The light of Holy Writ was the beacon star that guided him through the darkness of trying days; not alone were the Holy Scriptures a guide for his actions, but they served as a model for his literary style. His education was defective, yet at times few of the great masters of literature could equal him in purity of language. High critics declare his second inaugural address to be one of the greatest masterpieces of English prose. Here are a few of the closing sentences: "Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that the mighty scourge of war may pass away, yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid by another drawn by the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, 'the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.' With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." Apart from the beauty and diction of the language there is a deep spirit of faith and dependence on God breathed throughout the whole of the address. Surely the most sceptical must be convinced of the sincerity of Lincoln's religious belief from his words, from his actions, from his principles, from his prayers, from his confessions, in a word, from the rectitude of his life, and admit that he was, not only a fervent believer, but a practical Christian of the best kind, though he knelt at no denominational altar. Such was our Lincoln. With wonder and admiration we stand in his presence and feel the magnetism that attracts us to the man. His goodness constituted his greatness. As the world brings its frankincense of praise to offer as an incense at his shrine, in him men can see such an embodiment of true and glorious manhood that to him can fittingly be applied the word picture of Shakespeare's ideal: "The qualities are so blended in him that all the world can stand up and say, Here is a _man_." A little doctor of divinity in a large Baptist convention stood on a step and thanked God he was a Baptist. The audience could hear him but not see him, so some one shouted, "Get up higher." "I can't," replied the minister, "to be a Baptist is as high as I can get." He was mistaken,--there is something higher than being a Baptist or any other kind of an enthusiastic sectarian, and that is being a man. It is quite possible to be a churchman higher than the highest steeple and yet not have the affections which cluster around the throne of glory and find their nutriment in the bosom of God.