Lloyd, Ernest 
 Li nco! n f s Fai th 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
LINCOLN S 
 FAITH 
 
 ERNEST LLOYD 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
 LIBRARY 
 
 MEMORIAL 
 
 the Class of 1901 
 
 founded by 
 
 HARLAN HOYT HORNER 
 
 and 
 
 HENRIETTA CALHOUN HORNER 
 
Lincoln's Faith 
 
LINCOLN'S FAITH 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 
 in 2012 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/lincolnsfaithOOIIoy 
 
Lincoln 's Faith 
 
 by 
 ERNEST LLOYD 
 
 + 
 
 PACIFIC PRESS PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 
 
 MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIFORNIA 
 
 Brookfield, Illinois Omaha, Nebraska 
 
 Portland, Oregon 
 
Copyright, 1954, by 
 Pacific Press Publishing Association 
 
^YA / l~ U 
 
 a fh 
 
 
 
 LINCOLN'S FAITH 
 
 And when he fell in whirlwind, he went down 
 As when a lordly cedar, green with houghs, 
 Goes down with a great shout upon the hills, 
 And leaves a lonesome place against the sky. 
 
 These are the words of the poet, Edwin 
 Markham, describing the nation's loss of 
 Abraham Lincoln. The heavy loss which 
 is felt by a people when a great man passes 
 from this life is one of the truest measures 
 of his greatness. 
 
 Jesus Christ lived only thirty-three years, 
 yet so powerfully did He challenge the best 
 of mankind into worthy action that His 
 life changed the world. Even time is meas- 
 ured from His birth. 
 
 Would we have the freedom we enjoy 
 today had George Washington, Thomas 
 
Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and a host of 
 other great men and women never lived? 
 We may well pause to acknowledge with 
 grateful hearts the influence for good that 
 these noble men and women wrought in 
 behalf of their posterity. 
 
 Lincoln's influence is felt around the 
 world. In every land, men have heard and 
 read of his rise from the lonely cabin in 
 the wilderness to the White House, of his 
 early struggle with poverty and his deter- 
 mination to acquire an education, of his 
 purpose to serve the cause of freedom, and 
 of his unflinching stand for truth. 
 
 What made Lincoln great? The answer 
 is simple. He believed from his youth that 
 those who stand for the right stand with 
 God. He knew that God honors such men 
 and women, and that the right will finally 
 triumph. 
 
 The stories of the Bible fascinated young 
 Abe. He was a born storyteller, and the 
 records of the great characters of both the 
 Old and New Testaments left their in- 
 delible stamp upon his mind. The Bible 
 was the book that most influenced Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, and its influence is seen in 
 his conversation and in his speeches. 
 
With a buzzard's quill for a pen, and 
 some pokeberry juice for ink, young Abe 
 copied many passages of wisdom and 
 beauty into his notebook from the Bible 
 and The Pilgrims Progress. He also in- 
 scribed them in his character. 
 
 Lincoln continued to memorize portions 
 of the Bible as he grew into manhood. 
 Captain Gilbert J. Greene illustrates how 
 well he used this knowledge of the Bible, 
 for he wrote: "One day, while practicing 
 law in Springfield, Mr. Lincoln said to me: 
 'Gilbert, there is a woman dangerously ill 
 about fifteen miles in the country who has 
 sent for me to come and write her will. 
 I should like to have you go with me/ I 
 cheerfully accepted the invitation. When 
 we arrived we could see that the woman 
 had but a few hours to live. After the will 
 had been written, witnessed, and signed, 
 the dying woman said to Mr. Lincoln: 
 'Now I have my affairs of this world in 
 order, and I have also made preparation 
 for the life to come. I do not fear death/ 
 
 "Mr. Lincoln replied: 'Your faith is wise 
 and strong. Your hope of a future life is 
 a blessed one/ She then asked him if he 
 would read a few verses from the Bible. 
 
