redericksburg or Chancellorsville.
And I then and there made a solemn vow to Almighty God that if He
would stand by our boys at Gettysburg I would stand by Him. And He did
and I will. And after that (I don't know how it was, and I can't
explain it) but soon a sweet comfort crept into my soul that things
would go all right at Gettysburg, and that is why I had no fears
about you."

Such faith as this will put to the blush many who are members of the
church.

It was afterward that General Sickles asked him what news he had from
Vicksburg. He answered that he had no news worth mentioning, but that
Grant was still "pegging away" down there, and he thought a good deal
of him as a general, and had no thought of removing him
notwithstanding that he was urged to do so; and, "besides," he added,
"I have been praying over Vicksburg also, and believe our Heavenly
Father is going to give us victory there too, because we need it, in
order to bisect the Confederacy and have the Mississippi flow unvexed
to the sea."

When he entered upon the task to which the people of the United States
had called him, at the railway station in Springfield on the eve of
his departure to Washington to take the oath of office, he delivered
an address. It is a model. I quote it entire. It is as follows:

"My friends, no one not in my position can realize the sadness I feel
at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived
more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born, and here
one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. I
go to assume a task more than that which has devolved upon any other
man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except
for the aid of Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied.
I feel that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing which
sustained him, and on the same almighty Being I place my reliance for
support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive
that Divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which
success is certain. Again, I bid you an affectionate farewell."

At the time of Lincoln's assassination these words were printed in a
great variety of forms. In my home for a number of years, beautifully
framed, these parting words addressed to the friends of many years in
Springfield, Ill., ornamented my humble residence. And yet one of his
biographers refers to this address as if its genuinen