upmh of the cause of the Union, and when he was assassinated by a foolish fanatic, there was put a martyr's crown upon his life, that called attention to it so distinctly that it impressed its mark upon the ages as nothing else could do. So martyrs are ever || honored, almost worshipped. When Abraham Lincoln was murdered, with his good heart, his excellent intentions, his broad common sense, his statesmanship, his death put God's seal upon those characteristics of the man who brought about the return of the South to the Union, through a teaching which has made them a solid glorious and permanent part of this great nation.

Abraham Lincoln was an upright man such as ! cannot be made by clothing; such as cannot be made by money, but which is made only by building upon the foundation of Christian faith, upon a large and loving heart. That heart had been broken, and having been broken it is fair to assume that God made him suffer, in order that he might be a better instrument for bringing about peace and prosperity to this great nation, and the setting up of a great people whose ideal he should be. Abraham Lincoln's faith and broad common sense showed him that this nation should lead all the nations of the earth in bringing them all up to that standard of Christian fellowship and brotherly love, where each should do unto the other as he would have the other do to him.

These, then, are the great characteristics in the life of Abraham Lincoln, his every-day sound judgment; his great, loving soul; his prayers to God and his faith in the ultimate triumph of right. With malice toward none, but with love for all, Abraham Lincoln set his faith in God, believing that righteousness would prevail, and that at last truth would triumph. That makes a great character. A small character that lives within its own narrow limits, thinks that all is going to the bad; that evil is everywhere extant, that the good are ever crushed and the wicked are ever prosperous, takes a small, uncommonsense view of life. But Abraham Lincoln was a broad character, who, having faith that all things were working together for good in the sight of God, and that somehow evil would be crushed and righteousness would prevail, became the giant man that he was, and his great influence came, not from the fact that he was a great statesman or a great soldier, or a great scientist, or a great scholar, or great in any one invention, but because of that all-pervading, permanent good character and broad common sense, that sublime purpose in life which goes with sincere faith in God.

BENEDICTION

O Lord! We read that Thy kingdom shall be found on earth with the men and women whose

hearts are pure, and who love their fellowmen and reverence Thee. O Lord! we thank Thee for Abraham Lincoln's great life, in that his heart was full of sympathy for the suffering and the needy, full of sweet humanity. We thank Thee for his broad wisdom, guiding him into channels of usefulness. Lord, raise up thousands more men like Abraham Lincoln. We ask that benediction, and ask it in Christ's name. Amen.

IV

George Washington Day

(REVELATION XIV:13)

Y text this morning is in the 14th chapter of the book of Revelation:

MY

"And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their work do follow them.”

My thought this morning has not so much to do with this prophecy of everlasting life, as upon the words, "I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write." That has occurred many times in the history of the world. I read to you this morning that God told Moses to write, and we have read that God told the prophets to write, and we have read what He told the Apostles to write, so the whole Bible is something written at the command of God. Yet, since the Bible has been finished, there have been times when men or women have been inspired by some special degree of the Divine Spirit, a genius conveyed from heaven itself, which commanded them to write;

and among those whom in the history of the world have seemingly been especially commanded from heaven to write was the great Father of His Country, George Washington.

As one studies the life of George Washington and reads what he wrote, he must come to the conclusion that Washington, a human being, within the limitations of human thinking, could never have written what he did write. He must have written beyond his own knowledge; beyond his own imagination; he must have said things that were among the miraculous, or else there is no such thing as "miraculous." On this day, when we bring George Washington to mind,—and the nation never needed it more than it does now,-let us, as American citizens, as lovers of our country, and as lovers of truth, justice and God,-listen to something he said.

I remember visiting General Lee after the close of the Civil War. General Lee was a fine, noble, lovely Christian man, a man of high purposes, and he was one of the great generals of the world. Although I fought on the other side, yet I always reverenced him as the Southern people reverenced Abraham Lincoln. At that time he said something that I had not heard said before. He mentioned the fact that in the Civil War time Washington's address was taken out of the books of the Southern States which were in use in the public schools. The