CM. 2- No, 32 Extra. TRUTH SEEKER LIBRARY. July, 1893. Abraham Lincoln WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? By JOHM B. RB-MSBVRG. u I am not a Christian." LINCOLN. NEW YOKK: THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY, 28 LAFAYETTE PLACE. r II r V. (Price, 50 cents.) S3 PER YEAR. Entered at the Post Office in New York, March 4, '91, as second-class matter. r ' * > l ABRAHAM LINCOLN: WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? By JOHN B. RBMSBVRG. " I am not a Christian." LINCOLN. NEW YORK: THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY, 28 LAFAYETTE PLACE. Copyrighted, 1893, THE TRUTH SEEKER COMPANY. - ft " * . i. i . \ TO THE FRIENDS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN WHO HAVE HAD THE COURAGE TO AFFIRM THE TRUE AND DENY THE FALSE; AND TO THE FRIENDS , TRUTH WHO WILL HAVE THE HONESTY TO REJECT THE FALSE AND ACCEPT THE TRUE, THIS VOLUME IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. , , . - PREFACE, ALMOST immediately after the remains of America's roost illustrious son were laid to rest at Springfield, one of his biographers put forward the claim that he was a devout believer in Christianity. The claim was promptly denied by the dead statesman's friends, but only to be renewed again, and again denied. And thus for a quarter of a century the question of Abra- ham Lincoln's religious belief has been tossed like a battledoor from side to side. As a result of this controversy, thousands have become interested in a subject that otherwise might have excited but little interest. This is the writer's apology for collecting the testimony of more than one hundred witnesses, and devoting more than three hundred pages to the question, "Was Lincoln a Christian?" About few other men has so much been written as about Abraham Lincoln ; while no other American's life has engaged the pens of so many biographers. A thousand volumes record his name and refer to PREFACE. his deeds. In a hundred of these he is the central figure. Nearly a score of elaborate biographies of him have been written. As many more books per- taining wholly to his life, his martyrdom, and his character have been published. Of the many works on Lincoln which the writer has consulted in the preparation of this volume, the following deserve to be mentioned : Nicolay and Hay's " Life of Lincoln," Herndon and Weik's " Life of Lincoln," Lamon's "Life of Lincoln," Holland's "Life of Lincoln," Arnold's " Life of Lincoln," Raymond's " Life of Lincoln," Stoddard's "Life of Lincoln," Barrett's " Life of Lincoln," " Every-Day Life of Lincoln," Arnold's " Lincoln and Slavery," Carpenter's " Six Months at the White House with Lincoln," " Remi- niscences of Lincoln," "Anecdotes of Lincoln," " Lincolniana," "The President's Words," "The Martyr's Monument," " Tribute of the Nations to Lincoln," "Lincoln Memorial " and "Lincoln Me- morial Album." The testimony concerning Lincoln's religious belief presented in this volume has been derived chiefly from three sources. 1. A part of it has been gathered from the works above named. In a single volume is published for the first time matter which heretofore was only to be found scattered through numerous volumes, some of them inaccessible to the general reader. 2. A considerable portion of it PREFACE. Vll has been gleaned from newspapers and periodicals containing statements brought out by this contro- versy, many of which would otherwise soon be lost or forgotten. 3. A very large share of it has been obtained by the writer from personal friends of Lin- coln ; and when we realize how rapidly those who lived and moved with him are passing away that erelong none of them will remain to testify the im- portance of this evidence can hardly be overestimated. The writer believes that he has fully established the negative of the proposition that forms the title of his book. He does not expect to silence the claims of the affirmative ; but he has furnished an arsenal of facts whereby these claims may be ex- posed and refuted as often as made. This effort to prove -that Lincoln was not a Chris- tian will be condemned by many as an attempt to fasten a stain upon this great man's character. But the demonstration and perpetuation of this fact will only add to his greatness. It will show that he was in advance of his generation. The fame of Abraham Lincoln belongs not to this age alone, but will endure for all time. The popular faith is tran- sient and must perish. It is unpopular now to reject Christianity, but the day is fast approaching when to accept its dogmas will oe considered an evidence of human weakness. To perpetuate the claim that Lincoln was a Christian is to perpetuate an idea ' - viii PREFACE. that in a future age will lessen the luster of his name. % It will be urged by some that the intent and pur- pose of this work is solely to promote the interests of Free thought. But it is not. The writer advo- cates no cause that requires the prestige of a great name to make it respectable. The cause that re- quires the indorsement of the great to sustain it is not worthy to survive. He has prosecuted this in- vestigation, not in the interest of any belief or creed, but in the interest of truth ; and truth is certainly as high as any creed, even if that creed be true. In proving Lincoln a disbeliever he does not presume to have proved Christianity false, nor Freethought true ; but he has shown that some Christians are not honest, and that an honest man may be a Freethinker. ATCHISON, KAN., April, 1893. . .. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY. Dr. J. Gr. Holland Hon. Newton Bateman Rev. J. A. Reed Rev. James Smith, -D.D. N. W. Edwards Thomas Lewis Noah Brooks Rev. Byron Sunderland, D.D. Rev. Dr. Miner Rev. Dr. Gurley Hon. I. N. Arnold F. B. Carpenter Isaac Hawley Rev. Mr. Willets A Pious Nurse Western Christian Advocate An Illinois Clergyman Rev. J. H. Barrows, D.D. Rev. Francis Vinton, D.D. Bishop Simpson. CHAPTEE II. REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY HOLLAND AND BATE- MAN. Character of Holland's " Life of Lincoln " The Bateman Interview Inconsistency and untruthfulness of its statements Holland's Subse- quent Modification and Final Abandonment of his original Claims. CHAPTEE III. REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY REED AND HIS WIT- NESSES. Reed Smith Edwards Lewis Brooks Statements of Edwards, Smith, and Brooks Compared Sunderland Miner Gurley Failure of Reed to Establish his Claims. CONTENTS. CHAPTER IV. REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY ARNOLD AND OTHER WITNESSES. Arnold's " Life of Lincoln " Claims Concerning Lincoln's Religious Belief Address to Negroes of Baltimore Carpenter Hawley Willets Pious Nurse Western Christian Advocate Illinois Clergyman Barrows Vinton Simpson. CHAPTER V. TESTIMONY OF HON. WILLIAM H. HERNDON PUBLISHED TESTIMONY. Herndon's Association with Lincoln Character Writings Com- petency as a Witness The Abbott Letter Contribution to the Liberal Age Article in the Truth Seeker Herndon's " Life of Lincoln." CHAPTER VI. TESTIMONY OF HON. WILLIAM H. HERNDON UNPUBLISHED TESTIMONY. Extracts from Herndon's Letters The Books Lincoln Read His Philosophy His Infidelity Refutation of Christian Claims Attempts to Invalidate Herndon's Testimony Reed's Calumnies Vindication. CHAPTER VII. TESTIMONY OF COL. WARD H. LAMON. Lamon's "Life of Lincoln "- -Lincoln's Early Skepticism His Inves- tigations at New Salem His Book on Infidelity His Religious Opin- ions Remain Unchanged Holland's Condemnation of Lamon's Work Holland's and Larnon's Works Compared. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE VIII. TESTIMONY OF LAMON's WITNESSES HON. J. T. STUART AND COL. J. H. MATHENY. - Testimony of Hon. John T. Stuart Testimony of Col. James H. Ma- theny Stuart's Disclaimer Matheny's Disclaimer Examination and Authorship of Disclaimers, Including the Edwards and Lewis Letters. CHAPTEE IX. TESTIMONY OF LAMON's WITNESSES CONCLUDED. Dr. C. H. Ray Wm. H. Hannah, Esq. James W. Keys Hon. Jesse W. Fell Col. John G. Nicolay Hon. David Davis Mrs. Mary Lincoln Injustice to Mrs. Lincoln Answer to Reed's Pretended Ref- utation of the Testimony of Lamon's Witnesses. , CHAPTEE X. TES1IMONY OF LINCOLN'S RELATIVES AND INTIMATE AS- SOCIATES. Mrs. Sarah Lincoln Dennis F. Hanks Mrs. Matilda Moore John Hall Wm. McXeely Mr. Lynan James B. Spaulding Ezra String- ham Dr. G. H Ambrose Wm. G. Green Joshua F. Speed John Decamp Green Caruthers J. H. Chenery Squire Perkins W. Per- kins Hon. Joseph Gillespie James Gorley Dr. Wm. Jayne Hon. Jesse K. Dubois Judge Stephen T. Logan Hon. Leonard Swett CHAPTEE XI TESTIMONY OF FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES OF LINCOLN WHO KNEW HIM IN ILLINOIS. . Hon. W. H. T. Wakefleld Hon. D. W. Wilder Dr. B. F. Gardner Hon. J. K. Vandermark A. Jeffrey Dr. Arch E. McNeal Charles McGrew Edward Butler Joseph Stafford Judge A. D. Norton xii CONTENTS. J. L. Morrell Mahlon Ross L. Wilson H. K. Magie Hon. James Tuttle Col. F. S. Rutherford Judge Robert Leachraan Hon. Orin B. Gould M. S. Gowin Col. R. G. Ingersoll Leonard W. Volk Joseph Jefferson Hon. E. B. Washburn Hon. E. M. Haines. CHAPTER XII. TESTIMONY OP FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES OF LINCOLN WHO KNEW HIM IN WASHINGTON. Hon. Geo. W. Julian Hon. John B. Alley Hon. Hugh McCul- loch Donn Piatt Hon. Schuyler Colfax Hon. Geo. S. Boutwell Hon. Wm. D. Kelly E. H. Wood Dr. J. J. Thompson Rev. James Shrigley Hon. John Covode Jas. E. Murdock Hon. M. B. Field Harriet Beecher Stowe Hon. J. P. Usher Hon. S. P. Chase Frederick Douglas Mr. Defrees Hon. Wm. H. Seward Judge Aaron Goodrich Nicolay and Hay's i; Life of Lincoln " Warren Chase Hon. A. J. G rover Judge James M. Nelson. CHAPTEE XIII. OTHER TESTIMONY AND OPINIONS. New York World Boston Globe Chicago Herald Manford's Magazine Herald and Review Chambers's Encyclopedia Encyclopedia Britannica People's Library of Information The World's Sages Every-Day Life of Lincoln Hon. Jesse W. Weik Chas. W. French - Cyrus O. Poole A Citizen of Springfield Henry Walker Wm. Bissett Frederick Heath Rev. Edward Eggleston Rev Robert Collyer Allen Thorndike Rice Robert C. Adams Theodore Stanton-Geo. M. McCrie Gen. M. M. Trumbull Rev. David Swing, D.D. Rev. J. Lloyd Jones Rev. John W. Chadwick. CHAPTER XIV. EVIDENCE GATHERED FROM LINCOLN'S LETTERS, SPEECHES, AND CONVERSATIONS. The Bible and Christianity Chr'st's Divinity Future Rewards and Punishments Freedom of Mind Fatalism Providence Lines in' CONTENTS. Xlll Copy-book Parker Paine Opposition of Church Clerical Officious- ness Rebuked Irreverent Jokes Profanity Temperance Reform In- dorsement of Lord Bolingbroke's Writings Golden Rule. CHAPTEE XV. ^RECAPITULATION AND CONCLUSION. Character of Christian Testimony Summary of Evidence Adduced in Proof of Lincoln's Unbelief ' ouglas an Unbeliever Theodore Parker's Theology Fallacy of Claims Respecting Lincoln's Reputed Conversion His Invocations of Deity His Alleged Regard for the Sabbath The Church and Hypocrisy Lincoln's Religion. ; INTRODUCTION. WAS Abraham Lincoln a Christian? Many confi- dently believe and earnestly contend that he was ; others as confidently believe and as earnestly con- tend that he was not. Before attempting to answer this question, let us define what constitutes a Christian. A Christian is one who, in common with the adherents of nearly all the religions of mankind, believes, 1. In the ex- istence of a God ; 2. In the immortality of the soul. As distinguished from the adherents of other relig- ions, he believes, 1. That the Bible is a revelation from God to man; 2. That Jesus Christ was the miraculously begotten son of God. He also believes in various other doctrines peculiar to Christianity, the chief of which are, 1. The fall of man ; 2. The atonement. Those who in nominally Christian countries reject the dogmas of Christianity are denominated Infi- dels, Freethinkers, Liberals, Rationalists, unbeliev- 16 16 INTRODUCTION. ers, disbelievers, skeptics, etc. These Infidels, or Freethinkers, represent various phases of belief, among which are, 1, Deists, who affirm the existence of a God and the immortality of the soul ; 2. Atheists, who deny the existence of a God, and, generally, the soul's immortality ; 3. Agnostics, who neither affirm nor deny these doctrines. The following are the religious views Lincoln is said to have held as presented by those who affirm that he was a Christian : 1. He believed in the existence of a God, and ac- cepted the Christian conception of this Being. 2. He believed in the immortality of the soul, and in the Christian doctrine of the resurrection. 3. He believed that the Bible is a revelation from God the only revealed will of God. 4. He believed in the divinity of Christ believed that Christ is God. 5. He believed in the efficacy of prayer, and was accustomed to pray himself. 6. He believed in the doctrine of experimental re- ligion, and had experienced a change of heart. 7. Although he never united with any church, he was contemplating such a step at the time of his as- sassination. 8. The church with which he would have united, we are led to infer, was the Presbyterian. The following is a statement of the theological INTRODUCTION. 17 opinions of Lincoln as understood by those who deny that he was a Christian : 1. In regard to a Supreme Being he entertained at times Agnostic and even Atheistic opinions. During the later years of his life, however, he professed a sort of Deistic belief, but he did not accept the Christian or anthropomorphic conception of a Deity. 2. So far as the doctrine of immortality is con- cerned, he was an Agnostic. 3. He did not believe in the Christian doctrine of the inspiration of the Scriptures. He believed that Burns and Paine were as much inspired as David and Paul. 4. He did not believe in the doctrine of Christ's divinity. He affirmed that Jesus was either the son of Joseph and Mary, or the illegitimate son of Mary. 5. He did not believe in the doctrine of a special creation. 6. He believed in the theory of Evolution, so far as this theory had been developed in his time. 7. He did not believe in miracles and special providences. He believed that all things are gov- erned by immutable laws, and that miracles and special providences, in the evangelical sense of these terms, are impossible. 8. He rejected the doctrine of total, or inherent depravity. INTRODUCTION. 9. He repudiated the doctrine of vicarious atone- ment. 10. He condemned the doctrine of forgiveness for sin. 11. He opposed the doctrine of future rewards and punishments. 12. He denied the doctrine of the freedom of the will. 13. He did not believe in the efficacy of prayer as understood by orthodox Christians. 14 He indorsed, for the most part, the criticisms of Thomas Paine on the Bible and Christianity, and accepted, to a great extent, the theological and hu- manitarian views of Theodore Parker. 15. He wrote a book (which was suppressed) against the Bible and Christianity. 16. His connection with public affairs prevented him from giving prominence to his religious opin- ions during the later years of his life, but his earlier views concerning the unsoundness of the Christian system of religion never underwent any material change, and he died, as he had lived, an unbeliever, r * * * ABRAHAM LINCOLN: WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? CHAPTER I. CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY. Dr. J. G. Holland Hon. Newton Bateinan - Rev. J. A. Reed Rev. James Smith. D.D. N. W. Edwards Thomas Lewis Noah Brooks Rev. Byron Sunderland, D.D. Rev. Dr. Miner Rev. Dr. Gurley Hon. I. N. Arnold F. B. Carpenter -Isaac Hawley Rev. Mr. Willets A Pious Nurse -Western Christian Advocate An II inois Clergyman Rev. J. H. Burrows. D D. Rev, Francis Yinton, D.D. Bishop Simpson. IN confirmation of the claim that Lincoln was a Christian, the following evidence has been adduced : DR. J. G. HOLLAND. President Lincoln died on the 15th of April, 1865. In the same year, the " Life of Abraham Lincoln," written by Dr. J. G. Holland, appeared. In the fields of poetry and fiction, and as a magazine writer, Dr. Holland had achieved- an enviable reputation. His "Life of Lincoln' was written in his usually 20 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: entertaining style and secured a wide circulation. He affirmed that Lincoln was a Christian, and by means of this work, and through Scribner's Magazine, of which he was for many years the editor, contrib- uted more than any other person to render a belief in this claim popular. Referring to Lincoln's admin- istration, Dr. Holland says : " The power of a true-hearted Christian man, in perfect sympathy with a true-hearted Christian peo- ple, was Mr. Lincoln's power. Open on one side of his nature to all descending influences from him to whom he prayed, and open on the other to all as- cending influences from the people whom he served, he aimed simply to do his duty to God and man. Acting rightly he acted greatly. While he took care of deeds fashioned by a purely ideal standard, God took care of results. Moderate, frank, truthful, gentle, forgiving, loving, just, Mr. Lincoln will al- ways be remembered as eminently a Christian Presi- dent ; and the almost immeasurably great results which he had the privilege of achieving were due to the fact that he was a Christian President " (Life of Lincoln, p. 542). . HON. NEWTON BATEMAN. Dr. Holland's claim rests chiefly upon a confession which Lincoln is said to have made to Newton Bateman in 1860. During the Presidential campaign WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 21 Lincoln occupied the Executive Chamber at the State House. Mr. Bateman was Superintendent of Public Instruction at the time, had his office in the same building, and was frequently in Lincoln's room. The conversation in which Lincoln is alleged to have expressed a belief in Christianity is thus related in Holland's " Life of Lincoln :" " On one of these occasions Mr. Lincoln took up a book containing a careful canvass of the city of Springfield in which he lived, showing the candidate for whom each citizen had declared it his intention to vote in the approaching election. Mr. Lincoln's friends had, doubtless at his own request, placed the result of the canvass in his hands. This was toward the close of October, and only a few days be- fore the election. Calling Mr. Bateman to a seat at * his side, having previously locked all the doors, he said : ' Let us look over this book. I wish particu- larly to see how the ministers of Springfield are going to vote.' The leaves were turned, one by one, and as the names were examined Mr. Lincoln frequently asked if this one and that were not a minister, or an elder, or the member of such or such a church, and sadly expressed his surprise on receiving an affirma- tive answer. In that manner they went through the book, and then he closed it and sat silently and for * some minutes regarding a memorandum in pencil which lay before him. At length he turned to Mr. 22 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I Bateman, with a face full of sadness, and said : ' Here are twenty-three ministers, of different denomina- tions, and all of them are against me but three ; and here are a great many prominent members of the churches, a very large majority of whom are against me. Mr. Bateman, I am not a Christian God knows I would be one but I have carefully read the Bible, and I do not so understand this book ;' and he drew from his bosom a pocket New Testament. ' These men well know,' he continued, ' that I am for freedom in the territories, freedom everywhere as far as the Constitution and laws will permit, and that my opponents are for slavery. They know this, and yet, with this book in their hands, in the light of which human bondage cannot live a moment, they are going to vote against me. I do not understand it at all.' Here Mr. Lincoln paused paused for long minutes his features surcharged with emotion. Then he rose and walked up and down the room in the effort to retain or regain his self-possession. Stopping at last, he said, with a trembling voice and his cheeks wet with tears : ' I know there is a God, and that he hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming, and I know that his hand is in it. If he has a place for me and I think he has I believe I am ready. I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know I am right, for Christ teaches it, and Christ is God.' WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 23 " The effect of this conversation upon the mind of Mr. Bateman, a Christian gentleman whom Mr. Lin- coln profoundly respected, was to convince him that Mr. Lincoln had, in his quiet way, found a path to the Christian standpoint that he had found God, and rested on the eternal truth of God. As the two men were about to separate, Mr. Bateman remarked : ' I have not supposed that you were accustomed to think so much upon this class of subjects. Certainly your friends generally are ignorant of the sentiments you have expressed to me.' He replied quickly : ' I know they are. I am obliged to appear different to them ; but I think more upon these subjects than upon all others, and I have done so for years ; and I am willing that you should know it ' " (Life of Lin- coln, pp. 236-239). REV. J. A. REED. In 1872, seven years after the publication of Hol- land's work, Lamon's " Life of Abraham Lincoln " was published. In this work the statements of Hol- land and Bateman concerning Lincoln's religious belief are disputed, and the testimony of numerous witnesses cited to prove that he lived and died a dis- believer. Soon after Lamon's book was published, the Rev. J. A. Reed, a Presbyterian clergyman, of Springfield, 111., delivered a lecture in which he at- tempted to refute or modify the evidence of Lamon's 24 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I * witnesses and prove that Lincoln died a Christian. He admitted that Lincoln was an Infidel up to 1848, and possibly as late as 1862, but endeavored to show that previous to his death he changed his views and became a Christian. The following extracts present the salient points in his discourse : " Having shown what claims Mr. Lamon's book has to being the * only fair and reliable history ' of Mr. Lincoln's life and views, and of what 'trust- worthy materials ' it is composed, I shall now give the testimony I have collected to establish what has ever been the public impression, that Mr. Lincoln was in his later life, and at the time of his death, a firm believer in the truth of the Christian religion. The Infidelitv of his earlier life is not so much to be */ wondered at, when we consider the poverty of his early religious instruction and the peculiar influences by which he was surrounded." j " It does not appear that he had ever seen, much less read, a work pn the evidences of Christianity till his interview with Kev. Dr. Smith in 1848. We hear of him as reading Paine, Voltaire, and Theodore it " While it is to be regretted that Mr. Lincoln was not spared to indicate his religious sentiments by a profession of his faith in accordance with the insti- tutiofes of the Christian religion, yet it is very clear that he had this step in view, :md was seriously con- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 25 templating it, as a sense of its fitness and an appre- hension of his duty grew upon him.' In support of his claims, Dr. Eeed presents the testimony of Eev. Dr. Smith, Ninian W. Edwards, Thomas Lewis, Noah Brooks, Eev. Dr. Sunderland, Eev. Dr. Miner, and Eev. Dr. Gurley. REV. JAMES SMITH, D.D. The Eev. James Smith was for many years pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield. Lincoln formed his acquaintance soon after he lo- cated there, remained on friendly terms with him, and with Mrs. Lincoln frequently attended his church. Dr. Smith was one of the three Springfield clergymen who supported Lincoln for President in 1860, and in recognition of his friendship and fidel- ity, he received the consulship at Lhindee. Dr. Eeed quotes from a letter to W. H. Herndon, dated East Cainno, Scotland, January 24, 1867, in which Dr. Smith says : " It is a very easy matter to prove that while I was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Spring- field, Mr. Lincoln did avow his belief in the divine authority and inspiration of the scriptures, and I hold that it is a matter of the last importance not only to the present, but all future generations of the great Eepublic, and to all advocates of civil and re- ligious liberty throughout the world, that this avowal 26 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : on his part, and the circumstances attending it, together with very interesting incidents illustrative of the excellence of his character, in my possession, should be made known to the public. ... It was my honor to place before Mr. Lincoln arguments designed to prove the divine authority and inspira- tion of the scriptures accompanied by the arguments of Infidel