Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian?

by John E. Remsburg

"After some conversation, in which he seemed disposed to have his joke and fun, he settled down to a serious consideration of the subject before his mind, and for one half-hour poured forth a volume of the deepest Christian philosophy I ever heard."

REV. DR. MINER.

The Rev. Dr. Miner, who met Lincoln in Washington, says:

"All that was said during that memorable afternoon I spent alone with that great and good man is engraven too deeply on my memory ever to be effaced. I felt certain of this fact, that if Mr. Lincoln was not really an experimental Christian, he was acting like one. He was doing his duty manfully, and looking to God for help in time of need; and, like the immortal Washington, he believed in the efficacy of prayer, and it was his custom to read the Scriptures and pray himself."

REV. P. D. GURLEY, D.D.

While in Washington, Lincoln with his family attended the Presbyterian church of which the Rev. Dr. Gurley was pastor. Mr. Reed cites the following as the testimony of Dr. Gurley in regard to the alleged Infidelity of Lincoln:

"I do not believe a word of it. It could not have been true of him while here, for I have had frequent and intimate conversations with him on the subject of the Bible and the Christian religion, when he could have had no motive to deceive me, and I considered him sound not only on the truth of the Christian religion but on all its fundamental doctrines and teachings. And more than that, in the latter days of his chastened and weary life, after the death of his son Willie, and his visit to the battlefield of Gettysburg, he said, with tears in his eyes, that he had lost confidence in everything but God, and that he now believed his heart was changed, and that he loved the Savior and, if he was not deceived in himself, it was his intention soon to make a profession of religion."

HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD.

One of the most ardent friends and admirers of Abraham Lincoln was Isaac N. Arnold, for several years a member of Congress from Illinois. Mr. Arnold wrote a work on "Lincoln and Slavery," and a "Life of Lincoln" which was published in 1885. Lincoln's religious views are thus described by Mr. Arnold:

"No more reverent Christian than he ever sat in the Executive chair, not excepting Washington. He was by nature religious; full of religious sentiment. The veil between him and the supernatural was very thin. It is not claimed that he was orthodox, for creeds and dogmas he cared little. But in the great fundamental principles of religion, of the Christian; religion, he was a firm believer. Belief in the existence of God, in the immortality of the soul, in the Bible as the revelation of God to man, in the efficacy and duty of prayer, in reverence toward the Almighty, and in love and charity to man, was the basis of his religion" (Life of Lincoln, p. 446).