If genius is a mark of divine Providence made manifest in the
preferred of human kind, the life of Lincoln shows clearly the power
and guidance of God. Notwithstanding the adverse conditions
surrounding his early life, he struggled upward, almost unknowingly,
to the preeminent position of power and trust ordained for him, fully
equipped to meet and master every problem. Like all God's
ambassadors, his life ended when his life's great work was done, and
returning to his long home, he left "Footprints, that perhaps
another, sailing o'er life's solemn main, a forlorn and shipwrecked
brother seeing, shall take heart again."