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- Lincoln’s Faith
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Yes, Lincoln was a Christian
But his conversion came late in life
If you are like me, you may have assumed that Lincoln was a Christian. You would be correct. But his conversion to Christianity came late in life. I just figured he was one for a long time. Turns out he was an avid reader of the Bible, which is reflected in many of his writings early in his life. He did not belong to a church for a variety of reasons, as many know. A individual who knew him well - Ward Lamon - who had been his law partner, was one of his private secretaries when he was President, and had been his bodyguard for years . . . and thus knew him, said that he was.When little Willie died, the apple of his eye, his beloved son, his little boy, Lincoln was absolutely crushed. He was so overwhelmed with grief that he set aside every Thursday to mourn his death. After some period of time, when he would see no one on that day, but wept and mourned and lamented the death of his son Willie, Dr. Francis Vinton, rector of Trinity Church, came down to Washington from New York. He was a friend of the family, and was allowed in to see the President. Not wanting to beat around the bush, he told Lincoln that it was not right to mourn thus over his son. He said, “Your son is alive in paradise with Christ, and you must not continue.” Lincoln sat there as though in a stupor. Then his mind caught on to the words that Dr. Vinton had said, and he exclaimed, “Alive! Alive! Surely, sir, you mock me.” “No, Mr. President, it is a great doctrine of the church. Jesus himself said that God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.” Lincoln leaped to his feet and threw his arms around this pastor. He wept openly and sobbed, saying, “Alive! Alive! My boy is alive!” From that day there began a change in Lincoln that even his wife Mary noticed.
His religious views began to dramatically change. You can see it in his writings after that. There is a letter that comes to us from an Illinois clergyman who talked to Lincoln. He said to him, “Mr. President, do you love Jesus?” After a long pause, Mr. Lincoln solemnly replied: “When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus.” By the way, when I preached this sermon before, someone challenged that statement. Well, I would suggest they do what I do. Go to Ford’s Theater. Go across the street to the Lincoln Museum; ask for The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles in the O.H. Oldroyd Collection. The book was published in 1883, and the quote is found on page 366. But if you would rather not do all of that, then simply come to my study and I will show you a photocopied page from that book on the stationery of the U.S. Federal Government Agency charged with caring for that museum. “Yes, I do love Jesus,” Lincoln said. Mr. Noah Brooks, sometime after that, longtime friend and newspaper correspondent, said, “I have had many conversations with Mr. Lincoln, which were more or less of a religious character, and while I never tried to draw anything like a statement of his views from him, yet he freely expressed himself to me as having a hope of blessed immortality through Jesus Christ.” Lincoln said that he had found the peace that had eluded him all of his life. “Therefore, being justified by faith” he now had peace with God.
When a lady connected with the work of the Christian Commission later came to see him, he said: “I had lived until my boy Willie died without realizing fully these things (about the Gospel). It showed me my weakness as I had never felt it before, and if I can take what you have stated (as to what a Christian is) as a test, I think I can safely say that I know something of that change of which you speak; (which is called the new birth, to which Lincoln alluded in that very speech: “that this country might have a new birth of freedom”), and I will further add, that it has been my intention for some time, at a suitable opportunity, to make a public religious profession.”
Dr. Gurley was pastor of the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington, which Lincoln attended regularly not only on Sunday morning but also on Wednesday night. One Wednesday night he sat in a little ante room right off the chancel with the door halfway open so that he would not disturb the worship of others, but that he might listen. Dr. Gurley said that Lincoln had wanted to make a public profession of his faith on Easter Sunday morning. John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday changed that. He had just been elected for the second time six weeks before that. His spiritual understanding had matured greatly in the year and a half since Gettysburg. Every message was peppered with Scripture and spiritual insights. “His Second Inaugural Address is not only the most spiritual speech ever given by any statesman in the world,” said one of England’s leaders, “in my opinion, it is a far better sermon than most any I have ever heard preached in a pulpit.”
Richard Freeman
22 Responses to “Lincoln’s Faith”
Awesome…in so many ways.
Excellent. Especially the leg work to find those quotes at the Lincoln museum. Keep the articles coming.
Wow - great article and very insightful regarding Lincoln’s faith.
Very informative. I had never even given any thought to the depth of his faith. It really doesn’t surprise me though.
An amazing article with insight. I wish we could have a Lincoln type of president again. Our country needs this type of leadership again.
Interesting article! But one has to wonder what the ‘Great Emancipator’ would say when he saw that more than 100 years later, white Americans are still wary of Negroes who rightfully and deservedly aspire to the Presidency of America.
Great article which adds to a better understanding of one of the Greatest Americans in history.
Very interesting and informative article.
Great article, Dad! I had no idea he wasn’t a Christian until so late in life. I thoroughly enjoyed the article.
