Eastern Illinois University The Keep

Masters Theses Student Theses & Publications

1955

The Religion of Abraham Lincoln

Elmo L. Bruce Eastern Illinois State College

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Recommended Citation Bruce, Elmo L., "The Religion of Abraham Lincoln" (1955). Masters Theses. 4684. https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/4684

This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Theses & Publications at The Keep. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of The Keep. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE RELIGION OF ABRAHAM LIN COLN ..

A Pap er Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requ ire:aents for the Degree Master of Science in Education in the Gradmte Program of Eastern Illinois State College

By

Elmo L. Bruce . - Eastern Illinois State College

1955

Approved by:. TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

Preface . . • • i

Introduction • • • • . ii

I. Early Life 1

II. Pblitics • . • 13

III. Slavery 17

IV. War • • 22

v. Leader of the Nation • 28

VI. Linea ln am �eachers 33

VII. Church Membership ••• . . • . 42

VIII. Conflicting Opinions • 48

IX. Conclusion • • • 54

Bibliography ••60 PREFACE

The purpose of this paper is to set forth a true picture

; of the Religion of Abraham Lincoln. His attitude toward the

Christian religion'has not always been interpreted the same by everyone, but an· endeavor· has been made here to show the true interpretation in-the light of proper evidence.

111 ''For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: • • • says the Scriptures, and also, " • • • out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh11.2

Abraham Lincoln spoke many things that would indicate his attitude toward religion, and from these utterances or writings of his we may form our o'pinions. What person believed, or believes today, that Lincoln spoke that which he did not feel or believe in his heart? Lincoln was known to be honest.

It is hoped that the evidence set forth herein will help the reader form a reasonably accurate opinion as to Lincoln's attitude toward Religion.

This paper is an outgrowth of a course on Abraham

Lincoln taught by Dr. Charles H. Coleman, author and authority on Lincolniana.

1Proverbs 23: 7.

2 I'fJatthew 12: 34.

i INTRODUCTION

Bishop Fowler onc e said:: "Let us analyze Lincoln if we are able. This task is difficult on account of his symnetry.

He was too much like a sphere tl:E.t pro je cts farthe st in every direction. His comprehension is to us impossible on account of his immensity, for a man can be comprehended only by his 3 peers "··

Tha.t last statement is particularly significant. "A man can be comprehended only by his peers"·· It seems too many people have th ought they compreherrled Lincoln when they were hardly his peers. In that case how cou ld they do it indeed?

Lincoln was a. man known to be possessed of mental arrl physical a:bili ty. A. stool must b.ave at least three legs on which to stand. So a- man's life to stand as a success must have at least three phases. Let us now look into that thir d phase of any well-rounded individual's life, the spiri tual side, and see how Lincoln measured up as we think a man reasonably should.

First let us con sider some words of Barton concerning

n· Linco ln's rel igion: • • • We should fi nd ourselves compelled

3 Bishop Fowler's oration on Lincoln (p. 28) as quoted in p. William E. Barton 's The Soul of- Abraham Linco ln, 253. Cited hereafter as Bartoll:--

ii to bel ieve in the reality of Linco ln's rel igion . We may not be able to do so to our complete satisfaction after we have fi ni shed ; we might even que stion , and we my still question , whether he himself ever fully define d it . But we are assured tbat his religion wa s real and genuine , and

that it grew more vital as he faced rrore co mple tely the moral and spiritua l aspects of the work to whi ch , as he 4 honestly believed , he wa s divinely called".

Finally, in this same vein, let us consider some words

of Taggart : " • . But let us beware lest we secularize

Linco ln , lest we remember his deeds , and mis s his spirit .

The body without the soul is dead . Too many biogra phers have de-Christianized Linco ln ."5

4Barton , op. cit., p. 97.

5Raymond D. Taggart , D. D. , The Fai th of Abraham Linco ln, p. 14 . Hereafter cited a-s Taggart .

iii I

EARLY LIFE

"Of all the Presidents of the United States, Lincoln was 1 probably one of the least orthodox, yet tbe most religious" •

Abraham Lincoln was born in central K�ntuck y on Febxuary

the twelfth, 1809. In his primitive enviroilI!Bnt le t us see some of his fir st contacts wit h for ces of a rel igious na:ture.

Lincoln's parent s were good people. Lincoln th ought well of

them. They attended church, and it has been stated that his

mother read the Bible to him whe n he was a child, although she

probably was illiterate. Of course Abraham was led to attend

church sinc e his parents did , and wha t he saw and heard at church made an impression on his active mind. Ward Hill Lamon

gives an account of a possible stirring by the prea.cher of

Lincoln's desire to be a publ ic speaker himself--also of Lincoln's kindness and enoti on shown as a. boy and how he cou ld affect

others wit h his words. He states:

Abe had a very reten tive memory. He frequentl y amused his young companions by repeating to them long passages from the books he had been reading. On Monday mornings he would mount a stump, and deliv er with a won derf\J.l app roach to exactness, th e sermon he had heard the day befor e. His taste for public speaking appeared to be natural and irresistible. His stepsister, Matilda Johnsto n, says he was an indefatigable "preacher". "When father and mother would go to church, �be would take down the Bible,

1 sherwood Eddy, as quoted in Edgar DeWitt Jones' Linco ln and the Preachers, 134. Cited hereafter as Jones.

1 2

read a verse, give out a hymn, and we wo uld sing. Abe was about fif teen years of age. He preached and we wo uld do th e crying. Sometimes he would join in the chorus of tears. One day my brothe r, John Johnston, caught a land terrapin, brought it to the place wbere Abe was preaching, threw it against the tree, and crushed the shell � It suffered much--quivered all over. Abe then preache d against cruelty to animals, contending that an ant's life was as sweet to it as ours to us�.2.

These in cident s to ok pla.ce whe n Lincoln. was about fif teen years old. His family had nov ed from Ken tucky to Indiana near

Gentryville in the vici nity of Little Pigeon Creek. Thomas

Lincoln le ft the Knob Creek farm in Kentucky when Abraham was seven years old.

To return to Lincoln's home en vironment as rela;ted to religion, Taggart says: "But let us co me to th ose who were immediatel y the parent s of Lincoln 1 s reli gious faith. He was blessed with three godly parents: his fathe r, Thomas Lincoln; his mothe r, Nancy Hanks Lincoln; his step-mother, previously 3 a. widow, Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln". Speaking of Thomas

Lincoln, Taggart continues: .." •••In his home th ere was grace before meals and regular family worshi p, for his wif e ha:.d taught him to read. He was a member of the Baptist church both in Kentucky and later at Little Pigeon, Indiana, whe re on one occasion at least he was the moderator of a commission

2ward Hill Lamon, The Life of Abraham Lincoln, pp • .39-40. �aggart, 2.J2.. cit. , p. 21 . J appointed to settle a dif ficulty between two of the church sisters. That appointnent would ind icate that he was co nsid ered a man of soma judici ou s abilityn.4

Lincoln once said of his mother� "All tha t I am, all that

I hope to· be, I owe to my angel mother--blessings on her mem ory"'·

In their.nine years togetbe r she had taught him Bible stories and later the Bible chapters. When she died, she placed a frai 1 hand on Abe's head and asked him to be gpod and kind to his fatber and sister and to live as she had taught him, loving kindred and worshipping God. When he became President he said:

"T remember her. prayers, am· they have always followed me.

They have clung to me all my life".5 Lincoln was fortunate in getting Sarah Bush Lincoln for his step-mother. She had good sense in her head and lov e in her heart, alli Lincoln and 6 sh e had a mutua l love for each ot he r.

The churches Linco ln atterrled in his early life doubtless had a. great bearing on his attitude toWard slavery. Warren says:. "It may be said th at Abraham Linco ln was born in an atm:isphere charged with slavery con troversy. It is impossible to con ceive of a more tense community situation than tha t existing in the South Fork neighborhood relative to slavery

4Ibid., p. 21 .

5Ibid., PP. 21-22. 6 Ibid., p. 28. 4 duri ng the period wheri the Lincolns lived th ere". 7

As to the South Fork Church's starrl on the sla very question, Warren states:

•••When Abraham Linco ln was born the church was cl osed becaus e of the controversy over human borrlage, and fif teen members had gone out of the church n·on account of sla very"·, to or ganize the Little Mount Anti-Slavery Baptist Church. It was this or ganization wit h which the parent s of Abraham Linco ln became affiliated. There the first sermons Abraham heard were by William Downs and David Elkins, cele brated Baptis t preache rs who ministered for the church, and who were opposed to th e institution of slavery. From this brief recital of early rel igious co ntacts of the Presiden t's for bears, one may draw his own conclu sions as to the influenc e of the Baptist background in the life of Abraham Lincoln. 8

Lincoln was tolerant--all owed the ri ght of other people to their own ideas and never berated or despised a sinc ere opponent. He did not always find tole ranc e in the early preaching he heard. Barton says concerning this:

The prevailing and almost the sole type of religion in that part of Indiana during Lincoln's boyhood was Baptist, and in spite of all that Mrs. Lincoln belie ved about the freedom of it, it wa·s a very unprogre ssiv e type of pr eaching . The preachers bel lowed and spat and whined and cu ltivated an artificial "holy tone" ard denounced the Meth odists and blasphemed the Presbyterians and paint ed a hell whose horror even 1h2the backwoods was an atrocit y. Against it the boy Abe·Lincoln rebelled. Many anot her boy with an

7 Louis Austin Warren, Linco ln's Parentage arrl Childhood, p. 289. This South Fork Baptist Church was not far fro m the home of Linco ln's parent s in Kentucky. 8 Louis Austin wa·rren, ed. , "Linco ln's Ba.ptis t Background", Lincoln Lore No. 1042 (March 28, 1 949}. 5

active mind has been driven by tP,e same.type of preaching into infidelity.9

The q_uestion might be raisedr,iwhy didn't Lincoln join the church when he was q_uite young? The situation he fo und himself in in the Pigeon Creek church in Indiana seems a. good answer. � Lincoln Lore Bulletin states: "The suppositi on is th at he would not have been invited to join. There were practically no young people on the book of the Pigeon Creek

Church. It was a lis t of adults. Church membership was too serious an affai r to be publicly embraced by those who bad not settled dow n in life . . . . The fact that he didn't marry is proibabl.y responsibl e more than any other one thing for his 10 non-affiliation with the ch urch • . . . "

Lincoln's parent s mv ed from Indiana to Macon County,

Illinois, and settle d near Decatur. They later mved to Coles

County near Charle ston but Lincoln took up his abode in the

village of New Salem. "In New Salem as well as in his former

homes in Kentucky and Indiana, Lincoln lived in a Southern pioneer atmsphere. His contact with its people he lped him

understand the Southern temp er ament and point of view. He

en

community, and profited by the nicities of thought, the subtle

9Barton, 2.£. cit . , p. 48.

lOLincoln Lore No. 661 (Dec. 8, 1941). 6 distinctions and fine -spun arguments tha t they necessitated.

