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tiently wait, and the ripe pear at length falls into his lap. I can now solemnly assert that I have a clear conscience in regard to my action on this momentous question."

Who can doubt this?

And yet it must be

admitted that the delay was unnecessarily pro

tracted. The people were in honest, true-hearted Lincoln. ripe before it fell.

advance of their

The pear was

HIS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER.

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CHAPTER XIII.

HIS RELIGIOUS CHARACTER.

NE of the most beautiful moral spectacles to be found upon earth is that of a

Christian wife and mother. Her heart softened in a Savior's love, her faith reaching beyond the valley, her gentle hand leading the little ones to the God who gave them, adding sweetness to childish joy, soothing childish sorrow, enshrined in a husband's love, she is the central object of all that is purest and sweetest in human society. She gathers to herself the deepest and strongest affections of the human heart. Even the hardened and the depraved, the lost to every other noble emotion are hushed into respect in her presence. Her influence, strong in life, grows stronger when her quiet hands lie moldering in the grave. We cherish the memory of her loving life, her words, her

assiduous affection, her advice and instruction, as we do no other treasures that lie within the grasp of the mind. How often have those who resisted her influence while she yet lived, and rushed madly down the broad track to destruction, been arrested in their career by a mother who long since passed away and has been forgotten by the world!

As no position can be more elevated and honorable, so none entails responsibilities more profound. The Bible impresses this truth with great clearness, and history continues to verify it in ever-recurring pages. Lincoln's mother had been called to her rest when her little son was scarcely ten years old, and yet his character was formed and his course in life fixed and bounded. He left her hand true to his destiny as the arrow from the hand of the trusty archer. Almost unseen and unknown in that isolated cabin, she clothed his arm with those mighty principles of Christian truth with which she smote the chains from millions of slaves and rescued an imperiled country. And thus, could we trace to their origin the great and noble deeds which here and there light up the history of our race, nearly all would be found due to impres

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sions received in childhood. Nancy Lincoln knew nothing of profound ethical or political principles. The history and science which lay outside of the lids of her Bible were in regions of thought where she had never trod; and yet as a Christian she possessed knowledge and moral power for good greater than the learning of the universities could, without this knowledge, afford.

The Bible is so replete with precious promises to Christian parents, and these promises are so often, against apparent probabilities, fulfilled, that the truly faithful parent may lay hold of them with perfect assurance. It is even a cause for hope when the object of these prayers and labors has passed to his account.

It has been said that if Lincoln's life and character do not furnish evidence that he was a Christian, we may look in vain for such evidences anywhere among men. Secretary Sew

:

ard said: "He is the best man I ever knew." Dr. Bellows, who knew him intimately, said "He is the purest-hearted man I ever knew." The people know him to have been marked with more humility than any man they ever elected to high office. No man since Cromwell (and we doubt the justice of excepting him) so entirely

distrusted his own ability to meet future emergencies, or so wholly disclaimed the glory of past triumphs by referring all to the beneficent power and providence of God. "I should be the most presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool," he once said, "if I for one day thought that I could discharge the duties which have come upon me since I came to this place, without the aid and enlightenment of One who is stronger and wiser than all others."

And yet had he glided quietly down the stream of life, he would have been regarded as a man full of generous virtues, of high-toned and inflexible morality, but not a Christian. It required the tremendous ordeal through which he passed, like the refiner's fire, to consume the dross and bring forth the fine gold. It is possible to be very near the kingdom of God, and yet lack one thing needful. If he had truly consecrated himself to the Lord Jesus before that trial of his faith came, the probabilities are strong that he would have openly and publicly professed his name and acknowledged his claims. The Savior has made it a duty to unite with his visible church. Greater duties than that may be violated by a man who is truly a disciple of Christ,

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