such frankness and frequency, that it attracted attention, and was criticized by some as verging towards superstition. His public life was a continuous service of God and his fellow-man, controlled and guided by the golden rule, in which there was no hiatus of unbelief or incredulity. "Here I might well stop, and submit that these charges do not deserve any further consideration. But I know how false they are, and I may be excused if I record one of my sources of knowledge. "The emphatic statement made by the President to Mr. Fessenden, that he was called to the Presidency by a Power higher than human authority, I have already mentioned. His calm serenity at times when others were so anxious, his confidence that his own judgment was directed by the Almighty, so impressed me that, when I next had the opportunity, at some risk of giving offense, I ventured to ask him directly how far he believed the Almighty actually directed our national affairs. There was a considerable pause before he spoke, and when he did speak, what he said was more in the nature of a monologue than an answer to my inquiry: "'That the Almighty does make use of human agencies, and directly intervenes in human affairs, is,' he said, 'one of the plainest evidences of His direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will, that I cannot doubt that this power comes from above. I frequently see my way clear to a decision when I am conscious that I have no sufficient facts upon which to found it. But I cannot recall one instance in which I have followed my own judgment, founded upon such a decision, where the results were unsatisfactory; whereas, in almost every instance where I have yielded to the views of others, I have had occasion to regret it. I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to do or not to do a particular thing, He finds a way of letting me know it. I am confident that it is His design to restore the Union. He will do it in His own good time. We should obey and not oppose His will.' "'You speak with such confidence,' I said, 'that I would like to know how your knowledge that God acts directly upon human affairs compares in certainty with your knowledge of a fact apparent to the senses--for example, the fact that we are at this moment here in this room.' "'One is as certain as the other,' he answered, 'although the conclusions are reached by different processes. I know by my senses that the movements of the world are those of an infinitely powerful machine, which runs for ages without a variation. A man who can put two ideas together knows that such a machine requires an infinitely powerful maker and governor: man's nature is such that he cannot take in the machine and keep out the maker. This maker is God--infinite in wisdom as well as in power. Would we be any more certain if we saw Him?'