Yet, while he en joyed them as a nental exercise and while he eventw.lly attained to a deep faith, emoti on ally th e bitterness of sectarian prejudice must have been repellent to him, and was probably a caus e of his lasting reluctanc e to affiliate with �i any sect. l

Unfortunately while living in New Salem Linco ln read some b.ooks that caused him to have some dou bts about the Chris tia n belief. At that tiIIB he well could have been looked upon as an infidel. The word neans one who is unfaithfUl, and so has oo me to be synonymous wi th an unbel ie ver-- anyone who proves unfai thfUl to the traditi ons of his family is in their eye s an infidel. When a Hebrew becomes a Christian, we say he has become a beli ever,tbut his kinsmen after his flesh say he is an infidel. The same holds for a. Catholic turning Protestant, or vice versa. Lincoln in 1835 probably consid ered himself 1 an infide1. 2

Of course being an "'infidel." is a relative term. It depends on certain con ditions such as who is calling the name, what his vie ws are, an d a.t what period he liv es or what locality he lives in. Barton says: "If Lincoln was regarded as an infidel,' and if he ever was te�ted to think himself one, we

11 ·�-� BenJ

12Taggart, 2.E.• cit., pp. 307-308. 7

should :oot be justifi ed in accepting that judgment as final

until we knew and con sid ered what was required in that tine and place to con stitut e an infidel . In the mini of nx:> st if

not all the Bapti st preache rs wh om Lincoln heard while he wa s

in New Salem, a. belief that th e earth was round was sufficient

to brand.a man as an infidel . . nl3

We do and th�nk when we a·re younger as we would :oo t do . or

think after we are older, and the years give a better insig!lt

becau se of experience and matur ing judgment .

Lincoln leaned toward free thinking or infidelity ,

according to some . As has been sta-ted som books he read

influenced him. Although one of the founders of New Salem .

was a. preacb:l r of the Cumberland Presbyterian faith, and . the

coming of the Bale family brou ght two Baptist preachers ,

Abraham and Jacob Bal e, as resid ent s of th e town, and althoug h

Peter Cartwright and other Methodi st preache rs came frequently

and preached in the schoolhouse or in the Rutledge tavern,

there wa·s in New Salam a rathe r strong tendency toward what is

called infidel ity . Paine 's Age of Reason and Vel ney 's Ruins

were in active circulation. Lincoln read them, and they were

not without their influence upon his thinking. 14

The fact that the se boo ks did influence Linooln may have

prompted him to writ e something of a similar nature himself.

13Barton , ££.• ci t. , p. 6 3.

1Jiw111iam E. Barton , The Life of Abraham Lincoln, Vol . I, p. 195. 8

Let us consider what some writ ers have to say about Linco ln's books. Barton says: ·"We have here our one witness that Mr.

Lincoln while at New Salem freshly risen from the reading of

Volney ani Paine, and having what Lamon call.e.d the "itch for writing" wrote some kind of essay adverse to the do ctrines of

Chris tianity as Linco ln then understood them Lincoln did , then, write sozmthing of this character, and it may have been burned ; • • nl5

Hill, McNama:r and Lincoln may all have been suitor s for

Ann Rutledge's hand in New Salem. Hill well may have writ ten a letter to McNama:r, .A:nn's sweetheart who had le ft, to see if he were al iv e and still cared for Ann. Also this le tter could rave been dropped, and co uld have been picked up by children and handed to Lincoln who it seems had beaten Hill's time after

McNama:r had dropped out of the pie ture. Barton further states:

"This was the document which Linco ln held in his hand when he

and Hill came to thei r fi nal reckoning con cerning the heart of

Ann Rutledge. And the argument between them, while friendly,

devel oped some heat, ani that was what Hill snatched from 16 Linco ln's hand and th rew int o the fir e" •

Mentor Graham, Lincoln's ins tructor in surveying an d

English grammar while in New Salem, also speaks of the burne d

book or letter. Here is wha.t Graham says about it: "Some of

15 Ibid., p. 150.

16rbid., p. 151. 9 the school ch ildren ha..d pick ed up the le tter and handed it to

Linco ln. Hill and I:;incoln were talking a:bou t it, when Hill snatched the letter from Linco ln and put it into th.a fir e.

The le tter was respecting a. young lady, Miss A'.rm Rutledge, for 17 whom all three of' these gent lemen seemed to .have respectn.

Concerning this essay Taggart giv es reference to anot her

man who knew Lincoln well., and says: · "John G. Nicolay, priva.te secretary to th e fo rmer Presid en t says this about it:. 'Yes, there is a stor y and: it is probably true, that when he was very young and very ignorant he wrote an essay tha.t might be called atheistical. It was after he had been reading a: .. couple of atheistical books which made a great impression on his mind, and the essay is supposed to have expressed his views on the se books--� sor t of review of them containing .both ·approval an d disa:pproval--and one of his friends burned it. He was very 1 c� indignant at the ti ne, but afterwards gla,d. o f.it'''!.1:8

Mentor Graham, ment ioned above, wit h whom Lincoln boarded

for two years, had the manuscript.in his possession for two weeks and exam ined it atrl tell s a very differen t story as to it s conten ts. The re wa·s .a que stion of the "Spit and Argue " cl ub which net in Mr. Hill 1 s stor e as to whethe r the essay was for or agains t Christian ity. He is the only one wh o claims to have rea:d it or heard it whose testimony we have. It will be

17Ibid. , p. i54. - 18Taggart, 2-E.· cit., p. 37. 10

sufficient to say here that he affirms. that it was not an attack 19 upon but a defense of Christianity . This refers to the

manuscript whi ch was a defens e of universal salvation . This

is referred to in Graham' s letter to B. F. Irwin, wh ich is one

of three letters by different people imntione d later that giv e

evidence of Lincoln's bel ief in universal salvation.

Thi s essay in que stion that Lincoln wrote , Graham thought

not to have been burned . 20 The pap er which was burned was,

a.ccording to Mr. Graham , the one whic h was respecti ng A:nn

Rutledge , and has been mantioned in this paper .

One more source of reference agrees wit h this thought

Mr. Graham entertained, the id ea of a personal letter being

burned . To quote Joseph F. Newton : " •••The do cument burned

up wa: s not an essay on theo logy; it wa s a love le ttern . 21

The question is, then, just wha t was burned? It seems , t�en ,

tm.t th e le tter in que stion may well have been a letter written

by Hill ins tead of some expression of infidelity on Lincoln's

part . The former seems well corroborated; the latter waits for

further proof .

The re is some reaso n to belie ve that Lincoln was a

Universalist , at le ast in his earlier years . Mentor Graham,

19Ibid ., p. 38.

20ibid. , p. 309.

21Joseph F. Newto n, D.D. , "The Spiritual Life of Linco ln : An Interpretation" , Abraham Linooln Association Papers , p. 31 . (An addre ss given by Dr . Newton in Springfield, Illinois on Eebruary 13, 1933} . Cit ed he reafter as Linco ln Association Pap ers. 11

Isaac Cogdall , and Jonathan Harne tt mi.de statements that were print ed by B. F. Irwin tha t would show Mr. Lincoln as a.

Universalist in 1833 , 1858, and 1859. B. F. Irwin , editor ,

states: . "I think I have cl early pro ved that Lincoln was a

Universalist ••• that in 1850-58-59 he was still a Universal­ 22 istn .

Irwin also say s: "Before closing I wish it di stinctly understood tha.t if I could show tha t Linco ln was not an infidel without sho wing him a Un iversal ist , I would do so;

that I am not trying to bolster up Universalism on Lincoln's 23 faith , as I am not a Univ ersal ist myself" .

Taggart says concerning the bel ie f that Lincoln was a.

Un iversalist : "To find definite conclusive evidenc e that he

(Lincoln ) did not believe in universal salvation may not be

so easy. Indeed it is easier to believe that the wishful thinking of this broken , tend er-he arted man wh o never could refUse a pardon if the re could be found any reason or excus e

fo r granting it , mi ght le ad him to extreme views on the mercy

of God". 24

Barton says of Linco ln 's reasoning at this time: "On this

point , th en , we ha ve abundant witness. Lincoln argued from the

22B. F. Irwin, The Il linois State Journal , May 15, 1874. As quoted in Barton , 2..E. ·· cit. , pp . 3 50-3 51 (appendices). Cited hereafter as IrWrn . 23 Irw in, as quoted in Taggart , £.E.· cit., p. 312 . 1L;_ . 2..,.Taggart , 2..E.. cit . , p. 312. 12 fall of man to the redemptive wor k of Christ as the Baptist preache rs were in the ha bit of do ing , but instead of find ing there the basi s of an argument for indivi dual ele ction and particular salvation or damnation, found in it the basis of 25 faith in univ ersal salvation" .

25 Barton, £.E.· cit. , pp . 152-153. II

POLITICS

Lincoln carried his rel igion into politics. If he knew his cl ient wa s guilty he lost power to defend him and may even have fa iled to appear , but if he was convinc ed tha t the cause wa s just, he ba d a spiri t and a fire about him that convinc�d peo ple of the justice in his reasoning.

He may not have talked much about religi on in his earlier days . Perhaps he said nothing about his rel igiou s views to

some of his fri ends and associates. Weik tells what son:e of his friends sa,id about this :

Judge Davis declares : "I don 't know anything about Lincoln's religion--do n't th ink anybody knew" . His neighbor in Springfield , Jame s Gourley , to whom Linco ln talked as familiarly and with as litt le reti cence as he talked to anyone excep t Herndon , was of like opinion . "Had he ever bad a change of heart , religiously speaking , he would have to ld me about it" , insis ts Gourley. "He cou ldn 't have avoided it". G. O. Brown who often talked to Lincoln says tbat he "never he ard Lincoln say anything about his rel igious views--or rel igion in any aspect"' .!

This is befor e he had his deeper feelings about religion-­ . before the change to ok place . Nevertheless even during his

earlie r political career he was hone st and go od . He wanted

to achi eve good through politics and stayed true to ideals .

1 we ik, MSS, as �uo ted in Albert J. Beveridge , Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1858, Vol . 1, p. 539.

