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Abraham Lincoln's Daily Treasure: Moments of Faith with America's Favorite President

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This book, "Abraham Lincoln's Daily Treasure; Moments of Faith with America's Favorite President" edited by Thomas Freiling was definitely not what I thought it would be. In the Amazon editorial review it is stated that the devotional book "The Believers Daily Treasure" was given to Lincoln in 1847 and he read from it daily. According to the introduction of Freling's book, Carl Sandburg had guessed that Abraham Lincoln had possessed this devotional based on these circumstances--Lincoln was seen to be reading from what many thought was a small Bible each day,and a copy of "Believers Daily Treasure" was found after his death in an old library with Lincoln's own signature. If that is really all the evidence we have that this is the daily devotional reading of Abraham Lincoln that is pretty sketchy evidence. Maybe someone else can clue me in on where the 1847 gift anecdote comes from. Freiling's book itself has some great quotes from Abraham Lincoln and some nice commentary by the editor on those quotes. But let's face it Abraham Lincoln was a most incredible person. Just imagine someone with virtually no education , becoming not only the great leader of a very large ,growing, trouble-filled country, but just his literary production and pithy, wise , and down-to-earth well crafted quotations rank him as one of the most well-respected literary figures of all-time. So whatever Tom Freiling quotes of this great person will have considerable value, and the commentary should and does come quite easy. And another observation on this book--The quotations from "The Believers Daily Treasure" appear at the top of each daily inclusion, and the anecdote and quotation from Abraham Lincoln are included underneath the 1847 devotional verse and hymn words that appeared for each day in the devotional.There seems to be little or no correlation between the Bible verse and the anecdote from Abraham Lincoln. To me this seems to be pretty shoddy craftsmanship on the part of the writer-editor. Would I recommend this book for another reader? Probably not! I am not positively sure I would say that this is a dishonest production but I am sure that there really was not a whole lot of hard work and honest effort put into this book. As an alternative, I recommend William Lee Miller's "Abraham Lincoln's virtues; an Ethical Biography". That is a book that honestly gives you a great look into the development of this most admirable of American heroes.

If you're familiar with the little book that Lincoln carried, which has been published several times--including under the title, "Lincoln's Devotional," by Carl Sandburg--you will find this to be a worthy build on that little book. The original takes verses from the Bible and adds small bits of related prose and poetry of the day. Freiling takes this work and adds little stories from Lincoln's life to illustrate the verse. Even if you already own Lincoln's Devotional, you will find the additional vinettes interesting. This book is not intended to be a scholarly work that explains Lincoln's faith. Rather it accomplishes what its subtitle suggests: "Moments of Faith with America's Favorite President." I have over 150 books related to Lincoln and this one is a favorite of mine. It is meant to be read one page at a time--that is, one page per day. Read it that way and you won't be disappointed.