They offered him the Book, but he began 
 reciting from memory the twenty-third 
 psalm. Then he quoted the first part of 
 the fourteenth chapter of John: In My 
 Father's house are many mansions: if it 
 were not so, I would have told you. I go 
 to prepare a place for you. . • . I will come 
 again, and receive you unto Myself; that 
 where I am, there ye may be also/ 
 
 "After he had given these and other 
 quotations from the Bible, he recited sev- 
 eral hymns, closing with 'Rock of Ages, 
 Cleft for Me/ A little later the woman 
 passed away. As we rode home in the 
 buggy, I expressed surprise that he should 
 have acted as pastor as well as attorney so 
 perfectly, and he replied: 'God and eter- 
 nity were very near us today/ " 
 
 Dr. George W. Rideout made the fol- 
 lowing comment: "We have thought of 
 the contrast between young Lincoln, reared 
 in God's out-of-doors, with nature as his 
 schoolmaster, and some sons of the rich of 
 our day who aspire to places of honor and 
 rule. Abraham Lincoln made his mark on 
 human history by great thoughts uttered 
 and great things done; these young sons 
 make their marks on the dance floor. Lin- 
 
 8 
 
coin thought in terms of continents; they 
 think in golf greens and polo grounds. 
 Lincoln unlocked doors of prisons and 
 broke the fetters that bound a million 
 souls; they know nought of lifting burdens 
 or softening care, but they think chiefly 
 of having a good time among the devotees 
 of fashion and the worshipers of gilt and 
 gold, and of what cup of pleasure to drink 
 from next. Lincoln, a poor boy reared in 
 penury and nursed in want, learned to 
 think in higher altitudes, and his words, 
 when he became a man, burned with fire, 
 roared like thunder, flashed like lightning, 
 and a nation hearkened and all mankind 
 felt the thrill, and a new chapter in his- 
 tory was written." 
 
 Perhaps the keynote of Lincoln's life is 
 sounded in his words: 
 
 I am not bound to win, but I am bound to 
 
 be true. 
 I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound 
 
 to live up to what I have. 
 I must stand with anybody that stands right. 
 
 No man in the public life of America 
 had a stronger faith in the guidance of God 
 and in the ultimate triumph of right than 
 
 9 
 
did Abraham Lincoln. "I know that God 
 is always on the side of right," he once 
 declared, and then added with deep feel- 
 ing, "but God is my witness that it is my 
 constant anxiety and prayer that both my- 
 self and this nation shall be on the Lord s 
 side." 
 
 Lincoln's faith and gentleness made him 
 great. In him we see what God can do 
 with a man who seeks to know the divine 
 will and tries to do it to the best of his 
 ability. Lincoln's farewell address to his 
 neighbors and friends in Springfield, as he 
 was leaving for Washington, reveals his 
 sublime trust in God. Standing on the rear 
 platform of the train that was to take him 
 away, he spoke of the kindness of the home 
 folks in the city where he had spent a 
 quarter of a century as a lawyer. He closed 
 his affectionate remarks with these words: 
 
 "I now leave, not knowing when or 
 whether I may ever return, with a task 
 before me greater than that which rested 
 on Washington. Without the assistance 
 of the Divine Being who ever attended 
 him, I cannot succeed. With that assist- 
 ance I cannot fail! Trusting in Him who 
 can go with me, and remain with you, and 
 
 10 
 
be everywhere for good, let us confidently 
 hope that all will yet be well. To His care 
 commending you, as I hope in your prayers 
 you will commend me, I bid you an affec- 
 tionate farewell." 
 
 It is a simple matter to trace the influ- 
 ence of the Bible upon the life of Lincoln. 
 Dr. Edgar DeWitt Jones has made this 
 statement: "No man in American public 
 life quoted more Scriptures in his public 
 speeches, or showed greater familiarity with 
 Bible texts, than did Abraham Lincoln." 
 His speeches and writings were adorned 
 and strengthened with numerous quota- 
 tions from the Book of books. 
 