Terrific article. I didn’t know that Lincoln and I share the unfortunate common bond that the loss of a child was the catalyst to an awakening of faith.
Outstanding and extremely informative of the private and religious life of an important person in our country’s history.
Loved it! Thank you for the education about his faith and his life.
Steve
This is a very good article, because until reading this article, I had always “assumed” that Lincoln was always a Christian, due to his position on slavery and some of his speeches I’ve read.
As a Chinese Christian, the article give me details on the faith of Lincoln.
I am looking forward to reading more on this great US president.
Mr. Freeman’s fine research and excellent article reveals the ease of making erroneous assumptions regarding an indvidual’s faith based upon of his/her demonstrated moral decision making in the secular world. Too often, believers seem blinded to the fact that non-believers might be capable of moral conduct, or as the corallary is so apatly stated by Louis Kronenberger, “[T]here seems to be a terrible misunderstanding on the part of a great many people to the effect that when you cease to believe you may cease to behave.”
The above observation is not intended to undermine in any manner one’s belief or faith in a higher being, but rather to observe that historians serve a valuable function in separating fact from humanity’s willingness and tendency to adopt assumptive beliefs (religious or otherwise) as facts without question or investigation.
“Mr. Lincoln was never a member of any church, nor did he believe in the divinity of Christ, or the inspiration of the Scriptures in the sense understood by evangelical Christians” from: Lamon, W: Life of Abraham Lincoln, page 486. James R.Osgood and Company, 1872. What is your source for the claim Lamon said Lincoln was a Christian?
The only otherevidence you submit is anecdotal recollections of conversations the declarants claimed to have had with Lincoln.
You will have to do better than trhat before I believe a man guilty of numerous war crimes and constitutional abuses was a Christian.
He may have believed in God and Jesus Christ but he certainly did not demonstrate a Christian attitude when he laughed with Gen. Sherman over the rampage of murder and distruction he created on his march thru the South.
To the writers who wonder about Lincoln’s view of America having a black president–and the writer who says we need another Lincoln…Lincoln did not believe in the races being equal and his assaults on the Constitution and war against southern civilians make him a myth in my eyes.
Normally I would not waste my time responding to the remarks by messers Lyons, Parsons and Moore. But the comments are so outrageous they cannot be allowed to pass.
To: Mr. Lyons:
* Being a member of a church does not mean you are a Christian. Not being a member, does not mean you are NOT one, either.
* You ask for sources on people long dead, but in some cases wrote about their conversations with Mr. Lincoln as first hand witnesses. What more would you ask, of me? Do you have living sources who can refute that which has been written?
*War crimes? How can anyone take you seriously? Who fired the first shot? And defense of an institution that was so ugly as to defy description. Who ran Andersonville? There was plenty of loss and abuse on both sides - neither side is clear, sir.
* Constitutional abuses. Here we have a legitimate debate. I can see that argument. I would counter however that the congress was not in session when Mr. Lincoln was sworn in. States had left and were continuing to leave the union. Do you truly believe that if he had waited until congress reconvened - a body that was reflective of the fragmenting of the union - he would have been able to secure agreement on what to do about this framentation?
* And I suppose you would claim that Jefferson Davis was a Christian or that Robert E. Lee was one?
To: Mr. Parsons
* Where do you find the information that he laughed with Mr. Sherman over the rampage (wildly & inaccuraely overstated by many in the south). I do not recall a time during that fall/winter of ‘64 that Sherman was with the president.
*You are correct - Lincoln did not believe the races were equal - in his early years. No one believed they were equal. He was a man of his time, sir. However, he grew over time and that attitude changed. It is quite clear in his writings - indeed on the night before he was murdered - he hinted that he might be willing to extend the vote to certain blacks.
* Even when he did not see them as equal, he did not OWN them like a piece of property, sir. He was against that from the time he was 21 years old.
* The war was a tragic event to be sure. When southern troops were in northern territory - they abused the northern population as well. If you are reading only the southern version of the war.
Sincerely,
Dick Freeman
8
Reading one book certainly makes no one an expert but reading a library full can make one incredibly knowledgable. The point of being a historian is having consumed tons of history about him both from those who knew him and those who wrote about him, too late for living proof. Go Dick!
Further on the comments of Kirk, Don and Ken, I believe that had Lincoln not proceeded as he did (you have to understand that I am a true, true Southern girl, so it is hard for me to say this), I do not believe our country would be the America it is today. I believe that Lincoln was placed in history at that time by God for a specific purpose and reason. Can you imagine a divided America at this time in our history? I shutter at the thought of what would be going on now. I, in no way, feel Lincoln abused the Constitution or committed “war crimes”, but rather his actions actually saved this great country.
Dick, excellent article. This issue is certianly ripe for revisionism. I enjoyed reading your perspective.