Lincoln is saying that the ground cannot be declared holy, because: Lincoln means that the extreme sacrifice the men who had fought and died on that battlefield have made was in itself a greater act than any other could now, or ever, perform in ordaining the soil on which they died.
Lincoln is saying that the ground cannot be declared holy, because: The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.