 To a committee representing an organ- 
 ization in Baltimore who presented him 
 with an excellent copy of the Bible, Lin- 
 coln replied: "In regard to this great Book, 
 I have but to say: It is the best gift that 
 God has given to man. All that the good 
 Saviour gave to this world is communi- 
 cated through this Book. . . . All things 
 most desirable for man's welfare here and 
 hereafter are to be found portrayed in it. 
 To you I return my sincere thanks for the 
 very elegant copy of the great Book of 
 God which you present." 
 
 11 
 
When he once addressed the American 
 Bible Society, he said: "It seems to me 
 that nothing short of infinite wisdom could 
 by any possibility have devised and given 
 to man this excellent and perfect moral 
 code. It is suited to men in all conditions 
 of life, and inculcates all the duties they 
 owe to their Creator, to themselves, and 
 to their fellow men." 
 
 Students of literature have noted the 
 influence of the Bible on Lincoln's literary 
 style. The directness, the simplicity, the 
 lofty strain, the fine figures of speech that 
 characterized his public utterances, all re- 
 veal his intimate acquaintance with the 
 Bible. 
 
 How much we owe the believers! The 
 believers are ever the builders. Lincoln 
 was a believer and a builder. He had faith 
 in people, and he had faith in God. 
 
 Lincoln was often a lonely man. Under 
 the surface of his native humor there 
 flowed a current of sadness. His great 
 heart of justice, sympathy, and gentleness 
 was often lonely, and, knowing that the 
 Bible contained help for the sorrowing, 
 he would frequently turn to this Book of 
 comfort to find what human friends could 
 
 12 
 
not give. It was his greatest source of 
 strength in the dark days of his public 
 service. 
 
 Lincoln was often misunderstood. Dur- 
 ing his Presidential years his motives were 
 frequently impugned; his enemies were 
 many. But Abraham Lincoln remained 
 true to his purpose to bring relief to a 
 distressed people, unity to the nation, and 
 blessings to the world. 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was a man of prayer. 
 Sadhearted and weary with the Presiden- 
 tial burdens and never-ending perplexities 
 of civil strife, he found strength in prayer 
 for divine guidance. 
 
 Dr. J. E. Murdock, a guest for a few 
 days at the White House, wrote: "One 
 night, at a late hour, I heard low tones 
 proceeding from the room where the Presi- 
 dent slept. The door was partly open. I 
 saw the President kneeling beside an open 
 Bible, and then heard him cry out, 'O 
 Thou God, who heard Solomon in the 
 night that he prayed for wisdom, hear me! 
 I cannot lead this people without Thy 
 help. O God, hear me, and save the 
 
 nation/ " 
 
 The darker the days the greater was 
 13 
 
Lincoln's faith. With calmness and assur- 
 ance he went on with his God-given task 
 of leading the nation. "Faith in God," he 
 said, "is indispensable to successful states- 
 manship." He firmly believed in justice 
 and truth, and it was counted unto him 
 for righteousness. Asked if he was worried 
 during the Gettysburg campaign, Lincoln 
 replied: "No, I was not. Some were fear- 
 ful, but I had no fears." 
 
 General Sickles asked, "Mr. President, 
 just what do you mean?" 
 
 Mr. Lincoln hesitated, but finally said: 
 "Well, I will tell you how it was. In the 
 pinch of your campaign up there, when 
 everybody seemed panic-stricken, and no- 
 body could tell what was going to happen, 
 I went into my room one day and locked 
 the door and got down on my knees before 
 the Almighty God and prayed to Him 
 mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told 
 Him this was His war, and our cause His 
 cause, but that we couldn't stand another 
 Fredericksburg 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 
 
 14 
 
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." 
 