1J 14

T. v. Smith speaks of his honesty and goo dne ss in the se lofty terms•:

Linco ln was a spe cialist in the field of goodne ss, and as such was in his m::>dest fi nitude a mighty agent of the spiritual life. But he was an a-gent of th e spiritual life conceived as servitude to Truth hardly le ss than of the spiritual life conceived as devotion to goodne ss • • • • He pretended to be what alone he was, a politi cian. It was in being wha t he wa s that the re gl inted forth , unintend edly arrl. frequently unoonsciously , refle ctions of ligi.t upon his own spe cialized vi rtue from the sum of the whole of man's spiritua l empire . 2

More than one man ha s mix ed religion and politics.

Barton says :

There wa s never any danger than ministers would make up a controlling faction in the Illinois Legisla:.ttn'e ; but the y were no t a negl igible element in the early polit ical life of the state. Lincoln soo·n came into the political atmosphere which wa s thus affected by religious controversy , and it had an influence upon him. His IOOst fo rmidable and pe rsistent opponent , until he met Douglas , was a Methodist preacher , the redoubtable Peter Cartwright who defeated him in a conte st fo r the Legi slature and whom he defeated in a race for Congress. Linco ln was quite fami liar with religion in it s relation to politics in early Illinois.3

·"'Peter Cartwright denounced him as an infidel in their race for Congress , and soroo devout me n voted against him on that score. No matter. Lincoln did not reply , even whe n his

2T.. V. Smith , Abraham Linco ln and � Spiri tua 1 Life, pp . 25-26. Cited he reafter as Smith . 3 Barton, 212.· cit. , pp . 60-61 . 15 friends urged him to do so , say ing that he would no t dis cuss 4 his rel igious faith on a political stump" .

But we find he di d reply after all . Dr . Harry Pratt, then executive secretary of th e Abraham Linco ln Association, recently found a letter in which Lincoln wrot e to Mr. Ford, editor of the Illinois Gazette of Lacon, Illinois , contradic t­ ing the claim of infidelity brought against him by Mr. Peter

Cartwright , hi s competitor for the of fic e of United States

Represent ative from Illinois . 5

Here are the contents of the handbill (with some omissions} replying to tbe charges of infidelity :

July 31 , 1846 •. To th e Voters of the Seventh Congressional District.

Fellow Citizens:

A charge ha ving got into circulation in some of the ne ighborhoods of thi s district, in substanc e tba:t I.am an open scoffer at Chri s­ tianity , I have by the advic e of some frie nds, co ncluded to noti ce the subje ct in this form. That I am not a m3mber of any Christian church is true ; but I have ne ver denied the truth of tbe Scriptures; and I have never spoken with int entional disre spect of religion in general , or of any denomination of Christians in parti cu lar . It is true that in early life I was incl ined to believe in wbat I und erstood is called the "Doctrine of Necessity"--that is , that the hu man mind is impelled to action , or held in rest by sone power, over which the mini itself ba s no cont rol ; am I ha:ve some tim3s (with one , two , or three , but ne ver publicly ) tried to rmintain this opinion in argument ••.•

4Abraham Linco ln Association Papers , 2..E.· cit. , 1933 , p. 31 . 5 Lincoln Lore , .Q.12· cit. , Bulletin No . 677, March 30 , 1942 . 16

I do not think I could myself be broug)lt to support a man for office, wh om I knew to be an open enemy of , and scoffer at religion •••. If then, I was guilty of such conduct , I should blame no man who should condemn me for it ; but I do blame those , whoever they may be , who fglsely put such a charge in circulat ion aga.ins t me .

6 Allen Ford (ed.}, Illino is Gazette , August 1 5 , 1846. The handbill likewise appears in the Tazewell. Whig, August 22, 1846 ;· Roy P. Basler (ed.), Ma rion Delores Pratt and Lloyd Dunlap (asst . eds. ), The Collected Works of Kbraham Lincoln, Vo l. I, p. 382 . Cited hereafter as BasleF:'" III

SLAVERY

Linooln di d not believe in slavery but was not for violently tearing it out of the Union. He favored gradual and oompensated emanoipation and the prevention of sl avery from spreading into new Federal territory. Where slavery was established he wou ld be patient, but of cour se he hoped far its ulti nE.te down fall. What he was adama.nt a bout was the preservation of the Union when the slavery question threatened to divide it. Be for e the Emanoipation Procl8.I!Btion a run away slave might be sent back to the rebels, but after it was issued, the North was willing to use, and did use, the aid of Negroes--the South lost their aid. Many in the North wanted emancipation just prior to its announoement. But

Lincoln could see both sides of a que stion. He could put himsel f in the So utherner's shoes. T. v. Smith says: n . . . But the ideal of a healing justice informed his legal

- practice and permitted him to see both sides of issues in controversy--both sides indeed of even the national di sunion.

'If all earthly power were given me", says he of slavery, 'I should not know wh at to do (about it)•. Mean time he would retur n fugitive slaves to the South, and would not sit in

17 18 harsh judgment upon Southerners 'for doing wha t Northe rners', l said he, 'would have done\ n·.

Linco ln did not allow �rsonal emotion to influence his administrat1on. He kept his ear tur ne d to catch the revelation of God 's will. He want ed to kno w that he was right . He tri ed to use common sense and deliberation to help guide hi s actions into the pro�r channels. He tried not to let his own feelings stand in the way of just treatnent for others . Smith says of

Lincoln's words: "I am na·turally anti -slavery [observed Lincoln of his deepe st nnral self]. If slavery is not wrong , nothing is wrong . I cannot remember wh en I did no t so th ink and feel".

There Lincoln clearly reveals the stuff of which oert'itude

is mo stly ma.de, feelings enkindled in childhoo d and fed with the provender of.custom and enhanced by the osnnsis of

sympathy . Lincoln pro ba.bly saw Negro slaves sold on the block at New Orleans ; we.know wh at at le ast he is reported to ha ve

said abou t it . ("If I ever get a chance to hit th is thing,

I'll hit it hard" ). Sti ll, fo r all his :personal certitude against its wrongness, he gpes on to say : "Yet I have ne ver

understood that the Presidency conferred upon me an unrestricted

ri ght to a:ct officially upon this judgment and feeling • and I aver that, to this day I have do ne no official act in me re differenc e to my abstract judgme nt and feeling on

1smith, �· cit., pp. 48-49 . 19

slavery" • Smith ·goes on to say:

Slavery is not the only illustration in Linooln ' s life, th ou gh it wou ld appear crucial enough, of this fine-edged scrupulosity. I believe no othe r publ ic man ever lived, certaj_p.ly none in Aroorica, who kept so constantly in mind, and so often le t slip into formal utteranc e, such ov ertones of logical rectitude . Typical is the concluding sentence of the speech a:t Cooper Union, wh ich sent him speeding toward th e White House : "Let us ha ve faith tha t ri ght ma ke s mi ght, and in that faith le t us to the en:l dare to do our du ty as we understand it ". That qualifying phra.se ins erted against all the ne ed for oratorical emphasis, is as conclu sive as it is concluding . Here was a: statesman wh o even in the fie ld of politics carried to a: degree not elsewhe re matched, the double-entry bo okkeeping so honorable to science :- of what one believes and wha t one knows . It is Lincoln's servic e of an Ideal which in the conventional division of labor was not his own , more even his responsibility--the ideal of Truth--tbat reinforces Lincoln 's tit le to an apostleship in the spiri tua l life of mankind . 2

Lincoln had the Emancipation Pro clamation ready and waiting in his desk . He bad covenanted with God tha t if he would giv e a Northe rn vi ctory, it should be is sued. This would show God 's direction ?,nd also the pro clamation

(according to Seward) should be suppo rted by military suc.cess instead of bei ng issued du ring the time of Northe rn defea.ts.

The victory came wit h the battle of Antietam. The Proclanation was issued. Before th is happened, however, Smith tell s of an incident wh ich took place:

To the White Hou se came, in 1862 , a: deputation of Chris tian mi nisters who bad somehow discov ered--

2smith, £l!· cit. , pp. 41-42 . 20

so they said--what God willed Lincoln to do with referen ce to emancipation . "I am approache d" , began he to th em in a mood embarrassingly empirical, "with the mos t opposite opinions and advice , and.that by rel igiou s me n who are equally certain that th ey represent the divine will". He hazarded then the opinion, hoping· it would not strike the m as "irreverent", that if God wa s going to reveal to anybody wha t Lincoln's duty was , He would reveal it to Lincoln himself, and then he earns the accolade "scientific" by adding : "These are not , however, the days .of miracle s, and I suppo se ·it will be granted th at I am not to expect a direct revelation. I must study the plain physical facts of t�e case , ascertain what is possible , and learn wha t appears to be wise and right.3

Kfter th e fall of Richmond , President Linco ln wanted to see that city. The color ed peo ple the re thronged him with feelings of love and gratitude . He spoke to them:

My poor friends, yo u are free--free as air . Yo u can ca.st of f the name of slave and trample on it ; it will come to you no mo re . Liberty is you r birthright . God gave it to you as he gave it to others, and it is a sin that you ha ve been deprived of it for so many years . But you must try to deserve this priceless boo n. Let th e wo rld see tbat you merit it , and are able to maintain it by your good works. Don 't le t your joy carry you into excesses. Learn t�e �aws and obey them; obey God 's commandme nts and thank Him for givi ng you liberty, for to Him you owe all things • • • n4

Lincoln mde a vow before God that if Lee 's army wa·s driven out of Marylarrl he would issue the Emancipation

3 Ibid. , pp. 37-38.

4Admiril D. D. Porter, as qu oted in Paul M. Angle 's The Lincoln Reader, p. 510. 21

Proclana.tion which his cabine t had gene ra lly looked on with disfavor a short ti me beforel Barton says of this famous

Proclamation that Linoo ln issued :.

This was no platitude uttered to meet the expectation of th e religious people of the United States ; it was no evasive gene ra lity intended to fi t whatever religious desire might be in the mini s of those who heard him. It was no masquerade ; every motive of pretense or hypoc­ ricy or duplicity was absent . It was the sincere expression of the abiding faith of Ab raham Linco ln in God , and prayer, and duty. Lincoln believed he wa s guided and controlled by an infi nite power. He belie ved in a universe ruled by order and law. 5

5Ibid., p. 286. IV

WAR

The kind heart of Lincoln was saddened by the fearful

struggle between the States. In his first inaugural he realized the explosive oondition prevailing between North

and South; he di d no t want war but he must "preserve, protect,

and defend" the government . Smith says:

His first inaugural describes the go al from which he never wavered, and it was essentially the goal envisaged by Goethe, the goa l conceptually immortalized .by Plato. See Lincoln fill th e canvas with a fi rm hand: "I am loath to cl os e", he says at the end of the inaugural. "We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemi es •.Though passion nay have strained, it mus t not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of mmory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearth-stone all over th is broad land, will yet swell the chorus of th e Union when again touched, as surely they will �e, by the better angels of ou r nature".