objectors in their own language. To the arguments 011 both sides Mr. Lincoln gave a most patient, impartial, and searching investigation. To use his own language, he examined the arguments as a lawver who is anxious to reach the truth investi- */ gates testimony. The result was the announcement by himself that the argument in favor of the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures was un- answerable." HON. NfNIAN W. EDWARDS. Ninian W. Edwards, a brother-in-law of Lincoln, writes as follows : " Springfield, Dec. 24th, 1872. " Rev. Jas. A. Eeed : " Dear Sir " A short time after the Rev. Dr. Smith became pastor of the First Presbyterian church in this city, Mr. Lincoln said to me, ' I have been reading a work of Dr. Smith on the evidences of Christianity, and have heard him preach and converse on the subject, WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 27 and I am now convinced of the truth of the Christian religion.' Yours truly, " N. W. Edwards." THOMAS LEWIS. In corroboration of Mr. Edwards's statement, Thomas Lewis, of Springfield, 111., testifies as fol- lows : " Springfield, Jan. 6th, 1873. " Kev. J. A. Eeed : " Dear Sir "Not long after Dr. Smith came to Springfield, and I think very near the time of his son's death, Mr. Lincoln said to me, that when on a visit some- where, he had seen and partially read a work of Dr. Smith on the evidences of Christianity which had led him to change his views about the Christian religion ; that he would like to get that work to finish the reading of it, and also to make the ac- quaintance of Dr. Smith. I was an elder in Dr. Smith's church, and took Dr. Smith to Mr. Lincoln's office and introduced him ; and Dr. Smith gave Mr. Lincoln a copy of his book, as I know, at his own request. Yours etc., " Thos. Lewis." NOAH BROOKS. Noah Brooks, a newspaper correspondent of New ij 28 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: York, and the author of a biography of Lincoln, gives the following testimony : "New York, Dec. 31, 1872. " Eev. J. A. Reed, " My Dear Sir : " In addition to what has appeared from my pen, I will state that I have had many conversations with Mr. Lincoln, which were more or less of a religious character, and while I never tried to draw anything like a statement of his views from him, yet he freely expressed himself to me as having ' a hope of blessed immortality through Jesus Christ.' His views seemed to settle so naturally around that statement, that I considered no other necessary. His language seemed not that of an inquirer, but of one who had a prior settled belief in the fundamental doctrines of the Christian religion. Once or twice, speaking to me of the change which had come upon him, he said, while he could not fix any detinite time, yet it was after lie came here, and I am very positive that in his own mind he identified it with about the time of Willie's death. He said, too, that i after he went to the White House he kept up the habit of daily prayer. Sometimes he said it was only ten words, but those ten words he had. There is no possible reason to suppose that Mr. Lincoln would ever deceive me as to his religious sentiments. In many conversations with him, I absorbed the firm WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 29 conviction that Mr. Lincoln was at heart a Christian man, believed in the Savior, and was seriously con- sidering the step which would formally connect him with the visible church on earth. Certainly, any suggestion as to Mr. Lincoln's skepticism or Infidel- ity, to me who knew him intimately from 1862 till the time of his death, is a monstrous fiction a shocking perversion. " Yours truly, " Noah Brooks." REV. BYRON SUNDERLAND, D.D. Mr. Reed presents a lengthy letter from the Rev. Byron Sunderland, of Washington, dated Nov. 15, 1872. Dr. Sunderland in company with a party of friends visited the President in the autumn of 1862. In this letter he says : "After some conversation, in which he seemed disposed to have his joke and fun, he settled down to a serious consideration of the subject before his mind, and for one half-hour poured forth a volume of the deepest Christian philosophy I ever heard." REV. DR. MINER. The Rev. Dr. Miner, who met Lincoln in Washing- ton, says : " All that was said during that memorable after- noon I spent alone with that great and good man is 30 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : engraven too deeply on my memory ever to be effaced. I felt certain of this fact, that if Mr. Lin- coln was not really an experimental Christian, he was acting like one. He was doing his duty man- fully, and looking to God for help in time of need ; and, like the immortal Washington, he believed in the efficacy of prayer, and it was his custom to read the Scriptures and pray himself." REV. P. D. GURLEY, D.D. While in Washington, Lincoln with his family attended the Presbyterian church of which the Rev. Dr. Gurley was pastor. Mr. Reed cites the follow- ing as the testimony of Dr. Gurley in regard to the alleged Infidelity of Lincoln : " I do not believe a word of it. It could not have been true of him while here, for I have had frequent and intimate conversations with him on the subject of the Bible and the Christian religion, when he could have had no motive to deceive me, and I con- sidered him sound not onlv on the truth of the / Christian religion but on all its fundamental doctrines and teachings. And more than that, in the latter days of his chastened and weary life, after the death of his son Willie, and his visit to the battlefield of Gettysburg, he said, with tears in his eyes, that he had lost confidence in everything but God, and that he now believed his heart was changed, and that he WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 31 loved the Savior, and, if he was not deceived in him- self, it was his intention soon to make a profession of religion." HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD. One of the most ardent friends and admirers of Abraham Lincoln was Isaac N. Arnold, for several years a member of Congress from Illinois. Mr. Arnold wrote a work on " Lincoln and Slavery," and a " Life of Lincoln " which was published in 1885. Lincoln's religious views are thus described by Mr. Arnold : "No more reverent Christian than he ever sat in the Executive chair, not excepting Washington. He was by nature religious ; full of religious sentiment. The veil between him and the supernatural was very thin. It is not claimed that he was orthodox. For creeds and dogmas he cared little. But in the* gyeat fundamental principles of religion, of the Christian religion, he was a firm believer. Belief in the exist- ence of God, in the immortality of the soul, in the Bible as the revelation of God to man, in the efficacy and duty of prayer, in reverence toward the Almighty, and in love and charity to man, was the basis of his religion " (Life of Lincoln, p. 446). "His reply to the Negroes of Baltimore when they, in 1864, presented him with a magnificent Bible, ought to silence forever those who charge him . 32 ABRAHAM LINCOLN with unbelief. He said : ' In regard to the Great Book I have only to say that it is the best gift which God has given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated through this book ' " (Ibid., p. 447). " His faith in a Divine Providence began at his mother's knee, and ran through all the changes of his life. Not orthodox, not a man of creeds, he was a man of simple trust in God " (Ib., p. 448). F. B. CARPENTER. Mr. Carpenter, the artist, in his popular book, entitled " Six Months in the White House with Abraham Lincoln," uses the following language : " I would scarcely have called Mr. Lincoln a re- ligious man and yet I believe him to have been a sincere Christian " (Six Months in the White House, p. 185). ISAAC HAWLEY. In the spring of 1887, in going from Springfield to Havana, I met Isaac Hawley, one of the early settlers of Illinois, and who for nearly twenty years resided within a few blocks of Lincoln in Springfield. In answer to the question, " Was Lincoln a Chris- tian?" Mr. Hawley replied: " I believe that Lincoln was a Christian, and that he was God's chosen instrument to perform the mighty work he did." WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? REV. MR. WILLETS. The Eev. Mr. Willets, of Brooklyn, N. Y., is cred- ited with the following statement concerning Lin- coln's reputed conversion. The information it con- tains was obtained, it is said, from a lady of Mr. Willets's acquaintance who met Lincoln in Washing- ton: " The President, it seemed, had been much im- pressed with the devotion and earnestness of pur- pose manifested by the lady, and on one occasion, after she had discharged the object of her visit, he said to her : " Mrs. , I have formed a high opin- ion of vour Christian character, and now, as we are m alone, I have a mind to ask you to give me, in brief, your idea of what constitutes a true religious expe- rience.' The lady replied at some length, stating that, in her judgment, it consisted of a conviction of one's own sinfulness and weakness, and personal need of a Savior for strength and support; that views of mere doctrine might and would differ, but when one was really brought to feel his need of divine help, and to seek the aid of the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, it was satisfactory evi- dence of his having been born again. This was the substance of her reply. When she had concluded, Mr. Lincoln was very thoughtful for a few moments. He at length said, very earnestly, * If what you have 34 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: told me is really a correct view of this great subject, I think I can say with sincerity that I hope I am a Christian ' " (Anecdotes of Lincoln, pp. 166, 167). A PIOUS NURSE. A pious lady, who served in the capacity of a hos- pital nurse at Washington, and who sometimes vis- ited the White House, testifies to Lincoln's belief in the efficacy of prayer. The incident narrated oc- curred while a battle was in progress,. The report says: " The possibility of defeat depressed him greatly ; but the lady told him he must trust, and that he could at least pray. * Yes,' said he, and taking up a Bible, he started for his room. Could all the peo- ple of the nation have overheard the earnest peti- tion that went up from that inner chamber as it reached the ears of the nurse, they would have fallen upon their knees with tearful and reverential sym- pathy " (Anecdotes of Lincoln, p. 120). WESTERN CHRISTIAN ADVOCATE. Soon after the close of the war, the Western Chris- tian Advocate, the leading Christian journal of the West, published the following : " On the day of the receipt of the capitulation of Lee, as we learn from a friend intimate with the late President Lincoln, the cabinet meeting was held an WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 35 hour earlier than usual. Neither the President nor any member was able, for a time, to give utterance to his feelings. At the suggestion of Mr. Lincoln all dropped on their knees, and offered in silence and in tears their humble and heartfelt acknowledgment to the Almighty for the triumph he had granted to the national cause." The above is quoted by Baymond and other biog- raphers of Lincoln. AH ILLINOIS CLERGYMAN. In the " Lincoln Memorial Album " appears what is reported to be Lincoln's "Reply to an Illinois Clergyman :" " When I left Springfield I asked the people to pray for me. I was not a Christian. When I buried my son, the severest trial of my life, I was not a Christian. But when I went to Gettysburg, and saw the graves of thousands of our soldiers, I then and there consecrated myself to Christ. Yes, I do love Jesus" (L. M. A., p. 366). REV. JOHN H. BARROWS. In the " Lincoln Memorial Album," Dr. J. H. Barrows contributes an article on " The Beligious Aspects of Abraham Lincoln's Career," from which I quote as follows : " In the anxious uncertainties of the great war, he 36 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: gradually rose to the Lights where Jehovah became to him the sublimestof realities, the ruler of nations. When he wrote his immortal Proclamation, he invoked upon it not only ' the considerate judgment of mankind,' but * the gracious favor of Almighty God.' When darkness gathered over the brave armies fighting for the nation's life, this strong man in the early morning knelt and wrestled in prayer with him who holds in his hand the fate of empires. When the clouds lifted above the carnage of Gettys- burg, he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he pronounced his matchless oration on the chief battlefield of the war, he gave expression to the resolve that ' this nation, under God, should have a new birth of freedom.' And when he wrote his last Inaugural Address, he gave to it the lofty religious tone of an old Hebrew psalm ' (L. M. A., p. 508). REV. FRANCIS VINTON, D.D. This clergyman, a resident of New York, and a stranger to Lincoln, visited the White House in 1862, it is claimed, and indulged in an argument and exhortation, the effect of which was to convert the President to a belief in the Christian doctrine of the resurrection and the immortality of the soul. Dur- ing the interview, Lincoln, it is reported, fell upon the neck of his clerical visitor and wept like a child. WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 37 Before retiring, Dr. Vinton said : " I have a sermon upon this subject which I think might interest you." " Mr. Lincoln," the report continues, " begged him to send it at an early day, thanking him repeatedly for his cheering and hopeful words. The sermon was sent, and read over and over by the President, who caused a copy to be made for his own private use before it was returned " (Anecdotes of Lincoln, pp. 107, 108). BISHOP SIMPSON. The most eminent Methodist divine of that period was Bishop Simpson. During the war his com- manding influence and rare eloquence did much to secure for the Union cause the united support of Northern Methodists. Lincoln appreciated the services of the distinguished divine, and they became warm friends. When the remains of the President were conveyed to their final resting-place at Springfield, Bishop Simpson was selected to deliver the funeral oration. Alluding to the religious phase of Lincoln's character, he spoke as fol- lows : "As a ruler, I doubt if any President has ever shown such trust in God, or in public documents so frequently referred to divine aid. Often did he remark to friends and to delegations that his hope for our success rested in his conviction that God 38 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: would bless our efforts because we were trying to do right " (Lincoln and Slavery, p. 673). WAS HE A CHBISTIAN? 39 CHAPTEK IL BEVIKW OF CHBISTIAN TESTIMONY HOLLAND AND BATE- MAN. Character of Holland's " Life of Lincoln " TheBateman Interview Inconsistency and untruthfulness of its statements Holland's Subse- quent Modification and Final Abandonment of his original Claims. IN the preceding chapter has been presented the Christian side of this question. It has been pre- sented fully and fairly. Even the Christian claimant must admit that it is the longest and most complete array of testimony that has yet been published in support of his claim. This evidence is explicit and apparently conclusive. To attempt its refutation may seem presumptuous. And yet, in the face of all this evidence, the writer does not hesitate to declare that Abraham Lincoln was not a Christian, and pledge himself to refute the statements of these wit- nesses by a volume of testimony that is irresistible and overwhelming. Before introducing this testimony the evidence already adduced will be reviewed. This evidence may properly be grouped into three divisions : 1. The testimony of Holland and Bateman; 2. The 40 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : testimony of Keed and his witnesses; 3. The tes- timony of Arnold and the miscellaneous evidence remaining. Holland's " Life of Lincoln," from a literary point of view, is a work of more than ordinary merit. It possesses a beauty of diction and an intellectual vigor seldom surpassed ; but as an authority it is unreliable. Like Weems's " Life of Washington," it is simply a biographical romance founded upon fact, but paying little regard to facts in presenting the details. Following the natural bent of Christian biographers, Holland parades the subject of his work as a model of Christian piety. He knew that this was false ; for, while he was unacquainted with Lincoln, he had been apprised of his unbelief had been repeatedly told of it before he wrote his biography. But this did not deter him from assert- ing the contrary. He knew that if he stated the facts the clergy would condemn his book. They needed the influence of Lincoln's great name to support their crumbling creed, and would have it at any sacrifice, particularly when its possession re- quired no greater sacrifice than truth. Holland was equal to the emergency. When one of Lincoln's friends in Springfield suggested that the less said about his religious views the better, he promptly replied : "Oh, never mind ; I'll fix that." And he did. With dramatic embellishments, he presented WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 41 to the delight of the orthodox world the now famous, <' or rather infamous, Bateinan interview. The publication of this story produced a profound sensation among the personal friends of the dead President. It revealed to them the unpleasant fact, assuming Holland's account to be correct, either that Newton Bateman, who had hitherto borne the repu- tation of being a man of veracity, was an unscrupu- lous liar, or that Abraham Lincoln, whose reputation for honesty and candor, long anterior to I860, had become proverbial, was a consummate hypocrite ; and loath as they were to believe the former, they rejected with disdain the latter. Eeferring to this story, Lamon, in his " Life of Lincoln," says : " There is no dealing with Mr. Bateman except by a flat contradiction. Perhaps his memory was treacherous or his imagination led him astray, or, perad venture, he thought a fraud no harm if it gratified the strong desire of the public for proofs of Mr. Lincoln's orthodoxy " (Life of Lincoln, p. 501). While Bateman undoubtedly misrepresented Lin- coln in his account of their conversation for it is not denied that he had an interview with Lincoln it is quite probable that he did not to the extent represented by Holland. Bateman doubtless exag- gerated the affair, and Holland magnified Bate- man's report of it. In an article originally published 42 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: in the Index, and subsequently quoted by Lamon, Lincoln's law partner, Mr. Herndon, says : " I doubt whether Mr. Bateman said in full what is recorded there. I doubt a great deal of it. I know the whole story is untrue untrue in sub- stance, untrue in fact and spirit. As soon as the [Holland's] ' Life of Lincoln ' was out, on reading that part here referred to, I instantly sought Mr. Bateman and found him in his office. I spoke to him politely and kindly, and he spoke to me in the same manner. I said substantially to him that Mr. Holland, in order to make Mr. Lincoln a technical Christian, made him a hypocrite ; and so his ' Life of Lincoln ' quite plainly says. I loved Mr. Lincoln, and was mortified, if not angry, to see him made a hypocrite. I cannot now detail what Mr. Bateman said, as it was a private conversation, and I am forbidden to make use of it in public. If some good gentleman can only get the seal of secrecy removed I can show what was said and done. On my word, the world may take it for granted that Holland is wrong that he does not state Mr. Lincoln's views correctly" (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, p. 496). In a lecture on " Lincoln's Eeligion," delivered in Springfield in 1874, alluding to the same subject, Mr. Herndon says : " My notes of our conversation bear date Decem- ber 3, 12, and 28, 1865. Our conversations were WAS HE A CHBISTIAN? private, I suppose. However, I can say this much : that Mr. Bateman expressly told me Mr. Lin- coln was, in the conversation related in Hoi- land, talking politics and not religion, nor Christian- ity, nor morals, as such. I have persistently dogged Mr. Bateman for the privilege of publishing my notes, or to give me a letter explaining what Mr. Lincoln did say, so that I might make known the facts of the case. Mr. Bateman has as stoutly < refused." Dr. Bateman finally permitted Mr. Herndon to make public a letter, marked " confidential," which he had written Mr. Herndon in 1867. In this letter Bateman says : " He [Lincoln] was applying the principles of moral and religious truth to the duties of the hour, the condition of the country, and the conduct of public men ministers of the gospel. I had no thought of orthodoxy or heterodoxy, Unitarianism, Trinitarianism, or any other ism, during the whole conversation, and I don't suppose or believe he had." Had Lincoln made the confession he is reported to have made, this would have suggested to Mr. Bateman the idea of his admitted orthodoxy as well as his reputed heterodoxy. Had Lincoln declared that " Christ is God," this would have suggested to him the idea of Trinitarianism. It will be seen, even from this letter, that instead of talking theology and N 44 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I professing a belief in Christianity, he was talking politics and denouncing the intolerance and bigotry of Christian ministers. Dr. Bateman privately asserts that he was not cor- rectly reported, that Holland's version of the inter- view "is colored." It is to be regretted that he had not the courage to state this fact to the public, and his plea, " My aversion to publicity in such matters is intense," is a poor apology for refusing to do so. As previously intimated, this story is probably founded on fact and has an element of truth in it. Lincoln and Bateman had a political interview, and the object of this interview was the examination and discussion of the list of Springfield voters. This list revealed the fact that twenty out of twenty-three clergymen and a very large majority of the church- members of Springfield were opposed to Lincoln. The significance of this fact Dr. Holland and Dr. Bateman have apparently overlooked. Why was the church opposed to him ? It must have been either because it was opposed to the Republican party, or because he was personally objectionable to the mem- bers of that party. His political principles were the principles of his party, his ability was conceded, and his moral character was above reproach. It is fair to assume that the political sentiment of the Chris- tians of Springfield was substantially the political WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? sentiment of Northern Christians generally. Now, was the Northern Church overwhelmingly in favor of the extension of slavery ? Were eighty-seven per cent, of Northern Christians Democrats ? Or did the Christians of Springfield oppose Lincoln because he was an Infidel? Holland makes Bateman affirm that Lincoln " drew from his bosom a pocket New Testament." It is generally believed by Lincoln's friends that he did not have a New Testament, that the only book used in the interview was the book containing the list of Springfield voters. One of them says : " The idea that Mr. Lincoln carried the New Testament or Bible in his bosom or boots, to draw on his opponents in debate, is ridiculous." It is possible, however, that there was a New Testament in the room, and that Lincoln used it to enforce an argument. Indeed, there is internal evidence in the story, aside from the declaration of Bateman, that such was the case. The central idea in his political creed the keynote of his campaigns, both in 1858 and in 1860 was con- tained in that memorable passage, " * A house divided against itself cannot stand.' This government can not endure permanently half slave and half free." The figure quoted was a familiar and powerful one, and Lincoln recognized its force in dealing with the masses. It was taken from the New Testament, and from the words of Christ himself. That he should 46 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: use it against those Christians who were acting con- trary to this well-known truth, is not strange. Im- mediately after the declaration, " Christ is God," he is reported as saying : " I have told them that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and Christ and reason say the same." This furnishes a solution to the whole story. This shows what he was doing with a New Testament. In connection with this, nothing is more natural than that he should exclaim : " Christ teaches it, and Christ is [their] God ! " That he was terribly in earnest, that he was deeply agi- tated and pained to learn that his Christian neigh- bors were opposed to him, is not improbable. Thus the incidents