Christ is God.”

In his Lyceum speech he speaks of the advantage of an education and being able to read the history of his own and other countries, by which we may appreciate the value of our free institutions, to say nothing of the advantages and satisfaction to be derived from all being able to read for themselves the Scriptures and other works both of a religious and moral nature. In this same speech he uses this language: “If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher.” Then, speaking of the Revolution, he desired the history of it to “be read and recounted as long as the Bible shall be read.”

The night before the President left Springfield for the White House a friend from Chicago sent him the American flag with these words: “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee.”

It has been said by those who pride themselves on having no faith in the inspiration of the Scriptures that Lincoln held their views. But he addressed conventions and Sunday-schools, and the Bible was as often quoted by him as Blackstone. The addresses and letters of Lincoln are saturated with expressions from the Holy Scriptures. In his reply to Douglas he gave his speech great force by the words of Christ: “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” In writing to Mr. W. Durley he uses scriptural terms: “By the fruit the tree is to be known. An evil tree cannot bring forth good fruit.”

Ann Rutledge gave him a new view of the Bible and Shakespeare. Abraham Lincoln’s is the language of the Bible. He never used the Bible in an irreverent way. In the Lincoln Museum, Washington, there is a copy of the Holy Scriptures. It is well worn, and shows the signs of good use. Inside the cover are these words in his own handwriting: “A. Lincoln, his own book.”

He wrote a letter to Rev. J. M. Peck in 1848 asking him, “Is the precept, ‘Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them,’ obsolete, of no force, of no application?” In his description of Niagara he said: “It calls up the indefinite past when Christ suffered on the cross, when Moses led Israel through the Red Sea—nay, even when Adam first came from the hand of his Maker; then, as now, Niagara was roaring here.”

In writing to John D. Johnston concerning his father’s illness, he said: “I sincerely hope Father will recover his health, but, at all events, tell him to remember and call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful Maker. He notes the fall of the sparrow and numbers the hairs of our heads, and he will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in him.”

Mr. William S. Speer wrote to Mr. Lincoln asking him to write a letter to give his definite views on the slavery question. Lincoln replied: “I have already done this many, many times, and it is in print and open to all who will read. Those who will not read or heed what I have already publicly said would not read or heed a repetition of it. ‘If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.’”

In a letter to Reverdy Johnson he wrote: “I am a patient man, always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance.” Lincoln wrote to General J. A. McClernand: “My belief is that the permanent estimate of what a general does in the field is fixed by the ‘cloud of witnesses’ who have been with him in the field.”

Lincoln was ever bringing