Smith gives us a further insight of the sympathy and

understanding that was Lincoln's. It is always good to try

to put one's self in the other fellow's place. Smith says:

"In 'holy' understanding he declared of the Southerners

with sympathy unsurpassed J 'They are jus t what we wo uld be

in their situ at ion. If slavery did not now exist among them,

1 smith, 2£· .£!.1., p. 54. 22 23

they would not introduce it. If it di d now exist amont us, 2· we should not instantly give it up'"·

Lincoln's endeavor to look beyond one side or the other

and try to take an over-all view is expressed by Smit h: "When

the religious cautioned Lincoln, the war leader, th at more

reliance shouJd be put on prayer, Lincoln's reply was that

"The Rebel soldiers are praying with:a great deal mre

earnestness, I fear, than our own troops". Generalizing this

caution, Lincoln put his larger thought in th ese sentences of

scrupulous dubiety: "The will of God prevails. In great

contests each party cl aims to act in accordance with the will

of God. Both may be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for

and against the same thing at the same time. In the present

civil war it is quite possible that God's purpose is something

· different from the purpose of either party • • • By His

mere power on the minds of the now contestants, He could have

either saved or destroyed the Union withou t a human contest.

Yet the contest began and having begun, He could give the

final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest 3 proceeds".

While the Civil War was in progress Lincoln made this

statemen t: "My hope of success in this struggle rests on that

immutable fou:OO.ation, the justness and goodness of God; and

2Ibid. , p. 64.

3ibid. , pp. 34-35. 24 when event s are very threatening I still ho pe tbat in som way

all will be well in t�e end , because o:t.m cause is just and God will be on our side". He seemed to trust God to do Hi s part .

He someti:rres varied this expression ani said tha t he was le ss

anxious to pro claim that God was on hi s sid e than he wa s to be 4 sure tha t he wa s on God 1 s side"··

n:rn September, 1862 , he received a dele gation of friend s

• to them he said •.•1I have desired that al l my works

and acts nay be according to His will , and tha t it might be

so, I have sought Hi s aid ; but if after end eavoring to do my

best in the light wh ich He affords m, I find. my efforts fail ,

I mus t believe that for some purpose unknown to me , He wills

it othe rwise .

The above statenent of Linco ln 's may seem to giv e a hint

tha t he believed wha t is to be will be. Smit h giv es an

int erpretation of this: "And Herndo n quotes Linco ln's wif'e

as report ing wh at Herndo n confirms , that Lincoln 's only

philosophy wa s, 1'Wha.t is to be will be , and no prayers of ours

can reverse the decree" . Here is betokene d a:. relianc e upon

casua l laws , even in po liti cs, which is wor thy of a man of 6 scienc e" .

4Barton, 21!.· cit. , p. 88.

5rbid. , pp . 88-89.

6smith , 21!.· cit. , pp . 33-34. 2"5

Perhaps th is applie s to sci ence, but how can it apply to

Linco ln 's rel igious attitude--especially in his later life?

Surely in his pro clamations one wou ld not feel that he believed prayer us eless. If Lincoln thought that , wh y did he have recour se to prayer as he did?

Lincoln in his own life was a man wh o believed in forgiv eness and mercy. Would he bel ieve God wou ld do le ss?

Schuyler Colfax , spe aker of tbe House of Representatives in

Lincoln's adm.iaj.stration , wrote in Rice 's Remini scences of

Lincoln and quoted Lincoln as saying : "Some of my generals complain tha t I impair discipline by my frequent pardons and reprieves· ; but it rests 1re, after a ha rd day's work , tha t I

can find some excus e for saving some poor fellow's life ; and

I shall go to bed happy tonight as I th ink how joyous the

signing of thi s name will make himself, his family, and friends" l And wit h a smile beaming on his care-furrowed face, he signed tbat name and saved that life. 7

Anothe r touching (thou gh doubtful) incid ent is related by Taggart tbat shows mercy even toward� Lincoln 's enemie s::

"Swmnoned once by General Mc Clella� , Lincoln and Stanton arrived on the field of battle , as the lanterns of tho se who were carrying off the dead and wou nded were weaving in and out like numberle ss fireflie s. He heard the voice of a wounded

boy calling for his mother. He stopped the bearers and knelt

7Taggart , Q.E.• cit. , p. 124 . 26 over the boy. 'What can I do for you , my poor ch ild? '

'Oh, you will do nothing for me . You are a Ya nke e. I cannot hope that my message to my mother will ever reach her '. But the tears in Lincoln 's eyes , not to say in his voice , dispelled all doubts of his sincer�ty , and the boy gave his . farewell message without re serve . Lincoln had the words set down , and sent by flag of truce immediat ely into the enemy lines. Then entering the waiting ambulance , he said to his

friend , Ward Lemon, his sobs confirming his words, 11Mark, my heart is breaking . Sing me something ; sing tbat old song 8 I love, Oft in the St ill Night 1 "·

One nor e tou ching incident related by Taggart shc:ms th e kind heart tha t was in Lincoln. A colonel who se wife had been

killed , and who wanted ,le ave to take care of her body but had

been denied this by Stant on because a battle wa.s imminent ,

came to the President far help. Linooln heard his story, then

burst int o a sharp condemna.tion of the ma n's actions on such

grounds as was he (Linooln ) to have no rest';' tbat suffering

and death pre ssed on all of the m, etc. The offi cer was

disappointed . He had heard much of Lincoln's kindness . He went away sadly--perhaps to a sleepless ni ght. But early next

morning the re wa s a kno ck at his door. Lincoln was there.

He grasped the colonel 's hand and said he wa s very weary the

8Ibid. , p. 127. 27 night before, but that he had no right to treat with rudeness a. man wh o had of fered his life for his cou ntry, espe cially a man who came to him in great affliction. 111 had a regretful night", he said , "and now come to beg your forgivene ss11·•

He had arranged everything , seen Stanton, bro ught the pass, 9 ani a carriage was wait ing to drive them to the wha rf together.

9 Ibid. , pp. 130-131. ··.v.:

LEADER OF THE NATION

Nico lay and Hay say of Lincoln's farewell address upon leaving Springfield : "On the day befor e he was fifty-two years old he stood upon the platfo rm of a railroad train ready to leave Springfi eld for the last time . He did no t know tha t it wa s the la st time , but he bad a haunting presentzoont tha.t it migb.t be so. With tears fi lling his eyes and in a; voi ce choked wi th emotion, he spoke his la st words to his neighbors and friend s:

My fri ends: no one not in my situation can appre ciate my feel ing of sadness at this parti ng. To thi s place , and to the kindne ss of the se people , I owe everything. Here I have liveQ a quarter of a centu ry , and have passed fro m a youth to an old man. Here my ch ildren have been born , and one is buried. I now leave , no t know ing wh en or whether ever I may return, with the task before me greater than that wh ich rested upon Wa shington. Without the assis tanc e of that Divine Be ing who ever attended him. I cannot . succeed. With that assis tanc e, I cannot fail . Trusting Him, who can go wit h Ire, and remain wi th you, and be everywhe re fo r gpod , let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commend ing you , as I hope in your prayers you will commend Ire I bid you an affectionate farewell. l

1Basler , �· cit. , Vol IV, pp . 190-191 . Barton , �· cit ., pp . 84-85.

28 29

Just before the Civil War was about to break upon this country wi th all its fUI:'y from pent-up feelings of years between the North and tbe South, we fi nd one of several incidents related "tend ing to show the so lemnity of Linco ln 's feelings at the tiIIJ3" as Barton puts it . Tfie following was related by Rev . Dr . Miner , pastor of the First Baptist Chur ch of Spri ngfie ld , wh o was intims.tely acquainted with the Lincoln family, and who visited them in tbe White Hou se . The story he declared was related to him by Mrs. Linco ln on the occasion of his vi sit to the Whit e House and was publi she d while Mr s.

Lincoln was still living. It appears to rest upon a sound basi s of fa ct : "Here I rela.te an incident wh ich occurred on the fourth of March, 1861, as to ld me by Mrs. Lincoln.

Said she , '· ••Mr. Lincoln wrot e the conclusion of his inaugural address the morning it was del ivered. The family being present , he read it to the m. He then said he wished to be left alone for a short ti IIJ3. The family retired to an ad joining room, but not so far distant but tha t the vo ice of prayer could · be distinctly heard . There, closeted with God alone , surrounded by the enemie s who were ready to take his life" he conmend ed his country 's cause am all. dear to him to God 's pro vident ial care , and with a mind calmed by co mmunion with his Father in heaven , and courage equal to the dang er , he CaIIJ3 fo rth from 2 that retirement ready for duty ' n·,

2 scribner1s Monthly, 1873, p. 343 . As quo ted in Barton, 2.E. cit. , pp . 86-87. 30

Without prayer, Linco ln cou ld not have been the leader

he wa s. In the Abrallam Lincoln 4:sso cia.tion papers is fo und

a. statement tha t puts prayer as the key to Lincoln's strength .

' " • he threw himself upon this profound faith and found

rest ; not so much in foI'IIE.l prayer--though , in later years,

prayer became first a ne cessity, then a ha bit--as in quiet

inner trust. It was the hidden spring of his strength , his

courage, his unbending firmne ss, tbe secret of his patience-- wh ich Meredi ty said is a large part of faith--and of his

unfailing pity" . 3

Charnwood says�· " • • • His theology , in th e narrower

sense, nay be said to have been limited to an intense belief 4 in a vast and over-ruling Providenc e •. n

Charnwood further says of Linealn ' s spiritual life:

So humorous a man was also unlikely to be too co nceited to say his prayers. At any rate he said them; said the m int ently ; valu ed the fact that otbers prayed for him am for the nation ; and as in official Proclamations (concerning days of nati ona.l religiou s observance) he could wield, like no othe r mod ern writer, the langua ge of the Prayer Book, so he v.ou ld speak of prayer without the srmllest embarrassroont in talk wit h a gene ral or a statesman. It is po ssible tha t th is was a devel opment of la ter years. Linco ln did not , llike most of us , arrest his growth . 5

3 Linco ln Associa tion Papers, 2.12. cit. , 1933, p. 33.

4Lord Charnwood, Abraham Linea ln, p. 437, Hereafter cited as Charnwo od .