of a simple political interview that were natural and reasonable have been perverted to make it appear that he was a Christian. A mere reference to the New Testament and Christ have been twisted into an acknowledgment of their divin- ity. Bateman himself admits that Lincoln said : "I am not a Christian." Why not accept his statement, then ? Why then distort his words and in the face of this positive declaration attempt to prove that he was a Christian ? Bateman reports him as modify- ing the statement by adding : " God knows I would be one." Yes, " God knows I would be one were I convinced that Christianity is true, but not convinced of its truth, I am an unbeliever." Lincoln is also reported to have said that in the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 47 light of the New Testament " human bondage can not live a moment." But he did not utter these words. He did not utter them because they are un- true, and none knew this better than himself. He knew that in the light of this book human bondage had lived for nearly two thousand years ; he knew that this book was one of the great bulwarks of hu- man slavery ; he knew that there was not to be found between its lids a single text condemning slavery, while there were to be found a score of texts sus- taining it ; he knew that that infamous law, the Fugitive Slave law, received its warrant from this book that Paul, in the light of its earliest teach- ings, had returned a fugitive slave to his master. In this story Lincoln is charged with the grossest hypocrisy. He is declared to have professed a be- lief in Christ and Christianity, and when Bateman observed that his friends were ignorant of this, he is made to reply : " I know they are. I am obliged to appear different to them." Now, to use Lincoln's own words, " A sane person can no more act with- out a motive than can there be an effect without a cause," and what possible motive could he have had for such conduct? Supposing that he was base enough to be a hypocrite, what could induce him to lead the world to suppose he was an Infidel if he were not? In the eyes of the more ignorant and bigoted class of Christians, Infidelity is a more ABRAHAM LINCOLN: heinous crime than murder, and an Infidel is a creature scarcely to be tolerated, much less to be intrusted with a public office. Freethinkers gen- erally detest the dogmas of Christianity as thoroughly as Christians possibly can the principles of Freethought. But free thought and free speech are the leading tenets of their creed. They recog- nize the fact that we are all the children of circum- stances, that our belief is determined by our en- vironments, and while they reject Christianity, they have nothing but charity for those who consci- entiously profess it. They may repudiate a bigot, but will not oppose a man merely because he is a Christian. If Lincoln were an Infidel, discretion might urge a concealment of his views ; if he were a Christian, policy would prompt him to give it as wide a publicity as possible, especially when he rested under the imputation of being a disbeliever. Had he changed his belief and become a convert to Christianity, a knowledge of the fact would not have lost him the support of his friends, even though some of them were Freethinkers ; while it would have secured for him a more cordial support from the Republican side of the church, many of whom had been alienated on account of his supposed anti- Christian sentiments. It is hard to believe that Lincoln was a hypocrite ; but this story, if true, makes him not only a hypocrite but a fool. If he WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 49 believed in Christianity there can be but one reason advanced for his desiring to keep it a secret he was ashamed of it. Holland, in trying to explain away the inconsist- encies of this fabrication, repeatedly blunders. In one of his attempts he makes use of the following remarkable language : " It was one of the peculiarities of Mr. Lincoln to hide these religious experiences from the eyes of the world. . . . They [his friends] did not re- gard him as a religious man. They had never seen anything but the active lawyer, the keen politician, the jovial, fun-loving companion in Mr. Lincoln. All this department of his life he had kept carefully hidden from them. Why he should say that he was obliged to appear differently to others does not ap- pear ; but the fact is a matter of history that he never exposed his own religious life to those who had no sympathy with it. It is doubtful whether the clergymen of Springfield knew anything of these experiences" (Life of Lincoln, pp. 239, 240). What ! had the clergymen of Springfield no sym- pathy with a religious life ? A person can utter one falsehood with some degree of plausibility ; but when he attempts to verify it by uttering another, he usually trips and falls. The above passage is mere hypocritical cant. It carries with it not only its own refutation, but that of the rest of Holland's testi- 50 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: mony also. It is the language of the man who is conscious of having stated a falsehood ; conscious that there are others who believe it to be a false- hood. He knew that the personal friends of Lin- coln all understood him to be a disbeliever. He knew that the church-members of Springfield all entertained the same opinion. He virtually says to these people : " It is true that Lincoln professed to be an Infidel, but he was not ; he was a Christian. The fact has been kept a profound secret. Bateman and I have been the sole custodians of this secret, and we now give it to the world." A Christian writer, apologizing for the absurd and contradictory statements of Holland and Bateman, says, " They aimed at the truth." I do not believe it. It is clearly evident that they aimed at a plau- sible lie. But in either case they made a bad shot. In his "Life of Lincoln," Holland endeavors to convey the impression that Lincoln was always a devout Christian. He declares that even during the years of his early manhood at New Salem, " he was a religious man ;" that " he had a deep religious life." When Herndon and Lamon exposed his shameful misrepresentations he retreated from his first position, and in Scribmr's Monthly wrote as fol- lows : " What Abraham Lincoln was when he lived at New Salem and wrote an anti-Christian tract (which WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? the friend to whom he showed it somewhat violently but most judiciously put in the fire) is one thing, and it may be necessary for an impartial historian to record it. What he was when he died at Wash- ington with those most Christian words of the Second Inaugural upon his lips, and that most Christian record of five years of patient tenderness and charity behind him, is quite another thing." He admits that Lincoln was an Intidel in Illinois, but would have us believe that he was a Christian in Washington. He refers to " those most Christian words of the Second Inaugural," and "that most Christian record of five years of patient tenderness and charity." In the Second Inaugural there is not a word affirming a belief in Christianity not a word in reference to Christianity. He mentions God, and quotes from the Bible, but does not intimate that the Bible is God's word. That Christians have a mo- nopoly of " patient tenderness and charity," can hardly be accepted. The history of the church does not confirm this assumption. Many Christians have possessed these virtues. So have the votaries of other religions. These attributes belong to good men everywhere, but they are the distinguishing features of no particular creed. Smarting under his exposure, with that whining cant so peculiar to the vanquished religionist, Hoi- 52 ABBAHAM LINCOLN I land finally sent forth this parting wail and virtually abandoned the whole case : " The question is, not whether Abraham Lincoln was a subscriber to the creeds of orthodoxy, but whether */ ' he was a believing that is to say, a truthful Chris- tian man ; not whether he was accustomed to call Jesus Christ ' Lord, Lord,' but whether he was used to do those things which Jesus Christ exemplified and enforced. He was accustomed, as we know well enough, to speak of an Almighty Father, of whom justice and mercy and sympathy with weak and suf- fering humanity were characteristic attributes. Who was it that revealed to man a God like this? Who was it that once ' showed us the Father and it suf- ficed us ? ' Whoever it was that made this revela- tion to mankind it was of him that this man, even though he knew it not, had learned, and it was in his spirit that he acted" (Scribner's Monthly). The concluding words of Dr. Holland's testimony, as quoted from his " Life of Lincoln," are as follows : " Moderate, frank, truthful, gentle, forgiving, lov- ing, just, Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as eminently a Christian President ; and the almost immeasurably great results which he had the privi- lege of achieving were due to the fact that he was a Christian President." This prediction and this assumption are false. 1 change one word and make them grandly true. WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 53 "Moderate, frank, truthful, gentle, forgiving, loving, just, Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as eminently a Liberal President ; and the almost immeasurably great results which he had the privi- lege of achieving were due to the fact that he was a Liberal President. 54 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : CHAPTEK III REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY REED AND HIS WIT- NESSES. Reed Smith Edwards Lewis B r ooks Statements of Edwards. Smith, and Brooks Compared Simderland Miner Gurley Failure of Reed to Establish his Claims. OF the twenty Christian witnesses whose testimony is given in Chapter I., ten admit that, during a part of his life, Lincoln was an unbeliever, or Infidel. Of the remaining ten, not one denies the fact. It is conceded, then, that he was once an Infidel. Now, it is a rule of law that when a certain state or condi- tion of things is once proven to exist, that state or condition is presumed to continue to exist until the contrary is proven. If Lincoln was, at one time, an Infidel, it is fair to assume that he remained an In- fidel, unless it can be shown that he changed his be- lief and became a Christian. This Dr. Heed at- tempts to do. His lecture, under the caption of " The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Abraham Lincoln," will be found in Scribner's Monthly for July, 1873. The evidence presented by Lamon had placed Dr. Hoi- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 55 land in a most unenviable light. As Reed's lecture reaffirmed the claim made by Holland, and brought forward fresh evidence to substantiate the claim, it was naturally regarded by many Christians as a vin- dication of Holland's position, especially by those who had not read Lamon's work. Holland was par- ticularly pleased at its opportune appearance, and cheerfully gave it a place in his magazine. Reed's individual testimony proves nothing. He does not profess to know, from personal knowledge, what Lincoln's religious views were. The object of his lecture was to invalidate, if possible, the testi- mony of those who affirmed that he died an Infidel, and to present, in addition to what had already been presented by Holland, the testimony of those who affirmed that during the last years of his life he wag a Christian. To answer his witnesses is to answer his lecture. The Rev. Dr. Smith affirms that he converted Lin- coln to a belief in " the divine authority and inspira- tion of tJie Scriptures." It was imperative that he should, for, said he, " It was my honor to place be- fore Mr. Lincoln arguments designed to prove the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures." As a matter of course, "the result was the announce- ment by himself that the arguments in favor of the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures were unanswerable." Consequently, " Mr^ Lincoln 56 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: did avow his belief in the divine authority and iiispira- tion of the Scriptures." Impressed with a deep sense of the gravity and importance of his work, he declares that " It is a matter of the last importance not only to the present but to all future generations of the great Republic, and to all advocates of civil and religious liberty throughout the world that this avowal on his part, . . . should be made known to the public," coupled with the more important fact, of course, that it was Dr. Smith who did it. It is to be re- gretted that his waiting until after Lincoln's death to announce it, prevented the convert's Christian friends from tendering their congratulations and ex- tending the hand of fellowship. It is possible that he counseled Dr. Smith not to divulge the secret for fear it might injure his political prospects. Certain it is, his neighbors were ignorant of this remarkable change. When Holland canvassed Springfield, in 1865, eager to obtain a morsel of evidence upon which to base his claim that Lincoln was a Christian, he failed to catch even the faintest whisper regard- ing this alleged conversion. When Dr. Smith's letter was made public, the Christians of Springfield generally smiled, but said nothing, while unbelievers laughed outright and pronounced it the acme of absurdity. Dr. Reed read it to his audience and tried to look serious. WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 57 Concerning this claim, Lincoln's biographer, Colo- nel Lamon, says : " The abilities of this gentleman to discuss such a topic to the edification of a man like Mr. Lincoln seem to have been rather slender ; but the chance of converting so distinguished a person inspired him with a zeal which he might not have felt for the salvation of an obscurer soul. Mr. Lincoln listened to his exhortations in silence, apparently respectful, and occasionally sat out his sermons in church with as much patience as other people. Finding these oral appeals unavailing, Mr. Smith composed a heavy tract out of his own head to suit the particular case. 'The preparation of that work/ says he, ' cost me long and arduous labor ;' but it does not appear to have been read. Mr. Lincoln took the ' work ' to his office, laid it down without writing his name on it, and never took it up again to the knowl- edge of a man who inhabited the office with him, and who saw it lying on the same spot every day for months. Subsequently Mr. Smith drew from Mr. Lincoln an acknowledgment that his argument was unanswerable not a very high compliment under the circumstances " (Life of Lincoln, p. 498). The gentleman whom Colonel Lamon refers to as testifying that Lincoln did not read Dr. Smith's book was Lincoln's partner, Mr. Herndon. In his lecture . pn " Lincoln's Religion," Mr. Herndon says : 58 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: " Mr. Lincoln received a book from Dr. Smith on Infidelity. He placed it on our law table. He never opened ib never read it to my knowledge." If Dr. Smith had converted Lincoln, as claimed, is it not reasonable to suppose that he would have joined Dr. Smith's church? Had he been converted would the clergymen of Springfield have denounced him as an Infidel in 1860? Again, if Dr. Smith's book was so effective as to convert from Infidelity to Christianity as great a mind as Lincoln, why have we not heard more of it ? Why has it not been used to convert other Infidels ? Was its vitality as an evangelizer exhausted in converting Lincoln? Mr. Beed was a trifle more successful than Dr. Holland in obtaining witnesses ; for while Holland was able to secure but one witness in Illinois, Beed was able to summon two Ninian Edwards and Thomas Lewis. The testimony of Mr. Edwards, providing that he was the author of the letter accredited to him, can only be accounted for on the following supposition. Being a believer in Christianity himself, he consid- ered Lincoln's Infidelity a grave defect in his char- acter, and was vexed to see that t}ris controversy had given it such wide publicity. To assist in removing this stain, as he regarded it. from his kinsman's .name, he allowed to be published over his signature a statement which, unless his memory was very WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 59 treacherous, he must have known was untrue. It may be that Lincoln did change his views in regard to some historical or doctrinal point con- nected with Christianity, and informed Mr. Edwards and other friends at the time of the fact. He might have changed his opinions on a hundred theological questions without having in the least changed his views in relation to the main or fundamental doctrines of Christianity. An admission concern- ing some trivial question connected with Christian- ity has been tortured to convey the idea that he accepted the whole system. A prominent and respected citizen of Springfield, a gentleman whose name has, as yet, not been men- tioned in connection with this controversy, had a conversation with Mr. Edwards relative to this sub- ject, soon after Reed's lecture was published, and, as the result of that conversation, he writes as fol- lows : " Mr. Edwards was not as good a witness on oral examination as he was in print." The letter of Mr. Edwards is dated Dec. 24, 1872. On Jan. 6, 1873, the letter of Thomas Lewis was written. After two weeks of arduous labor, Reed, it seems, succeeded in finding one witness in Spring- field who was prepared to corroborate the testimony of Edwards Thomas Lewis. In a lecture on Lincoln which appeared in the \ ABRAHAM LINCOLN : State Register, of Springfield, Mr. Herudon disposed of this witness as follows : " Mr. Lewis's veracity and integrity in this com- munity need no comment I Lave heard good men say they would not believe his word under any cir- cumstances, especially if he were interested. I hate to state this of Tom, but if he will obtrude himself in this discussion, I cannot help but say a word in self-defense. Mr. Lincoln detested this man, I know. The idea that Mr. Lincoln would go to Tom Lewis and reveal to him his religious convictions, is to me, and to all who know Mr. Lincoln and Tom Lewis, too absurd." The introduction of this Lewis as a witness dem- onstrates the paucity of evidence to be obtained on this side of the question among Lincoln's neighbors. Reed, living in a city of twenty thousand inhabitants, many of them the personal friends of Abraham Lin- coln, after a vigorous search for evidence, is able only to present this pitiable apology. I have reason to believe that the letters of Ed- wards and Lewis were drafted, not by the persons whose signatures they bear, but by the Rev. J. A. Reed. We come next to the testimony of Noah Brooks. Mr. Edwards, supported by Mr. Lewis, states that Lincoln was converted soon after Dr. Smith located at Springfield, and about the time of his son Eddie's WAS WE A CHRISTIAN? 61 death. Dr. Smith came to Springfield ill 1848, and Eddie died toward the close of the same year. Dr. Smith, in his letter, does not state when Lincoln's conversion took place, but it is understood from other sources that he claimed that it occurred about the year 1858. Mr. Brooks, in his letter to Dr. Keed, says : " Speaking to rne of the change which had come upon him, he said, while he could not fix any definite time, yet it was after he came here [Washing- ton], and I am very positive that in his own mind he identified it with about the time of Willie's death." Willie's death occurred in February, 1862, nearly fourteen years after the death of Eddie, and four years after Smith claimed to have converted Lincoln. Thus it will be seen that these witnesses nullify each other. The testimony of each is contradicted and refuted by the testimony of the other two. Mr. Edwards says that Lincoln was converted in 1848. This is contradicted by the testimony of both Smith and Brooks. According to Dr. Smith his conversion happened about 1858. This is contradicted by the testimony of both Edwards and Brooks. Mr. Brooks is quite positive that it took place about the time of Willie's death, in 1862. This, in turn, is contra- dicted by the testimony of both Edwards and Smith. If Mr. Edwards is right, both Dr. Smith and Mr. Brooks are wrong. If Dr. Smith is correct, both Mr. Ed- wards and Mr. Brooks are incorrect. If Mr. Brooks 62 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I has stated the truth both Mr. Edwards and Dr. Smith have stated falsehoods. The testimony of these witnesses does not strengthen Reed's case, but weakens it. The testi- mony of two of them is self-evidently false, and this is a sufficient reason for doubting the truthfulness of the third. Had the evidence of neither Edwards nor Smith been invalidated by the evidence of the others, the fact that Lincoln is so generally conceded to have been an unbeliever up to the time that he became President, would render it unworthy of con- sideration. The testimony of Brooks alone demands notice. Did Lincoln change his belief after he left Springfield and went to Washington ? The evidence upon this point is decisive. The man who stood nearest to President Lincoln at Washington nearer than any clergyman or news- paper correspondent was his private secretary, Col. John G. Nicolay. In a letter dated May 27, 1865, Colonel Nicolay says : "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way change his religious ideas, opinions, or beliefs from the time he left Springfield to the day of his death." In a letter to his old friend, Judge Wakefield, written after Willie's death, he declared that his earlier views of the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation, and the human origin of the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 63 Scriptures, had become clearer and stronger with advancing years, and he did not think he should ever change them. After his assassination Mrs. Lincoln said : " Mr. Lincoln had no hope and no faith in the usual ac- ceptance of these words." His lifelong friend and executor, Judge David Davis, affirmed the same : "He had no faith in the Christian sense of the term." His biographer, Colonel Lamon, intimately acquainted with him in Illinois, and with him during all the years that he lived in Washington, says : "Never in all that time did he let fall from his lips or his pen an expression which remotely implied the slightest faith in Jesus as the son of God and the Savior of men." Why do the statements of these witnesses, Smith, Edwards, and Brooks, not agree respecting the date of Lincoln's conversion? When their testimony was given, Smith was in Scotland, Edwards was in Illinois, and Brooks was in New York. If he was converted, why was the fact not revealed before his death ? Why did these men wait until he died to make these statements to the world? I Simply because the dead can make no reply. Had Lincoln been converted, the news would have been wafted on the wings of lightning from one end of the continent to the other. It would have been published in every newspaper ; it would have been 64 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I proclaimed from every pulpit ; it would have been a topic of conversation at every fireside. When Henry Wilson, a man of far less note than Lincoln, was con- * > verted to Christianity, the fact was heralded all over the land. Lincoln's home was twice visited by death during his lifetime, and both occasions have been seized upon to assert that he experienced a change of heart. The death of a beloved child is no common sorrow, and the womanly tenderness of Lincoln's heart made it doubly poignant to him. " When death entered his household," says his friend, George W. Julian, " his sorrow was so consuming that it could only be measured by the singular depth and intensity of his love." That Mr. Edwards and Mr. Brooks did each observe a change in the demeanor of the grief- stricken father, following the sad events referred to, is not improbable. But a manifestation of sorrow is no proof of a theological change. Three of Reed's witnesses remain three clergy- men Dr. Sunderland, Dr. Miner, and Dr. Gurley. Dr. Sunderland is a man of distinction. He has had the honor of praying for the United States Senate and officiating at the marriage of a President. Yet, distinction is not always the badge of honesty. W. H. Burr, a literary gentleman, of Washington, writing to a Boston paper in 1880, paid the following tribute to Dr. Sunderland's veracity : " He can prob- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? ably put more falsehood and calumny in a page of foolscap than any priest out of prison." Mr. Sunderland called upon the President in 1862. In his letter to Heed he says : " For one half hour [he] poured forth a volume of the deepest Christian philosophy I ever heard." Notwithstanding ten years had elapsed since that visit, he proceeded to give from memory a verbatim report of Lincoln's