To the America into which
he was born seventeen new Americas had been added before he
died.
A great and healthful and beneficent power departed from our
country's life. If he had not lived, the history of the country
would have been different in some very important particulars;
and it is not unlikely that his death changed the result in
some matters of great pith and moment, which are to affect
profoundly the history of the country in the future. The
longer I live, the more carefully I study the former times
or observe my own time, the more I am impressed with the sensitiveness
of every people, however great or however free, to an individual
touch, to the influence of a personal force. There is no
such thing as a blind fate; no such thing as an overwhelming
and pitiless destiny. The Providence that governs this world
leaves nations as He leaves men, to work out their own destiny,
their own fate, in freedom, as they obey or disobey His will.
Man is his own star; and the soul that can
Render an honest and a perfect man
Commands all life, all influence, all fate;
Nothing to him falls early or too late.
Pages:
891
892
893
894
895
896
897
898
899
900
901
902
903
904
905
906
907
908
909
910
911
912
913
914
915