5Ibid. , p. 438. 31

The Linco ln of maturi ty was a different man to the

Lincoln of youth in a rel igiou s sense . John Hay said of

Lamon1s work on the life of Linco ln concerning his re ligion:

II" . . . and I think it safer to follow Lincoln's own words in his m:liturity than the.report s and rumors of wha t he may 6 ba ve said in his youth". This indeed does sound reasona ble .

R. C. Roper gives his interpretation of Lincoln's religion:

Lincoln was an extremely religious man , thou gh not a technical Christian . He thought deeply , and his opinions were positive . His seriousness was a characteristic trait , sh owing itself even in his genuine good humor. His very joke s were a part of hi s seriousness • . • Lincoln was an extreme ly practical man . · He believed not for belief's sake , but for his own sake . He made a practi ce of religion; he us ed it . His rel igion was his life , and his life was his religious servic e. It was hi s own publ ic profession. Religion was a fact to him. He believed in prayer, becaus e he found use for it : and wh en the fate of the Union seemed to waver, wh en doubt and despair hovered over the la nd and the futur e wa s uncertain , Lincoln often shut himself with in his room and offered up his prayer to God . "So many times" , he said , "I was for ced to my knees, not knowing wh ere el se to go11.7

In speaking of the frui ts of Lincoln 's life, Cbarnwood says: " •••This man had stood alone in the dark. He had done justice ; he ba d loved rrercy , he had walked humbl y with his God . {Taken from Micah 6:8,f Theodore Roo sevelt 's

6John Hay , as quoted in Benjamin P. Thoma s, Portrait fo r Posterity, p. 43 . Cited hereafter as Thomas .

7R. C. Roper , Religiou s Beliefs of Abraham Linco ln , Open Court , 1903 , pp . 76-85 as quot ed in Barton, £.E.· cit. , p. 227 . 32 favorite pa ssage of Scripture). The reader to wh om reli gi ou s utteranc e nE.ke s little appeal will no t suppo se that his

imaginative words stand for no real expe rience. The reader whose piety knows no que stions will no t be pained to th ink 8 that this ms.h had professed no faith" .

In speaking of the Civi l Wa r, Linco ln 's le adership anl

God 's wrath becaus e of this nation 's :p3.rt in slavery , Taggart

says : "The storm proved rrore terriffc-r more prolonged, :mor e

chilling , mor e drenching, more trying on mind , body and sou l

than he co uld have anti ci pated. But he never deserted hi s

post or gave up hope . It wa s God 's storm, bu t it wa s also

God 's ship , and he cou ld bring it through. Meanwhile , the

storm must be endur ed . But with every thund er crash, he

seen:ed to gri p the wh eel tight er, anl say 'Thy will be done 1". 9

8 charnwood , �· cit. , p. 441.

9Taggart , ££· cit. , p. 335, VI

LINCOLN AND PREACHERS

One preacher wh o had an influ ence for good on tbe life

of Linco ln wa s Dr . Smith. To him is attributed the clearing of

Lincoln's mind of some erro neou s belie fs con cerning religion.

Dr . Smit h, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Spring­ ' fie ld , Illinois, wrote a ooo k called The Christian's Def'en se .

Lincoln read this ooo k. To us e Dr . Smith 's ow n words

con cerning the natter, he says :

It was my honor to pla ce befor e Mr. Linco ln argunent s designed to pro ve the Divine authority an d inspiration of' tbe Scripture s, accompanie d by arguments of infi del objector s in their own langua ge . To the argunents on both side s Mr. Lincoln gave a mo st IS-t ient , impartial and searching investigation . To use his own langua ge , he examined the argurrents as a lawyer, who is anxious to investigate truth as he investigates testimony . Tbe result was tbe announc ement nade by himself that the argument in favor of the Divi ne authori ty and inspiration of the Scriptures was unanswerable.l

Ninian Edward s, Mr. Lincoln's brothe r-in-law , said :

"A short time af'ter the Rev . Dr . Smith became pastor of the

Fir st Presbyterian Church in this city, Mr. Lincoln said to

me , 'I have been reading a wo rk of Dr . Smith on the evidences

of Christianity, and have he ard him preach, and converse on

1Rev . James A. Reed, The Later Life and Religiou s Sentiill3nt s of Abraham LincOTii , Scribner1s-;-July , 18'/J, p. 333.

As quoted inBarton, .Q.E.· cit. , p. 158. ·.

33 34 the subject, and am now con vine ed of the Truth of the Christian 2 re 1.igio . n' . "·

Mr. Herndo n seems to think ot herwis e con cerning the book for he says : "One thing is true , that the said Reverend Dr .

Smith of Scotland pre sent ed Lincoln with a book writ ten by

said doctor ; Linco ln brought it to the of fice, laid it down, never took it up again to my knowledge , never condescen:l ed to writ e his name in it , ne ver spoke of it to me ••••n3

The weak point in Mr. Herndon 's statement is whe re he

says , "never to ok it up a:gain to my knowledge". If Lincoln

started to draw away from Herndon in his religiou s thinking ,

it is possible that Lincoln would read the book to himsel f ar:d keep his thou ghts to himself. Linco ln may have read th e book without Herndon's knowing it , at any rate.

Concerning Linco ln's religious bel iefs Barton basto say :

" • Linco ln was , according to the. testimony of a numb er of

the se mn who ba d kno wn him, not an infidel , nor even a deist , 4 la .. • b ut esse nt . 11y a. uni. versa1 ist" Barton goes on to say :.

Tha t Linco ln had some doub ts con cerning the person of Christ is not a po int . He beli eved in God , and he knew th e fact of sin, and he was dyed-in-the -wool in argwrent s con cerning the fall of the race in Adam and it s redemption in Christ,

2 Barton, 2.12.· cit. , p. 164. 3 .William H. Herndo n, as quoted in Taggart , op. cit., p. 42 . Hertz, Willi am H. Herndon letters and i:apers. The Hid den Lincoln , p. 77.

4Ba:rton , 2.12.· cit. , p. 137. 35

but he did not dwell ·as did the pr eacbers on indi vidua l for givene ss , which he sometime s doubted , but sought to evolve a le gal and moral n scheme with a final· re storation .•••5

But Barto n do es no t con cede that Lincoln is a

Universalist ; he says : "It is my opinion that Lincoln di d not belie ve in endless punishment , an:l also that he did no t accept tbe supe rnatural birth of Christ. But I do no t regard him as a Un iversalist or a Unitarian . The basis of' his religiou s bel ie f was Calvinism of the mos t ri gid sort. It cou ld accept

some incident al features of otl:er systems , but at heart it was Calvinistic . . . . n 6

But doubts , thou gh logically answered , still rose in Lincoln'� mind . On the ot ber band , and mor e important , Lincoln did no t

find himself able to accept the ri gid Calvinism of that day . The

evangelist mi.de strong appeals , and Lincoln was not unmoved .

But he said to his friend s tbat "he couldn 't q_uite see it11 . 7

Barton comt inues: "But though a Calvinist in his early

training , he wa s not ready to accept Calvinism as a comple te

and articulated sy stem as presented in the We stminister

Confession and in the preaching of Dr . Smith".8

Taggart says co ncerning Dr . Barton's statements of Lincoilin1s

degree of Calvinistic bel ief: "Just what , Dr . Barton , is the

5 Ibid. , p. '1 39.

. 6 ' Ibid., p. 238 .

7Ibid. , p. 257.

8rbid. , p. 258 . 36 distinction between the 1Ca:lvinism of tbe mos t rigid sort ' in which as you say Mr . Linco ln did bel ieve , and the 'too rigid Calvinism of Dr . Smith ' whi ch you say he could not accept? Have you not con tused us by making Predestinationism synonymous with Calvinism? Mr. Lincoln accepted the one , but could 'not quite see ' Calvinism as a whole".9

But not e that Barton said , "The basis of Lincoln's rel igious belief wa s Calvinism of the most rigid sort • at heart it was Calvinistic". Who kno ws to just wha t degree?

Barton tell s of another minister who is supposed to have hel ped Lincoln in a time of trial and who perhaps helped change his views on spiritU3.l things . He was a certain Rev . Franci s

Vinton , rector of Tri nity Church , New Yo rk , who was a:n a:.cqua intanc e of Mr s. Lincoln am visited Washingto n and called at the White House soon after Willie died. An incident following the death of Willie has been related on the all.eged authority of Rev. Vinton. As reported, he said to Mr . Lincoln:

"Your son is alive". "Alive !'' exclaimed Mr . Linco ln . "Surely you mo ck me ". "No , sir, believe me ", replied Dr . Vinton ; it is a most comforting doctrine of the church , founded upon the wor ds of Christ himself !". Dr . Vinton (so the narrative proceeds) to ld Lincoln that he had a sermon on the subject.

Mr. Lincoln aske d him to send it to him a:s early as po ssible , and thanked him repeatedly for his cheering and hopeful words .

9Taggart , .Q.E., cit., p. 288. 37

When Lincoln received the sermon he read it over and ov er, and had a co py mde for his own private use . A member of the family said tl:E.t Mr. Lincoln's views in relation to spiritual . 10 things seemed changed from tbat hour "··

Concerning the death of Willie , Lord Charnwood also says:

"To Mrs . Linco ln it seemed that with the death of their child

Willie , a change came ov er his (Lincoln's) whole rel igious outlook. It well might ; and since tha t grief, wh ich came while his troubles were beginning , much else had come to Linco ln ; and now through fou r years of unsurpassed trial his capacity bad steadily grown , and his del icate fairness, his pitifulne ss, 11 his patience, his modesty had grow n therewith".

However , such incident s in the life of Lincoln as the death of his son Willie mus t have only been steps along the way to hi s comple te identification wit h the followerB of

Chris t. Speaking of the Gettysburg address Lincoln ms.de ,

John Wesley Hill says :

That wa s a great day for Lincoln , for the Union and for gene rations unborn, a day of na tional consecration . It was a day whe n Lincoln, wh os e religious life had steadily grown from the death of his mother , completed his con secrat ion and reached the satisfying consciousne ss of his rela tionship to God ; for the day following his return to Wash ington , he re:rmrked to a visiting friend: "When I le ft ·Springfie ld I asked the people to .pray for me;I was not a. Christian; wh en I burie d my son , the severe st trial of my life , I was not a Christian ; whe n I went to

° 1 Frank B. Carpenter, Six Mon ths in the White Hous e, pp. 117-119. Barton, 2.E.· cit. , p. 207-.- --

11charnwood , £.E.· ci t. , p. 438. 38

Gettysburg and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I the n and the re consecrated myself to Christ n . 12

Speaking of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, Hill again says in referring to tbe expre ssion , "new birth of freedom" :

With the do ctrine of the "new birth" he was familiar . While a lawyer in Spri ngfield he ba d heard wba t be cha racteri zed as a "great sermon on the new birth", preached by the Rev . Jarw s F. Jacquess , and la ter spe nt an evening at the hone of Dr . Jacquess, di scus sing the subject with him, an interview tha t closed wi th prayer. It was, therefore , by deli berate intent tha t th e "new birth"' was introduced at Gettysburg . "Under God" wa s the arch beneath wh ich he · thought and wrought . Never onc e did he lose si ght of God .13 ·

There is a story of tbe conversion of Lincoln , but it rests solely on the story of one man . That man , Colonel

Jacquess, was a go©id and honorable person. He was a. Methodi st mini ster and evid ent ly the same man previously referred to.