remarks. The report is too long to reproduce in this work, and even if correct, would add but little to the weight of Christian evidence already pre- sented. It is merely an ethical discourse, and aside from a few indirect admissions in favor of Christian- ity for which Sunderland doubtless drew upon his imagination, there is nothing that Paine or any other Deist might not with propriety have uttered. Those who wish to peruse Mr. Suuderland's letter will find it in Scribner's Monthly for July, 1873. Dr. Miner, like Dr. Sunderland, had a quiet chat with the President, and what was said he assures us is too deeply engraved on his memory ever to be effaced. But, unlike Dr. Sunderland, he does not favor us with a transcript of it. He does not repeat a word that was uttered. He states, however, that, * If Mr. Lincoln was not really an experimental Christian, he was acting like one." But how does an experimental Christian act ? If he behaves himself, if he is intelligent and honest, his actions are not 66 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: materially different from those of a good Freethinker. Dr. Miner did not believe that Lincoln was an ex- perimental Christian, and in his article there is an implied admission that he knew nothing about his religion. He says that, " Like the immortal Washington, he believed in the efficacy of prayer." The comparison is happily drawn. Lincoln probably did believe as much in the efficacy of prayer as Washington ; that is to say, he did not believe in it at all, in the evan- gelical sense. There is no evidence that Washing- ton believed in prayer, no proof that he ever ut- tered a prayer. That story about his praying at Valley Forge is as truly a myth as the story about the hatchet. The Rev. E. D. Neill, an eminent Episcopal minister, and a relative of the person who is reported to have seen Washington engaged in prayer, pronounces it a fiction. Dr. Gurley is represented as saying : " I con- sidered him sound not only on the truth of the Christian religion, but on all its fundamental doc- trines and teachings." This, remember, is from a Calvinistic standpoint. Lincoln, then, not only ac- cepted Christianity, but its most ultra variety Cal- vinism. He believed in original sin, predestination (including infant damnation), particular redemption, irresistible grace, and perseverance of the saints. Because he sometimes went with his wife to the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 67 Presbyterian church, of which she was an adherent, the priests of this denomination have the contempt- ible assurance to assert that he was a rigid Calvin- ist ! When he died Dr. Gurley, being Mrs. Lincoln's pastor, delivered the funeral oration in Washington. In that oration Dr. Gurley did not affirm that Lin- coln was a Christian, a thing he would not have failed to do had it been true. Long after Lincoln's death, Dr. Gurley, if Eeed has correctly reported him, makes a statement that he had not the courage to make over his dead body. A reputable Christian gentleman, of Springfield, who desires to have his name withheld from the public, declares that Dr. Gurley knew and admitted that Lincoln was a disbeliever in Christianity. It is quite probable that Gurley did not state in full what Eeed reports him to have stated. A man who can take up his pen and at one sitting indite a score Of falsehoods and misrepresentations, as Eeed, on a subsequent occasion, is shown to have done, can not be relied upon for accuracy as a reporter. The reader has doubtless not failed to notice the introduction of a claim by Eeed to the effect that Lincoln at the time of his assassination was intend- ing to unite with the church. That the idea was suggested by Eeed is shown by the fact that no less than three of these witnesses, including Eeed, allude 68 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: to it. Reed says : " While it is to be regretted that Mr. Lincoln was not spared to indicate his religious sentiments by a profession of his faith in accordance with the institutions of the Christian religion, yet it is very clear that he had this step in view." Dr. Gurley is made to say : " It was his intention soon to make a profession of religion." Mr. Brooks says : " I absorbed [the porosity of some of these witnesses is remarkable] the firm conviction that Mr. Lincoln . . . was seriously considering the step which would formally connect him with the visible church on earth." This dernier resort of an argument has been re- peated respecting nearly every notable person who has diecf outside of the church. Soon after the pub- lication of Reed's lecture, the New York World con- tained the following pertinent answer to this stale fabrication : " It is admitted by Mr. Reed and everybody else that Mr. Lincoln was a working Infidel up to a very late period of his life, that he wrote a book and labored earnestly to make proselytes to his own views, that he never publicly recanted, and that he never joined the church. Upon those who, in the face of these tremendous facts, allege that he was nevertheless a Christian lies the burden of proof. Let them produce it or forever hold their peace. In the mean time it is a sad and puerile subterfuge to WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 69 argue that he would have been a Christian if he had lived long enough, and to lament that he was not * spared ' for that purpose. He had been spared fifty-six years and surrounded by every circumstance that might soften his heart and every influence that might elevate his faith. If he was at that late, that fatal hour standing thus gloomily without the pale, what reason have we to suppose that he intended ever to enter?" Reed speaks of " the poverty of his early religious instruction," apparently forgetting that he was raised by Christian parents. His father was a church- member, his mother was a church-member, and his stepmother was a church-member. Reed states, also, that the books he read were all of an anti- religious character. Holland, on the contrary, de- clares that better books than those he read could not have been chosen from the richest library. The fact is, Abraham Lincoln did not become an Infidel to Christianity from a lack of knowledge respecting its claims. He thoroughly examined its claims, and rejected them because he found them untenable. One important feature of this subject Reed has either inadvertently omitted or purposely ignored, and that is in regard to the validity of the Bateman story. As the result of previous controversy this evidence had been rendered valueless. Lincoln's partner had declared it to be false, had asserted that 70 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! Mr. Bateman in private conversations acknowledged it to be in part untrue, and announced his readiness to substantiate his assertions if Mr. Bateman could be prevailed upon to permit the publication of his notes of these conversations taken at the time. If Mr. Herndon's affirmations were true, it destroyed the testimony of Holland and Bateman ; if untrue, it challenged Mr. Bateman to reaffirm the state- ments recorded bv Holland, and allow the seal of it privacy to be removed from his conversations on the subject. Why did Mr. Reed not rehabilitate this damaged evidence? Did he forget it? No, it is plainly evident that he did not dare to attempt it. In reviewing this Calvinistic coterie of witnesses (they are all Calvinists, and nearly all Presbyterians), one is struck with the formidable display of theo- logical appendages. What an imposing array of D.D.'s ! Rev. J. A. Reed, D.D.! Rev. James Smith, D.D.! Rev. Byron Sunderland, D.D.! Rev. Mr. Miner, D.D.! Rev. Mr. Gurley, D.D.! It was a desperate case divinity was sick and needed doc- toring. The doctors of divinity were accordingly called in, and prescribed " The Later Life and Re- ligious Sentiments of Abraham Lincoln," after which it was supposed that divinity would recover. He may be better, but it is painfully apparent that some of these D.D.'s are themselves sadly in need of a doctor. WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 71 CHAPTER IV. REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY ARNOLD AND OTHER WITNESSES. Arnold's Life of Lincoln " Claims Concerning Lincoln's Religious Belief Address to Negroes of B Utirnore Carpenter Hawley Willet* Pious Nurse Western Christian Advocate Illinois Clergyman Barrows Vinton Simpson. WITH the Christian masses whose minds have be- come warped by the bigoted teachings of their cler- ical leaders, nothing affects the reputation of a man so much as his religious belief. Public men who are disbelievers are fully cognizant of this, and generally refrain from expressing sentiments that would tend to alienate those upon whom the retention of their positions depends. Biographers understand this, too, and are likewise aware that a dead Infidel is as cordially hated as a live one. They know that a cold reception awaits their works unless they are able to clothe the characters of their subjects in the robes of popular superstition. Mr. Arnold realized this when he wrote his "Life of Lincoln." He had been most forcibly reminded of the fact by the fate of two biographies of his own subject which had 72 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: already appeared Holland's and Lamon's. Hol- land's work by catering to popular prejudice, regard- less of truth, had been financially a success; Lamon's work by adhering to truth, regardless of popular prejudice, had been financially a failure. Determined to profit by these examples, and in- timidated by the threats and entreaties of those who had resolved to secure for Christianity the influence of the Great Emancipator's name, Arnold dare not give the facts regarding Lincoln's religious belief. Nor is it to be presumed that he desired to. He had previously appeared as a special pleader for the pop- ular faith. He affirms that " No more reverent Christian than Lincoln ever sat in the Executive chair, not except- ing Washington." The fact is, when Arnold wrote his biography of Lincoln, no very reverent Christian ever had occupied the Executive chair. Previous to the installation of Gen. B. H. Harrison no real orthodox Christian communicant had held the office of President. If Mr. Arnold knew no more about Lincoln's religion than he appears to have known about Wash- ington's, a more charitable reason than those sug- gested might be assigned for his statements concern- ing the former. Washington, like Lincoln, has been claimed by the church ; yet, Washington, like Lin- coln, was a Deist. This is admitted even bv the ' ~ . WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 73 leading churchmen of his day. Three of the most eminent divines of his age, and the three to whom he was most intimately related in a social way, were Bishop White, Eev. Dr. Abercrombie, and Kev. Dr. Ashbel Green. Bishop White declares that Wash- ington was not a communicant, as claimed by some, and intimates that he was a disbeliever. The Eev. Dr. Abercrombie, whose church he attended while he was President, said : " Washington was a Deist.*' The Kev. Dr. Ashbel Green, chaplain to Congress during his administration, said : " Like nearly all the founders of the Republic, he was not a Christian, but a Deist." Arnold presents the following as the basis of Lin- coln's religion, and proofs of his Christianity : "(1) Belief in the existence of God, (2) in the immortality of the soul, (3) in the Bible as the revelation of God to man, (4) in the efficacy and duty of prayer, (5) in reverence toward the Almighty, and (6) in love and charity to man." 1. * Belief in the existence of God." This does not prove a belief in Christianity. The Jew believes in the existence of God ; the Mohammedan believes in the existence of God ; the Deistic Infidel believes in the existence of God. 2. " Belief in the immortality of the soul." That he believed in the immortality of the soul is a claim that cannot be clearly established ; and even if it 74 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: could, would not confirm the assumption that he was a Christian. Deists, many of them, believe in the doctrine of immortality. Paine believed in immor- tality ; Voltaire believed in immortality. 3. " Belief in the Bible as the revelation of God to man." This, if true, would be evidence of his Chris- tianity ; but, unfortunately for Mr. Arnold's claim, Lincoln did not entertain this belief. 4. " Belief in the efficacy and duty of prayer." This, in the orthodox sense of these terms, is not true ; and if it were, would not furnish conclusive evidence that he was a Christian. Jews pray ; Mo- hammedans pray ; Buddhists pray ; some Deists pray. Franklin believed in the efficacy and duty of prayer, and Franklin was an Infidel. 5. "Belief in reverence to the Almighty." This does not demonstrate a belief in Christianity, for all Deists believe in reverence to the Almighty. 6. " Belief in love and charity to man." When it can be shown that only Christians believe in love and charity, then will it be time to affirm that Lin- coln was a Christian. Arnold confounds Christianity with Deism. In the following words he admits that Lincoln was simply a Deist : "Not orthodox, not a man of creeds, he was a man of simple trust in God." When the subject of Lincoln's belief was once mentioned to Mr. Arnold, he said : " Lincoln was a WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 75 rational Christian because he believed in morality." With equal propriety one might say of an upright Christian, " He is a rational Freethinker because he believes in morality." " His reply to the Negroes of Baltimore," he says, " ought to silence forever those who charge him with unbelief." This alleged reply of Lincoln was as fol- lows : " In regard to the Great Book I have only to say that it is the best gift which God has given to man. All the good from the Savior of the world is com- municated to us through this book. But for this book we could not know right from wrong. All those things desirable to man are contained in it ' (Lincoln Memorial Album, p. 340). The writer of this was in Washington when the colored deputation from Baltimore presented the President with a $500 Bible. The papers mentioned the fact at the time, but no such speech as Lincoln is said to have made appeared in the reports. About two months later, this apocryphal version of his re- marks on the occasion referred to, made its appear- ance. The first two sentences contained in this speech (the only part of it that Arnold has quoted), Lincoln, if a Christian, might have uttered. They are words that any intelligent Christian might, from his stand- point, with propriety affirm. We are familiar with 76 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : these claims. We are also familiar with the claims embodied in the last two sentences. Thev are re- */ peatedly made. But they are made only by very ignorant persons, or by clerical hypocrites who try to impose upon the ignorance and credulity of their hearers. Had Lincoln been a Christian he would not have used these words, because he was too in- telligent to believe them, and too honest to pretend to believe them. Concerning this speech, Lincoln's partner, Mr. Herndon, thus vigorously, yet truthfully, remarks : "I am aware of the fraud committed on Mr. Lin- coln in reporting some insane remarks supposed to have been made by him, in 1864, on the presenta- tion of a Bible to him by the colored people of Balti- more. No sane man ever uttered such follv, and no ./ ' sane man will ever believe it. In that speech Mr. Lincoln is made to say : * But for this book we could not know right from wrong.' Does any human being believe that Lincoln ever uttered this ? What did the whole race of man do to know right from wrong during the countless years that passed before this book was given to the world ? How did the strug- gling race of man build up its grand civilizations in the world before this book was given to mankind? What do the millions of people now living, who never heard of this book, do to know how to dis- tinguish right from wrong ? Was Lincoln a fool, an WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 77 ass, a hypocrite, or a combination of them all ? or is this speech this supposed this fraudulent speech a lie ?" Arnold would have his readers believe that this speech is genuine. And yet it is plainly evident that he himself does not believe it. He mutilates it by omitting the more orthodox portion of it the very portion he would have retained had he believed it to be genuine. The first part would suffice to serve his purpose ; the remainder he knew was too incredible for belief and would stamp the whole as a fraud. Arnold says : " The veil between him and the supernatural was very thin." Yes, so thin that he easily saw through it and recognized the greater part of it to be a sham. " His faith in a Divine Providence began at his mother's knee, and ran through all the changes of his life." I do not desire to charge Mr. Arnold with plagiarism, but the foregoing recalls the following much admired passage to be found in Holland : " This unwavering faith in a Divine Providence \~r began at his mother's knee, and ran like a thread of gold through all the inner experiences of his life " (Life of Lincoln, pp. 61, 62). There is much in Arnold's biography, aside from the above, to suggest that Holland's work formed the basis and model of his own. While more accu- 78 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: rate in the main than Holland's "Life," Arnold's "Life" is in some respects equally unreliable, and less readable. Adverting to the many fraudulent stories that have been circulated concern-ing Lincoln, in an address delivered in London, Mr. Arnold said : " The news- papers in America have always been full of Lincoln stories and anecdotes, some true and many fabulous." Unfortunately for the cause of truth, Mr. Arnold has himself recorded some of these fabulous stories, not because he deemed them authentic, but because they agreed with his preconceived prejudices, or the prejudices of those whom he wished to please. Mr. Carpenter says : " I would scarcely have called Mr. Lincoln a religious man, and yet I believe him to have been a sincere Christian." In a letter, Mr. Herndon makes the following cor- rection in regard to his friend Carpenter's state- ment : " Mr. Carpenter has not expressed his own ideas correctly. To say that a man is a Christian and yet not a religious man is absurd. Religion is the generic term including all forms of religion ; Christianity is a specific term representing one form of religion. Carpenter means to say that Mr. Lincoln was a religious man but not a Christian, and this is the truth." It is unfortunate that while in many cases we WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 79 have several words to express the same idea, the same word in many cases is employed to express different ideas. Ideas thus become confused. If the terms morality, religion, and Christianity, were always used in their legitimate sense used to ex- press the ideas of which they were the original signs much trouble and ambiguity would be avoided. As it is, they are promiscuously used as interchange- able terms. Many use the word rdigion and even Christianity when they mean morality. Mr. Carpen- ter uses the word religious in its proper sense, and the word Christian to mean a moral man. The fol- lowing examples will serve to illustrate the various forms employed to express the thought now under consideration : " I would scarcely have called Mr. Lincoln a re- ligious man, and yet I believe him to have been a sincere Christian." Carpenter. " I would scarcely have called Mr. Lincoln a Christian, and yet I believe him to have been a truly religious man." Herndon. I would scarcely have called Mr. Lincoln a relig- ious man, and yet I believe him to have been a truly moral man. Author. We all desire to express substantially the same thought. I do not wish to dictate to Mr. Carpenter and Mr. Herndon what words they shall employ to convey an idea, but this explanation is essential to 80 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I a proper understanding of the question in dispute and will help to reconcile much of the apparently conflicting testimony presented in this work. As Lincoln was in a certain sense a Deist, the re- ligious element was not entirely wanting in him, and hence the statement of Mr. Herndon that he was a religious man is, in a degree, true. The basis of Carpenter's work was a series of articles contributed to the New York Independent. When it was decided to publish these in book form, to swell them into a volume of the desired size, to his personal reminiscences he added many of the stories pertaining to Lincoln then going the rounds of the press. Although he was as it were a member of Lincoln's household six months he failed to hear from Lincoln's lips a word expressing a belief in Christianity. These apocryphal stories, and these alone, contain all the evidences of Lincoln's alleged piety to be found in Carpenter's book. And his admission that Lincoln was not a religious man dis- proves them. Mr. Hawley professed to believe that Lincoln was a Christian, but he had no personal knowledge of the fact, although his neighbor for many years. The only reasons he was able to adduce upon which to predicate his belief were the Bateman story and his farewell speech on leaving Springfield. The former has been exploded, the latter proves nothing. WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 81 During all the later 3'ears of his life Lincoln gen- erally refrained from expressing his anti-Christian opinions, except to friends who shared his views. This silence, in connection with his sterling moral character, might lead some of his Christian neigh- bors to suppose that he was a believer, the more especially as Christians are generally ignorant of the extent of unbelief, and are loath to believe that a person, unless he openly avows his disbelief, can be an Infidel. According to Mr. Willets, Lincoln, during the war, had an attack of what he thought might be a " change of heart." He consulted a pious lady in regard to it and requested her to describe to him the symptoms attending this theological disease. She defined " a true religious experience " as " a con- viction of one's own sinfulness and weakness, and personal need of the Savior for strength and sup- port." She said that "when one was really brought to feel his need of divine help, and to seek the aid of the Holy Spirit for strength and guidance, it was satisfactory evidence of his having been born again." Lincoln replied that if what she had told him was " a correct view of this great subject," he hoped he was a Christian. But was this a correct view of it ? I was not aware that conviction constituted con- version. We have been taught that conviction is but a preliminary step toward conversion. If Lincoln 82 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! relied upon this as a true exposition of this doctrine, the genuineness of his conversion may well be ques- tioned. It is to be regretted that Mr. Willets did not give the name of his informant. As it is, we do not know whether to credit " a lady acquaintance of his," or himself, with the invention of a first-class fiction. In regard to the story of the " Pious Nurse," we have not even a clergyman to vouch for its authen- ticity. We do not know the name of this witness ; we do not know whom she communicated the story to ; we do not know when nor where it made its first appearance. We only know that for years it has been floating through the columns of the religious press, a companion-piece to Washington's devotional exercise at Valley Forge. " History," said Napoleon, " is a set of lies agreed upon." Of the many lies agreed upon by Christian writers in making up the history of Lincoln, none has become more thoroughly established than the one originally published by the Western Christian Advocate. It has been incorporated into the works of a score of historians and biographers, and is almost universally accepted as a historical fact. Nearly all the pious stories relating to Lincoln, while palpably false in the eyes of those who knew him, are yet of such a nature as to render a com- plete refutation of them extremely difficult. The WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 83 story under consideration, however, is of a different character. Its truthfulness or falsity could at the time of its publication have been easily ascertained. If true, any member of Lincoln's cabinet could have verified it. I knew that it was untrue at least I knew that a Cabinet meeting had never been trans- formed into a prayer meeting at Lincoln's sugges- tion. I finally resolved to demonstrate its falsity if possible. But a quarter of a century had passed away, and every member of Lincoln's Cabinet was dead save one, Hugh McCulloch, his last Secretary of the Treasury. With the aid of a friend, Mr. N. P. Stockbridge, of Ft. Wayne, Ind., an old acquaint- ance of Mr. McCulloch's, I succeeded in bringing the matter before this only surviving witness, and re- ceived from his pen, in February, 1891, the following prompt denial : " The description of what occurred at the Execu- tive Mansion, when the intelligence was received of the surrender of the Confederate forces, which you quote from the Western Christian Advocate, is not only absolutely groundless, but absurd. After I became Secretary of the Treasury I was present at every Cabinet meeting, and I never saw Mr. Lincoln or any of his ministers upon his knees or in tears. We were not especially jubilant over Lee's sur- render, for this we had been prepared for some days. The time for our great rejoicing was a little 84 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : earlier. After Sherman had commenced his cele- brated march to the sea, and long and weary days had passed without any reliable reports from him, we were filled with anxiety and apprehension. It was when the news came that he and his army, in excellent condition, were in the neighborhood of Charleston, that our joy was irrepressible ; not only because of their safety, but because it was an assur- ance that the days of the Confederacy were nearly ended. With Grant before Richmond in command of superior forces, and Sherman with the finest arm\ T in the world, ready to move northward, every- body felt that the war must be soon concluded, and M that the Union was safe. "We were, of course, happy when General Lee and his severely tried soldiers laid down their arms, but this, as I have said, was not unexpected. It was when our anxiety in regard to Sherman was suc- ceeded by hopefulness and confidence that our joy became exuberant. But there was no such exhibi- tion of it as has been published by the Advocate." An "Illinois Clergyman " reports Lincoln as say- ing that when he left Springfield he was not a Chris- tian, that when his son Willie died he was not a Christian, but that when he visited the battlefield of Gettysburg he gave his heart to Christ. Christians cite the testimony of this anonymous witness, seem- inglv unconscious of the fact that if true it refutes o * WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 85 the testimony of every other Christian witness. If this statement be true what becomes of the testi- mony of Holland and Bateman? What becomes of the testimony of Reed's witnesses ? The testimony of Brooks invalidated the testimony of every other witness ; the testimony of this Illinois clergyman invalidates the testimony of Brooks itself. Eeed did not present this evidence, doubtless aware that his lecture already coutained a sufficient number of discrepancies. He was thoughtful enough, however, to anticipate it. He had Dr. Gurley refer to Lincoln's conversion as taking place "after the death of his son Willie and his visit to the battle- field of Gettysburg." These events are referred to as if they occurred in close proximity to each other ; whereas the death of Willie occurred during the first year of his administration, his visit to Gettys- burg less than seventeen months before his assassi- nation. The passage quoted from Dr. Barrows contains six specific affirmations. 