 The world cannot forget the sayings of 
 Lincoln, nor does it wish to do so. They 
 have a deathless quality because they are 
 permeated with everlasting truth. He 
 knew he was in the right, he believed the 
 right would win, and his faith was immov- 
 able. He said: "Let none falter who be- 
 lieves he is right." "Let us have faith that 
 right makes might, and in that faith let 
 us to the end dare to do our duty as we 
 understand it." 
 
 Lincoln was often in the company of 
 those who had faith in God. Henry Ward 
 Beecher, a well-known preacher when Lin- 
 coln was President, was visited one bleak 
 night by a tall man covered with wraps. 
 
 "Mr. Beecher is in his study," his wife 
 said. 
 
 "May I see him?" asked the tall man. 
 
 Rather hesitatingly Mrs. Beecher led 
 the stranger to her husband's study. She 
 waited outside the door a few moments 
 and heard low voices in earnest conversa- 
 
 15 
 
tion. Soon there came the familiar voice 
 of her husband in prayer. At that she 
 turned away, knowing all was well. An 
 hour later the stranger left the house and 
 vanished in the darkness. The next morn- 
 ing the country was electrified by the 
 news that President Lincoln had issued 
 the Emancipation Proclamation. The Presi- 
 dent had found renewed courage in the 
 quiet hour of conference and prayer with 
 the man of God. 
 
 The weight of the grave problems that 
 came to Lincoln were almost too much 
 to bear. He said: "I have been driven 
 many times to my knees by the overwhelm- 
 ing conviction that I had nowhere else to 
 go. My own wisdom, and that of all about 
 me, seemed insufficient for that day." 
 
 Soon after the Emancipation Proclama- 
 tion was made, one of the liberated slaves 
 came to him and asked to be allowed to 
 pay for his freedom. Lincoln at once re- 
 plied that nothing was asked by the Gov- 
 ernment for the freedom extended to him 
 and to his people. The man was quite 
 insistent, and said that he didn't want his 
 freedom given to him. Lincoln then asked 
 the liberated slave what he thought he 
 
 16 
 
should pay for his freedom. The poor man 
 took from his pocket his only dollar and 
 held it out to the President. Lincoln arose, 
 and, taking the former slave by the arm, 
 led him to a window overlooking the rows 
 of houses that stretched before their view. 
 Pointing to different homes, Mr. Lincoln 
 recounted the sacrifices that each family 
 had made, and how this mother was left 
 alone with her children, and another's 
 husband was a martyr that freedom might 
 come to those in slavery. 
 
 Then Lincoln turned to the poor man 
 and said: "Sam, how much do you think 
 you really ought to pay for your freedom?" 
 Looking into the face of the tall, sad-fea- 
 tured President, Sam replied: "Master, I 
 can't pay it!" The old slave was right; no 
 man can place a money value on freedom. 
 We who possess it must be worthy of it. 
 We must show our appreciation of free- 
 dom by our life and by our willingness to 
 sacrifice that others may share in its bless- 
 ings. 
 
 As long as the writings and records of 
 Lincoln last, so long the influence of the 
 Bible in his life will be felt by those who 
 read. We live today in a world different 
 
 17 
 
from the one that Lincoln knew; his 
 America has passed. But the need for 
 young men of his forthright character is 
 as great today as then. 
 
 We do well to pause and thank God 
 for His providence that has guided us 
 through the crises of our national history. 
 When dangers have threatened the ideals 
 we cherish, God has raised up men and 
 women whose godly character and stead- 
 fastness of purpose has helped lead the 
 way to safety and peace. For such noble 
 spirits we may thank God. And we pray 
 that God's providence will continue to 
 guide us as we seek to do His will in our 
 generation. America's greatest need is for 
 men who will do justly, love mercy, and 
 walk humbly with their God. 
 
 18 
 
God give us men! A time like this demands 
 Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and 
 
 ready hands; 
 Men whom the lust of office does not kill; 
 Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
 Men who possess opinions and a will; 
 Men who have honor— men who will not 
 
 lie; . . . 
 Tall men, sun-crowned, who live above the 
 
 fog 
 In public duty and in private thinking. 
 -J. G. Holland. 
 