This is evidently the same Jacque ss wh o in the Civil War became a Colonel and went with Mr . Gilmore on a peace mis sion

to Jefferson Davis. In an address tbe pr eache r-soldier

Jacque ss told of the event in Lincoln 's life .

Jacque ss said that Lincoln listened to one of hi s

sermo ns and a few days la ter called on him to talk about it .

He says:

I invited him in, am my wi fe and I talke d and prayed with him for hours . Now , I have seen pe rsons

12 Lincoln 's Memorial lU.bum, o. A. Oldroyd , p. 5 66. As quoted in John Wesley Hill , Abraham Lincoln , Man of God, p. 276. Cited hereafter as Hill . lJ ibid. , p. 274 . 39

converted ; I have seen hund reds brought to Christ , and if ever a. person was con verted , Abraham Lincoln wa s converted tha t night in my house. His wife was a Presbyterian , but from rems.rks he Ill3. de to me he coiuld no t accept Calvinism. He never joined my church, but I will always bel ieve tha t since that night , Abraham Lincoln lived and die d a Christian gent leman . 14

Thi s was pro bably the sane incident just referred to , but if this too k pla ce befor e th e war while Mr. Jacquess was

I still acti ng as a pastor of a church , and before he becalll3 a colonel , one may wond er just how to make th is incident compatible with Lincoln 1 s words as quot ed from Hill tba t

Lincoln wa s not a Christian when he left Springfield , and not unti l he saw the graves of' n:any soldiers at Gettysburg did he cons ecrate himself to Christ .

Sand burg says of Jacque ss : n of the mini ster 's sincerity and courage , the re is abundant evidence". Al so

Jame s R. Gilmore in Down in Tenne ssee speaks highly of him. 15

However, Barton says of the incident :

• • • The stor y as it is thus to ld lacks co nfirlll3.tor y evidence. If Linco ln was converted a consid erable number of event s which occurred in subsequent years might reasonably have) been expected to have been otherwise than they really were . Each reader mus t judge for himself in · the light of all that we know of Abraham Lincoln how much or how little of' th is story is to· be accepted as lit eral fact . The present writ er cannot say that he is convinced by the story. 16 . lL- �Ed.gar DeWitt Jones, Lincoln and t:OO Preachers, p. 24 . Cited hereafter as Jones . 15 Ibid . I p. 24 . 16 Barton , �· ci t ., p. 242 . 40

Not all people thought Lincoln wa s ever a convert to

Chri sti anit y as did Rev . Jacquess.

Jone s tells of announc ing one tiroo in 1909 tha t he would preach a sermon on the religion of Abraham Lincoln next Sunday .

A certain Franci s Ma rion Enerson sa id to him: ·"So you are go in ' to preach on' Abe Lincoln 's rel igion next Sunday?"

Pastor Jonesnodded his head in affirmat ion. "I'll be out to !:J;ear you ! I never knew Abe had any religion wor th preaching about". Mr. Enerson ha d metLincoln once or twice . 17

Jones brings out the fact that Jewish leaders loved

Lincoln . Dr . Nathan Krass was a Rabbi . He gave an address at the Buffalo Ad Club , Buffalo , New York , February 12, 1914 18 in which he paid tribute to Linco ln.

Different reli gious groups claim Lincoln . Jone s says :

"No one communion can ever cl aim Abraham Linco ln to the exclusion of all others . He was greatly and grandl y, yet withal simply , a Christian in love and tenderne ss. His

Christianity was unique , nonsectarian , and undenominational".19

Sherwood F.c'idy in The Kingdom of God and the .A:roo rican

Dream says : "Lincoln never cane und er tl:e influence of a single intell igent spiri tual minister during his early life."20

l? Jones , 2.£· cit. , p. 5 . 18 Ibid., p. 109. 19 Ibid., p. 143.

20Ibid., p. 15. 41

Tha t is a strong statement an:l Jones doe s not qu ite agree wit h it .

"Henry Ward Bee.cher was an intimate friend and advisor of Abraham Lincoln , though , while editor of "The Independ ent ", he severely criticized some me asures of Lincoln 1 s admini stra­

tion"·· 21

"And it was a devout Roman Catholic priest, Father

Ching_uy , who 'found him the most perfect type of Christian' . n22

21Hill, £12.· cit. , p. 231 .

22Ibid. , p. 345. VII

CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

Lincoln never joined any denoni.ination , did not get his name on any church reco rd as a member of that group. He gave indicati on that he int end ed to , but it may prove of interest to the reader to le arn why this never happened.

Becaus e he did no t joinrchurch my have been reason enough fo r some to brand him as an infi del or irreligious .

"Believing in advanc ing truth , Linco ln always refused to be ruled by do gma or a fro zen creed ••..Lincoln saw as few men of sentimen t ever see , how sticky is the noti on of bro the rhood unle ss it be between . equals ; and he saw mor e, tha t the only way to keep it between equals is to deny to anyone 's conviction a pri ority of access to moral certainty.

What Linco ln saw, we to o ni.ight see if we became more gene rous 1 and if we were le ss afraid" .

Perhaps it did seem to Linco ln that a church mem ber ha d reached that stage of Chris tian achi evement whe re he was establ ished , fi xed in belie f, or grou nded in faith and had an expe rience tha t Linooln could not feel he could hone stly 2 subscribe to.

Why he did not and could IX>t join church as a young man

in Ind ia na has already been mentioned.

lsm:Ith, �· ci t ., Editor 's Blurb. �ill , £.J2.· cit. , p. 31 8. 42 43

Barton says tbat when Linooln did not know what to do he would no t do anything. Concern ing church membership ,

Barton says : " The evangelist made strong appeals , and Lincoln was not unmoved . But he said to his frie nd s tba t

'he co uldn 't qui te see it '.

"Lincoln wa s a man of mi gity courage when his convictions were assured. But he wa s also a man of mr e. than nornal cauti on . He could me et an is sue which he was fully convinced was ri ght with all needful heroism. But he was capable of 3 evading an issue ab:>ut which he wa s unc ertain" .

Repre sentative Dunning , a.ccording to Barton , gave a reason why· Linco ln put off joining a. ch urch . Mr. Dunning said in his Euo logy of Lincoln :

I am here reminded of an impressive remark which he made to lD3 upon ano the r occasion, and wh ich I shall never forget . He said he ba.d never united himself to any church becaus e he ·:round difficulty in giving his assent , without ment al reservations , to the long co mpl icated statement s of Christian do ctrine whi ch characterize their articl es of bel ief and confess ions of faith. "When any church" , he con tinued , "will inscribe over its altar as it s sole qualifi cati on for membership the Savior 's condens ed statement of the substanc e of both the law and gospel , 'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with al l thy heart , and with all thy soul , and with all thy mind , and thy neighbor as th ysel f'--that church will I join with all my heart and soul". 4

3 Barton, £12.· cit., p. 25 7 .

4Eulogy upon Abraham Lincoln before the Gene ral As sembly of Connecti cut , 1865 . As rela ted by Repre sentative Dunning am quoted in Barton, £12.· cit. , p. 94. 44

Smith says in th is re spe ct : " •• • Abraham Linco ln died as he lived , a secular mind clairvoyant of all spirit­ uality . He did no t join church , no r could he have joined one , church es being what they were and his sense of fitness being wha t it was. He is reported to have said th at he wou ld join a church , if ever he found one roomy enough of spirit. Such 5 was not to be fo und in the Christendo m of his age . . . . n

Church membership is good , no one wi ll deny , when that membership is of the one great universal church of wh ich

Christ is the he ad . Lou is Au stin Warren seems to think

Linco ln could qualify for :a:embership ili' Chris t's Church.

He says :

The religion of Abraham Lincoln invited a more exhaustive study tha n any other single topic in Linco lniana . It is difficult to re conci le this fact with the knowledge that he was no t a member of any or ganized church body. Regardless of his failure to affiliate wi th an orthodox religiou s group, he is recogni zed as the embodi m:mt of' the highest ideals of the Christian order. Hundreds of cler gyrre n have testifie d to his sou l culture , and today mini sters are enthus�a sti c exponents of his sublime but simple faith, b

"To put it once n:o re , he did no t hold the th eo logy of the church , and if he is to be judged by that test , he was not a Chris tian" . 7

But if a Christian is one vno loves God and trie s to do

His will , loves justice , honesty , me rcy, loves p:iople , and is

5smith , £'£· cit., p. 10.

6warren, Lincoln's Parent age and Childhood, p. 218.

7Abraham Lincoln Association Papers, 1933, p. 40 . 45 loyal to truth as he sees it , then may we po t call tha t man a; Christian? May we no t call Lincoln a Chris tian? " •••To put it vividly, the lif e of a man is his rel igion , and his rel igi on is his life . • • • He belonged to no church , he

(Lincoln ) signe d no creed--and mre tha n onc e he told us the reaso n why . Ye t his religious life was real and profound-- a kind of poetry , his wife called it--and his faith was so mu ch a ]Ert of his very bei ng that one mu st analyze the man to di scover it . • • n8

Wallace Rad cliffe , Pasto r Emeritus of the New Yo rk Avenue J Pre sbyterian Church, Wa shington , D. c. , had thi s to say of the

Linco ln pew in that church:�

Thi s pew is an important contri bution to the re curring controversy co ncerning the rel igious life of the great Presid ent . He wa s regular and faithfUl in attendanc e and support of public worship here in the New Yo rk Avenue Pre sbyterian Church and he was a man of prayer and of spiritual ideals . He never made a pro fession of his faith by church membership, but evidenc e is available tbat he assured the pa stor of this ch urch , Dr . Gurley, tbat if he were spared to end his term as Pre sident , he intend ed to IIE.ke such publ ic profession and that he only deferred it becaus e if ma.de wh ile in offic e the occasion would mke a vulgar no ise and be mi sunderstood and mi srepresent ed •• , n9

n·. . • Mrs . Anne C. Fox in referring to Linco ln 's church attendanc e stated: 'Mr . Linco ln was a regular attendant at

8rbid. , pp . 2s-29 .

