When asked about his faith on CNN’s ‘Larry King Live’, Christopher Reeves answered by saying, that his religion was similar to that of Abraham Lincoln who stated, “When I do good, I feel good and when I do bad, I feel bad.”

     That of course, is only a sound bite of what President Lincoln really believed and practiced. What he was referring to was the spiritual state of having a healthy conscience!

     I have access to many of the statements that great American president made and committed to paper! In April 1974, while conducting a Gospel Crusade in Yellowknife , NWT, I had the privilege of spending some quality time with the Baileys at the Pentecostal Church ! As a parting gift, they very graciously presented me with a book called ‘ Lincoln ’s Devotional’.  

     It is a reproduction of the devotional which President Abraham Lincoln carried in his pocket and read from on a daily basis. It has photos of the original book titled, ‘The Believer’s Daily Treasure’, as well as the page bearing Abraham Lincoln’s signature!

     ‘Lincoln’s’ Devotional, printed by Channel Press, Great Neck, NY in 1957, carries an introduction by Carl Sandburg. He reported that in 1849 when Lincoln’s second son Edward Baker died - after 52 days of illness - the officiating minister, Rev. James Smith of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, Illinois, began a friendship with the Lincoln family!

      Smith had been a rather wild fellow growing up in Scotland and a scoffer of religion, but was later converted to Christ and entered the Ministry in Kentucky!                     ,

      Sandburg writes: “It wasn’t long after Eddy’s death that the Lincolns rented a pew in the church. In 1852 Mrs. Lincoln took the sacrament and joined in membership. Pastor Smith presented Lincoln with a copy of his book, ‘The Christian’s Defence’, a reply to infidels and atheists. Lincoln read the book, said he was interested, later attended revival meetings held in the church and served in several capacities, but when asked to join the church, said he ‘couldn’t quite see it’

.    “In the same year, the Religious Tract Society of London, England, published a daily devotional titled ‘The Believers’ Daily Treasure’ or, ‘Texts of Scripture Arranged for Every Day in the Year’. On the title page appeared this verse from Psalm CX1X:72:

      “How Abraham Lincoln acquired his copy of the devotional we do not know. In 1852 he received as a gift at least one other book concerned with religion, but there is no word to be found of the ‘Believer’s Daily Treasure’. It could have been a gift from Mary Lincoln; sometime after 1847, Lincoln gave her a large family Bible, and perhaps this handy, vest-pocket book was a present from her in return, one he could carry with him for occasional reading on the Old Eight Circuit.

     “We do know that on the inside cover of the tiny book of Scripture and verse, Lincoln signed his name with typical abbreviation. And from this we can surmise that either the volume itself or the person who presented it to him was held in deep regard, for throughout his life Lincoln was sparing in the number of books in which he wrote his name. His signature, it would seem, was inscribed more as an expression of strong interest or affection than as a precaution against a book’s becoming lost, strayed, stolen.

“From his earliest reading days as a boy, Lincoln turned to the pages of the Bible, and over all the years of his life he went on with his reading of it, often quoting from it in private conversation and public addresses. He and his family owned several Bibles.         

“Writing to Mary, the sister of his best friend, Joshua Speed, he said, ‘Tell your mother that I have not got her present with me, but I intend to read it regularly when I return home.’  The gift was an Oxford Bible. In 1864 he received a beautiful Bible from a group of Negroes from Baltimore . In acknowledging it, Lincoln said, ‘In regard to this great book, I have but to say it is the best gift given to man.

“In proclamations, in recommendations of thanksgiving or of fasting and prayer, and in numerous references to God, Providence , the Almighty, the Common Father, Lincoln gave the impression to the multitude that he had a creed.

      “A clergyman – William E. Barton – sought to formulate such a statement of faith from Lincoln’s own words, changing the text merely to the extent of transposing pronouns from plural to singular, making other slight modifications, and prefixing the words, ‘I believe’. The result was almost liturgical, containing expressions such as these:

       ‘1 believe in penitential and pious sentiments, in devotional designs and purposes, in homages and confessions, in supplications to the Almighty, solemnly, earnestly, reverently.

