Abraham
Lincoln is immortal in the minds and memories of nearly all
Americans. The image of the tall, gaunt Illinois log-splitter
and lawyer is etched in the minds of millions. Nearly 139 years
after his death, he remains a figure celebrated and revered in
American life.
Yet, he is immortal in a far greater
sense, one for which his enduring memory is but a poor
substitute. Lincoln is immortal in the true sense—that of
having everlasting life which only Jesus Christ can give to a
man.
A remarkable conversation took place
between an Illinois clergyman and President Lincoln after the
death of Lincoln’s beloved son, Willie, whose death was an
almost unbearable, heart-breaking experience for the President,
already bowed by the burden of war.
Prior to this, Lincoln had been a
strong believer in the providence of God, but he largely
rejected most of the Bible, especially the doctrines of
salvation and redemption.
“Mr. President, do you love Jesus?”
inquired the pastor, as recorded by William J. Johnson, in his
book, Abraham Lincoln, The Christian.
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.
Sometime after that conversation, Mr. Noah Brooks, a friend
of Lincoln and a noted journalist stated, “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.
Later, a woman associated with the
Christian Commission visited him, and 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; and I will
further add, that it has been my intention for some time, at a
suitable opportunity, to make a public religious profession.
In the last speech he ever gave, just three days before his
death, Lincoln stated his intention to submit a proclamation for
a national day of thanksgiving to God. His last act consisted
of issuing an edict that every U.S. coin would be printed with
the words:  “In
God We Trust.”
Abraham Lincoln died on Good Friday.
Those close to the President said he had wished to make his
public profession of faith in Christ on Easter Sunday. An
assassin’s bullet altered that plan, but in ending his life,
that mad act only ushered Mr. Lincoln into the joy of new and
unending life in Christ.
Yes, Abraham Lincoln was a Christian.
He accepted the gift of eternal life. Have you?
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