 "Poring over it for hours at a time, his 
 memory became saturated with its lan- 
 guage, his soul with its spirit, his life with 
 its teachings. So familiar did he become 
 with the Scripture phraseology, and so 
 imbued with the solemnly grand strain of 
 thought and feeling that pervades the sa- 
 cred pages, that his utterances often breathe 
 the sublimity of the prophets, . . • the 
 sweetness and pathos of the Gospels. 
 Hence it was that he was enabled to fire 
 the finest intellects with admiration and 
 strangely to move and thrill the hearts of 
 the multitudes/— John Wesley Hill, Abra- 
 ham Lincoln, Man of God* 
 
 19 
 
Abraham Lincoln had a kind heart. 
 He practiced kindness to animals as well 
 as to humans. Some of the stories of his 
 boyhood days tell of kind acts to dogs and 
 birds. And his last official act was one of 
 mercy. On the night of the terrible trag- 
 edy, a short time before Lincoln's life 
 ended, Senator J. B. Henderson 'came 
 with a final plea for George Vaughn, a 
 Confederate soldier under sentence of 
 death, and for whom Secretary Stanton 
 had just refused to do anything. Lincoln 
 shook his head when told that Stanton 
 would not interpose in Vaughn's behalf, 
 then sat down at his desk and wrote an 
 unconditional release and pardon for the 
 accused man. It was his last official act, 
 and was a literal translation of his charity- 
 for-all doctrine." 
 
 In a letter to Judge Gillespie, in i860, 
 Lincoln wrote: "I have read on my knees 
 the story of Gethsemane, where the Son 
 of God prayed that the cup of bitterness 
 might pass from Him. I am in the Garden 
 of Gethsemane now, and my cup of bit- 
 terness is full and overflowing." 
 
 20 
 
The following statements from Lincoln's 
 public utterances constitute what might be 
 called his creed: 
 
 "I believe in God, the Almighty Ruler 
 of nations, our great and good and merci- 
 ful Maker, our Father in heaven, who 
 notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers 
 the hairs of our heads. I believe in His 
 eternal truth and justice." 
 
 "I recognize the sublime truth an- 
 nounced in the Holy Scriptures and proved 
 by all history that those nations only are 
 blest whose God is the Lord." 
 
 "I believe that the Bible is the best 
 gift which God has ever given to men. 
 All the good from the Saviour of the world 
 is communicated to us through this Boole." 
 
 "Being a humble instrument in the 
 hands of our heavenly Father, I desire that 
 all my words and acts may be according 
 to His will; and that it may be so, I give 
 thanks to the Almighty, and seek His aid." 
 
 Soon after the battle of Gettysburg, 
 President Lincoln issued a proclamation 
 to the American people which contained 
 these memorable words: "The President 
 
 21 
 
especially desires that on this day He 
 whose will, not ours, should evermore be 
 done, be everywhere remembered and rev- 
 erenced with profoundest gratitude/' From 
 that time to this, Thanksgiving Day has 
 been a national institution. 
 
 In his second Thanksgiving proclama- 
 tion, setting apart Thursday, August 6, 
 1863, Lincoln asked the people of the 
 United States "to render the homage due 
 the Divine Majesty for the wonderful 
 things He has done in the nation's behalf, 
 and invoke the influence of His Holy 
 Spirit to subdue the anger which has pro- 
 duced and so long sustained a needless and 
 cruel rebellion." 
 
 Shortly after Lincoln settled in Spring- 
 field, Illinois, his father became seriously 
 ill. In writing to his half brother, Lin- 
 coln said: "I sincerely hope that father 
 may recover his health, but, at all events, 
 tell him to remember to call upon and con- 
 fide in our great and good and merciful 
 Maker, who will not turn away from him 
 in his extremity. . . . He will not forget 
 the dying man who puts his trust in Him." 
 