9wallace Radcliffe , as quo ted in Hill , 21?.· cit. , p. 31 9. 46 church. He always paid clos e attention to sermons an d took 10 an ac tive part in the servic es '. "

Lincoln was never baptized. He may have believed in it and intended to be baptized, but he never was .

Dr. Nathan Krass , previ ously referred to in his speech at Butf'alo, New York in 191.4 , menti ons the New Tes tamen t and speaks of Jesus . His reference to religi ous leaders who were outside the or ganized churc h is interesting . It puts the fact that Linc oln di d not join a ch urc h in a favorable light.

He says:

The old Biblic al verses are still true-- the first ln the old, the seco nd in the new testaments . And the oldes t shall serve the youngest, the roo re powerful the weaker. "The greatest amon g you shall serve the least". This le sson was supremel y illustrated in the person ality of Linc oln and that is on e of the many legacies he has left us in ou r great democ racy . He left one mor e, which I shall mention . It was said that Lincoln was not a ch urchman. Well , wh at .of it? I can name some others that were not in the tec hnic al sense churchmen . And I do this not by way of criticism of the church bu t reverently . For there have been great exceptions in the religious world who stood outside the organized church, not becaus e they were irreligious , but bec aus e they were temporarily more comfortable outside the ch urch . Mos es was no churchman . Yet , he was profoundly religiou s. The prophets were not churcluoon. Yet , they are the greatest group of religiou s souls th e world has ever seen or heard. Jesus was no ch urc hman . Yet , in the hearts of all these characters , there was that deep, tha t powerful , tha t vitalizing sense of spirituality , that absolute feeling of direc t comnunion with God that transcends all externalities.

lO "Lincoln's Church Attendance", Lincoln � No. 1185 , Dec ember 24 , 1951 . 47

In this sense, Abraham Linco ln was an intensely rel igious -soul. He believed , and tha t is hi s other legacy to us , that real rel igion is sp irituality in acti on, tha t divine service is servic e to humanity , and we are learning tha t le sson as we ne ver le arned it before ....ttll

. 11 Jones , 2.l?.· cit., p. 109 . VIII

CONFLICTING OPINIONS

As has been stated, not all peo ple believed Linco ln ha d

a sinc ere Christian faith. Let us now learn some differenc es

of opinion th:rt were ent ertaine d concerning the rel igion of

Lincoln .

In speaking of Lincoln's Second Inaugura.l , Lord Cbarn wood writes:

Pro bably no othe r �peach of a modern statesman uses so unreservedly th e langua ge of intense religiou s feel ing . The occasion nade it natural; neithe r the thought nor the words are in any way convent ional ; no sensible reader now cou ld ent ertain a sus picion tba t the orator spoke to the · heart of the peo ple but did not spe ak from his own heart • . • Many said he was a Christian of great sagacity that "so far from his being a Chris tian or a religious man , th e le ss said about it the better" . 1

Wa rren G. Harding once said of Lincoln: "His habit of

studying both sides of every que stion and of stating each as

strongly as he cou ld was in part responsible fo r the mi s-

a.pprehensions of some who have held a superfici al vi ew of 2 his rel igious life".

1charnwood , 2...E.· ci t. , p. 436 (Second Edi ti on) or p. 439 (Third Ed ition). 2 Hill, .Q..E..cit. , p. 13. (Introduction)

48 49

While , on the otber band , soma ma.y hold the view his

intima.te fri end Noah Brooks held and revealed in his word s:

"Any suggestion as to Mr. Linco ln 's skepticism is a monstrous . fiction , a sho cking perversion". 3

Speaking of Lincoln, Hill says: "His outspoken , but not obtrusive , independence in religious as well as political affairs , sometimes caused him to be misunderstood ar:d subjected to the charge of skepticism" . 4

"Of him (Lincoln ) Mr. Herndo n, for twenty years his law partner , said : 1As to Mr. Linco ln 's religiou s views , he was in short an infidel ••• Mr. Lincoln to ld me a thousand time s tha t he did not belie ve the Bible was a revel ation of God as the Christian world contend s' • "5

Taggart says more con cerning Herndon and Lamon in th eir

portrayal of Lincoln :

Herndon fairly adored Linco ln as well he might . He was "Hone st Abe'' to the nth degree , incapable of duplici ty , insincerity, deception of any kind wl,:l:at soever, inc apable of winning a:. lawsuit when he dis covered himsel f to be on the wro ng side, but on anothe r page, this wily politi cian (Lincoln) reali zing the powerful influence of the churche s, plays a sharp tri ck on tbe poor simple reli gious fo lk by pretending to be co nverted--the re is no thing di shonest in deceivi ng the bl ind or gullible , we may suppo se .

3 rbid. , p. 13. (Introduction)

4Hill , £12.· cit. , p. 86.

5Lamon, £12.· cit., p. 489. 50

Well , at least these biographers inadvertently admit that he di d change his habits and so affiliated himself with the church peo ple tha t Lamo n says his New Salem associates and the aggressive deists with wh om he originally unit ed at Spring field gradua ll y dis persed and fell away fro m his side ! Repelled, we may suppo se , by tbs similarity of their beliefs. 6

"The many biographies of Abraham Lincoln differ wid ely

in the ir estimate of his rel igi ous opinions ani life , µirtly becaus e the biographers approa.ch the subje ct from widely different angle s, and some of th em are seeking in advanc e "7 the establishrrent of parti cular conclusion s .•

The book The Real Linco ln was written by Charle s Land on

Carter Minor, a rebel . Taggart says of Dr . Minor 's wor k:

.Although Dr . Minor writes und er the tit le "The Real Lincoln, he . con ceded in his preface tha t hi s wor k--mostly quotations--"give s only the bad side of Linco ln , and no t the good" , but he doe s this because his excellencie s have been elaborated by others, and to reco unt wha t is already so familiar and to gi ve his excellencies any adequa te statemen t wo uld requi re a space- like the ten very large vo lume s in wh ich Nicolay and Hay have do ne th eir work so ably and with such jealous pro tection of the ir hero 's good name . The rest of his sn:a ll vo lume take s the "adverse"�pa.rts of the "adversative" sent en ces of the histories, biographie s, and newspapers , and by pat ching together this mo saic , gi ves us a picture of The Real Lincoln. Thi s "real Lincoln" wa s a cowaro:IY, cruel military despot .•

But wha t interests us he re is that the "real Linc oln" was a hypocritical , scoffing skeptic who o�ce (at the age of twenty-three )

6Taggart , 91?.· cit., pp . 179-180 .

?Barton, 2.E.· cit. , p. 24. 51

wrote a "little book" against the Bible and the Divinity of Christ which Hill burned, etc. , etc . fr.om whi ch views he ne ver changed, but when he entered political life he became "reticent upon his rel igious opinions • . ••11 8

Minor 's opinion s re fle ct Herndon's views . The "little book" mus t be tbe same as that wh ich was al so sa.id to be

Hill 's le tter , since there is a question as to whe ther it was Lincoln 's book or Hill 's le tter that Hill thr ew into the fire .

To return to He rndon and Lamon, Hill says of them:

"Lamon and Herndo n themselves are loud in the ir praise of

Lincoln's singular conscientiousne ss ·and integrity. . They seek to draw a line between tbe secula r and the religious.

They rrake him secularly a·. man almos t perfect , yet cap:rble of deceiving his friends by concealing from them his skepti ­ cism- -wh ich wou ld have been hypocrisy" . 9

Lamo n says : "It is very pro bable that muc h of Mr .

Lincoln' s unhappiness , the melancholy that 'dri pped from 10 him as he walked ' was du e to hi s want of religiou s faith11 •

"Lamon ' s life of Lincoln lashed into gre ater fury the tempest that already raged con e erning Lincoln 's re ligi ous faith" , says Barton . "Nor was th is the only critici sm upon it . It was the first of the lives of Lincoln of which the later term of 'muckraking ' might be ap pl ied , and its

8charles Minor, as quo ted in Taggart , 2E· cit. , pp . 1 71-17:

9Hill , 2E· cit. , p. 279.

lOBarton , 2E· cit. , p. 131. 52 spirit of hostility is best account ed for by tre fact that its real author was no t Lamon but Black, wh o not only en terta ined all the loc al pre judi ce wh ich one ele ment in

Springfield had agains t Linco ln , but represent ed also a bitter polit ical ho stility, Black' s father having been a . 11 member of Buchanan's cabinet".

John Ha y said of Lamon •s work on th e life of Linco ln , con cerning his rel igion : ·n· and I think it safer to follow Lincoln's own word s in hi s !Il3.turity , than the 12 reports and rumors of wha t he may ha ve said in his youth11 •

Finally a. goo d frieni of Lincoln , Jo shua Speed, says of him:

[ have often been askedwha t were Mr. Lincoln' s rel igious opinions . When I knew him in early life , he wa s a skeptic . He tried hard to be a believer, but his reason could no t grasp and solve the great pro blem of redemption as taught . He wa s very cautious never to give expression to any thought or sent i.m3nt tha t would grate harshly upon a Christian ear. For a sinc ere Christian he had great re spect. • • The only evidenc e I have of any change was in the summer before he was killed. I was invited out to the soldiers ' home to spend the night . As I entered the roo m, ne ar night , he wa s sitting near a window intently reading his Bible . Approaching him I said , 11 1 am gla d to see you so profitably engaged". "Yes ," said he , "l am pro fitably engaged" . "Well" , .said I, "If you have recovered from your skeptici sm , I am sorry to say that I have not ". Looking me

11rbid. , p. 133.

12Thom as , 212.· .£....!i ·, p. 43 • 53

earnestly in the face , and placing hi s hand on my shoulder , he said : "You are wrong , Speed. Take all of th is book upon reason that you can , and tbe balanc e on aith , and you wi ll live and die a happier man ". f 3

To Speed alone Lincoln gave his fUll con fidenc e in the matter of hi s love affairs,. and they talked together as man seldom talk to each other. Speed wa s speaking out of a. 14 mos t intin:e. te knowledge of Lincoln.

No doubt one cou ld go on for some length giving the di ffering opinions concerning the out look of Linco ln on the

Christian reli gion, but only some of the signi ficant examples have been given.

To quot e Hill: "The time has come no t so mu ch to con tend for Lincoln's Chris tian faith as to portray it •••nl 5

13Barton , �· cit. , pp . 92-93.

