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PREFACE
PREFACE
The author is aware that he is dipping his net into a stream already darkened by too much ink. The fact that there are so many books on the religion of Abraham Lincoln is a chief reason why there should be one more. Books on this subject are largely polemic works which followed the publication of Holland's biography in 1865, and multiplied in the controversies growing out of that and the Lamon and Herndon biographies in 1872 and 1889 respectively. Within that period and until the death of Mr. He
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CHAPTER I
CHAPTER I
THE CONFLICT OF TESTIMONY Of no other American have so many biographies been written as of Abraham Lincoln. No other question concerning his life has evoked more interest than that of his religious faith and experience. What Abraham Lincoln believed has been told by many who knew him and whose varied relations to him during his lifetime rendered it not unreasonable to suppose that they could give some assured answer to the question of his belief. The answers are not only varied, but hopelessly c
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CHAPTER II
CHAPTER II
WHY THE BIOGRAPHIES DIFFER The many biographies of Abraham Lincoln differ widely in their estimate of his religious opinions and life, partly because the biographers approach the subject from widely differing angles, and some of them are seeking in advance the establishment of particular conclusions. But apart from that personal bias, from which no author can claim to be wholly free, the biographical study of Abraham Lincoln was itself an evolution whose main outlines and processes it will be pr
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CHAPTER III
CHAPTER III
THE ENVIRONMENT OF LINCOLN'S BOYHOOD We have read Buckle's History of Civilization to little effect if we have not learned that the development of an individual or a nation is profoundly influenced by environment. The biographers of Lincoln would appear to have kept this fact carefully in mind, for they have been at great pains to give to us detailed descriptions of the houses in which Lincoln lived and the neighborhoods where from time to time he resided. Although the camera and the descriptive
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CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER IV
THE ENVIRONMENTS OF LINCOLN'S YOUNG MANHOOD The second period of Lincoln's religious life extends from his removal into Illinois in March of 1830 until the establishment of his residence in Springfield, April 15, 1837. Thomas Lincoln was a thriftless farmer who blamed external conditions for his misfortunes. Following a second appearance of the "milk sick," which came to southern Indiana in the winter of 1829, he and his family removed in March of 1830 to Illinois. Abraham was twenty-one years o
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CHAPTER V
CHAPTER V
THE ENVIRONMENT OF LINCOLN'S LIFE IN SPRINGFIELD Abraham Lincoln became a resident of Springfield on Wednesday, March 15, 1837, and continued to live there until his removal, Saturday, February 11, 1860, to assume his duties as President of the United States. He was accepted as partner by his friend and former commander, Major John T. Stuart, and shared an office in which politics was the major interest and law was incidentally practiced. His partnership with Stuart continued for four years, fro
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CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VI
THE ENVIRONMENT OF LINCOLN'S LIFE IN WASHINGTON Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated sixteenth president of the United States, on Monday, March 4, 1861. His journey to Washington had served to impress him even more deeply than before with a sense of the solemnity of his task. He still was earnestly hoping, and if we may judge from his speeches along the route, even expecting, that war would be averted; [22] but the possibility of war was always apparent and its probability was growing daily more cert
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CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VII
THE RULES OF EVIDENCE Thus far we have dealt primarily with the environments of Lincoln's religious life. We have not been able to escape the conviction that Lincoln's religious life was an evolution, influenced by his environment and experience. We have considered in these successive chapters some matters in detail which seemed to belong particularly to the respective periods of which those chapters have treated; but we have reserved, in general, the evidence that bears upon his religion as a w
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CHAPTER VIII
CHAPTER VIII
