IT is often asked: What is our legacy to this world? Is it the life we live? Or what we give to the world with our talent and creativity? There are many who died with no shrine marks in their resting place. But they are still remembered after their death. Let me share with you the story of one such great man. A professional politician and a prairie lawyer whose fabled honesty, modesty, and integrity is still being talked about today. A lasting legacy he left behind that continues to inspire and challenge the young.
* * *
Born in a log cabin in Harding County, in Kentucky, USA, the man I am referring to is Abraham Lincoln, the 16th US president who had this to say about the Holy Bible: “But for this book, we could not know right from wrong. I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man.” Abraham Lincoln kept only four books on his White House desk: The US Constitution, a copy of the US statutes, the King James version of the Bible, and a collection of Shakespeare’s Tragedies. Abraham Lincoln knew the King James version of the Bible by heart and they gave “majesty” to his spoken and written words. The life of the lanky (6’4”) US president who sported his famous presidential whiskers after he received a letter from a little girl named Grace Bedell from New York – became a legend then and continues to be a legend in our contemporary times.
* * *
Many of us cannot forget the Gettysburg Address of Abraham Lincoln, considered America’s greatest speech. In fact many of us recited and memorized this speech in our younger years. The Gettysburg speech which was more of a prayer than a public oration consists only of 210 words and was delivered by Abraham Lincoln in two minutes before 20,000 people. The speech was so short that there was no photograph taken of Abraham Lincoln delivering the Gettysburg Address. One photographer assigned to take pictures was still busy setting up his tripod at a distance of about 30 feet from the platform. At the moment he was about to take a shot, the president ended his speech. The president’s speech was so brief that there was even no applause from beginning to end. In contrast, the speech of Edward Everett (before Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address), the featured speaker at Gettysburg and considered America’s most celebrated orator lasted two hours.
Gettysburg was a small town with a population of a little more than two thousand. It was a place where, after the Union victory, corpses were strewn all around – 10,000 bodies of Union Army soldiers and the slain Confederates as well. The Gettysburg Address took place during the dedication of 17 acres for a memorial. Actually when the preparations were being made for the

Gettysburg cemetery’s dedication rites, there was no plan to invite then President Lincoln. It was a public ceremony to commemorate Gettysburg as the site of the national cemetery for soldiers. The famous Gettysburg speech would not have been delivered had President Lincoln acceded to his wife Mary Todd’s plea that he should not leave the house as his son was sick. What makes the Gettysburg Address a standout over other speeches is its many references to the Bible and its brevity.
* * *
The Gettysburg Address also influenced President Lincoln’s spiritual life. While he was an avid student of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus, he did not embrace the Biblical doctrine of salvation which states that “it was not because of any good deeds that we ourselves had done, but because of his (God’s) own mercy that He saved us” (Titus 3:5). In another Biblical passage, “For it is by God’s grace that you have been saved through faith, it is not the result of your own efforts, but God’s gift so that no one can boast about it x x x” (Ephesians 2:8-9). But when President Lincoln saw the thousands of graves at Gettysburg, he said: “When I left Springfield, I asked people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life in 1862, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ.” (To be continued)
* * *
This column continues to give out copies of the Holy Bible for free to those who cannot afford to buy their own copies. If interested, please send your letter-request to Ms. Nelly Favis Villafuerte, 5th Floor, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), Roxas Blvd., Manila. Kindly mention if it is the Tagalog, English, Cebuano, or Ilocano version that is preferred.
Be joyful and forgiving!