1. " In the anxious uncertainties of the great war, he gradually rose to the hights where Jehovah be- came to him the sublimest of realities, the ruler of nations." Collect all the utterances of Abraham Lincoln, all the letters he ever wrote, all the speeches he ever delivered, all the state papers he gave to the public ; 86 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : and from this full store of words that fell from his lips and flowed from his pen, I challenge Dr. Bar- rows to produce one word expressing a recognition of Jehovah. Jehovah was to him, not " the sublim- est of realities," not " the ruler of nations," but a hideous phantom. He recognized a God, but his God was not Jehovah, the God of Dr. Barrows. 2. " When he wrote his immortal Proclamation, he invoked upon it not only * the considerate judgment of mankind,' but ' the gracious favor of Almighty God.' " When he wrote his immortal Proclamation he did not invoke " the gracious favor of Almighty God." This instrument, as drafted by Lincoln, contained no allusion to God. The paragraph containing the words quoted was drafted by Secretary Chase and inserted in the Proclamation at his urgent request after it was printed and ready for delivery. 3. " When darkness gathered over the brave armies fighting for the nation's life, this strong man, in the early morning, knelt and wrestled in prayer with Him who holds in his hand the fate of em- pires." A " Christian lady from Massachusetts" (name un- known), and a Christian gentleman from New York (Noah Brooks), declare that Lincoln was accustomed to pray. This declaration is echoed by Arnold, and reechoed by Barrows. If true, is it not strange that WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 87 a hospital nurse and a newspaper reporter were in possession of the fact while his most intimate friends were entirely ignorant of it ? 4. " When the clouds lifted above the carnage of Gettysburg, he gave his heart to the Lord Jesus Christ." This is the fifth time that Lincoln gave his heart to Christ. The above statement is the vital one in Dr. Barrows's testimony the keystone in the arch comprising " the religious aspects ' of Lincoln's Presidential career. The others, even if true, only prove a Theistic belief. This statement affirms that he became a Christian a statement evidently based upon the anonymous story of the "Illinois clergy- man." Between the original presented by the " Illi- nois clergyman " at large, and that presented by the Illinois clergyman from Chicago, however, a grave discrepancy appears. From the time that il the clouds lifted above the carnage of Gettysburg " to the time that Lincoln visited its cemetery, a period of twenty weeks had elapsed. Now, did Lincoln give his heart to Christ when the battle ended on the 3rd of July, as stated by the one, or not until he stood upon the battle-field on the 19th of Novem- ber, as asserted by the other ? This is a question that we leave for the Illinois clergymen themselves to decide. 5. When he pronounced his matchless oration on 88 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I the chief battle-field of the war, he gave expression to the resolve that * this nation, under God, should have a new birth of freedom.' This simple Deistic phrase, " under God," is the only utterance of a religious character to be found in that oration. When this speech was delivered, Lin- coln, it is claimed, had experienced a change of heart, and consecrated himself to Christ. This address furnishes an overwhelming refutation of the claim. At the dedication of a cemetery, surrounded by thousands of graves, he ignores Christianity, and even the doctrine of immortality. 6. "And when he wrote his last Inaugural Ad- dress, he gave to it the lofty tone of an old Hebrew psalm." This is true ; and it is likewise true that in that document he made no more reference to Christianity than did the Hebrew psalmist who lived and wrote a thousand years before it had its birth. The " Lincoln Memorial Album," in which Dr. Barrows's article appears, contains the offerings of two hundred contributors, twenty of them divines, and among them Lyman Abbot, Dr. Bellows, Theo- dore L. Cuyler, Robert Collyer, Bishop Coxe, Dr. Crosby, Bishop Haven, Philip Schaaf, and Bishop Simpson. The work is prefaced with a biographical sketch of Lincoln, written by Isaac N. Arnold, in which he makes substantially the same statements WAS HE A CHKISTIAN? 89 regarding Lincoln's belief as those made in his "Life of Lincoln." Aside from this, Dr. Barrows is the only one of these two hundred memorialists who ventures to affirm that Lincoln was a Christian. The story of Dr. Yinton, too absurd to demand serious consideration apparently too incredible for belief is yet believed by thousands. When such fabulous tales are told by men who are looked upon as the exponents of morality, and published in papers and periodicals that are presumed to be the repos- itories only of truth, it is not strange that such stories as Washington's Praying at Yalley Forge, Ethan Allen and His Daughter, Don't Unchain the Tiger, Paine's Recanting, and a thousand and one other pious fictions of a similar character, have gained popular credence. To read the fabrications of this class pertaining to Lincoln alone, one would suppose that this astute statesman, this Chief Magistrate of a great nation, this Commander-in- Chief of two millions of soldiers, engaged in the most stupendous civil conflict the world has known, occu- pied the greater portion of his time in studying the Scriptures, poring over doctrinal sermons, partici- pating in prayer-meetings led by pious nurses, and weeping upon the necks of clerical visitors. Bishop Simpson's remarks have been presented, not because they furnish any proofs of Lincoln's re- puted Christianity, but because he was one of the 90 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : clergymen who officiated at Lincoln's funeral, and because his words on that occasion have been cited in support of this claim. But he does not assert that Lincoln was a Christian. He simply testifies to his belief and trust in God to his Deistic faith nothing more. I am aware that in some of the published reports of his address there have been interpolated words intended to convey the idea that Lincoln accepted Christ. Bishop Simpson, I am sure, never autho- rized the insertion of these words. They express a claim he never made a claim he certainly did not make on the day of Lincoln's interment. In his funeral address at Washington, Dr. Gurley did not affirm that Lincoln was a Christian, or that he was intending to make a profession of religion. Bishop Simpson, in his oration at Springfield, made no mention of these claims, and Dr. Gurley and Bishop Simpson are known to have held a consulta- tion before that oration was delivered. This silence is conclusive evidence that these men knew that Lincoln was an unbeliever. Commenting on this notable omission, Mr. Herndon says : " Bishop Simpson delivered the funeral oration, and in that oration there was not one word about Mr. Lincoln's Christianity. Bishop Simpson was Lincoln's friend; Dr. Gurley was Lincoln's pastor in Washington. Now these men knew, or had reason WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 91 to know, Lincoln's religion, and the world would have heard of his Christianity on the day of his burial if it had been known. But Simpson and Gurley are silent dumb before the Christian world." One of the most beautiful and exhaustive tributes ever paid to Lincoln, aside from the matchless tribute paid by Colonel Ingersoll, is that from the pen of Bishop Simpson which appears in the " Lin- coln Memorial Album/' In this tribute he does not make even the remotest allusion to Lincoln's religious belief. He appears to have heeded the advice ten- dered a less discreet Christian writer, and recognized the fact that, from his standpoint, the less said about the subject the better. Had all Christians acted as wisely and as honorably in this matter as Bishop Simpson, this controversy about Lincoln's religion would never have arisen. I have now reviewed the testimony of these wit- nesses. Tested in the crucible of honest criticism, little remains of their statements save the dross of falsehood and error. I may be charged with unjust severity toward these witnesses, nearly all of whom are men of recognized respectability and distinction. But a majority of them have testified to what they know to be false, and against those who knowingly bear false witness no censure can be too severe. Thousands of Christian men and women, misled by this false testimony, honestly believe and contend - v 92 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: that Lincoln was a Christian. Against these I have not an unkind word to offer. But I am resolved to disabuse their minds of this erroneous belief. Pain- ful as the birth of an unwelcome idea is, they/ shall know the truth. . WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 93 CHAPTEK V. TESTIMONY OF HON. WILLIAM H. HERNDON PUBLISHED TESTIMONY. Herndon's Association with Lincoln Character Writings Com- petency as a Witness The Abbott Letter Contribution to the T/iberal Age Article in the Truth Seeker Herndon's "Life of Lincoln." HAVING presented and reviewed the evidence in behalf of the affirmative of this question, the evi- dence in support of the negative will next be given, and in consideration of his long and intimate asso- ciation with Lincoln, and the character and com- prehensiveness of his testimony, the first to testify will be Hon. Wm. H. Herndon, of Springfield, HI. In 1843, Lincoln formed a partnership with Mr. Herndon in the law business, which existed for a period of twenty-two years, and was only dissolved by the bullet of the assassin. The strong attach- ment that these men had for each other is illustrated in the following touching incident, related in " The Everyday Life of Lincoln :" When he was about to leave for Washington, he went to the dingy little law office which had shel- tered his saddest hours. He sat down on the couch . . . 94 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: and said to his law-partner, Herndon, ' Billy, you and I have been together more than twenty years, and have never u passed a word." Will you let my name stay on the old sign till I come back from Washington?' The tears started to Mr. Herndon's eyes. He put out his hand. ' Mr. Lincoln/ said he, * I will never have any other partner while you live ;' and to the day of the assassination all the doings of the firm were in the name of * Lincoln & Herndon' (Everyday Life of Lincoln, p. 377). Mr. Herndon died in 1891. Though younger than his illustrious partner, he was at the time of his death well advanced in years. He had retired from the active practice of law, and resided at his country home near Springfield. He was noted for his rugged honesty, for his broad philanthropy, and for his strong and original mental qualities. He was one of the pioneers in the antislavery movement, and one of the founders of the Republican party. He was the Republican nominee for Presidential Elector of the Springfield district when the first Republican ticket, Fremont and Dayton, was placed in the field. Governor Bissell, Governor Yates and Governor Oglesby successively appointed him Bank Commis- sioner of Illinois. His talents were recognized and his friendship was sought by many of the most emi- nent men in the nation. Garrison stopped for weeks at his home ; Theodore Parker was his guest ; Hor- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 95 ace Greeley was his devoted friend, and Charles Sumner was his friend and correspondent. When Lincoln and Herndon were first thrown into each other's society, Lincoln's mind was dwelling, for the most part, in the theological (or rather anti-theo- logical) world, while Herndon's found a most conge- nial habitation in the world of politics. They were destined to exercise an important influence in mold- ing each other's characters. Herndon was indebted chiefly to Lincoln for the religious views he enter- tained, while Lincoln was indebted mainly to Hern- don for the political principles which he finally espoused. Colonel Lamon, in his " Life of Lincoln," gives the following truthful sketch of the character of the man whom Lincoln made a Deist, and who in turn made an Abolitionist of Lincoln. Alluding to the Abolitionists of Illinois, as they appeared in 1854, when Lincoln took his stand on the side of freedom, Lamon says : "Chief among them was Owen Lovejoy ; and second to him, if second to any, was William H. Herndon. But the position of this latter gentleman was one of singular embarrassment. According to himself, he was an Abolitionist ' some time before he was born,' and hitherto he had made his * calling and election sure ' by every word and act of a life devoted to political philanthropy and disinterested political labors. While the two great national parties 96 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : divided the suffrages of the people, North and South, everything in his eyes was dead. He detested the bargains by which those parties were in the habit of composing sectional troubles, and sacrificing the principle of freedom. When the Whig party paid its breath to time, he looked upon its last agonies as but another instance of divine retribution. He had no patience with time-servers, and regarded with indignant contempt the policy which would postpone the natural rights of an enslaved race to the success of parties and politicians. He stood by at the sacri- fice of the Whig party in Illinois with the spirit of Paul when he held the clothes of them that stoned Stephen. He believed it was for the best, and hoped to see a new party rise in its place, great in the fervor of its faith, and animated by the spirit of Wilberforce, Garrison, and the Lovejoys. He was a fierce zealot, and gloried proudly in his title of ' fanatic ;' for it was his conviction that fanatics were at all times the salt of the earth, with power to save it from the blight that follows the wickedness of men. He believed in a God, but it was the God of Nature the God of Socrates and Plato, as well as the God of Jacob. He believed in a Bible, but it was the open scroll of the universe ; and in a religion clear and well defined, but it was a religion that scorned what he deemed the narrow slavery of verbal inspiration. Hot-blooded, impulsive, brave, morally WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 97 and physically, careless of consequences when moved bv a sense of individual duty, he was the very man i to receive into his inmost heart the precepts of Mr. Seward's * higher law ' " (Life of Lincoln, pp. 350, 351). His literary abilities, both as a speaker and as a writer, were of a high order. He had written a meritorious work on Mental Philosophy, and a " Life of Lincoln," which had just been published when he died. In addition to numerous addresses upon his- torical, economical, and other subjects he prepared and delivered several able and interesting lectures on Lincoln : " Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge," a beautiful and touching representation of that pathetic and romantic love episode which forms one of the saddest chapters in Lincoln's history ; " The Analysis of Lincoln's Character," which appears in the " Lincoln Memorial Album," and " Lincoln's Religion," which was published in the State Register, of Springfield, 111. Carpenter, and in fact nearly every writer on Lin- coln, has made free use of Herndon's writings. Carpenter declares that his " masterly ' Analysis of Lincoln's Character ' has scarcely an equal in the annals of biographical literature." Both Holland and Lamon aaknowledge that they were more deeply indebted to him in the preparation of their respective works than to any other person. The 98 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ! Petersburg Democrat, published in Menard county, where Lincoln spent the first years of his manhood, says : " Mr. Herndon was the law partner of Mr. Lincoln from 1843 to 1860, and knew his inner life better than any other man." The Sangamon county Monitor, of Springfield, where Lincoln lived for a quarter of a century, says : " Herndon knew Lin- coln's views better than any man in America." Judge David Davis, the lifelong friend of Lincoln, in whose court both Lincoln and Herndon practiced for years, declared that Herndon knew more about Lincoln's religion than any other man. In this chapter will be reproduced the evidence of Mr. Herndon that has already been made public. The first elaborate exposition of Lincoln's Free- thought views was made in 1870, in what is known as the " Abbott Letter," an article which Mr. Hern- don by request contributed to the Index, a paper then published at Toledo, O., and edited by Francis E. Abbott. The article was extensively copied and commented upon, and produced a profound sensa- tion in the religious world, which, to a great extent, had been misled by such writers as Holland. The first and more important part of Mr. Herndon's article will now be presented : " MR. ABBOTT : Some time since I promised you that I would send a letter in relation to Mr. Lin- coln's religion. I do so now. Before entering ou WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? that question, one or two preliminary remarks will help us to understand why he disagreed with the Christian world in its principles as well as in its theology. In the first place, Mr. Lincoln's mind was a purely logical mind ; secondly, Mr. Lincoln was a purely practical man. He had no fancy or imagination, and not much emotion. He was a real- ist as opposed to an idealist. As a general rule, it is true that a purely logical mind has not much hope, if it ever has faith in the unseen and unknown. Mr. Lincoln had not much hope and no faith in things that lie outside of the domain of demonstra- tion ; he was so constituted, so organized, that he could believe nothing unless his senses or logic could reach it. I have often read to him a law point, a decision, or something I fancied. He could not understand it until he took the book out of my hand, and read the thing for himself. He was ter- ribly, vexatiously skeptical. He could scarcely un- derstand anything, unless he had time and place fixed in his mind. " I became acquainted with Mr. Lincoln in 1834, and I think I knew him well to the day of his death. His mind, when a boy in Kentucky, showed a certain gloom, an unsocial nature, a peculiar abstractedness, a bold and daring skepticism. In Indiana, from 1817 to 1830, it manifested the same qualities or attributes as in Kentucky : it only intensified, developed itself, 100 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: along those lines in Indiana. He came to Illinois in 1830, and, after some little roving, settled in New Salem, now in Menard county and state of Illinois. This village lies about twenty miles northwest of this city. It was here that Mr. Lincoln became ac- quainted with a class of men the world never saw the like of before or since. They were large men large in body and large in mind ; hard to whip and never to be fooled. They were a bold, daring, and reckless sort of men ; they were men of their own minds believed what was demonstrable ; were men of great common sense. With these men Mr. Lin- coln was thrown ; with them he lived, and with them he moved and almost had his being. They were skeptics all scoffers some. These scoffers were good men, and their scoffs were protests against theology loud protests against the follies of Christianity. They had never heard of Theism and the newer and better religious thoughts of this age. Hence, being natural skeptics, and being bold, brave men, they uttered their thoughts freely. They declared that Jesus was an illegitimate child. They were on all occasions, when opportunity offered, debating the various questions of Christianity among themselves. They took their stand on common sense and on their own souls ; and, though their arguments were rude and rough, no man could overthrow their homely logic. They riddled all divines, and not unfrequently WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 101 made them skeptics, disbelievers as bad as them- selves. They were a jovial, healthful, generous, so- cial, true, and manly set of people. " It was here and among these people that Mr. Lincoln was thrown. About the year 1834 he chanced to come across Volney's ' Ruins ' and some of Paine's theological works. He at once seized hold of them, and assimilated them into his own being. Volney and Paine became a part of Mr. Lin- coln from 1834 to the end of his life. " In 1835 he wrote out a small work on Infidelity, and intended to have it published. This book was an attack upon the whole grounds of Christianity, and especially was it an attack upon the idea that Jesus was the Christ, the true and only-begotten son of God, as the Christian world contends. Mr. Lin- coln was at that time in New Salem, keeping store for Mr. Samuel Hill, a merchant and postmaster of that place. Lincoln and Hill were very friendly. Hill, I think, was a skeptic at this time. Lincoln, one day after the book was finished, read it to Mr. Hill, his good friend. Hill tried to persuade him not to make it public, not to publish it. Hill at that time saw in Mr. Lincoln a rising man, and wished him success. Lincoln refused to destroy it said it should be published. Hill swore it should never see light of da}^. He had an eye on Lincoln's popularity his present and future success ; and be- 102 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: lieving that if the book was published it would kill Lincoln forever, he snatched it from