THE BATEMAN INCIDENT Hon. Newton Bateman was for many years Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Illinois, being chosen to that position in 1858 and holding the place with one brief intermission for fourteen years. He was then elected President of Knox College and served with distinction in that capacity for seventeen years. He knew Lincoln well. He was small in stature, and Lincoln was very tall. Lincoln used to introduce Bateman to friends, saying, "This is my little friend, t
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CHAPTER IX
CHAPTER IX
THE LAMON BIOGRAPHY Ward Hill Lamon was for many years a close friend of Lincoln. [33] Their relations began in 1847 when Lamon settled at Danville and continued until Lincoln's death. Both there and at Bloomington, Lamon was Lincoln's local associate and so-called partner. When Lincoln voted at the Presidential election of 1860, the men who accompanied him to the polls were William H. Herndon, Ward Hill Lamon, and Col. Elmer Ellsworth. When Lincoln was elected and his political friends had slat
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CHAPTER X
CHAPTER X
THE REED LECTURE One of the first results of the Lamon biography was a lecture prepared by Rev. James A. Reed, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield. This lecture [35] was delivered several times, and in 1873 was published in Scribner's Magazine , which at that time was edited by J. G. Holland. Holland had been horrified by the Lamon biography, and had reviewed it with such disfavor that Herndon attributes the failure of the book in no small part to Holland's pronounced oppositi
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CHAPTER XI
CHAPTER XI
THE HERNDON LECTURES, LETTERS, AND BIOGRAPHY The name of William H. Herndon finds frequent mention in these pages, as it must in any study of Abraham Lincoln. With all his faults as a biographer, his astigmatism, his anti-religious prejudice, his intolerance, his bad taste, he is an invaluable source of information concerning his partner and friend, Abraham Lincoln. The publication of the Lamon biography and the Reed lecture brought him into a conflict from which no power on earth could probably
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CHAPTER XII
CHAPTER XII
LINCOLN'S BURNT BOOK In the chapter on the "Conditions of Lincoln's Young Manhood at New Salem" mention was made of the "book" which Lincoln is said to have written, opposed to the Christian religion, a book which his employer, Samuel Hill, is said to have snatched from his hand and thrown into the fire lest Lincoln's infidelity should ruin his political career. To have treated this subject at length would have thrown that chapter out of focus, and it is time that we should learn the truth about
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CHAPTER XIII
CHAPTER XIII
"THE CHRISTIAN'S DEFENCE" In the spring of the year 1850, after the death of their little son Eddie, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln visited Mrs. Lincoln's relatives in Kentucky. While they were on this visit, Mr. Lincoln picked up a book entitled The Christian's Defence , by Rev. James Smith. He was interested, for Dr. Smith was a townsman of his, and in the absence of Mrs. Lincoln's rector Dr. Smith had conducted the little boy's funeral service in the Lincoln home. Lincoln read a part but not the whole
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CHAPTER XIV
CHAPTER XIV
"VESTIGES OF CREATION" Lincoln was a man of few books. Much has been made of the fact that when a lad he eagerly read every book within reach; but he did not continue that habit in his mature years. Something happened to the lad in adolescence that changed him mentally as well as physically. His sudden upshoot in stature permanently tired him; he became disinclined to activity. His movements were much slower, and his habits of thought more sluggish. Arnold attempts to make a list of his "favorit
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CHAPTER XV
CHAPTER XV
OTHER FORMATIVE BOOKS We do not know of any other books which deserve to be classed with the two we have been considering in their relation to the formation of Mr. Lincoln's religious ideas; but our inquiry is at a point where it will be instructive to learn of any collateral influence which at this period, the period of the 50's, after the death of Eddie, and before his election as President, helped to give shape to his convictions. Mr. Lincoln did not unite with Dr. Smith's church. It is diffi
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CHAPTER XVI
CHAPTER XVI
CHITTENDEN AND CHINIQUY Two notable interviews touching the religious opinions of Mr. Lincoln deserve record here. One is by Rev. Charles Chiniquy, some time priest in the Roman Catholic Church, and afterward a strong Protestant. He had been a client of Mr. Lincoln's in Illinois, and Mr. Lincoln trusted and believed in him. He visited Mr. Lincoln in the White House, and there, as before Mr. Lincoln's departure for Springfield, he warned him that there were plots against the life of the President
