Thank God for Abraham Lincoln! However lightly the words may sometimes
pass your lips, let us speak them now and always of this man
sincerely, solemnly, reverently, as so often dying soldiers and
bereaved women and little children spoke them. Thank God for Abraham
Lincoln--for the Lincoln who died and whose ashes rest at
Springfield--for the Lincoln who lives in the hearts of the American
people--in their widened sympathies and uplifted ideals. Thank God for
the work he did, is doing, and is to do. Thank God for Abraham
Lincoln.
_James Willis Gleed._
Let us not then try to compare and to measure him with others, and let
us not quarrel as to whether he was greater or less than Washington,
as to whether either of them set to perform the other's task would
have succeeded in it, or, perchance would have failed. Not only is the
competition itself an ungracious one, but to make Lincoln a competitor
is foolish and useless. He was the most individual man who ever lived;
let us be content with this fact. Let us take him simply as Abraham
Lincoln, singular and solitary, as we all see that he was; let us be
thankful if we can make a niche big enough for him among the world's
heroes, without worrying ourselves about the proportion which it may
bear to other niches; and there let him remain forever, lonely, as in
his strange lifetime, impressive, mysterious, unmeasured, and
unsolved.
_John T. Morse, Jr._
Those who are raised high enough to be able to look over the stone
walls, those who are intelligent enough to take a broader view of
things than that which is bounded by the lines of any one State or
section, understand that the unity of the nation is of the first
importance, and are prepared to make those sacrifices and concessions,
within the bounds of loyalty, which are necessary for its maintenance,
and to cherish that temper of fraternal affection which alone can fill
the form of national existence with the warm blood of life. The first
man after the Civil War, to recognize this great principle and to act
upon it was the head of the nation,--that large and generous soul
whose worth was not fully felt until he was taken from his people by
the stroke of the assassin, in the very hour when his presence was
most needed for the completion of the work of reunion.
_Henry Van Dyke._