deepened religious experience, until he seems to have found and rested upon a satisfying and sustaining faith.

The Scripture admonition, "Acquaint now thyself with him and be at peace" (Job 22:21), was one to which he gave constant heed. He sought to know God; to know Him as revealed "in the heavens above and in the earth beneath;" to know Him as revealed in His holy Word; to know Him as revealed in Jesus Christ, and to know Him as revealed in personal religious experience. This continued until Lincoln realized in his own being the fulfillment of the promise, “Thou shalt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee." (Isa. 26:3.) This could not be otherwise since with all his heart and soul he believed in

DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE

In his first inaugural address delivered March 4th, 1861, Mr. Lincoln said: "If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on your side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.'

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In reply to a letter from Mrs. Horace Mann, on behalf of a class of children in whom she was interested, President Lincoln on April 5th, 1864, sent the following beautiful message: "Please tell these little people that I am very glad their young hearts are so full of just and generous sympathy, and that, while I have not the power to grant all they ask, I trust they will remember that God has, and that, as it seems, He wills to do it."22

In his "Meditation on Divine Will," which is supposed to have been written September 30th, 1862, he says: "By His (that is God's) mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the

21 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. VI., p. 183.

22 Ibid., Vol. X., pp. 68-69.

Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And, having begun, He could give the final victory to either side any day.

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These declarations of Mr. Lincoln abundantly justify the following comprehensive and significant testimony of Hon. H. C. Whitney, who knew him intimately for many years: "Logically and inevitably, therefore, he believed in God; in His superintending providence; in His intervention in mundane affairs for the weal of the race. To Him he made report; from Him he took counsel; at His hands he implored current aid; he ascribed glory and thanks to Him; he recognized Him as the Supreme Good. God came to him monitorially; with succor; with good cheer; with victory. He confounded the counsels of his accusers; He made the wrath of his enemies to minister to his good; His direct intervention the President experienced in many ways. Lincoln acknowledged all with a grateful heart; he ordered national thanksgivings and praises on every suitable occasion. Therefore, he had more proofs to warrant his belief, and believed more implicitly in God, and approached nearer to Him than any man of the race since Moses, the lawgiver.'

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These statements of Mr. Lincoln's belief in the omnipotence of God are not more clear or emphatic than are those concerning

DIVINE OMNISCIENCE

"The all-wise Creator," "An all-wise Providence," and similar statements appear many times in Mr. Lincoln's writings, and bear witness to his unquestioning confidence in the infinite knowledge and wisdom of God.

On September 4th, 1864, at a time when according to his own deliberate statements he was in doubt relative to his re-election, in a letter to Mrs. Eliza P. Gurney, a devout Christian woman of the Society of Friends, he said: "The

23 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. VIII., p. 52. 24 Lincoln, the Citizen, pp. 203-204.

purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accurately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.'

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DIVINE OMNIPRESENCE

The most famous Hebrew poetry never rose to a higher level of grandeur, nor did it ever express more comfortingly the thought of God's environing presence, than did the sublimely simple words of Abraham Lincoln spoken on the 11th of February, 1861, when taking leave of his friends and neighbors: "Trusting in Him who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well.""

These words, in my judgment, are worthy of being put alongside the sublime utterances on divine omnipresence found in the 139th Psalm, or in the climax of Paul's masterly oration delivered to the Athenians on Mars Hill.

25 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. X., pp. 215-216. 26 Ibid., Vol. VI., p. 110.

III

LINCOLN'S RELIGIOUS FAITH-CONTINUED

N the forefront of Mr. Lincoln's religious thinking was his belief in

IN

THE SAVIOUR'S DEITY

That belief was expressed by him in clear and unequivocal language. The teachings of Scripture relative to this doctrine are not more lucid than was the declaration of Mr. Lincoln when, in that wonderful unbosoming of himself to Dr. Newton Bateman a few weeks before his first election as President, as Dr. Holland tells us, he said: "I know I am right, for Christ says so, and Christ is God." 1

A few weeks later, after his election as President and before his inauguration, he said to his lifelong friend, Judge Joseph Gillispie: "I have read on my knees the story of Gethsemane, where the Son of God prayed in vain that the cup of bitterness might pass from Him."

Perhaps quite as significant as any specific statement of Mr. Lincoln respecting the Saviour's deity was his oft-repeated mention of Him as "our Lord." Again and again, in speeches, in conversation and in his correspondence does Mr. Lincoln thus speak of the Saviour; and there was always a peculiar manifestation of solemnity and reverence when those words fell from his lips. Those of us who were privileged to hear him utter those words will never doubt his belief that Jesus Christ had to him "all the religious value of God," as a modern school of religious thought has phrased 1 Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 238.

2 H. C. Whitney, Lincoln the Citizen, p. 201.

it. There is heart-melting pathos in the little story so beautifully told by Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Emerson, two Christian people of Rockford, Illinois, who stood perhaps as close to Mr. Lincoln as did any human beings outside of his own family. In reporting a time of special communing they say: “During that trip we walked down on the river, and the conversation turned on a trip to Palestine and Jerusalem. Lincoln's countenance seemed at once to light up and he exclaimed, 'Yes, to tread the ground the Saviour trod!' Never from other human lips have I heard the word 'Saviour' pronounced with such deep earnestness. Apparently absorbed with the two thoughts of the evils of slavery and of the Saviour, we wandered on in silence and so parted."

Mr. Lincoln also believed in

THE SAVIOUR'S TEMPTATION

The story of that mysterious experience of the Saviour which is a part of the New Testament record would naturally appeal to one so greatly tried as was Mr. Lincoln, and it may be reasonably claimed that had he made no reference to the matter himself, he could properly be regarded as believing in that story. But Mr. Lincoln has made such inference unnecessary by his own declarations relative to the matter.

In his letter to Dr. Ide and Senator Doolittle, dated May 30th, 1864, he declared that the conduct of some Southern leaders "contemned and insulted God and His Church far more than did Satan whem he tempted the Saviour with the kingdoms of earth. The devil's attempt was no more false, and far less hypocritical.'

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Hard to understand as is the above mentioned event in the life of the Saviour it is certain that Mr. Lincoln accepted it as not only authentic and true but as full of significance and meaning. With all his heart and soul, as indicated by his oft

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Emerson, Personal Recollections of Abraham Lincoln, pp. 10-12.

4 Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln, Vol. X., p. 109.