terizing the Herndon falsehoods, and by telling the true story as it is recorded in this chapter. I crave and claim the co-operation of all lovers of truth in aiding to give widest possible publicity to the facts herein stated.

PRENATAL INFLUENCE

Abraham Lincoln was also favored by prenatal preparation for his great earthly mission. Scientists are just coming to a knowledge of the wondrous part in human procreation which the Book of God for centuries has ascribed to woman. Respecting this subject members of the medical profession are not in perfect accord. Some deny while others affirm the

theory of prenatal influence.

Dr. George Williamson says: "A child at the period of its first independent existence represents exactly the condition of the maternal parent during the months of nascency.

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On May 8th, 1913, in an address given at the University of Kansas, Dr. W. H. Carruth said: "It is plain that prenatal influences belong at the bottom to the same field as postnatal influences. The temper of a colt or child can be affected by the way the mother is handled before the young is born. All this has not been recognized fully and clearly, but I believe it is undisputed today.'

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In Bible history are many illustrations of prenatal influence. Moses, the greatest of all lawgivers, was born of slave parents in the depths of cruel and degrading bondage, and at a time when by royal edict all male children were ordered to be slain. But his mother by her calm confidence in God during the months immediately preceding his birth succeeded in giving to her son a nature so exalted and purposeful that the attractions of the court of Pharaoh and his adoption into the family of that famous sovereign, did not lure him from his allegiance to Jehovah, nor cause him to be unfaith18 Laws of Heredity, p. 219.

19 Eugenics, Twelve University Lectures, p. 283.

ful to his chosen people. His forty years' seclusion in the dreary regions of Mount Horeb failed to diminish his fidelity to God or to weaken his faith in His promises. No leader ever was tried more severely than was he and none ever proved more constant and true. Considered in connection with the circumstances of his birth, Moses is a striking illustration of the power of prenatal influence, and a motherhood like that which produced this great man, if environment is not pronouncedly unfavorable, will enrich the world by contributions of exalted human qualities in posterity.

The marvelous fidelity of Jeremiah during a period of darkness and despair, when kings were false and enemies. were victorious, is explained by Jehovah's declaration: "Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee."20 Such prenatal influence can be secured in any age and cannot fail to result as in the case of this great Hebrew prophet.

Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, when informed that her devout life was to be crowned with motherhood, retired to the seclusion of the hills of Judah, and there for months quietly communed with God and "was filled with the Holy Ghost." Therefore, it is said of her son that he was "filled with the Holy Ghost even from his mother's womb."22

Ishmael was a calamitous product of prenatal influence. His father was a man of the most exalted nature, a model for every age, in character, fidelity and faith. But his mother was a hot-blooded Egyptian woman who, by indulging in bitterness of spirit and furious resentment during her period of expectancy gave to this son of Abraham a nature which caused him to be "a wild ass among men" with "his hand against every man and every man's hand against him.”

In striking contrast with the story of Hagar and Ishmael, so full of solemn warning, is the fascinating story of Hannah and her son Samuel, the most beloved and influential of all the Hebrew priests and prophets. Hannah's eager yearning for motherhood and her fervent prayer in the sacred taber

20 Jer. 1:15.

21 Luke 1:41.

22 Luke 1: 15.

nacle for "a male child" whom she promised to consecrate to the service of God's house, indicate her high plane of womanhood. And such a woman was Nancy Hanks Lincoln, the "Wilding lady still and true

Who gave us Lincoln and never knew."

As already shown she was a devout and unusually spiritually-minded Christian. During fragments of time snatched from pressing family cares and duties she diligently read the Word of God and kept in close and constant fellowship with Him by devout and earnest prayer. And Mr. Lincoln's acknowledgment of his conscious indebtedness to her for all he was and all he hoped to be was a fitting tribute to the one whom the world is coming to understand and appreciate at her true worth.

As were Jochebed, Hannah and Elizabeth, as were countless other women who became the mothers of noble men, so Nancy Hanks was fitted in body, soul and spirit to become the mother of one endowed with transcendent gifts and exalted character as was Abraham Lincoln.

During the months preceding the birth of Abraham Lincoln his mother's environment was such as an expectant mother should always have. There was no domestic discord in the Lincoln cabin to inflict a contentious spirit upon the coming child. Music and merriment had their rightful place in this pioneer household and the industrious wife, conscious of her high estate, faithfully attended to her daily duties with cheerfulness and joy.

Some regard the advent of Abraham Lincoln upon the scene of human action as something "outside the chain of natural cause and effect," and as implying an unfathomable mystery. This, if true, would deprive us of the lessons to be learned from the story of his birth, his character and life. He furnishes a striking illustration of the possibilities of an earthly life at its best, and he stands before the world as the living embodiment of what God can accomplish through His