Let us stand in the country he has saved, and which is to be his
grave and monument, and say of Abraham Lincoln what he said of the
soldiers who had died at Gettysburg. He stood there with their graves
before him, and these are the words he said:--
"We cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this
ground. The brave men who struggled here have consecrated it far
beyond our power to add or detract. The world will little note nor
long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they
did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated to the
unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly
advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great
task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take
increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead
shall not have died in vain; and this nation, under God, shall have
a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the
people, and for the people shall not perish from the earth."
May God make us worthy of the memory of Abraham Lincoln!
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: A sermon preached in Philadelphia, while the body of the
President was lying in the city.]
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Addresses, by Phillips Brooks
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