Lincoln's hand when Lincoln was not expecting it, and ran it into an old-fashioned tinplate stove, heated as hot as a furnace ; and so Lincoln's book went up to the clouds in smoke. It is confessed by all who heard parts of it that it was at once able and eloquent ; and, if I may judge of it from Mr. Lincoln's subse- quent ideas and opinions, often expressed to me and to others in my presence, it was able, strong, plain, and fair. His argument was grounded on the internal mistakes of the Old and New Testaments, and on reason and 011 the experiences and observa- tions of men. The criticisms from internal defects were sharp, strong, and manly. " Mr. Lincoln moved to this city in 1837, and here became acquainted with various men of his own way of thinking. At that time they called themselves Freethinkers, or free thinking men. I remember all these things distinctly ; for I was with them, heard them, and Avas one of them. Mr. Lincoln here found other works Hume, Gibbon, and others and drank them in. He made no secret of his views ; no con- cealment of his religion. He boldly avowed himself an Infidel. "When Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for our Legislature, he was accused of being an Infidel and of having said that Jesus Christ was an illegitimate WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 103 child. He never denied his opinions nor flinched from his religious views. He was a true man, and yet it may be truthfully said that in 1837 his religion was low indeed. In his moments of gloom he would doubt, if he did not sometimes deny, God. " Mr. Lincoln ran for Congress against the Rev. Peter Cartwright in the year 1846. In that contest he was accused of being an Infidel, if not an Atheist. He never denied the charge would not ' would die first.' In the first place, because he knew it could and would be proved on him ; and in the second place, he was too true to his own convictions, to his own soul, to deny it. " When Mr. Lincoln left this city for Washington, I knew he had undergone no change in his religious opinions or views. He held many of the Christian ideas in abhorrence, and among them there was this one, namely, that God would forgive the sinner for a violation of his laws. Lincoln maintained that God could not forgive ; that punishment has to follow the sin ; that Christianity was wrong in teaching for- giveness. "From what I know of Mr. Lincoln, and from what I have heard and verily believe, I can say, first, that he did not believe in a special creation, his idea being that all creation was an evolution under law ; secondly, that he did not believe that the Bible was a special revelation from God, as the Christian world 104 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! . contends ; thirdly, he did not believe in miracles as understood by Christians ; fourthly, he believed in universal inspiration and miracles under law ; fifthly, he did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the son of God, as the Christian church contends ; sixthly, he believed that all things, both matter and mind, were governed by laws, universal, absolute, and eternal. All his speeches and remarks in Washing- ton conclusively prove this. Law was to Lincoln everything, and special interferences, shams and delusions." In 1874 Mr. Herndon delivered in Springfield a lecture on "Lincoln's Religion." It was a reply to Reed's lecture, and was published in the State Reg- ister, of Springfield. In this lecture he reaffirms the statements made in the " Abbott Letter," supports them with substantial arguments and proofs, and completely overthrows the claims advanced by Reed. From it I quote the following : " It is a curious fact that when any man by his genius, good fortune, or otherwise rises to public notice and to fame, it does not make much differ- ence what life he has led, that the whole Christian world claims him as a Christian, to be forever held tip to view as a hero and a saint during all the com- ing ages, just as if religion would die out of the soul of man unless the great dead be canonized as a model Christian. This is a species of hero or saint WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 105 worship. Lincoln they are determined *o enthrone among the saints, to be forever worshiped as such." " I believe that Mr. Lincoln did not late in life become a firm believer in the Christian religion. What! Mr. Lincoln discard his logical faculties and reason with his heart ? What ! Mr. Lincoln believe that Jesus was the Christ of God, the true and only begotten son of him, as the Christian creed contends ? What! Mr. Lincoln believe that the New Testa- ment is of special divine authority, and fully and infallibly inspired, as the Christian contends? What! Mr. Lincoln abandon his lifelong ideas of universal, eternal and absolute laws and contend that the New Testament is any more inspired than Homer's poems, than Milton's * Paradise Lost,' than Shakspere, than his own eloquent and inspired oration at Gettysburg ? What ! Mr. Lincoln believe that the great Creator had connection through the form and instrumentality of a shadow with a Jewish girl ? Blasphemy ! These things must be believed and acknowledged in order to be a Christian." 'One word concerning this discussion about Mr. Lincoln's religious views. It is important in this: 1. It settles a historic fact. 2. It makes it possible to write a true history of a man free from the fear of fire and stake. 3. It assures the reading public that the life of Mr. Lincoln will be truly written. 4. It will be a warning forever to all untrue men, 106 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: that the life they have lived will be held up to view. 5. It should convince the Christian pulpit and press that it is impossible in this day and generation, at least in America, to daub up sin, and make a hero out of a fool, a knave, or a villain, which Mr. Lincoln was not. -Some true spirit will drag the fraud and lie out to the light of day. 6. Its tendency will be to arrest and put a stop to romantic biographies. And now let it be written in history, and on Mr. Lincoln's tomb: * He died an unbeliever.' In January, 1883, Mr. Herudon contributed an article on " Lincoln's Religion" to the Liberal Age, of Milwaukee. From this article the following ex- tracts are taken and submitted : " In 1837, Mr. Lincoln moved to the city of Spring- field, and there came across many people of his own belief. Thev called themselves at that time Free- thinkers. Some of these men were highly educated and polished gentlemen. Mr. Lincoln read in this city Hume, Gibbon, and other Liberal books. He was in this citv from 1837 to 1861, an Infidel Free- tl thinker Liberal Free Religionist of the radical type." " In his philosophy, he was a realist, as opposed to an idealist ; he was a sensationalist, as opposed to an intuitionalist ; and was a materialist as opposed to a spiritualist." " Some good men and women say that Mr. Lincoln WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 107 was a Christian, because he was a moral man. They say that he was a rational Christian, because he loved morality. Do not other people, who are not Chris- tians, love morality? Morality is not Hue test of Christianity, by any means. If it is the test, then all moral men, Atheists, Agnostics, Infidels, Moham- medans, Buddhists, Mormons, and the rest, are Christians. A rational Christian is an anomaly, an impossibility ; because when reason is left free, it demands proofs it relies on experience, observa- tion, logic, nature, laws. Why not call Mr. Lincoln a rational Buddhist, a rational Mohammedan, a rational Confucian, a rational Mormon, for all these, if true to their faith, love morality." " Did Mr. Lincoln believe in prayer as a means of moving God ? It is said to me by Christians, touch- ing his religion : ' Did not he, in his parting speech in Springfield, in 1861, say. " I hope you, my friends, will pray that I may receive," etc.?' and to which I sa J> yes. In his last Inaugural he said : ' Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray.' These ex- pressions are merely conventional. They do not prove that Mr. Lincoln believed that prayer is a means of moving God. . . . He believed, as I understood him, that human prayer did the prayer good ; that prayer was but a drum beat the taps of the spirit on the living human soul, arousing it to acts of repentance for bad deeds done, or to inspire it to a 108 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ! loftier and a higher effort for a nobler and a grander life." "Did Mr. Lincoln, in his said Inaugural, say: ' Both read the same Word of God ?' No, because that would be admitting revelation. He said : ' Both read the same Bible' Did Mr. Lincoln say: 'Yet if God wills that it [the war] continue till all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid with another drawn by the sword, as ivas said by God three thousand years ago ?' He did not ; he was cautious, and said : ' As ivas said three thousand years ago.' Jove never nods." A little later Mr. Herndon wrote an article entitled, " Abraham Lincoln's Religious Belief," which appeared in the Truth Seeker of New York. From this article I quote the following passages : "In 1842 I heard Mr. Lincoln deliver a speech before the Washingtonian Temperance Society, of this city. . . . He scored the Christians for the position they had taken. He said in that lecture this : 'If they [the Christians] believe, as they pro- fess that Omnipotence condescended to take on himself the form of sinful man,' etc. This was spoken with energy. He scornfully and contempt- uously emphasized the words as they profess. The rebuke was as much in the manner of utterance as WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 109 in the substance of what was said. I heard the criticisms of some of the Christians that night. They said the speech was an insult and an outrage." " It is my opinion that no man ever heard Mr. Lincoln pray, in the true evangelical sense of that word. His philosophy is against all human prayer, as a means of reversing God's decrees." " He has told me often that there was no freedom in the human will, and no punishment beyond this world. He denied God's higher law, and wrote on the margin of a newspaper to his friends in the Chicago convention in 1860, this : ' Lincoln agrees with Seward in his irrepressible-conflict idea ; but he is opposed to Se ward's higher law.' This paper was handed to Judge Davis, Judge Logan, and other friends." " Mr. Lincoln and a minister, whose name is kept in the dark, had a conversation about religion. It ap- pears that Mr. Lincoln said that when his son bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, and blood of his own heart died, though a severe affliction, it did not arouse him to think of Christ ; but when he saw the graves of so many soldiers strangers to him . . that sad sight aroused him to love Jesus. . . . It is a fine thing for the reputation of the * Illinois Clergyman ' that his name is to the world unknown. It is a most heartless thing, this supposed conversa- tion of Lincoln with the Illinois clergyman. What ! 110 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Lincoln feel more for the graves of strangers than for the death of his once living, loving, and lovable son, now dead, moldering to ashes in the silent tomb ! The charge is barbarous. To make Lincoln a lover of Jesus, whom he once ridiculed, this minister makes him a savage." " I wish to give an illustration of the uncertainty and unreliability of those loose things that tioat around in the newspapers of the day, and how liable things are to be inaccurate so made even by the best of men. Mr. Lincoln on the morning he started for Washington to take the oath of office, and be in- augurated President of this great Republic, gave a short farewell address to his old friends. It was eloquent and touching. That speech is copied in Holland's * Life of Lincoln/ in Arnold's ' Lincoln and Slavery/ and in Lamon's ' Life of Lincoln/ and no two are exactly alike. If it is hard to get the exact truth on such an occasion as this, how impos- sible is it to get at Mr. Lincoln's sayings which have been written out by men weeks and months after what he did say have passed by ! All these loose and foolish things that Mr. Lincoln is supposed to have said are like the cords of driftwood, floating on the bosom of the groat Mississippi, down to the great gulf of Forgetfulness. Let them go." Herndon's "Life of Lincoln," is a most important contribution to biographical literature. It will WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? Ill enable the present and future generations to become better acquainted with Lincoln the man than with any other prominent American. The author has performed substantially the same work for Lincoln that Boswell performed for Johnson ; only he has performed it more faithfully. Political partisans and religious bigots may condemn the work, but im- partial critics are almost unanimous in their praise of it. The metropolitan journals of Lincoln's and Hern- don's own state commend the work. The Chicago Tribune says : " All these loving adherents [of Lin- coln] will hail Herndon's ' Lincoln ' with unmixed, unbounded joy." The Chicago Times says : " Hern- don's * Life ' is the best yet written." The Inter Ocean says that Herndon " knew more of Lincoln's inner life than any living man." The Chicago Herald says : " It enables one to approach more closely to the great President." The Chicago Evening Journal says : " It presents a truthful and living picture of the greatest of Americans." The Nation thus refers to it : " The sincerity and honesty of the biographer appear on every page." The New York Sun says : " The marks of unflinch- ing veracity are patent in every line." The Wash- ington Capital says that it places " Lincoln before the world as he really was." The Commercial Gazette, of Cincinnati, says : " He describes the life 112 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: of his friend Lincoln just as he saw it." The Morn- ing Call, of San Francisco, affirms that it " contains the only true history of the lamented President." The St. Louis Republic says : " It will do more to shape the judgment of posterity on Mr. Lincoln's character than all that has been written or will be hereafter written." In this work Mr. Herndon states in brief the sub- stance of the articles already quoted in this chapter. I quote as follows : " No man had a stronger or firmer faith in Provi- dence God than Mr. Lincoln, but the continued use by him late in life of the word God must not be interpreted to mean that he believed in a per- sonal God. In 1854 he asked me to erase the word God from a speech which I had written and read to him for criticism, because my language indicated a personal God, whereas he insisted that no such per- sonality ever existed " (Life of Lincoln, pp. 445, 446). "The world has always insisted on making an orthodox Christian of him, and to analyze his language or sound his belief is but to break the idol ' (Ibid). " The benevolence of his impulses, the seriousness of his convictions, and the nobility of his character, are evidences unimpeachable that his soul was ever filled with the exalted purity and the sublime faith of natural religion " (Ib.). WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 113 CHAPTEK VI. TESTIMONY OF HON. WILLIAM H. HERNDON UNPUBLISHED TESTIMONY. Extracts from Herndon's Letters The Books Lincoln Read Hia Philosophy His Infidelity Refutation of Christian Claims Attempts to Invalidate Herndon's Testimony Reed's Calumnies Vindication. IN the preceding chapter has been submitted the evidence of Mr. Herndon that has already been pub- lished. In this chapter will be presented some hitherto unpublished testimony. The writer corresponded with Mr. Herndon for many years. Much of this correspondence related to Abraham Lincoln, and no inconsiderable portion of it to the subject under consideration. Permission was granted by Mr. Herndon to use such parts of this correspondence as may be deemed of value. The limits of this work preclude the presentation of much that is really interesting, but no apology is needed for devoting space to the following extracts from his letters, written at various intervals between 1880 and 1890 : 'I was the personal friend of Mr. Lincoln from 1834 to the day of his death. In 1843 we entered 114 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: into a partnership which was never formally dis- solved. When he became unpopular in this Con- gressional district because of his speeches on the Mexican war, I was faithful to him. When he espoused the antislavery cause and in the eyes of most men had hopelessly ruined his political pros- pects, I stood by him, and through the press defended his course. In these dark hours, by our unity of sentiment and by political ostracism we were driven to a close and enduring friendship. You should take it for granted, then, that I knew Mr. Lincoln well. During all this time, from 1834 to 1862, when I last saw him, he never intimated to me, either directly or indirectly, that he had changed his religious opinions. Had he done so had he let drop one word or look in that direction, I should have detected it. " I had an excellent private library, probably the best in the city for admired books. To this library Mr. Lincoln had, as a matter of course, full and free access at all times. I purchased such books as Locke, Kant, Fichte, Lewes ; Sir Wm. Hamilton's * Discussions on Philosophy ;' Spencer's ' First Principles,' * Social Statics,' etc.; Buckle's ' History of Civilization,' and Lecky's ' History of Rational- ism.' I also possessed the works of Parker, Paine, Emerson, and Strauss ; Gregg's * Creed of Christen- dom,' McNaught on Inspiration, Yolney's ' Ruins,' Feuerbach's ' Essence of Christianity,' and other WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 115 works on Infidelity. Mr. Lincoln read some of these works. About the year 1843 he borrowed ' The Ves- tiges of Creation' of Mr. James W. Keys, of this city, and read it carefully. He subsequently read the sixth edition of this work, which I loaned him. Mr. Lincoln had always denied special creation, but from his want of education he did not know just what to believe. He adopted the progressive and development theory as taught more or less directly in that work. He despised speculation, especially in the metaphysical world. He was purely a prac- tical man. He adopted Locke's notions as his system of mental philosophy, with some modifications to suit his own views. He held that reason drew her inferences as to law, etc., from observation, experi- ence, and reflection on the facts and phenomena of nature. He was a pure sensationalist, except as above. He was a materialist in his philosophy. He denied dualism, and at times immortality in any sense. " Before I wrote my Abbott letter I diligently searched through Lincoln's letters, speeches, state papers, etc., to find the word immortality, and I could not find it anywhere except in his letter to his father. The word immortality appears but once in his writings." ' If he had been asked the plain question, * Do you know that a God exists?' he would have said: ' I do not know that a God exists.' " 116 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: " At one moment of his life I know that he was an Atheist. I was preparing a speech on Kansas, and in it, like nearly all reformers, I invoked God. He made me wipe out that word and substitute the word Maker, affirming that said Maker was a principle of the universe. When he went to Washington he did the same to a friend there." " Mr. Lincoln told me, over and over, that man has no freedom of will, or, as he termed it, 'No man has a freedom of mind.' He was in one sense a fatalist, and so died. He believed that he was under the thumb of Providence (which to him was but another name for fate). The longer he lived the more firmly he believed it, and hence his oft invoca- tions of God. But these invocations are no evidence to a rational mind that he adopted the blasphemy that God seduced his own daughter, begat a son on purpose to have mankind kill him, in order that he, God, might become reconciled to his own mistakes, according to the Christian view." "Lincoln would wait patiently on the flow and logic of events. He believed that conditions make the man and not man the conditions. Under his own hand he says : ' I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have controled events, but confess plainly that events have controled me.' He believed in the supreme reign of law. This law fated things, as he would express it. Now, how WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 117 could a man be a Christian could believe that Jesus Christ was God could believe in the efficacy of prayer and entertain such a belief?" "He did not believe in the efficacy of prayer, although he used that conventional language. He said in Washington, ' God has his own purposes.' If God has his own purposes, then prayer will not change God's purposes." "I have often said to you, and now repeat it, that Lincoln was a scientific Materialist, i.e., that this was his tendency as opposed to the Spiritualistic idea. Lincoln always contended that general and universal laws ruled the universe always did do */ now and ever will. He was an Agnostic generally, sometimes an Atheist." " That Mr. Lincoln was an Infidel from 1834 to 1861, I know, and that he remained one to the day of his death, I honestly believe. I always under- stood that he was an Infidel, sometimes bordering on Atheism. I never saw any change in the man, and the change could not have escaped my observa- tion had it happened." ' Lincoln's task was a terrible one. When he took the oath of office his soul was bent on securing har- mony among all the people of the North, and so he chose for his Cabinet officers his opponents for the Presidential candidacy in order and as a means of creating a unite.d North. He let all parties, profes- 118 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I sions, and callings have their way where their wishes did not cut across his own. He was apparently pliant and supple. He ruled men when men thought they were ruling him. He often said to me that the Christian religion was a dangerous element to deal with when aroused. He saw in the Kansas affairs in the whole history of slavery, in fact its rigor and encroachments, that Christianity was aroused. It must be controled, and that in the right direction. Hence he bent to it, fed it, and kept it within bounds, well knowing that it would crush his administra- tion to atoms unless appeased. His oft and oft invocations of God, his conversations with Christians, his apparent respect for Chris- tianity, etc., were all means to an end. And yet sometimes he showed that he hated its nasal whines." "A gentleman of veracity in Washington told me this story and vouched for its truthfulness : ' A tall saddle-faced man,' said he, ' came to Washington to pray with Lincoln, having declared this to be his intention at the hotel About 10 o'clock A.M. the bloodless man, dressed in black with white cravat, went to the White House, sent in his card, and was admitted. Lincoln glanced at the man and knew his motives in an instant. He said to him angrily : "What, have you, too, come to torment me with your prayers ? ' The man was squelched said, " No, WAS HE A CHEISTIAN? 119 Mr. Lincoln " lied out and out. Lincoln spoiled those prayers.'" "Mr. Lincoln was thought to be understood by the mob. But what a delusion ! He was one of -the most reticent men that ever lived. All of us Stuart, Speed, Logan, Matheny, myself, and others, had to guess at much of the man. He was a mystery to the world a sphinx to most men. One peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln was his irritability when anyone tried to peep into his own mind's laboratory. Consider- ing all this, what can be thought of the stories about what he is said to have confided to strangers in regard to his religion ? " " Not one of Lincoln's old acquaintances in this city ever heard of his conversion to Christianity by Dr. Smith or anyone else. It was never suggested nor thought of here until after his death." " I never saw him read a second of time in Dr. Smith's book on Infidelity. He threw it down upon our table spit upon it as it were and never opened it to my knowledge." ' My opinion is, from what I have heard and know, that these men Gurley and Simpson refused to be a party to a fraud on the public touching Lincoln's religion. I think that thev understood each other w the day that the remains of Lincoln were put to rest." l< Holland came into my office, in 1865, and asked 120 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I me this question : ' What about Mr. Lincoln's Chris- tianity ? ' To this, I replied : * The less said about it the better.' Holland then said to me, * Oh, never mind, I'll fix that,' and went over to Bateman and had it fixed." " Lincoln never revealed to Judge Davis, Judge Matheny, Joshua R Speed, Joseph Gillespie, nor myself that he was a Christian, or that he had a, I change of heart, or anything like it, at any time. Now, taking into consideration the fact that he was one of the most non-communicative of men that Bateman was, as it were, a mere stranger to him that Bateman was frightened, excited, conscience- smitten when I approached him on the subject, and that in after years he confessed to me that his notes in Holland's 'Life of Lincoln' were colored taking all this into consideration, I say, can you believe Bateman's story to be true ? " " I see quoted frequently a supposed speech made by Mr. Lincoln to the colored people of Baltimore, on the presentation of a Bible to him. This sup- : posed speech contains the following : ' All the good from the Savior of the world is communicated to us through this book.' This idea is false and foolish. What becomes of nine-tenths of the life of Jesus of which we have no history nine-tenths of the great facts of this grand man's life not recorded in this book? Mr. Lincoln was full and exact in his WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 121 language. He never used the word Savior, unless in a conventional sense ; in fact, he never used the word at all. Again, he is made to say : * But for this book we could not know right from wrong. 