Lincoln's Christian Testimony

Lincoln’s life and addresses give evidence of a truly great Christian character. Garrett Newkirk says: “He had more scriptural truth at his command for immediate application to affairs public or private than nine out of ten of the preachers of his time. He incorporated more religious truth into speeches, letters and state papers than all other Presidents up to this day.”

With reference to his Christian experience we have his own statement: “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.” But if Lincoln was not a Christian before the battle of Gettysburg, he certainly manifested the spirit of a Christian long before that. It is likely that what he meant by not being a Christian was that he did not have a sufficiently satisfying religious experience; he was not able, as was expected in those days, to state the precise day and hour of his conversion. It is also possible that because of his modesty and humility, as he inspected his own heart, he did not feel that he sufficiently came up to the scriptural requirements.