Americans mourned, and we all can keep learning.

   I edit this piece here on 2/18/19, since Isaac E. Carey moves from the forefront now that I have read The Chronicle from November 3, 1864.  That is obviously where Reverend Carey got the testimony for his sermon, and that document becomes much more important.  Yet I did not want to delete this piece since the description of Americans mourning the death of Lincoln is important.  And thanks to Reverend Carey's sermon, I had encouragement to keep searching over a period of ten years for further evidence of the testimony!
   Note my presentation of historical evidence does not mean I am advocating all of the theologies expressed.  I have serious disagreements with some things Reverend Carey said at other times in this sermon from June 1, 1865, which was given over a half year after the sermon where he told of the conversion testimony.  Yet we can learn from certain folks in history even if we have disagreements.  And we can all continue learning more from God through His revelations given in Scripture.

   Here are two sentences from Reverend Carey: “The mourning was not simply formal, but sincere and deep. It was not confined to the great cities, where many thousands could gather to witness the imposing obsequies and look upon the remains of the deceased President, but extending throughout the land, and manifesting itself in a very marked way at all the villages and stations through which the funeral cortege passed in its long course to the place of burial; people of every place along the route, gathering at the stations, in great numbers and by means of bonfires, the tolling of bells, the singing of dirges, the scattering of flowers in the Funeral Car, and other appropriate acts, expressing their love and reverence for the departed good man and Savior of his country, and their deep sorrow in view of his untimely death.”[1]

   And I repeat from the previous post Lincoln’s key quote in response to an African-American man calling him the “great Messiah,” as written by Carl Sandburg: “Don’t kneel to me.  You must kneel to God only and thank him for your freedom.”[2]

Hunter Irvine


United States Postal Service stamp issued on February 12, 2014.
Carol Highsmith took the original photograph, and Derry Noyes was the Art Director for the 21 cent stamp.

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[1] Isaac E. Carey, “Abraham Lincoln. The Value to the Nation of his Exalted Character,” sermon preached on June 1, 1865, at the First Presbyterian Church of Freeport, Illinois,

https://archive.org/stream/abrahamlincolnva00care#page/n4/mode/1up   (accessed December 6, 2014).

[2] Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years One-Volume Edition (New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1954), 684.

Lincoln said, "Don't kneel to me..."

   In examining the faith of Abraham Lincoln, we learn he recognized he was not the Savior of the African-Americans, and we learn he himself knew the Savior.  I preface this claim by saying some attribute the popularity of Lincoln in the wake of his death by wrongfully claiming he was killed on Good Friday, yet this is not accurate because Lincoln was shot on Good Friday, in the evening, yet Lincoln did not pass away until Saturday, April 15, 1865, at 7:22 am. (1)  Then the following morning was Easter, April 16, 1865.  Since he did not die on Good Friday, the American Messiah analogy loses its evidence.  It is true that once Lincoln was shot, he never regained consciousness. (2)
   Lincoln would have shunned people making him some sort of American Messiah.  Going back less than two weeks from his physical death to April 3, 1865, Lincoln entered Richmond after it was gained by the Union troops.  In my opinion, going to Richmond was one of the worst decisions Lincoln ever made.  It made him look like a conqueror, and it surely increased bitterness against him there in the weeks preceding his assassination.  Now I do not think this was his intention at all.  Lincoln liked to be actively involved; his daily schedule was intense.  And I personally think Lincoln saw his visit to Richmond as his way of supporting the country, rather than coming as a conqueror.  Yet my objective here is not to get into that history, rather I will simply say that reading about the journey into Richmond by Lincoln is one of the most surreal and incredible events I have read concerning American history.  And from the event is preserved his priceless statement about the Messiah.  Here is what Carl Sandberg said the response of Lincoln was after an African-American man called Lincoln the "great Messiah," fell on his knees, and then bowed at the President's feet: "Don’t kneel to me.  You must kneel to God only and thank him for your freedom.” (3)
   Secondly, regarding his knowledge of the Savior, we learn the Savior is the reason he wanted to visit the Holy Land.  I close with what Reverend Miner said, which Johnson got from the Lincoln Scrapbook of the Library of Congress: “Mrs. Lincoln informed me that the last day he lived was the happiest of his life.  The very last moments of his conscious life were spent in conversation with her about his future plans, and what he wanted to do when his term of office expired.  He said he wanted to visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footprints of the Saviour.  He was saying there was no city he so much desired to see as Jerusalem…” (4)
Hunter Irvine

(1) Ralph G. Newman, ed., Lincoln for the Ages (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1960), 404.
(2) Ralph G. Newman, ed., Lincoln for the Ages (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, Inc., 1960), 404.

(3) Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years One- Volume Edition (New York: Harcourt, Inc., 1954), 684.

(4) William J. Johnson, Abraham Lincoln the Christian (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1913), 182.