A STUDY IN ETHICS
WITH AN EPILOGUE ADDRESSED TO THEOLOGIANS
BY
C. S. BEARDSLEE
Boston: Richard G. Badger
the gorham Press
The Copp Clark Co., limited
TORONTO
Copyright 1914, by C. S. Beardslee
All rights reserved
The Gorham Press, Boston, U. S. A.
To my sister Alice—
A living blend
Of love and loyalty,
Of modesty and immortal hope.
Abraham Lincoln was a man among men. He was earnest and keen. He washonest and kind. He was humble and inwardly refined. He was a freemanin very deed. His conscience was king.
These few words contain the total sum of the following book. Inunfolding what they severally mean, and what their living unisonimplies, the aim has been to bring to view the clear and simple beautyof a noble personality; to show how such a human life contains thefinal test of any proper claim in all the bounds of Ethical research;and to stir in thoughtful minds the query whether such a character asLincoln's life displays, instinct as it is with Godliness, may notyield forms of statement ample and exact enough for all the essentialformulas of pure Religion.
Assuredly his aspirations were ideal. Quite as certainly his ways withmen were practical. The call and need today of just his qualities arepast debate.
If only in our national senate chamber the ever-shifting group ofsenators could hear the voice of Lincoln at every roll-call and ineach debate! If only in all our universities our studious youth couldglean each day from Lincoln, as he speaks of politics and of logic, ofethics and of history! If only in every editorial room, where currentevents are registered and reviewed, Lincoln's wit and wisdom mightillumine and advise! If only at every council, conference, orconvention, where leaders of our churches debate religious themes, thereverence of Lincoln might preside! If only in the council chamberswhere directors meet to plan and govern our modern enterprises inindustry and[6] finance, Lincoln's broad humaneness might be felt! Ifonly every artist at his exalted and elusive task could every dayobtain new views of Lincoln's full nobility! If only toilers in theshop and field could feel each day the friendly brotherhood inLincoln's rough, hard hand!
Then toil, while losing naught of eagerness, would become content.Art, while losing naught of beauty, would become unfailinglyennobling. Commerce, while losing naught of enterprise, would growbenign. Religion, while retaining a becoming dignity, would not failto be sincere. The public press would grow more savory and sane. Ourschools would be nurseries of manliness. And our conscience would beembodied in our law.
But Lincoln's face is vanished. Lincoln's voice is hushed. Whatremains is that Lincoln's sentiments be republished every day in livesthat reverence and reproduce his excellence. To indicate this path, toembolden and embody this aspiration is the service this volumeundertakes.
Throughout this study, thought is fastened centrally upon Lincoln'slast inaugural address. There Lincoln stands complete. And thatcompleteness is vividly conscious in Lincoln's own understanding.Eleven days after its delivery, and one month before his death, hewrote to Thurlow Weed, saying that he expected tha