with apprehension of disappointing unbelief; but their honest quest for truth adds to the strength of final faith. The eye that sees the pole star of truth in the murkiest skies has been trained and developed in the darkness of unbelief, and the ability thus clearly to see and believe the truth is produced by persevering efforts to escape from doubt.

It is not difficult to understand why staunch believers usually pass through a period of doubt before reaching a strong and settled faith. Christian faith is belief in the supernatural and it lays hold upon, and trusts in that which is unseen; it rests on that which eludes all senuous cognition. "Whom having not seen we love; in whom though now ye see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory."25 With persons of Mr. Lincoln's temperament it is difficult to exercise such faith.

With some a period of doubt is inevitable because "with the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Intellectually they accept the teachings of Christianity but they cannot exercise heart-faith because they do not desire salvation. They are satisfied with their lot. They are happy in the enjoyment of health and prosperity, and therefore they are not attracted by invitations to a life of sacrifice and self-denial. But when these things fail, their hearts turn for consolation to the invitations and promises of the gospel and they become staunch and steadfast believers. For these and other reasons many of the most distinguished leaders reach the high level of unquestioning faith by a winding pathway that leads through the dark valley of doubt. And with all such, faith was made stronger and more effective by the process of doubting inquiry.

Some of the most distinguished Bible characters, according to the scriptural record, came to their great faith through a period of unbelief. Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Isaiah and Paul were stubborn doubters. Abraham doubted God's ability to fulfill His promises. Moses aroused divine displeasure by his unbelieving parley with Jehovah. Gideon required re25 I Peter 1: 8.

peated proofs before he believed. The lips of Isaiah were touched by a live coal before he responded to God's call, and in the blinding, bewildering glare of the Damascus vision Paul came to a knowledge of the truth.

Abraham Lincoln's cast of mind was much like that of Thomas. He could reason and thus reach rational conclusions. But he could not, without a process of careful investigation. accept a supernatural truth. Yet he was honest and tremendously in earnest. And he was as prompt as was Thomas to accept the evidence which was given, and as emphatic in the declaration of his faith.

HIS RELIGIOUS BELIEF

The climax of all the favors kind fortune bestowed upon Abraham Lincoln was his splendid religious faith. What he became and what he achieved was largely the product of his belief in things unseen and eternal. His political affiliations and activities, the prosecution of his professional work and his daily life were determined by his religious faith. So effective was that faith that in all human history, apart from the story of the Man of Galilee, there is not the record of a more exalted character than was seen in Abraham Lincoln.

What was the faith that wrought such marvelous and desirable results? That question I propose in succeeding chapters of this work fully to answer by Mr. Lincoln's own declarations, and by the testimony of "a cloud of witnesses."

I

II

LINCOLN'S PERSONAL APPEARANCE

Na recent conversation with an esteemed friend, an enterprising, successful business man, I expressed an ardent, long-cherished wish, that there might be given to the public, correct information concerning the personal appearance of Abraham Lincoln.

"What difference does it make," inquired my friend, "whether he was gawky, awkward and homely, as is generally believed, or of superior physical construction, rare grace of movement and great beauty, as you so confidently claim? We know what he said and what he accomplished, why should we care to know how he looked and acted?"

Without seeming to notice this remark, and with an apology for the abrupt digression, I said: "Did I ever tell you that during all the years of my residence in Washington, there was on one of the panels of the rotunda in the Capitol, a magnificent picture of 'De Soto Discovering the Mississippi' with the Stars and Stripes floating over his head?"

"Is it possible?" exclaimed my friend in great astonishment. "The American flag in the picture of an event that occurred more than two hundred years before there was an American flag! Why was such a caricature permitted to disfigure the wall of that beautiful room?"

"Why not," I answered, "what difference does it make? We know that De Soto, the Spanish explorer, did discover the Mississippi in 1541, but why should we care what flag appears in a picture commemorating that event!"

"We should care," was the answer, "for a historical picture should be true to the facts."

"It certainly should," I replied, "and the picture of the