For the past week, yes, and two or three years, much has been said of Abraham Lincoln, the “martyred President,” and of Washington, “the father of his country.” They are noble characters, and it seems almost a remarkable coincidence that the shortest month, February, should be the little period in the zodiacal circle which should contain the birthdays of two such illustrious men—Lincoln, February 12, Washington, February 22. They were men who lived above the fog of superstition, bigotry, and tyranny. They deserve honor of their country. Illinois, and now New York, we believe, have made Lincoln’s birthday a legal holiday, even as most states have made Washington’s birthday. But it is a sad fact that as these men are honored more and more outwardly, the principles for which they risked reputation and life are more and more trampled underfoot. So it has ever been; men build sepulchers to the prophets whom their fathers stoned, and themselves stone the prophets’ successors. The Jews of Christ’s day honored Moses outwardly and in word, but they crucified Him whose Spirit spoke through Moses and of whom Moses wrote. Washington and Lincoln are honored now in word by the very ones who are crushing the principles of liberty which made these heroes what they were. See Matt. 23: 29-31; John 5: 45-47.