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CHAPTER XVII
CHAPTER XVII
THE BEECHER AND SICKLES INCIDENTS Among the many stories of President Lincoln's religious life, one of the most impressive concerns an alleged visit of the President to the home of Henry Ward Beecher and the spending of a night in prayer by these two men. The story is as follows: "Following the disaster of Bull Run, when the strength and resources of the nation seemed to have been wasted, the hopes of the North were at their lowest ebb, and Mr. Lincoln was well-nigh overwhelmed with the awful re
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CHAPTER XVIII
CHAPTER XVIII
"BEHIND THE SCENES" The family of the President of the United States ought to be permitted a reasonable degree of privacy, but this has never yet been accorded them. In the case of the family of President Lincoln the rudeness of the public was shameful. It is not our present purpose to intrude into the domestic life of Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, and if we shall ever do so hereafter it will be, let us hope, with more of consideration than some critics have shown. After the death of Mr. Lincoln, a numb
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CHAPTER XIX
CHAPTER XIX
FROM THE HOUSETOPS AND IN THE CLOSET This part of our inquiry draws near its close. We have reserved for this chapter a selection from those religious expressions of Abraham Lincoln which belong to his mature years, and which are indisputably his. They are largely in addresses, proclamations, and official documents. In them religion is, as a rule, an incidental subject. But it finds frequent expression. Here no literary criticism is necessary, for there is no question about the accuracy of the r
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CHAPTER XX
CHAPTER XX
WHAT LINCOLN WAS NOT It is amazing to discover how many forms of faith and non-faith have claimed Abraham Lincoln. More than seven churches have striven for the dead Abraham Lincoln, some of whom would not even now admit to their membership a living man who professed his sentiments. Before we undertake the difficult task of assessing the real faith of Abraham Lincoln, let us dispose of a few of the claims that have been made on his behalf, or the charges that have been made against him, and whic
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CHAPTER XXI
CHAPTER XXI
WHY DID LINCOLN NEVER JOIN THE CHURCH? Mr. Thomas Lewis , attorney in Springfield with an office on the same floor and an elder in the First Presbyterian Church, informs us that there was some real expectation that Lincoln would have united with that church in Springfield after his views had been modified through the influence of Dr. Smith. He says that Lincoln attended with considerable regularity a series of revival meetings in progress in the church, but was out of town when application was m
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CHAPTER XXII
CHAPTER XXII
THE CONSTRUCTIVE ARGUMENT We are ready now to undertake the difficult task of determining with some approach to certainty the essential content and character of Abraham Lincoln's religious belief. We must not be surprised if we find ourselves unable to construct a perfectly symmetrical and consistent confession of faith. The material is much more abundant and explicit and much better attested in some departments than in others. Not only so, but we must never forget the mighty elements of contrad
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CHAPTER XXIII
CHAPTER XXIII
THE CREED OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN Abraham Lincoln made no effort, so far as we know, to formulate a creed. It would have been an exceedingly difficult thing for him to have accomplished. His utterances on religious subjects were not made as dogmatic affirmations. He merely uttered as occasion seemed to him to demand such sentiments and principles as expressed those aspects of truth which he felt and believed to need expression at those particular times. Nevertheless, these utterances together cover a
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APPENDIX I
APPENDIX I
EXTRACT FROM NEWTON BATEMAN'S LECTURE ON LINCOLN WITH VARIANTS OF THE FAREWELL ADDRESS, AT SPRINGFIELD, FEBRUARY 11, 1861. Both for its own value as an incident in the life of Mr. Lincoln and because it affords us opportunity of understanding the accuracy of Newton Bateman's verbal memory, the following is quoted from his lecture on Abraham Lincoln, a lecture delivered many times in the later years of his life and printed by his family in 1899 after his death: "On the eleventh of February, 1861,