14rbid., PP · 92-93. . l 5 " HJ.. ll , �· £_.t , p. 244 . IX

CONCLUSION

1 "By their fruits ye shall know them" •

"During all the impressionable years spent in Indiana ,

Linco ln was living in a home whe re a very definite rel igious 2 atmo sphere wa s created".

Thi s brings to mind some mor e words from holy writ :

"Train up a ch ild in the way he should go;and when he is 3 old , he will not depart from it ".

Taggart says : "It is stupendously more difficult a task to prove that a man is a Christian , than to demons trate that he is not . So high is the Christian stamard that a singl e sentence from one's lips or pen , a single act , even whe re the se may have been mi sunderstood or mi sinterpreted , is suffici ent evidenc e for tbe gene ral public to reach the verdi ct , '' Thou art weighed (in the balance) and found wanting 1 •.But to pro ve tha t one is a Christian requires a considerable i:eriod of tine of unblemished speech and behavi or , terminated by death itself, so that only in his epitaph is there gene ral consent to write , 'Here wa s a 4 Chris tian '. Perhaps Lincoln began too la te ".

�atthew 7:20 . Christ 's Sermon on the Mount . 2 Lincoln Lore , 2..E.· cit., No . 606, November 18, 1940 .

3Proverbs 22 :6.

4Taggart , 212· cit., p. 173-1 74·

54 55

I bel ieve the general opinion was the n am is now that Lincoln di d not begin to o late . .I Taggart also says of Linco ln: "Believin·g in tha t forgivene ss thr ough Je sus Chris t, he did not despair of hi s own or of othe r men 's salva tion11 . 5

I believe that trials am the weight of care threw Linco ln upon the "everla sting arms " and sus tained him. As he saw prayer answered , his faith could but grow .

Hill says : "Und er the weight of all but killing responsibilitie s, Lincoln's religious character grew day by �: . · dayn . 6

Hill also po ints out : "No hone st man can follow Lincoln on his tri p to Washington , read the speeches he made all along the way , and doubt that he was a God-fearing am God ­ trusting man" . 7

Conc erning Lincoln 's relationship with God , I think he grew nearer to God , tha t he was progre ssive in this relation­ ship. For some time he l'.ffiy have been in the spiritua l conditi on of the rranto wh om Je sus said , "I perceive th ou art not far from the kingdom of God". Later in life I belie ve he was truly a Christian. Perhaps th is happened whe n he saw

5 Ibid • , p. 340 .

�ill, 2.£· cit. , p. 191 .

7rbid. , p. 208 . 56 the grave s of the soldiers at Gettysburg whe re he said , . 8 "I then and there co nsecrated myself to Christ" .

" . . . To know his faith we mu st follow the path of his sp irit, as we trace the style of his oratory from the rather fl orid rhetoric of his earlie r ye ars to the stripped simplicity and haunting rhythm of his later eloquence-­ 9 from the Chronicles of Reuben to the Gettysburg Address".

The New York Tribune in speaking of Lincoln's rel igion says : " . . . It will be as impo ssible to pro ve that he was a Christian as to prove that he was not , and historians and biographers will divide upon this que stion, as they are divided now , according to th eir personal beliefs or 10 disbelie fs".

Isaac N. Arnold says of Lincoln 's religion: "I do not call him an 'Evangel ical ' Christian, but a broad , rational 11 Christian" .

Thomas , speaking of Lincoln's biographers , ha s this to say : " . . . Those biographers like Tarbell , Charnwood , and

Sandburg , who could combine realism with a measure of imagination, have come closest to success . Ye t both the realists and idealists have le ft essential marks . To purge the human clay from Father Abraham is to sunder that

8 Ibid. , p. 276. 9 Lincoln Association Papers , £!?.· cit ., 1933, p. 30 . 10 ��Tribune , as quoted in Thomas , �· cit. , p. 81 . 11 �. ' p. 92. 57 intangi ble co mmunion that peo ple hold with him--and to deny hi s ideali stic attri butes is to disparage his greatne ss.

Both re alism and id ealism have a place in Linco ln literature".�2

Thomas giv es us th ese words from Holland wh ic h exempli�y

Linco ln as a. "do er of the word" . With a co gency difficult to refute , Holland gave his view of Lincoln 's sp iritual estate .

"The que sti on is not whe ther Abraham Linco ln was a subscriber to the creeds of orthodoxy" , he affirmed , "but whe ther he was a believing--that is to say , a. trustfUl--Christian man ; no t wh ethe r he was accu stomed to call Jesus Christ 'Lord ,

Lord' , but whethe r he was us ed to do thos e things , wh ich l Je sus Chris t exemplifie d and enforced . . . n 3

H:If he had not been a po siti ve Christian" , says Hill ,

"he wo uld have been a rank infidel . Hypo cricy was someth ing of wh ich his wor st en emie s never seriously accused him.

The pri nci ple tha t led him to occupy an uncompromising attitude in politics forced him to a like po siti on in 14 rel igi on . It wa s no t in his na ture to temporize"·.

The memo ry of Linco ln shou ld no t be thought of as something sacred . We should hold God or the things of God only as sacred . About any inti:rm cy with Lincoln , any words written by him, or articl e ow ne d by him, we could use the

12 Ibid., p. 310 . l3 Holland , as quot ed in Thoma s, Ibid. , p. 58. 1 4ilill , 2..E.· cit. , p. 1 53. 58 words preciou s or prized , for Linco ln was just a man. But wha t a man among men he was ! How pr ecious are hi s words spoken in hi s second inaugural from a heart tha t knew how to love : ''With malice toward no ne , with charity for all , with firmness in th:l ri ght as God gives us to see the ri ght , le t us strive on to finish the wor k we are no w in, to bind up th e nation's wounds, to care fo r him who shall have borne the battl� , and for his widow and orphans , to do all wh ich may achieve am cheri sh a jus t and la sting peace among 15 our selves and with all nations" .

Linco ln was a man who tow ered above littl e men in the qual iti es tha t make a ma.n great , as he towered in statur e above a snall ms.n in tbe physic al sens e. He was a man close to men, ye t sometimes apart and sad .

Jo seph Newto n has so beautifully said of Lincoln :

A mountain is a mystery ; suc h was Linco ln . It is tall , rugged , isolated ; so wa s he . It ha s seams and crevi ces that v.ould disfigure th e beauty of a hill , but they con sti tute no blemish on its ma ssive subli mity . There are sheltered nooks among its craigs whe re wi ld flowers bl oom, and whe re bright streams sparkle in the sunlight . But there are also huge masses of denuded ro ck wh ich tel l of th:l ha rsh attrition of earlier time s. The clouds that veil its summi t le nd it an air of lonesomene ss and melancholy . Wild storms beat against it with awfU l fury waging war wit h the swift stroke s of lightning to the mu sic of deep­ toned thunders . Yet throu gb. storm and calm it remains unmoved , unshaken . Its mission is the same throu gh all it s varying moods . The same God

l 5Hill, Q..J2.. cit. , p. 41.0; Smith , Q..J2.. cit. , p. 95 ; Basler, Colleqted Works , Vo l. 8, pp-:--)"32-333, 59

that made tre mountain mde the imn , and His ways are past finding out . l 6

Finally Hill says : "In the do me of the Congressional

Library at Wa shington is th is inscription fro m tbe Prophet

Micah : ( 6: 8) ''What do th the Lord require of thee, but to do ;justly, and to love n:e rcy , and to walk humbly with th y

God'. No man in American history--no man in the hi story of the world--ever mre co mpletely fill ed th is measure of a 17 man of God than did Abraham Lincoln" .

l6Jo seph Newto n, as quoted in the Abraham Linco ln Asso c iation Papers , 2.E· cit. , 1933, p. 43 .

17Hill , 2.E· cit. , p. 51 . BIBLIOGRAPHY

Books :.

Angle , Paul M. (ed.) , The Linco ln Reader . New Brunswick : Rutgers Un iversity Press, 1947 ;

Barton , William E. , The Soul of Abraham Lincoln. New Yo rk: George H. Doran Compa.ny ,-"1920 .

Basler, Roy P. (ed.), Marion Delores Pratt and Lloyd Dunlap (asst . eds.J, The Colle cted Works of Abraham Lincoln . New Brunswi ck: -iiutgers Univ ersityPress , 1953.

Beveridge , Albert J. , Abraham Lincoln. Boston and New Yo rk: Houghton Mif flin Company , 1928.

Carpenter, Frank B. , Six Months in the Whit e House. New York: Hurd and Houghtoll," I8b6 .

Charnwood , Lord , Abraham Linco ln . New Yo rk : Henry Holt and Company , 1917.

Hi ll , John Wesley, Abraham Lincoln , Man of God . New Yor k and London : G. P. Putnam's SonS8:"nCf""�he Knickerbo cker Pre ss .

Holy Bible .

Jones , Edgar DeWitt , Lincoln and tbe _Preachers . New Yo rk: Harper Bro thers , 1948. -- --

Lamon, Ward. , The Lif e of Abraham Lincoln . Bo ston :. Jane s R. Osgood and Company , 1872 .

Smit h, T. V. , Abraham Linco ln and the Spiritua l Life. Bo sto n: The Beacon Press , 1951 .

Taggart , Raymond D. , D�D�:;·c,The:t"Fai:!Jh of Abraham Lincoln . Topeka : The Servic e Pn nt Shop,-"1943 .

Thomas , Benjamin P. , Portrait for Po steri ty. New Brunswi ck : Rut gers Universit y Press , 1947. Wa rren , Loui s Austin, Lincoln 's Parentage and Childhood. New York an d London : The Century Company , 1926.

60 61

Books--Parts of Series:

Abraham Lincoln Associa tio n Papers , Springfi eld, Illinois , 1933.

Barton, William E. , The Li fe of Abraham Linco ln, Vol. 1. Indianapolis : Tii0 Bobbs-Merrill Company, 1925.

Nicolay, John G. and Ha y, John, Abraham Lincoln: A History , Vol. III. New York: The Century Company, 1890 .

Periodica ls:

Wa rren, Louis A. , "Lincoln's Ba pti st Backgro und" , Lincoln Lore, Bulletin 1042 . .Fort Wayne : Lincoln.National ilf0 Foundation , Mar ch 29 , 1949.

War:ren, Louis A. , "L incoln 's Religious Herl ta ge", Lincoln Lore , Bulletin 606. Fort Wayne: Lincoln Nati onal Life Founda tion, November 18, 1940.

Warren, Louis A., "The Pigeon Creek Church", Linco ln Lore, Bulletin 661 . Fort Wa yne : Lincoln National Life---" Foundation , December 8, 1941 ·