flecting even in
his hesitations and seeming vacillations the sentiment of the
masses--fitted by his very defects and shortcomings for the burden
laid upon him, the good to be wrought out through him, was Abraham
Lincoln.

LINCOLN

BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE

Heroic soul, in homely garb half hid,
Sincere, sagacious, melancholy, quaint;
What he endured, no less than what he did,
Has reared his monument, and crowned him saint.

THE RELIGIOUS CHARACTER OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN[26]

BY B. B. TYLER

In 1865, the bullet of an assassin suddenly terminated the life among
men of one who was an honor to his race. He was great and good. He was
great because he was good. Lincoln's religious character was the one
thing which, above all other features of his unique mental and moral
as well as physical personality, lifted him above his fellow men.

Because an effort has been made to parade Abraham Lincoln as an
unbeliever, I have been led to search carefully for the facts in his
life bearing on this point. The testimony seems to be almost entirely,
if not altogether, on one side. I cannot account for the statement
which William H. Herndon makes in his life of the martyred President,
that, "Mr. Lincoln had no faith." For twenty-five years Mr. Herndon
was Abraham Lincoln's law partner in Springfield, Ill. He had the best
opportunities to know Abraham Lincoln. When, however, he affirms that
"Mr. Lincoln had no faith," he speaks without warrant. It is simply
certain that he uses words in their usually accepted signification,
although his statement concerning Lincoln is not true.

Abraham Lincoln was a man of profound faith. He believed in God. He
believed in Christ. He believed in the Bible. He believed in men. His
faith made him great. His life is a beautiful commentary on the words,
"This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith." There
was a time in Lincoln's experience when his faith faltered, as there
was a time when his reason tottered, but these sad experiences were
temporary, and Abraham Lincoln was neither an infidel nor a lunatic.
It is easy to trace in the life of this colossal character, a steady
growth of faith. This grace in him increased steadily in breadth and
in strength with the passing years, until it came to pass that his
last public utterances show forth the confidence and the fire of an
ancient Hebrew prophet.

It is true that Lincoln never united with the Church, although a
l