The Republican National Convention (rnc) has come and gone, with Donald Trump officially nominated as the party’s candidate for the 2016 election. However, the event was hardly a demonstration of unity. The #NeverTrump movement attempted to find another candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz refused to endorse Trump for president, and there was a striking lack of enthusiasm for most of the speeches. Much was made of Trump’s keynote speech, which mainly focused on declaring that only he could solve the many problems afflicting the nation.

Let’s examine an earlier rnc that provides a stark contrast to Trump’s faith in himself.

A Humble Hopeful

The political climate of 1860 was explosive. The issue of slavery was ripping the nation apart. Abolitionists were committing acts of violence and encouraging a mass slave uprising. Many cotton states threatened secession. The Dred Scott decision by the Supreme Court fueled controversy over the Constitution. Congress was at an impasse. Into this environment of crisis, amateur politician Abraham Lincoln entered the fray.

A man of humble beginnings, Lincoln gained national notoriety for his debate with Stephen A. Douglas over slavery, while campaigning to be senator of Illinois. Although Lincoln lost that nomination for the Senate, he impressed the Republican Party. Many were uninspired by his lanky, homely appearance, but their apprehensions often disappeared when they heard him speak. One skeptic left one of Lincoln’s speeches declaring that Lincoln was “the greatest man since St. Paul!”

At Cooper’s Union, in New York City, Lincoln gave a speech that many historians believe won him the presidential nomination. Most politicians distinguished themselves by fiery rhetoric, taking extremes on the slavery issue or secession. There were few who did not fuel the fire of war with their words. However, Lincoln had a different message for his party:

A few words now to Republicans. It is exceedingly desirable that all parts of this great Confederacy shall be at peace, and in harmony, one with another. Let us Republicans do our part to have it so. Even though much provoked, let us do nothing through passion and ill temper. Even though the Southern people will not so much as listen to us, let us calmly consider their demands and yield to them if, in our deliberate view of our duty, we possibly can.

Lincoln’s message in that speech was not one of defiance and anger, but of reconciliation and compromise. The nation was inching closer to war, and although he was opposed to slavery, he would rather see the Union preserved and have slavery legally removed over time than plunge the nation into a bitter struggle. He denounced the calls for an abolitionist revolution. Lincoln rested his entire opinion and policy on slavery by looking back at the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. He urged both those in the North and South to remember the foundation of America and to forge a new future together by adhering to those founding principles. Lincoln urged Republicans to compromise, but he also encouraged them not to surrender the future of the nation:

Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the government nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.

His message of moderation, of hope that political wounds could be healed, and unwavering faith in the Constitution electrified those who listened. It also gave many hope that war could be averted.

The favorite to win the Republican nomination that year was William Seward. However, many were uncomfortable with the strong abolitionist policies he advocated. They feared they would lose votes in the swing states and alienate the South. Thus, Lincoln was increasingly looked upon as a good alternative. Former governor Salmon Chase, Rep. Edward Bates and Sen. Simon Cameron were also running for the nomination.

The Ballots

In those days, the nominees did not deliver speeches. They made some remarks, but the main business was voting. In the first ballot, Seward took a clear lead with 173.5 seats; Lincoln won 102; Chase 49; and Bates 48. Fearing the more radical Seward would win, Lincoln’s supporters were able to swing many of the smaller factions to their side. In the second ballot, Seward had 184.5 votes and Lincoln had 181. Seward’s advantage was quickly slipping. By the third ballot, after a recount, the delegates flooded to the Lincoln camp. Lincoln had 349 votes, and Seward 111.5. The Republican nominee went to the Illinois lawyer.

Lincoln waited patiently in Springfield for the decision. When the news reached him that he had won the Republican nomination, he took it calmly. While others campaigned for him across the country, the Democratic Party was pulling itself apart. The delegates could not agree on one candidate and became factionalized. This almost guaranteed Lincoln a victory. In the autumn of 1860, Abraham Lincoln became president.

Supplicator in Chief

Twelve weeks later, when Lincoln departed Springfield, Illinois, for the White House, he gave some impromptu remarks to the gathered crowd, most of them his friends and colleagues. Tears filled his eyes, and emotion cracked his voice, as the reality of leadership descended onto his shoulders:

My friends: No one, not in my situation, can appreciate my feeling of sadness at this parting. … I now leave, not knowing when or whether I may return, with a task before me greater than which rested upon Washington. Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him, I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.