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APPENDIX II
APPENDIX II
"HIGH-HANDED OUTRAGE AT UTICA" [72] By Artemus Ward Bishop Fowler and other lecturers and authors have drawn for us beautiful pictures of Lincoln reading to his Cabinet a chapter in the Bible before submitting his draft of the Emancipation Proclamation. The true story of that incident is related in the foregoing pages. It may be that some readers who are unfamiliar with the now little-read writings of "Artemus Ward" will be glad to know precisely what it was that the President read on that day;
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APPENDIX III
APPENDIX III
THE CONVERSION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN By the Rev. Edward L. Watson The religion of Abraham Lincoln is so much in debate that I feel called upon to give the following narrative of an event of which little seems to be known—and which is of real importance in understanding the man. He has been called an infidel—an unbeliever of varying degrees of blatancy. That he was a Christian in the real sense of the term is plain from his life. That he was converted during a Methodist revival seems not to be a mat
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APPENDIX IV
APPENDIX IV
THE REED LECTURE THE LATER LIFE AND RELIGIOUS SENTIMENTS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN [73] While the fate and future of the Christian religion in nowise depends upon the sentiments of Abraham Lincoln, yet the life and character of this remarkable man belong to the public, to tell for evil or for good on coming generations; and as the attempt has been made to impute to him the vilest sentiments, even to his dying day, it is fitting and just that the weakness and infidelity charged upon his later life shoul
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APPENDIX V
APPENDIX V
TWO HERNDON LETTERS CONCERNING LINCOLN'S RELIGION BRIEF ANALYSIS OF LINCOLN'S CHARACTER Springfield, Ill ., Sept. 10, 1887. J. E. Remsburg , Oak Mills, Kansas. Friend Remsburg : Today I send you Speed's lecture on "Lincoln," which you can keep till I send for it—and this will probably be never. It is a very poor lecture if the lecture contains his knowledge of Lincoln, and, I guess it does. It shows no insight into Lincoln at all, though it is well enough written. It is said that Speed had a wor
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APPENDIX VI
APPENDIX VI
THE IRWIN ARTICLE WITH LETTERS CONCERNING LINCOLN'S RELIGIOUS BELIEF Another Valuable Contribution to the History of the Martyr President.—Was Abraham Lincoln an Infidel?—A Painstaking Examination of the Case by An Old Acquaintance.—Important Testimony of Contemporaneous Witnesses.—History of the Famous Manuscript of 1833.—Mentor Graham Says It Was a Defence of Christianity.—The Burned Manuscript Quite a Different Affair.—The Charge of Infidelity in 1848, Said to Have Been Disproved at the Time.
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APPENDIX VII
APPENDIX VII
"THE CHRISTIAN'S DEFENCE" The debate out of which this volume grew was held at Columbus, Mississippi, in the spring of 1841, between Rev. James Smith and Mr. C. G. Olmsted. Mr. Olmsted, the author of a work entitled, "The Bible Its Own Refutation," was a resident of Columbus. Dr. Smith visited this city during the winter of 1839-1840, and finding the young men of the place to be very largely under the influence of Mr. Olmsted, he delivered a series of lectures, especially addressed to the young
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APPENDIX VIII
APPENDIX VIII
LINCOLN AND THE CHURCHES By John G. Nicolay and John Hay Note. —Some of the important material bearing upon Lincoln's religious convictions which was collected by Nicolay and Hay and published in the Century Magazine , has, through faulty indexing, been almost lost. The words "churches" and "religion" are not in the thick index in the tenth volume of their great work. Finding in the Century Magazine for August, 1889, an important article on this subject, I searched in vain for any way of finding
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A CONDENSED BIBLIOGRAPHY
A CONDENSED BIBLIOGRAPHY
(The bibliographical notes which the author made while this work was in preparation reached a total of several thousand. From these he at first selected about five hundred titles, being practically a catalogue of his own Lincoln library, a list of books about Lincoln which he considered worth buying. But this also appeared much longer than was needed for the purposes of this book, and he has therefore prepared this shorter list of books bearing more directly upon the subject matter of this volum
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