 22 
 
Shortly before his death, Lincoln re- 
 marked to an old friend, Joshua Speed: 
 "I am profitably engaged reading the Bible. 
 Take all of this Book upon reason that 
 you can, and the balance on faith, and you 
 will live and die a better man." 
 
 Lincoln Gems 
 
 "I know there is a God, and that He 
 hates the injustice of slavery. I see the 
 storm coming, and I know that His hand 
 is in it. If He has a place and a work for 
 me, and I think He has, I believe I am 
 ready. I am nothing, but truth is every- 
 thing. I know I am right, because I know 
 that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it, 
 and Christ is God." 
 
 "With malice toward none; with charity 
 for all; with firmness in the right, as God 
 gives us to see the right, let us strive on 
 to finish the work we are in; to bind up 
 the nation's wounds; to care for him who 
 shall have borne the battle, and for his 
 
 23 
 
widow, and his orphan— to do all which 
 may achieve and cherish a just and last- 
 ing peace among ourselves, and with all 
 nations." 
 
 In A Meditation on the Divine Will, 
 written in September, 1862, not for the eyes 
 of men but apparently to help him define 
 his own thinking and found later among 
 his papers, he had declared: "The will of 
 God prevails. In great contests each party 
 claims to act in accordance with the will of 
 God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. 
 God cannot be for and against the same 
 thing at the same time. In the present civil 
 war it is quite possible that God's purpose 
 is something different from the purpose of 
 either party— and yet the human instrumen- 
 talities, working just as they do, are of the 
 best adaptation to effect His purpose," 
 
 In a letter written to A. G. Hodges, Lin- 
 coln said: "I claim not to have controlled 
 events, but confess plainly that events have 
 controlled me. Now at the end of three 
 years' struggle the nation's condition is not 
 
 24 
 
what either party, or any man, devised or 
 expected. God alone can claim it. Whither 
 it is tending seems plain. If God now wills 
 the removal of a great wrong, and wills also 
 that we of the North as well as you of 
 the South shall pay fairly for our complicity 
 in that wrong, impartial history will find 
 therein new cause to attest and revere the 
 justice and goodness of God." 
 
 "If, in your judgment, you cannot be 
 an honest lawyer, resolve to be honest 
 without being a lawyer." 
 
 "It is fit and becoming in all people at 
 all times to acknowledge and revere the 
 supreme government of God, and to bow 
 in humble submission to His chastisements, 
 to confess and deplore their sins and trans- 
 gressions in the full conviction that the fear 
 of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and 
 to pray with all fervency and contrition for 
 the pardon of their offenses and for a bless- 
 ing upon their present and prospective 
 action. "—Fast Day Proclamation, Aug. 12, 
 1 861. 
 
 25 
 
"What constitutes the bulwark of our 
 own liberty and independence? It is not 
 our frowning battlements, or bristling sea- 
 coasts, our Army and Navy. These are not 
 our reliance against tyranny. All of those 
 may be turned against us without making 
 us weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is 
 in the love of liberty which God has planted 
 in us. Our defense is in the spirit which 
 prized liberty as the heritage of all men, in 
 all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit 
 and you have planted the seeds of despot- 
 ism at your own doors/— Speech at Ed- 
 wardsville, Sept. 13, 1858. 
 
 "The way for a young man to rise is to 
 improve himself every way he can, never 
 suspecting that anybody wishes to hinder 
 him. Allow me to assure you that suspicion 
 and jealousy never did help any man in any 
 situation. There may sometimes be ungen- 
 erous attempts to keep a young man down; 
 and they will succeed, too, if he allows his 
 mind to be diverted from its true channel 
 to brood over the attempted injury."— To 
 W. H. Herndon, July 10, 1848. 
 
 26 
 
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 
 
 973.7L63B4L77L rnm 
 
 LINCOLN'S FAITH. MOUNTAIN VIEW 
 
 3 0112 031798561