5 The lowest organized life, I was about to say, knows right from wrong in its particular sphere. Every good dog that comes into possession of a bone, knows that that bone belongs to him, and he knows that it is wrong for another dog to rob him of it. He protests with bristling hair and glistening teeth against such dog robbery. It requires no revelation to teach him right from wrong in the dog world; yet it requires a special revelation from God to teach us right from wrong in the human world. According to this speech, the dog has the advantage. But Mr. Lincoln never uttered such nonsense." " I do think that anyone who knew Mr. Lincoln his history his philosophy his opinions and still asserts that he was a Christian, is an unbounded falsifier. I hate to speak thus plainly, but I cannot respect an untruthful man." " Let me ask the Christian claimant a few ques- tions. Do you mean to say, when you assert that Mr. Lincoln was a Christian, that he believed that Jesus was the Christ of God, as the evangelical world contends ? If so, where do you get your information? Do you mean to say that Mr. Lincoln wss a converted man and that he so declared ? If so, 122 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! where, when, and before whom did he declare or reveal it ? Do you mean to say that Mr. Lincoln joined a' church ? If so, what church did he join, and when did he join it? Do you mean to say that Mr. Lincoln was a secret Christian, acting under the cloak of the devil to advance Christianity ? If so, what is your authority ? If you will tell me when it was that the Creator caught with his almighty arms, Abraham, and held him fast while he poured the oil of grace on his rebellious soul, then I will know when it was that he was converted from his Infidel views to Christianity." " The best evidence this side of Lincoln's own written statement that he was an Infidel, if not an Atheist, as claimed by some, is the fact that he never mentions the name of Jesus. If he was a Christian it could be proved by his letters and speeches. That man is a poor defender of a principle, of a person, or of a thing, who never mentions that principle, person, or thing. I have never seen the name of Jesus men- tioned by Mr. Lincoln." " Mr. Lincoln never mentioned the name of Christ in his letters and speeches as a Christian. I h^ve searched for such evidence, but could not find it. I have had others search, but they could not .find it. This dead silence on the part of Mr. Lincoln is over- whelming proof that he was an unbeliever." "While Lincoln frequently, in a conventional WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 123 way, appeals to God, he never appeals to Christ nor mentions him. I know that he at first maintained that Jesus was a bastard, and later that he was the son of Joseph and not of God." " Lincoln was not a Christian in any sense other than that he lived a good life and was a noble man. If a good life constitutes one a Christian, then Mill and a million other men who repudiated and denied Christianity were Christians, for they lived good and noble lives." "If Mr. Lincoln changed his religious views he owed it to me to warn me, as he above all other men caused me to be an unbeliever. He said nothing to me, intimated nothing to me, either directly or in- directly. He owed this debt to many young men whom he had led astray, if astray the Christian calls it. I know of two young men of promise, now dead and gone gone into endless misery, according to the evangelical creed caused by Mr. Lincoln's teachings. I know some of the living here, men in prominent positions of life, who were made un- believers by him." / 'One by one, these apocryphal stories go by the board. Courageous and remorseless criticism will wipe out all these things. There will not be a vestige of them in fifty years to laugh at or to weep at." Mr. Herndon's testimony, even in the absence of 124 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I all other evidence, is concluaive. This was recog- nized by the Christian claimants after the appear- ance of his " Abbott Letter." They employed various measures to break the force of his testimony by trying to induce him either to retract or modify his statements. But they were not successful. He was not to be coaxed, he was not to be purchased, he was not to be intimidated. He had stated the truth and by the truth he proposed to stand. Foiled in these efforts, their last resort was to destroy his credibility as a witness by destroying his character. The most brazen falsehoods were invented and the most cruel calumnies circulated in order to crush him. Some of these stated that he was a drunkard, others that he was a pauper, and still others that he had become insane. These defamatory statements were usually first noticed in some religious paper or periodical. From this they were naturally copied into the secular papers and sent broadcast over the land. Journalists who had once known Mr. Herndon, either personally or by reputation, were surprised and shocked at the announcements, and wrote articles like the following which appeared in a Kansas paper : "Bill Herndon is a pauper in Springfield, 111. He was once worth considerable property. His mind was the most argumentative of any of the old lawyers in the state, and his memory was extraordinary WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 125 For several years before Lincoln was nominated for the Presidency, Herndon was in some respects the most active member of the tirrn, preparing the greatest number of cases for trial and making elab- orate arguments in their behalf. It is said that he worked hard with Lincoln in preparing the memo- rable speeches delivered by the man who afterward became President, during the debates between Lin- coln and Douglas in 1858, and in constructing the Cooper Institute address delivered by Lincoln a short time before the war. Herndon, with all his attainments, was a man who now and then went on a spree. This habit became worse after Lincoln's death, and, like poor Dick Yates, he went down step by step till his old friends and associates point to him as a common drunkard." I was in Springfield the very week that this article was published, and passed a day with Mr. Herndon at his home. I was prepared to testify, as all his neighbors were, that the charges it contained, to- gether with others that were being circulated, were false. I knew that he still possessed a sound and vigorous intellect ; I knew that he was in com- fortable circumstances financially ; I knew that he was an earnest advocate of temperance, and that he practiced what he preached ; in short, I knew him to be a man of pure morals and exemplary character. At the very time that he was declared to be an in- 126 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I mate of the insane asylum, the Old Settlers' Society selected him to examine and report upon the correct- ness of the " History of Sangamon County," which, as it included a history of the capital of the state where, at one time or another, had resided a major- ity of Illinois' s most gifted sons, was an important work, and one whose revision would not likely be intrusted to a lunatic. At the very time that he was said to be a pauper in the county poorhouse, he was entertaining such distinguished guests as William Lloyd Garrison. At the very time that he was reported to be a common drunkard, his neigh- bors had just appointed him guardian of the educa- tional interests of their children. All efforts to trace these slanders to their source and discover their author proved futile until 1880, when the writer of this saw in an Ohio paper an article on Lincoln, in which was quoted a portion of a letter which the contributor of the article stated had just been received from the Rev. J. A. Reed, of Springfield. It related wholly to Mr. Herndon, and did not contain one fair, truthful statement. In thirty brief lines were concentrated, in addition to several statements calculated and intended to de- ceive, no less than sixteen deliberate falsehoods, some of them of the most cruel and infamous char- acter. It was evident that Reed had intended that the substance of his letter should be given to the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 127 public without disclosing its authorship. But, thanks to the innocent credulity and indiscreetness of the friend to whom it was sent, the defamer was discovered and exposed. And this sneaking, cow- ardly assassin was the " defender of Lincoln's Chris- tian faith !" Could the inanimate remains of Abra- ham Lincoln have been revivified when this ex- posure was made, he would have arisen from his mausoleum at Oak Ridge, have come into the city, and have kicked this pretended "defender," this base calumniator of his beloved friend and associ- ate, out of Springfield. The cause of all the vituperation which for years had been heaped upon Mr. Herndon was now appar- ent. He had replied to Reed's lecture, and openly, honestly, and courteously, but effectively, refuted it : and because the latter could not come forward with a successful rejoinder, he was thus heartlessly and covertly plunging a dagger into the reputation of his chivalrous opponent. The intercession of friends secured for the culprit immunity from arrest for libel, but in the newspapers of his city he received such a castigation as he will not soon forget. The Daily Monitor, in an editorial replying to the slanders that were being circulated concerning Mr. Herndon, said : ' Mr. Herndon is not a pauper, is not a drunkard ; whisky did not ruin him, and, in a word, the whole 128 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: thing is a lie. Mr. Herndon lives on his farm near this city. He is a great admirer of nature, loves flowers, and spends his whole time on the farm, ex- cept when doing his trading, or coming into the city to see his children and grandchildren. He don't drink, he don't chew tobacco, he don't gamble, he is honorable and truthful, and he is highly respected by his fellow-citizens. He is a great reader, a great thinker, loves his neighbors and his neighbors love him. He has a great, big, kind heart for his fellow- man in distress, and, while never worth ' consider- able property,' he has always had enough for his generous purposes. Just why this thing should be allowed we are at a loss to know, and have waited to see if some of those who profess so much of the Christ-like in their composition would not have enough of the man-like .to be men, and not allow a good and true man as Mr. Herndon is to be thus in- famously maligned and belied by those whose works in the salvation of men would have more effect if more akin to Christ in practice." After a life of honest toil, much of it in behalf of the poor and the weak, without reward and without the expectation of reward, to be in his old age thus shamefully robbed of his good name, was an outrage almost without a parallel, save in the treatment re- ceived by Thomas Paine. That Mr. Herndon was keenly sensitive to this great wrong is disclosed by WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 129 " the tone of his letters written at the time. In one he says : " I have done nothing in the spirit of self- laudation. I prefer moving down the grooves of time unnoticed and unknown, except to friends. I have no ambition for fame or money. My ambition is to try to do good. I spent ten or more years of my best life for the negro, liberty, and union, not forgetting Kansas and her brave people. But let it all go ; I make no complaint. I try to live a moral and a manly life, love my fellow man, love freedom, love justice, and would die for the eternal right." As an index of public sentiment in the community where the defamed and the defamer resided, I will state two facts. On a pleasant September evening, in 1882. I attended Dr. Reed's church in Springfield. In that commodious edifice, built to accommodate an audience of nearly one thousand, I found assembled to listen to this renowned " defender of Lincoln's Christian faith," an audience of forty-four persons. About the same time, in the published report of a public meeting held near Springfield, appeared the following : " Five thousand people hovered around the speaker's stand for the purpose of listening to the able, eloquent, and well-known Hon. W. H. Herndon." It has been charged that Mr. Herndon's statements concerning Lincoln's unbelief were inspired by a spirit of revenge in consequence of Lincoln's not 130 ABRAHAM LINCOLN having recognized him with an appointment. This charge and this assumption are both false. There is now on file at Washington and at Springfield a telegram from Lincoln tendering him a judgeship, which he declined. To know Lincoln was to love him. None knew him better than Mr. Herndon, and none entertained a deeper affection for his memory. In a letter to me, dated Nov. 4, 1881, he pays this tribute to his dead friend : "Some people say that Mr. Lincoln was an un- grateful man. This is not true, and especially when applied to myself. He was always kind, tender, and grateful to me clung to me with hooks of steel. I know that I was true to him. It is said that no man is great to his valet. If I was Mr. Lincoln's valet, the rule does not apply in this case, for my opinion of him is too well known. His was a grand, noble, true, and manly life. He dreamed dreams of glory, and glory was justly his. He was growing and ex- panding to the day of his death. He was slow in his development, but strong and big when he did come. The last letter which I ever received from him concluded thus : ' God bless you, says your friend. A. Lincoln. 9 He felt what he expressed, and in return I say, God bless you, Lincoln." WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 131 CHAPTEE VIL TESTIMONY OF COL. WARD H. LAMON. Lamon's " Life of Lincoln " Lincoln's Early Skepticism His Inves- tigations at New Salem His Book on Infidelity His Religious Opin- ions Remain Unchanged Holland's Condemnation of Lamon's Work Holland's and Lamon's Works Compared. IN 1872, seven years after the President's assassi- nation, appeared the "Life of Abraham Lincoln," written by Col. Ward H. Lamon. As a faithful record of the life of one of the most sublime char- acters in the world's history, this work stands un- rivaled. More accomplished writers have written biography have written the biography of Lincoln. But no writer has ever been more thoroughly in- formed respecting his subject, and no writer has ever made a more conscientious use of the information in his possession than has Colonel Lamon in his " Life of Lincoln." In Illinois he was the friend and con- fidant of Lincoln. When the time approached for Lincoln to take the Executive chair, and the journey from Springfield to Washington was deemed a danger- ous undertaking, to Colonel Lamon was intrusted the responsible duty of conducting him to the national 132 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: capital. Daring the eventful years that followed, he remained at the President's side, holding an im- portant official position in the District of Columbia. When Lincoln died, at the great funeral pageant in Washington, he led the civic procession, and was, with Major General Hunter and Judge David Davis, selected to convey the remains to their iinal resting- place at Springfield. The following extract, from the preface to his work, shows what an inexhaustible mine of materials he had with which to prepare a full and authentic record of Lincoln's life and character : "At the time of Mr. Lincoln's death, I determined to write his history, as I had in my possession much valuable material for such a purpose. . . . Early in 1869, Mr. Herndon placed at my disposal his remarkable collection of materials the richest, rarest, and fullest collection it was possible to con- ceive. . . . Mr. Herndon had been the partner in business and the intimate personal associate of Mr. Lincoln for something like a quarter of a cent- ury; and Mr. Lincoln had lived familiarly with several members of his family long before their individual acquaintance began. New Salem, Spring- field, the old judicial circuit, the habits and friends of Mr. Lincoln, were as well known to Mr. Herndoii as to himself. With these advantages, and from the numberless facts and hints which had dropped from WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 133 Mr. Lincoln during the confidential intercourse of an ordinary lifetime, Mr. Herndon was able to institute a thorough system of inquiry for every noteworthy circumstance and every incident of value in Mr. Lincoln's career. The fruits of Mr. Herndon's labors are garnered in three enormous volumes of original manuscripts and a mass of unarranged letters and papers. They comprise the recollections of Mr. Lincoln's nearest friends ; of the surviving members of his family and his family-connections ; of the men still living who knew him and his parents in Kentucky ; of his schoolfellows, neighbors, and acquaintances in Indiana ; of the better part of the whole population of New Salem ; of his associates and relatives at Springfield ; and of lawyers, judges, politicians, and statesmen everywhere, who had any- thing of interest or moment to relate. They were collected at vast expense of time, labor, and money, involving the employment of many agents, long journeys, tedious examinations, and voluminous correspondence. Upon the value of these materials it would be impossible to place an estimate. That I have used them conscientiously and justly is the only merit to which I lay claim." Lamon's evidence concerning Lincoln's unbelief is complete and unanswerable. He did not present it because he was himself an unbeliever and wished to support his views with the prestige of Lincoln's 134 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : great name. While the Freethinker regards Lin- coln's rejection of Christianity as in the highest degree meritorious a proof of his strong logical acumen, his sterling common sense, and his broad humanity Lam on considered it a grave defect in his character. He states the fact because it is a fact, and because the purpose of his work is to disclose and not conceal the facts of Lincoln's life. If he devotes considerable space to the subject, and ex- hibits a special earnestness in its presentation, the misrepresentations of Lincoln's Christian biogra- phers have furnished a reasonable pretext for it. In the pages immediately following will be given the individual testimony of Colonel Lamon : "Any analysis of Mr. Lincoln's character would be defective that did not include his religious opin- ions. On such matters he thought deeply, and his opinions were positive. But perhaps no phase of his character has been more persistently misrepre- sented and variously misunderstood, than this of his religious belief. Not that the conclusive testimony of many of his intimate associates relative to his fre- quent expressions on such subjects has ever been wanting; but his great prominence in the world's history, and his identification with some of the great questions of our time, which, by their moral import, were held to be eminently religious in their character, have led many good people to trace in his WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 135 motives and actions similar convictions to those held by themselves. His extremely general expressions of religious faith called forth by the grave exigen- cies of his public life, or indulged in on occasions of private condolence, have too often been distorted out of relation to their real significance or meaning to suit the opinions or tickle the fancies of individ- uals or parties. " Mr. Lincoln was never a member of any church, nor did he believe in the divinity of Christ, or the inspiration of the Scriptures in the sense understood by evangelical Christians " (Life of Lincoln, p. 486). Holland and other Christian biographers have represented Lincoln as a youth of extreme piety, whose constant companion was the Bible. The con- current testimony of the friends of his boyhood com- pels Colonel Lamon to affirm that the reverse of this is true that Lincoln, at an early age, was noted for his skepticism. He says : " When a boy, he showed no sign of that piety which his many biographers ascribe to his manhood. . . When he went to church at all, he went to mock, and came away to mimic" (Ibid, pp. 486, 487). " At an early age he began to attend the ' preach- ings roundabout, but principally at the Pigeon Creek church, with a view to catching whatever might be ludicrous in the preacher's air or matter, 136 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I and making it the subject of mimicry as soon as he could collect an audience of idle boys and men to hear him. A pious stranger, passing that way on a Sunday morning, was invited to preach for the Pigeon Creek congregation ; but he banged the boards of the old pulpit, and bellowed and groaned so wonderfully, that Abe could hardly contain his mirth. This memorable sermon was a great favor- ite with him ; and he frequently reproduced it with nasal tones, rolling eyes, and all manner of droll aggravations, to the great delight of Nat Grigsby and the wild fellows whom Nat was able to assem- ble " (Ib., p. 55). " His chronicles were many, and on a great variety of subjects. They were written, as his early ad- mirers love to tell us, ' in the Scriptural style ;' but those we have betray a very limited acquaintance with the model " (Ib., p. 63). Of his Freethought reading and theological inves- tigations at New Salem, and his book on Infidelity, Lamon says : " When he came to New Salem, he consorted with Freethinkers, joined with them in deriding the gos- pel history of Jesus, read Volney and Paine, and then wrote a deliberate and labored essay, wherein he reached conclusions similar to theirs. The essay was burnt, but he never denied or regretted its composition. On the contrary, he made it the sub- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 137 ject of free and frequent conversations with his friends at Springfield, and stated, with much par- ticularity and precision, the origin, arguments, and objects of the work " (Ib., p. 487). " The community in which he lived was pre- eminently a community of Freethinkers in matters of religion ; and it was then ro secret, nor has it been a secret since, that Mr. Lincoln agreed with the majority of his associates in denying to the Bible the authority of divine revelation. It was his honest belief, a belief which it was no reproach to hold at New Salem, Anno Domini 1834, and one which he never thought of concealing. It was no distinction, either good or bad, no honor, and no shame. But be had made himself thoroughly familiar with the writings of Paine and Yolney the ' Ruins' by the one, and * The Age of Reason ' by the other. His mind was full of the subject, and lie felt an itching to write. He did write, and the result was a little book. It was probably merely an extended essay,- but it is ambitiously spoken of as * a book ' by him- self and by the persons who were made acquainted with its contents. In this work he intended to demonstrate ' First, that the Bible was not God's revelation; Secondlv, that Jesus was not the son of God.' "' No leaf of this little volume has survived. Mr. Lincoln carried it in manuscript to the store of Mr. 138 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Samuel Hill, where it was read and discussed. Hill was himself an unbeliever, but his son consid- ered his book * infamous.' It is more than probable that Hill, being a warm personal friend of Lincoln, feared that the publication of the essay would some day interfere with the political advancement of hi? favorite. At all events, he snatched it out of his hand, and thrust it into the fire, from which not a shred escaped " (Ib., pp. 157, 158). Colonel Lamon is confident that while Lincoln finally ceased to openly promulgate his Freethought opinions, he never abandoned them. He says : " As he grew older, he grew more cautious ; and as his New Salem associates, and the aggressive Deists with whom he originally united at Spring- field, gradually dispersed, or fell away from his side, he appreciated more and more keenly the violence and extent of the religious prejudices which freedom in discussion from his standpoint would be sure to arouse against him. He saw the immense and augmenting power of the churches, and in times past had practically felt it. The imputation of Infidelity had seriously injured him in several of his earlier political contests ; and, sobered by age and expe- rience, he was resolved that that same imputation should injure him no more. Aspiring to lead relig- ious communities, he foresaw that he must not appear as an enemy within their gates ; aspiring to WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? public honors under the auspices of a political party which persistently summoned religious people to assist in the extirpation of that which is denounced as the ' nation's sin,' he foresaw that he could not ask their suffrages whilst aspersing their faith. He perceived no reason for changing his convictions, but he did perceive many good and cogent reasons for not making them public '" (Ib., pp. 497, 498). " But he never told anyone that he accepted Jesus as the Christ, or performed a single one of the acts which necessarily follow upon such a conviction. At Springfield and at Washington he was beset on the one hand by political priests, and on the other by honest and prayerful Christians. He despised the former, respected the latter, and had use for both. He said with characteristic irreverence that he would not undertake to ' run the churches by military authority ;' but he was, nevertheless, alive to the importance of letting the churches ' run ' themselves in the interest of his party. Indefinite expressions about ' Divine Providence,' the ' Justice of God,' ' the favor of the Most High,' were easy, and not inconsistent with his religious notions. In this, accordingly, Jie indulged freely ; but never in all that time did he let fall from his lips or his pen an expression which remote!