with faith in God and faith in humanity, they "bore the cross, endured the shame," and through threatening and slaughter "pressed forward to the mark of the prize" of their high calling, and now dwell serenely in the world's abiding gratitude and love.

In the presence of these great names, I bend my heart to its knees. They were men of but one idea; but that idea encompassed a whole race then in bondage; it was as broad as the universe of God; it comprehended the spirit of universal liberty; it gilded with a fadeless splendor American manhood; it gave as a heritage to immortality that transcendent composite of greatness and goodness, of genius and gentleness, of sublimity and simplicity-Abraham Lincoln.