       ‘I believe in blessings and comfort from the Father of Mercies to the sick, the wounded, the prisoners, and to the orphans and widows. I believe it pleases Almighty God to prolong our national life, defending us with His guardian care. I believe in His eternal truth and justice.

      ‘I believe the will of God prevails; without Him all human reliance is vain; without the assistance of that Divine Being I cannot succeed; with that assistance I cannot fail.

      ‘I believe I am a humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father; I desire that all my works and acts may be according to His will; and that it may be so, I give thanks to the Almighty and seek His aid. I believe in praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the Universe.’

      “When Lincoln was asked by Henry C. Deming, Congressman from Connecticut, the reason he had not joined a church, ‘with his obvious interest in religious matters and his familiarity with the Bible’, the President replied: ‘When any church will inscribe over its altars, as its sole qualification for membership, the Savior’s condensed statement for the substance of both law and gospel, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,’ that church will I join with all my heart and soul”.

      His law partner, William H. Herndon, quoted Lincoln as saying that his religion was like that of an old man he once heard at a church meeting: ‘When I do good,” the old man had said, ‘I feel good; when I do bad, I feel bad; and that’s my religion.”

      About eighty years after his death, a printed statement was recovered in which Lincoln answered campaign charges that he was ‘an open scoffer at Christianity’ by saying, in part, ‘I have never denied the truth of the Scripture’ and ‘I do not think I could myself, be brought to support a man for office whom I knew to be an open enemy of, and scoffer at, religion.’

      Carl Sandburg states: “John Jay, grandson of the great Chief Justice and a notable Civil War figure himself, was reported by Frank D. Carpenter as saying that he had seen Lincoln reading a pocket edition of the New Testament’!     

      Speaking to his friend, Joshua Speed in 1864, Lincoln said: ‘Take all this book (the Bible) upon reason that you can, and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a better man.’

     On another occasion President Abraham Lincoln declared: “I want my preacher to act like he’s fighting a swarm of bees when he preaches!” Making a point about dishonesty the President said: “How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?  Four! Calling the tail a leg doesn’t make it a leg.”

    An old French proverb states: “There is no pillow as soft as a clear conscience.” The old man that Abraham Lincoln was referring to was testifying about the peace and contentment one receives when doing good in contrast to the guilt and condemnation that nags on the conscience of the wrong doer!

    The Bible gives us the solution! St. John states: “For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and God knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” (1 John 3: 20-22)

    The questions arise: “What makes our hearts condemn us, and steals away our faith or confidence toward God? Answer: Sin! What then, is the solution? The forgiveness of sin that we receive through Christ’s vicarious death for us on the cross and the shedding of His precious blood for our salvation!

     The Bible states: “If we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ God’s Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1: 7) Again the Holy Scripture says: “How much more shall the blood of Christ, Who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, PURGE YOUR CONSCIENCE from dead works to serve the living God? (Hebrews 9: 14)

      St. Paul who had been a fanatic and enemy of the Christians, with the blood of martyrs on his hands, declared: “There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8: 1)

      My friend, may the Lord bless you and keep you in His love, grace and peace both now and forevermore! Amen.

     The Bible gives us the answer: “…because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we should follow His steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth: When He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously.” (1 Peter 2:21-23)

     HE IS OUR GREAT EXAMPLE! He showed us how to live in the Spirit, making a total commitment to God our Father, and to die victoriously ‘in the faith’! “For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him: if we deny Him, He will also deny us.” (2 Tim. 2:11, 12)

     The Bible says: “Yea, and all that will godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. (2 Tim. 3:12) “The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that wr may be also glorified together.” (Rom. 8: 16 , 17)

     THIS IS REAL CHRISTIANITY: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jew or Gentile, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it.” (1 Cor. 12: 13,26)

     The Holy Spirit urges: “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body. Here is good news: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able: but will with the temptation also make a way of escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” (1 Cor. 10: 13)