any of his own speeches or literary productions. I cannot call to recollection one instance of his speaking in any degree of commendation concerning any of his speeches or writings save in his brief and modest statement to Thurlow Weed in a letter written eleven days after this address was delivered, in which he expresses his expectation that it will "wear as well as perhaps better than-anything I have produced." All of which tends to show that the man was even greater than his words. F II LINCOLN'S RELIGIOUS FAITH IRST of all was Abraham Lincoln's marvelous faith in the Bible. Upon that faith as a foundation was built his entire personal superstructure. With that faith as an inspiration all his attitudes and activities were chosen and maintained. "Marvelous" is not too strong a word to use in designating his relation to the sacred Book. The Bible was to him the touchstone by which his judgment on every question was determined. In all his business affairs, in his professional pursuits, in his political affiliations, and in his personal aspirations and endeavors, it was his constant guide. "Owe no man anything but to love one another," was a rule which he sought to obey, not because it was convenient but because it was a Bible admonition. Whatever was condemned by the Bible he stubbornly opposed. Whatever the Bible commended, he heartily approved, steadfastly defended and sought to promote. Abraham Lincoln first learned to read by slowly tracing the lines of chosen passages of Scripture under his mother's prayerful tuition. That tutelage was painstaking and devout, leaving in his memory sweet and sacred impressions which time could not erase. "Mrs. Lincoln possessed but one book in the world, the Bible," says Mrs. Trevena Jackson, "and from this book she taught her children daily. Abraham had been to school for two or three months, to such a school as the rude country afforded. Of quick mind and retentive memory, he soon came to know the Bible well-nigh by heart, and to look upon his 1 Register of the Treasury, respecting the resignation of Secretary Salmon P. Chase, and the appointment of his successor, Mr. Lincoln said: "The character of the Bible is easily established, at least to my satisfaction. We have to believe many things which we do not comprehend. The Bible is the only one that claims to be God's book-to comprise His law-His history. It contains an immense amount of evidence of its own authenticity. It describes a governor omnipotent enough to operate this great machine, and declares that He made it. It states other facts which we fully do not comprehend, but which we cannot account for. What shall we do with them? "Now let us treat the Bible fairly. If we had a witness on the stand whose general story we knew was true, we would believe him when he asserted facts of which we had no other evidence. We ought to treat the Bible with equal fairness. I decided a long time ago that it was less difficult to believe that the Bible was what it claimed to be than to disbelieve it. It is a good Book for us to obey; it contains the ten commandments, the golden rule, and many other rules which ought to be followed. No man was ever the worse for living according to the directions of the Bible." "I could not press inquiry further," says Mr. Chittenden. "I knew that Mr. Lincoln was no hypocrite. There was an air of such sincerity in his manner of speaking, and especially in his references to the Almighty, that no one could have doubted his faith unless the doubter believed him dishonest. "Further comment cannot be necessary. Abraham Lincoln accepted the Bible as the inspired Word of God-he believed and faithfully endeavored to live according to the fundamental principles and doctrines of the Christian faith. To doubt either proposition is to be untrue to his memory, a disloyalty of which no American should be guilty." And it was not a mutilated Bible in which Abraham Lincoln so confidently believed. It was the complete volume of • Recollections of President Lincoln, pp. 448-451. |