A whole volume of similar incidents might be furnished, not one of them showing that Mr. Lincoln was thoughtless and trifling; but, on the other hand, that it was his unique, peculiar, and pat way of putting the case clearly before those who approached him. In his felicitous handling of a subject, a story or witticism was often more convincing than argument. For this reason he employed them. The genius and real ability of the man often cropped out through this mode of speaking, so peculiarly his own. One of our best writers puts the literary character of President Lincoln and his wonderful tact so tersely before the people that we quote it here. It was penned before the death of Mr. Lincoln; and the paragraph is not only a faithful portrait of the man, but the style of the composition is more like his than any piece of composition we have seen:—

“His questions are answers, and his answers questions; his guesses prophecies, his fulfilment ever beyond his promise; honest, yet shrewd; simple, yet reticent; heavy, yet energetic; never despairing, never sangume; careless in forms, conscientious in essentials; never sacrificing a good servant once trusted, never deserting a good principle once adopted; not afraid of new ideas, nor despising old ones; improving opportunities to confess mistakes; ready to learn; getting at facts; doing nothing when he knows not what to do; hesitating at nothing, when he sees the right; lacking the recognised qualities of a party leader, and leading his party as no other man can; sustaining his political enemies in Missouri in their defeat, sustaining his political friends in Maryland in their victory; conservative in his sympathies, and radical in his acts; Socratic in his style, and Baconian in his method; his religion consisting in truthfulness, temperance; asking good people to pray for him, and publicly acknowledging in events the hand of God,—yet he stands before you as the type of ‘Brother of Jonathan,’ a not perfect man, and yet more precious than fine gold.”

Mr. Lincoln, like Washington, was continually showing, without design on his part, his sincere trust in Providence, as well as his great respect for the institutions of Christianity. After a serious defeat of the Union forces near Washington, he remarked to a friend, “I have done the best I could. I have asked God to guide me, and now I must leave the event with Him.” At another time, two hundred members of the Christian Commission called upon him, and George H. Stuart spoke, in their behalf, of the debt of gratitude the public owed him. Mr. Lincoln replied:—

“My friends: You owe me no gratitude for what I have done; and I—”(and here he hesitated as if he feared being misunderstood in what he was about to say)—“and I, I may say, owe you no gratitude for what you have done; just as, in a sense, we owe no gratitude to the men who have fought our battles for us. I trust that this has been for us all a work of duty. All the gratitude is due to the great Giver of all good.”

At another time he replied to Dr. J. T. Duryea and other members of the Commission as follows:—

“If it were not for my belief in an over-ruling Providence, it would be difficult for me, in the midst of such complications, to keep my reason on its seat. But I am confident that the Almighty has His plans, and will work them out; and, whether we see it or not, they will be the wisest and best for us. I have always taken counsel of Him, and referred to Him my plans, and have never adopted a course of proceeding without being assured, as far as I could be, of His approbation.”

At another time he said to friends, “I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go.” And again, “I should be the most presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool, if I for one day thought that I could discharge the duties which have come upon me since I came into this place, without the aid and enlightenment of One who is wiser and stronger than all others.”

In the early part of the war he issued an order for the better observance of the Sabbath in the army. In the order he said: “The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine Will, demand that Sunday labour in the army and navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity.”