Gettysburg Address

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CHRISTINE
The other day while I was going over some of my research I reread the funeral sermon of General Frederick Lander, who died March 2, 1862, and was a bit surprised at some of the words which seemed to be echoed by Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address 1 1/2 years later. I know Lincoln was at the funeral of General Lander, so I am wondering if those words were typical of the era, or if perhaps the sermon by Bishop Thomas Clark inspired Lincoln's speech. Anyone know?

This was from General Frederick Lander's funeral...March 2, 1862

"Our heroes do not fall in vain. There are solemn and instructive lessons which come to us from their honored graves. Their blood cries to us from the ground, and solemnly charges us to be faithful to the great cause for which they have sacrificed their all. After what they have done and suffered, shall we dare to falter? Shall we dare to be untrue to the solemn work which they have left for us to finish?">

I think that was an interesting find, Christine. Abraham Lincoln was in the habit of reading and saving odds and ends from various sources, and incorporating them into future use. He liked Biblical phrasing and I think too from published religious tracts and speeches. Here's a few he may have read and scrapped out a passage or two,

Supplement to The Patriot (London newspaper) May 19, 1851
The London Missionary Society
"It remains for us to know the extent of our obligation and duty.
"My dear Christian friends we are engaged in a great and glorious
and a blessed work."

The Wandering Jew - by Eugene Sue 1846
" Surely the workings of the mind are wonderful — admirable ; far beyond our poor powers to comprehend"

The Republican - by Richard Carlisle 1824
Fourscore and seven years had rolled down the channel of time since the birth of that distinguished individual, whose memory they were met to celebrate...