In August, 1831, at the age of twenty-two, being satisfied that he had fully discharged any debt which he owed his father for such rearing and opportunities as he had received, he left the parent cabin, and, as it turned out, forever. Deep down in his soul he had resolved to make himself something better and higher than his father was or ever could hope to be. From this stage onwards his career is a matter of national history; the man is almost lost sight of in the statesman, and his private life is submerged in the public eminence to which he attained. We must, however, deal with those phases of his boyhood and young manhood which bear a relation and lead up to the illustrious heights he was destined to gain as the ruler of a nation and the emancipator of a race. We have said that most people believe that Lincoln was a Providential man, was called of God to be the preserver of a nation and the deliverer of the slave, and this really seems to be the explanation which accounts for the singular success of his unparalleled career; otherwise, how could this backwoods youth, rough, uncouth, little educated, reach the greatest eminence possible for an American; how could he have climbed the heights of fame until he arrived at the culminating pinnacle; how could he have become the recipient of the greatest and grandest honors his countrymen had in their power to confer upon him? His accomplishments surely prove beyond question that this obscure, lowly born man was the chosen instrument of a Divine Wisdom, raised up to fulfill the designs of an all-wise Providence in freeing a race from bondage, just as Moses was raised up to lead 'the chosen people' from the land of their captivity. Despite his early training, or rather lack of training, regardless of his seeming early indifference to religion, and all for which it stood, Abraham Lincoln was on all occasions and at all times not only a good Christian and sincere believer, but a man of the deepest religious sentiments, imbued with a strong faith and earnest allegiance to moral principles; a man who all through life had the utmost dependence upon and reliance in divine guidance, and who undertook nothing without invoking God's assistance to enable him to determine what was right from what was wrong. Unwavering trust in the Almighty was the keynote to his success and the foundation stone of his greatness. Let us pause to consider what really were the religious convictions of this wonderful man. That he was a true and sincere Christian, in fact, if not in form, is fully proved by many extracts from his letters and numerous addresses; his public utterances more than verify his belief in the intervention of a Supreme Power in the affairs of men.