Too much of the effort to prove that Abraham Lincoln was a Christian has begun and ended in the effort to show that on certain theological topics he cherished correct opinions. That would not prove him to be a Christian, nor would the lack of these certainly prove that he was not a Christian. Religion is of the heart and life; theology is of the brain and mind. Each is important, but theology is less important than religion. Abraham Lincoln was not a theologian, and several of his theological opinions may have been incorrect; but there is good reason to believe that he was a true Christian. The world has need of a few theologians, and of a great many Christians. It was Mr. Lincoln's custom when he read a paragraph which deeply interested him, to draw a pencil line around it in the book; and if it was something which he wished to commit to memory and meditate upon, he often copied it upon a scrap of paper. I own a half page of notepaper containing in Lincoln's handwriting and with his signature, a paragraph from Baxter's "Saint's Rest." The manuscript was owned by Hon. Winfield Smith, Lincoln's Attorney-General in 1864, and was among his private papers when he died. The paragraph reads: "It is more pleasing to God to see his people study Him and His will directly, than to spend the first and chief of their effort about attaining comfort for themselves. We have faith given us, principally that we might believe and live by it in daily applications of Christ. You may believe immediately (by God's help) but getting assurance of it may be the work of a great part of your life." It would be interesting to know just what was in Lincoln's mind when he read this paragraph, and sat down with pen and ink to copy and meditate upon it. The "comfort" which Baxter was referring to in this passage was the comfort of assurance of salvation in Christ. It was a theme on which Mr. Lincoln heard many sermons, first and last, by Predestinarian preachers, both Baptist and Presbyterian. If a man was among the elect, how could he be sure of it, and what means could he take to make the assurance more certain? Baxter's answer was that assurance in this matter is less important than to study and obey God's will; and that faith is given us as something in whose exercise we may live daily without greatly troubling ourselves about fathomless mysteries. It was good doctrine for a man who had been reared as Lincoln had been reared, and the remainder of the passage was especially in line with his needs. He could believe immediately, even though the assurance of faith was long delayed. That assurance might be the work of a lifetime, but faith was something that might be lived upon now. The thought is akin to that in the fine lines of Lizzie York Case: "_There is no unbelief: For thus by day and night unconsciously The heart lives by the faith the lips deny,-- God knoweth why._"