Excerpt from Abraham Lincoln: The Practical Mystic In modern history there is no man whose life so finely bears for the world the sig nificance of a great work of creative wisdom as Abraham Lincoln. If it should be asked whether Lincoln was a greater man than Shakespeare, it must at least be remem bered, whatever the answer, that in Lincoln his life stands for the Lear and Marbetb and Twelfth Night and Tempest of Shakespeare. And it is the spectacle of the one perfecting his own soul that moves us as deeply and instructs us as surely as that of the other perfecting the creatures of his imagination. It seems to me that it is this faculty in Lincoln for investing the life of a statesman, absorbed in the medley of daily affairs, with spiritual significance, so that what he does, however pregnant, is always of secondary consideration to what he so supremely is, that Mr. Grierson has in mind when he calls him the practical mystic. The theme is a great one, and Mr. Grierson is to be thanked for dealing by it so justly. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.