Lincoln had faith in time, and time has justified his faith.

Harrison’s line frames Abraham Lincoln’s leadership as grounded in a long view of history rather than in immediate applause. “Faith in time” suggests Lincoln trusted that the moral and political meaning of his actions—especially amid the Civil War’s uncertainty and controversy—would become clearer as passions cooled and consequences unfolded. The second clause, “time has justified his faith,” asserts that later generations’ judgments vindicated Lincoln’s choices and character. The aphorism thus functions both as praise of Lincoln and as a broader claim about historical perspective: some decisions can only be fairly evaluated after their results and their ethical stakes have had time to register.