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The religious views of Mr. Lincoln were simply a reflex of his own character. He believed in God, as the Supreme Ruler of the world, the guider of men, and the controller of the great events and destinies of mankind. He believed himself to be an instrument and leader of the forces of freedom. He knew the toils of the slave and

of the poor whites at the South. Their sufferings and privations were his personal experiences, and he felt their burdens to be his own. He believed that the Declaration of Independence, "that all men are created equal," was not, as said by Rufus Choate, “a glittering generality," but was a standard political truth. Our Savior said in the closing sentences of His Sermon on the Mount: "Be ye perfect as your Father in Heaven is perfect," not that He expected perfection in the persons to whom He addressed these words, not that He expected perfection of us in our day and generation, but he laid down a religious standard which no one can surpass and to which all nations might aspire.

Before him Washington, Franklin, Hamilton and Knox had gone. Before him all the great and good men who laid securely and well the broad foundations of the republic had fallen before the only foe their valor and courage could not meet. All have gone! And all we know of the great and final journey is that all our race goes, but none returns.

Happiest is that man and happiest are those peoples who shall most nearly approach this standard of religious requirement. So with Mr. Lincoln and the Declaration of Independence. He found here his perfect standard of political truth, and the happiest he pronounced the man and the people who approached most nearly to this standard. And he has made the journey to the great unknown.

We see him in this beautiful image of bronze above us which the sculptor has wrought, and recall his real presence. What we know of the future is, that in all time hereafter, wherever the slave shall groan under the lash, or the poor shall sigh for something better than they have known, there his name will be honored and his example imitated.

It is matter of just pride, that the city of Rochester secured Volk's services to execute a statue for their beautiful city, two views of which are herewith presented. It needs no laudation; it lauds itself.

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FROM THE BRONZE STATUE FOR ROCHESTER, N. Y. LEONARD W. VOLK, SCULPTOR, 1892.

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FROM THE BRONZE STATUE FOR ROCHESTER, N. Y.

LEONARD W. VOLK, SCULPTOR, 1892.

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