lying principle of human life, is to be born again. Nothing short of Divine inspiration can give the measure of his wisdom and universal love.

If we are to attribute his genius to the evolution of blood and birth, we must see in one comprehensive view, the Greek, the Roman, the Gaul, the ancient Hebrew, and the Jew of the first century of the Christian era, the Norman, the Saxon, the Celt, and the swiftly sweeping pageantry of western Europe, with all these pouring its best heart's blood into the little Island of Britain, where it is purified in the seething melting pot of struggle for human liberty, to flow out again anew into the settlement of the American Colonies. Here we find it crystallizing in the perfect expression of all human rights, human hopes and human ideals, in the one greatest world's sentence: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." Further than this, the mind of man cannot go;

higher it cannot reach; deeper it cannot penetrate; more just or merciful it cannot be.

Here is reached the loftiest conception of life, among a noble and perfected people. That such a state of existence has never been approached upon this earth, does not weaken in the least the force and substance of this highest truth. As the human heart conceived it and gave it form and utterance, so the human heart everywhere and under all circumstances, recognizes the glorious possibility of its final achievement, and the humblest and most ignorant conceive somewhat of the blessed state of life in such a society; and it was the application of this perfect principle of government to all the affairs of life, that made Abraham Lincoln the foremost figure in his day and which is lifting him higher and higher in the scale of human greatness, as the years go by.

For every child born into the world, there is a stir in the universe. It cannot be otherwise, if men are souls, and the children of God. Human life attains dignity, as we realize this stupendous fact. Each individual

coming and going in the earth-world must have a meaning, must be a definite and authenticated note in the composition of life: otherwise, there can be no meaning in the statement on which the government of America is founded. Unless men are born with equal privileges to struggle, and strive, and rise to the heights of their nature, there is nothing either just or merciful in the scheme of things.

In the drama of today, characters are cast for each part. The story of all human endeavor, once it has passed into history, shows each incident, each act, to have been well considered, each event to have its correct place in the unfoldment of history, whether it be that of a man or a nation. Each epoch has its central figure, and over against this mighty genius is set a number of contrasting figures, ambitious either to rise with the mighty one, or to overthrow him and triumph above his ashes.

Such a world-soul was Abraham Lincoln. Into the New-Old Confederation of States, he came to weld them into a political monism, a union indivisable; a government in which each and every individual, born American, or

achieving that relationship through acquired legal citizenship, has equal power in the conduct of the government, with every other individual. The advent of this kindly man upon the arena of American politics, when the question arose as to what kind of a government the United States had, was providential. Under his master hand the Union was firmly established, the whipping post forever abolished, and four millions of human beings set free.

Centuries had been preparing for such a man. The old Hebrew prophets lived and uttered their unequaled wisdom, that it might leaven the thought and culture of the ages. The lowly Nazarene declared the truth of man's divinity, that the light of liberty might never go out of the world. Into western Europe poured the best blood of all the ancient peoples, and finally in the Island of Britain came the day when the printed Bible was on the table of every family, and the spirit of it became the very life blood of the Anglo-Saxon race. Then when, because of this very book, bitter persecution drove honest men and women to brave the hardships and dangers of

the new world, this same book became the chief corner stone in the government of the colonies.

As is so finely said by the learned Doctor Levy: "The advent of men of genius is an inexplicable event. They are the unanticipated lightning flashes in a wintry sky. They illuminate the horizon like an unexpected Aurora Borealis. They break chains. They loosen fetters. They rend shackles. They depose policy and enthrone principle. They pierce the demons of injustice with the glittering sword of right. They are as dew in the heat of conflict, and water to the soul that thirsts. In a word, they are the incarnation of the Spirit of God. Like the breaking of the dawn they come, the bringers of good tidings. They are the heroes of a new era. They sow spiritual seed. They lead many unto righteousness. The cause of God prospers in their hands. Upon their

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shoulders is placed the task of bearing the burdens of human suffering. Upon their tragic faces are burned the rugged lines of care. Gaunt and unlovely in appearance, awkward