It is my firm conviction that, after the death of Eddie, Lincoln was profoundly stirred in his own spiritual life; that the arguments of Dr. Smith went far toward answering the arguments of Paine, Volney, and his freethinking friends; that bereavement and spiritual comfort had done their work of grace; that the desire for a home more truly united in its religious relations and spiritual sympathies made a strong appeal to him; and that the atmosphere of the revival seemed to make it easy and natural for him to enter the church with Mrs. Lincoln. But, though a Calvinist in his early training, he was not ready to accept Calvinism as a complete and articulated system as presented in the Westminster Confession and in the preaching of Dr. Smith. He wavered. Whether he left town to avoid pressure to attend the meeting of the Session at which his wife made her application for church membership, we do not know. It is not improbable. Certainly if his absence had been unavoidable he could have joined at the next opportunity. I think that he did not join because he was still in some measure of intellectual uncertainty with reference to doctrinal matters. I am only sorry that someone did not tell him that these were no sufficient reasons for his declining to unite with the church. It would be possible to carry this study further, but it is not necessary. An explanation of Lincoln's failure to unite with a Christian church in that time of bitter sectarianism when to have joined one church would have made him a target for criticism from others and when his mind was intent rather upon the application of his Christian principles than the proclamation of his religious opinions, is partly to be attributed to the faults of the churches; but a portion of the explanation is to be found also in qualities inherent in the life of Abraham Lincoln. CHAPTER XXII THE CONSTRUCTIVE ARGUMENT WE are ready now to undertake the difficult task of determining with some approach to certainty the essential content and character of Abraham Lincoln's religious belief. We must not be surprised if we find ourselves unable to construct a perfectly symmetrical and consistent confession of faith. The material is much more abundant and explicit and much better attested in some departments than in others. Not only so, but we must never forget the mighty elements of contradiction in Lincoln's personality.