Frederick Douglass, the Orator - Monroe County Library System

Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County · Historic Monographs Collection
LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS. 225
Our text tells us of "a great man "that had fallen
in the national struggles in Israel. All parts of
history are tributaries to the vast whole, as rivers
that go into the ocean help to make a whole.
It was the leading spirits among the Egyptian,
Assyrian, Grecian, Hebrew and Roman peoples
that made them so potent factors in the world's
advance in civilization. Each of these peoples
at its appointed time came into its place as a
part of this vast whole of history.
The Hebrews have been large tributaries to
the tide of the world's advancement. Moses,
David, Abner, and their kind, evidenced their
people's possibilities in leadership.
When this Republic entered as a tributary to
this current of events, George Washington, preeminent
among his followers, led them.
But let us not forget that the courses of each
and all of the tributaries that run into and make
the vast stream of human history are guided by
the Almighty God, whose hidden hand directs
the main current in its onward flow to the betterment
and broadest happiness of mankind.
Our text says that Abner was a " great man."
Men show themselves to be great as they evidence
their abilities in overcoming difficulties in
the achievements that benefit mankind. Where
in history do we find a more eminent example of
this than Frederick Douglass ?