He read the Bible aloud to the coloured servants of the White House. Once, when a Committee of Coloured People waited upon him, to present him with a fine copy of the Bible, he took it and made a speech to them, a part of which was:-- “In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good Saviour gave to the World was communicated through this book. But for it, we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man’s welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it. “To you I return my most sincere thanks for the very elegant copy of the great Book of God which you present.” WASHINGTON AND LINCOLN SPEAK A LINCOLN ORDER _To the Army and Navy_ The President, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and men in the military and naval service. The importance for man and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best sentiment of a Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine will, demand that Sunday labour in the Army and Navy be reduced to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character of the national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend be imperilled, by the profanation of the day or name of the Most High. “At this time of public distress”--adopting the words of Washington in 1776--“men may find enough to do in the service of God and their Country without abandoning themselves to vice and immorality.” The first General Order issued by the Father of his Country after the Declaration of Independence indicates the spirit in which our institutions were founded and should ever be defended:-- “The General hopes and trusts that every officer and man will endeavour to live and act as becomes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest Rights and Liberties of his Country.” _November 15, 1862._ ADDRESS DELIVERED AT THE DEDICATION OF THE GETTYSBURG NATIONAL CEMETERY Fourscore and seven years ago our Fathers brought forth on this continent a new Nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that Nation, or any Nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that Nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.