Those candid remarks bore the explanation for Lincoln’s greatness. Although the future was still clouded, the strain and struggles ahead were evident. In the hands of this man lay the future of the Union and the Constitution. Lincoln knew that only the hand of God would save America. War was on the horizon. The storm clouds gathering above the train platform in Springfield seemed an ominous sign of the times.

When the news broke across the nation that Lincoln had been elected president, the Southern states had begun to vote for secession. Despite assurances from the president that he would not infringe on their rights, the South refused to negotiate. The decades of hostility and damage had taken its toll. On April 12, 1861, Fort Sumter in South Carolina was attacked, plunging the United States into Civil War.

Credit to God

Faith in God remained a theme of Lincoln’s leadership. On Oct. 26, 1862, Lincoln wrote a letter to Eliza Gurney, a trusted friend. It read: “We are indeed going through a great trial, a fiery trial. In the very responsible position in which I happen to be placed, being a humble servant in the hands of our heavenly Father, as I am, as we all are, to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my work and acts may be according to His will, and that it might be so, I have sought His aid.”

The war went poorly for three years, until finally the tide turned in favor of the North. Many times it seemed the remnants of the Union would fall apart. Lincoln’s savvy and strength helped to keep the war effort alive. He had a talent for making his enemies his closest friends; in fact, nearly all of the other nominees of 1860 were in his cabinet. This team of rivals was united by the vision of Lincoln. However, there was one great quality above all that was the key to Lincoln’s success as a wartime president: his faith in God.

After the decisive turning point of the war at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Gen. Daniel Edgar Sickles was in Washington. General Sickles, who had fought at Gettysburg, asked the president if he had been anxious about the outcome. President Lincoln responded:

Well, I will tell you how it was. In a pinch of your campaign up there, when everybody seemed panic-stricken, and nobody could tell what was going to happen, oppressed by the gravity of our affairs, I went to my room one day, and I locked the door, got down on my knees before Almighty God, and prayed to Him mightily for victory at Gettysburg. I told Him this was His war, and our cause was His cause, but we couldn’t stand another Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville. And then and there I made a solemn vow to Almighty God, that if He would stand by our boys at Gettysburg, I would stand by Him. And after that (I don’t know how it was, and I can’t explain it) a sweet comfort crept into my soul that God Almighty had taken the whole business into His own hands and that things would go all right at Gettysburg. And that is why I had no fears about you.

How many modern candidates or presidents would give God credit for victory? Lincoln was humble enough to drop to his knees and ask for divine intervention. His entire political ideology, understanding of the Constitution and belief in America was viewed through the lens of the Bible. Robert Browne, an author and contemporary of Lincoln, recollects that Lincoln treated the Bible as his chief textbook for life and learning and recalled Lincoln saying that the Scriptures “are the words of eternal life, as well as the foundations of all law, rule and precept, for the welfare of government instituted by men.”

Lincoln led America out of war, saved the Constitution, and removed slavery from the nation. For these achievements, many consider him the greatest president in United States history.

Modern Contrast

Many believe that Lincoln-esque leadership is what the nation needs today. However, not a shred of evidence from the Republican or Democratic National Conventions indicates that such leadership exists.

There has been no reconciliatory tone this campaign cycle and no effort between extreme political camps to diffuse tense situations. Civil violence is becoming normal in American society. It has been impossible for rational discussion to take place on any of the major issues, such as racial tensions, terrorism, the economy or immigration. Both sides refuse to take blame, although both sides are responsible. Instead of pulling together in this time of crisis, both political parties are fracturing. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton insist they are the answer. There is seldom any mention of God or the Bible from their lips. This is the exact opposite conduct of what the nation needs and what events demand.

Abraham Lincoln did not fully realize the truths of the Bible, but he did understand that only God could save America in crisis, and he had faith in the ultimate cause of the North. He also knew that it was the collective sins of America—both North and South—that had plunged the nation into an existential disaster. The solution was not to assign blame or resort to violence, but to repent. In Lincoln’s second inaugural address, he said:

Both [North and South] read the same Bible and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God’s assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men’s faces; but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. “Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!” If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.

An assassin’s bullet ended his life soon after that address.

America has survived wars and disasters since Lincoln’s death in 1865, but today we approach another moment of decision. Recounting the history from the 1860 rnc and the subsequent presidency of Abraham Lincoln reveals how dire the leadership crisis is in America. By a miracle, Lincoln became president; and by many miracles, the Union was saved, opening the door for America to become the world’s greatest superpower. The key to Lincoln’s greatness was his faith in God. As we live in an age lacking in righteous leadership, America should tremble at a future where we have forsaken our Creator.