}' implied the slightest faith in Jesus as the son of God and the Savior of men" (Ib., p. 502). 140 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Lamon was Lincoln's intimate and trusted friend at Washington, and had he changed his belief, his biographer, as well as Noah Brooks and the Illinois clergyman, would have been in possession of the fact. In 1851 Lincoln wrote a letter of consolation to his dying father, in which he counseled him to " confide in our great arid good and merciful Maker." This letter was given to the public by Mr. Herndon, and has been cited by the orthodox to prove that Lincoln was a believer. Adverting to this letter Lamon says : " If ever there was a moment when Mr. Lincoln might have been expected to express his faith in the atonement, his trust in the merits of a living Redeemer, it was when he undertook to send a com- posing and comforting message to a dying man. . . . But he omitted it wholly. He did not even mention the name of Jesus, or intimate the most distant suspicion of the existence of a Christ " (Ibid., p. 497). Lincoln's mind was not entirely free from super- stition, but though born and reared in Christendom, the superstitious element in his nature was not essentially Christian. His fatalistic ideas, so char- acteristic of the faith of Islam, have already been mentioned by Mr. Herndon, and are thus referred to by Colonel Lamon : WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 141 " Mr. Lincoln was by no means free from a kind of belief in the supernatural. . . . He lived constantly in the serious conviction that he was him- self tlie subject of a special decree, made by some unknown and mysterious power, for which he had no name " (Ibid., p. 503). " His mind was filled with gloomy forebodings and strong apprehensions of impending evil, mingled with extravagant visions of personal grandeur and power. His imagination painted a scene just be- yond the veil of the immediate future, gilded with glory yet tarnished with blood. It was his * des- tiny ' splendid but dreadful, fascinating but terrible. His case bore little resemblance to those of religious enthusiasts like Bunyan, Cowper, and others. His was more like the de- lusion of the fatalist conscious of his star" (Ibid,, p. 475). When Lamon's work appeared, Holland, backed by the Christian element generally, fell upon it like a savage and sought, as far as possible, to suppress it. Lamon had committed an unpardonable offense. He had declared to the world that Lincoln had died a disbeliever, and, what was worse, he had proved it. Holland's attack was made in an eight-column review of Lamon's " Life," which was published in Bcribner's Monthly, for August, 1872. In order to give an air of candor and judicial fairness to his veno- 142 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I mous criticisms, lie opens with this flattering recogni- tion of its merits : " It is not difficult to see how Colonel Lamon, who during Mr. Lincoln's Presidency held an office in the District of Columbia, which must have brought him into somewhat frequent intercourse with the Presi- dent, and who, indeed, had come with him from Springfield to the Capital, should feel that there rested on him a certain biographical duty. And certainly he was in possession of a mass of material so voluminous, so original, and so fresh that in this respect at least his fitness for the work was remark- ably complete. Moreover, Mr. W. H. Herndon, who was Mr. Lincoln's partner in the practice of the law at Springfield, and was, of course, closely intimate with his partner in a business way, . . . added to Colonel Lamon's material the valuable documents which he had himself collected, and the memoranda which, with painstaking and lawyer-like ability, he had recorded from the oral testimony of living wit- nesses. " As far as the story of Mr. Lincoln's childhood and early life is concerned, down to the time when his political life began, it has never been told so fully, with such spirit and zest, and with such evi- dent accuracy, as by Colonel Lamon." Nearly the entire review is devoted to a denuncia- tion jf Lamon's exposition of Lincoln's religious WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 143 opinions. He repeatedly pronounces this " an out- rage on decency," and characterizes Lincoln's Free- thought companions as " heathen," " barbarians," and " savages." The review concludes as follows : " The violent and reckless prejudice, and the utter want of delicacy and even of decency by which the book is characterized, in such instances as this, will more than counterbalance the value of its new ma- terial, its fresh and vigorous pictures of Western life and manners, and its familiar knowledge of the * inside politics ' of Mr. Lincoln's administration, and will even make its publication (by the famous publishers whose imprint imparts to it a prestige and authority which its authorship would fail to give) something like a national misfortune. In some quarters it will be readily received as the standard life of the good President. It is all the more desir- able that the criticism upon it should be prompt and unsparing." Christianity must have the support of Lincoln's great name. To secure it Holland is willing to mis- represent the honest convictions of Lincoln's life- time, to traduce the characters of his dearest friends, and to rob a brother author and a publisher of their just reward. Lamon states that during the last years of Lin- coln's life he ceased to proclaim his Infidel opinions because they were unpopular. Eeferring to this 144 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! statement, Holland says : " The eagerness with which this volume strives to cover Mr. Lincoln's memory with an imputation so detestable is one of the most pitiable exhibitions which we have lately witnessed." This outburst of righteous indignation, coming from the source it does, is peculiarly refreshing. To appreciate it, we have only to open Holland's work, and read such passages as the following : " I am obliged to appear different to them." " It was one of the peculiarities of Mr. Lincoln to hide these religious [Christian] experiences from the eyes of the world." " Who had never in their whole lives heard from his lips one word of all these religious convictions and experiences." " They [his friends] did not regard him as a religious man." " All this department of his life he had kept carefully hidden from them." " There was much of his conduct that was simply a cover to these thoughts an effort to conceal them " (Holland's Life of Lincoln, pp. 239, 240). Consummate hypocrisy in a Christian is all right with this moralist ; but for a Freethinker to with- hold his views from an intolerant religious world is a detestable crime. As a biographer of Lincoln, Holland possessed many advantages over Lamon. His work was writ- ten and published immediately after the awful trag- . WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 145 edy, when almost the entire reading public was deeply interested in everything that pertained to Lincoln's life. So far as Lincoln's religious views are concerned, he advocated the popular side of the question ; for while those outside of the church cared but little about the matter, the church desired the influence of his great name, and was ready to reward those who assisted her in obtaining it. Hol- land, too, had an established reputation as an author had nearly as large a class of readers as any writer in this country. His name alone was suffi- J cient to guarantee a large circulation to any book he might produce. Lamon, on the other hand, pos- sessed but a single advantage over his rival, that of having the truth on his side. And while " truth is mighty," and will in the end prevail, yet how often is it " crushed to earth " and for the time obscured. . In view of all this, it is not strange that the public should be so slow to reject the fictions of Holland and accept the facts of Lamon. That Lamon's " Life of Lincoln " is wholly unde- serving of adverse criticism, is not claimed. He has, perhaps, given undue prominence to some matters connected with Lincoln's private affairs which might with propriety have been consigned to oblivion. A larger manifestation of charity, too, for the imperfections of those with whom Lincoln mingled, especially in the humbler walks of life, 146 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: would not have detracted from its merit. And yet, those who desire to know Lincoln as he really was, should read Lamon rather than Holland. In Lamon's work, Lincoln's character is a rugged oak, towering above its fellows and clothed in nature's livery ; in Holland's work, it is a dead tree with the bark taken off, the knots planed down, and varnished. In the New York World appeared the following just estimate of these two biographies : " Mr. Ward H. Lamon is the author of one * Life of Lincoln,' and Dr. J. G. Holland is the author of an- other. Mr. Lamou was the intimate personal and political friend of Mr. Lincoln, trusting and trusted, from the time of their joint practice in the Illinois Quarter Sessions to the moment of Mr. Lincoln's death at Washington. Dr. Holland was nothing to Mr. Lincoln neither known nor knowing. Dr, Holland rushed his 'Life* from the press before the disfigured corpse was fairly out of sight, while the public mind lingered with horror over the details of the tragedy, and, excited by morbid curiosity, was willing to pay for its gratification. Mr. Lamon waited many years, until all adventitious interest had subsided, and then with incredible labor and pains, produced a volume founded upon materials which for their fulness, variety, and seeming authen- ticity are unrivaled in the history of biographies. WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 147 Dr. Holland's single volume professed to cover the whole of Mr. Lincoln's career. Mr. Lamon's single volume was modestly confined to a part of it. Dr. Holland's was an easy, graceful, off-hand perform- ance, having but the one slight demerit of being in all essential particulars untrue from beginning to end. Mr. Lamon's was a labored, cautious, and carefully verified narrative which seems to have been accepted by disinterested critics as entirely authentic. "Dr. Holland would probably be very much shocked if anybody should ask him to bear false witiiess in favor of his neighbor in a court of justice, but he takes up his pen to make a record which he hopes and intends shall endure forever, and in that record deliberately bears false witness in favor of a public man whom he happened to admire, with no kind of offense to his serene and ' cultured ' con- science. If this were all if Dr. Holland merely asserted his own right to compose and publish elaborate fictions ou historical subjects we might comfort ourselves with the reflection that such literature is likely to be as evanescent as it is dis- honest, and let him pass in silence. But this is not wL He maintains that it is everybody's duty to help him to deceive the public and to write down his more conscientious competitor. He turns up the nose of * culture ' and curls the lip of ' art ' at 148 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : Mr. Lamou's homely narrative of facts, and gravely insists that all other noses and all other lips shall be turned up and curled because his are. He implores the public, which he insulted and gulled with his own book, to damn Mr. Lamon's, and be puts his request on the very ground that Mr. Larnon has stupidly gone and narrated undeniable truths, whereby he has demolished an empty shrine that was profitable to many, and broken a painted idol that might have served for a god. "The names of Holland and Lamon are not of themselves and by themselves illustrious ; but start- ing from the title-pages of the two Lives of Lincoln, and representing, as they do, the two schools of biography writers, the one stands for a principle and the other for the want of it." WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 149 CHAPTEK VIII. TESTIMONY OF HON. JOHN T. STUART AND COL. JAMES H. MATHENY. Testimony of Hon. John T. Stuart Testimony of Col. James H.Ma- theny Stuart's Disclaimer Mathetiy's Disclaimer Examination and Authorship of Disclaimers, Including the Edwards and Lewis Letters. BESIDES his own testimony concerning Lincoln's ^ unbelief, Colonel Lamon cites the testimony of ten additional witnesses : Hon. Wm. H. Herndon, Hon. John T. Stuart, Col. James H. Mathenj, Dr. C. H. Bay, Wm. H. Hannah, Esq , Mr. Jas. W. Keys, Hon. Jesse W. Fell, Col. John G. Nicola}', Hon. David Davis and Mrs. Mary Lincoln. The testimony of Mr. Herndon having already been presented, the testimony of Mr. Stuart and Colonel Matheny will next be given. This testimony was procured by Mr. Herndon for the purpose of refuting the errone- ous statements of Dr. Holland. Hon. John T. Stuart, who was for a time a mem- ber of Congress from Illinois, was the first law partner of Lincoln. He savs : M Lincoln went further against Christian beliefs ami doctrines and principles than any man I ever 150 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : heard : he shocked me. I don't remember the exact line of his argument suppose it was against the inherent defects, so called, of the Bible, and on grounds of reason. Lincoln always denied that Jesus was the Christ of God denied that Jesus was the son of God, as understood and maintained by the Christian church. The Bev. Dr. Smith, who wrote a letter, tried to convert Lincoln from Infidel- ity so late as 1858, and couldn't do it " (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, p. 488). Col. James H. Matheny was one of Lincoln's most intimate friends, and was for many years his chief political manager. He testifies as follows : " I knew Mr. Lincoln as early as 1834-7; know he was an Infidel. He and W. D. Herndon used to talk Infidelity in the Clerk's office in this city, about the years 1837-40. Lincoln attacked the Bible and the New Testament on two grounds : first, from the in- herent or apparent contradictions under its lids ; second, from the grounds of reason. Sometimes he ridiculed the Bible and the New Testament, some- times seemed to scoff it, though I shall not use that word iu its full and literal sense. I never heard that Lincoln changed his views, though his personal and political friend from 1834 to 1860. Sometimes Lincoln bordered on Atheism. He went far that way and shocked me. I was then a young man, and believed what my good mother told me. Stuart and WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 151 Lincoln's office was in what is called Hoffman's How, on North Fifth street, near the public square. It was in the same building as the Clerk's office, and on the same floor. Lincoln would come into the Clerk's office, where I and some young men Evan Butler, Newton Francis and others were writing or staying, and would bring the Bible with him ; would read a chapter, argue against it. Lincoln then had a smattering of geology, if I recollect it. Lincoln often, if not wholly, was an Atheist ; at least, bor- dered on it. Lincoln was enthusiastic in his Infidel- ity. As he grew older, he grew more discreet, didn't talk much before strangers about his religion ; but to friends, close and bosom ones, he was always open and avowed, fair and honest ; but to strangers, he held them off from policy. Lincoln used to quote Burns. Burns helped Lincoln to be an Infidel, as I think ; at least he found in Burns a like thinker and feeler. " From what I know of Mr. Lincoln and his views of Cliristianitv, and from what I know as honest, / ' well-founded rumor ; from what I have heard his best friends say and regret for years ; from what he never denied when accused, and from what Lincoln has hinted and intimated, to say no more, he did write a little book on Infidelity, at or near New Salem, in Menard county, about the year 1834 or 1835. I have stated these things to you often. 152 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Judge Logan, John T. Stuart, yourself, know what I know, and some of you more. " Mr. Herudon, you insist on knowing something which you know I possess, and got as a secret, and that is, about Lincoln's little book on Infidelity. Mr. Lincoln did tell me that he did tvrite a little book on Infidelity. This statement I have avoided hereto- fore ; but, as you strongly insist upon it probably to defend yourself against charges of misrepresenta- tions I give it to you as I got it from Lincoln's mouth " (Life of Lincoln, pp. 487, 488). The evidence of Stuart and Matheny, as recorded in Lamon's work, having been presented, it is now proper to state that this evidence has, in a measure, been repudiated by them. Dr. Eeed, in his lecture, produced letters from them disclaiming in part or modifying the statements imputed to them. Dr. Reed says : " I have been amazed to find that the principal persons whose testimony is given in this book to prove that their old friend lived and died an Infidel, never wrote a word of it, and never gave it as their opinion or allowed it to be published as covering their estimate of Mr. Lincoln's life and religious views." Alluding to Stuart's evidence, he says : " Mr. Lamon has attributed to Mr. Stuart testimony the most disparaging and damaging to Mr. Lincoln's character and opinions testimony which Mr. Stuart utterly repudiates, both as to WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 153 language and sentiment." Kegarding Matheny's testimony, he says : " Mr. Matheny testifies that he never wrote a word of what is attributed to him ; that it is not a fair representation of either his lan- guage or his opinions, and that he never would have allowed such an article to be published as cov- ering his estimate of Mr. Lincoln's life and char- acter." The following is the disclaimer of Mr. Stuart : " Springfield, Dec. 17th, 1872. " Eev. J. A. Eeed : " Dear Sir " My attention has been called to a statement in relation to the religious opinions of Mr. Lincoln, purporting to have been made by me, and published in Lamon's * Life of Lincoln.' The language of that statement is not mine ; it was not written by me, and I did not see it until it was in print. I was once interviewed on the subject of Mr. Lincoln's religious opinions, and doubtless said that Mr. Lincoln was in the earlier part of his life an Infidel. I could not have said that 'Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity so late as 1858, and couldn't do it.' In relation to that point I stated, in the same con- versation, some facts which are omitted in that statement, and which I will briefly repeat. That Eddie, a child of Mr. Lincoln, died in 1848 or 1849, and that he and his wife were in deep grief on the 154 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! account. That Dr. Smith, then pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Springfield, at the suggestion of a lady friend of theirs, called upon Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln, and that first visit resulted in great intimacy and friendship between them, lasting till the death of Mr. Lincoln, and continuing with Mrs. Lincoln till the death of Dr. Smith. I stated that I had heard at the time that Dr. Smith and Mr. Lin- coln had much discussion in relation to the truth of the Christian religion, and that Dr. Smith had fur- nished Mr. Lincoln with books to read on that sub- ject, and among others one which had been written by himself, sometime previous, on Infidelity ; and that Dr. Smith claimed that after this investigation Mr. Lincoln had changed his opinions, and became a believer in the truth of the Christian religion ; that Mr. Lincoln and myself never conversed upon that subject, and I had no personal knowledge as to his alleged change of opinion. I stated, however, that it was certainly true that up to that time Mr. Lincoln had never regularly attended any place of religious worship, but that after that time he rented a pew in the First Presbyterian church, and with his family constantly attended the worship in that church until he went to Washington as President. This much I said at the time, and I can now add that the Hon. Ninian W. Edwards, the brother-in- law of Mr. Lincoln, has, within a few days, informed WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 155 me that when Mr. Lincoln commenced attending the First Presbyterian church he admitted to him that his views had undergone the change claimed by Dr. Smith. I would further say that Dr. Smith was a man of great ability, and on theological and meta- physical subjects had few superiors and not many equals. Truthfulness was a prominent trait in Mr. Lincoln's character, and it would be impossible for any intimate friend of his to believe that he ever aimed to deceive, either by his words or his con- duct. " Yours truly, " John T. Stuart." Col. Matheny's disclaimer is as follows : " Springfield, Dec. 16th, 1872. " Eev. J. A. Reed : " Dear Sir " The language attributed to me in Lamon's book is not from my pen. I did not write it, and it does not express my sentiments of Mr. Lincoln's entire life and character. It is a mere collection of say- ings gathered from private conversations that were only true of Mr. Lincoln's earlier life. I would not have allowed such an article to be printed over my signature as covering my opinion of Mr. Lincoln's life and religious sentiments. While I do believe Mr. Lincoln to have been an Infidel in his former life, when his mind was as yet unformed, and his 156 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ! associations principally with rough and skeptical men, yet I believe he was a very different man in later life, and that after associating with a different class of men and investigating the subject, he was a firm believer in the Christian religion. " Yours truly, " Jas. H. Matheny." This disclosure startles you, my dear reader. But be patient. I will show you that this apparently mortal thrust of Dr. Reed's was made, not with a lance, but with a boomerang. When Reed made his assault upon Lamon's wit- nesses, all stood firm but two two old Springfield politicians whose political aspirations had not yet become extinct John T. Stuart and James H. Math- eny. These men had been among the first to testify in regard to Lincoln's unbelief. His Christian biographers had misrepresented his religious views ; they believed that the fraud ought to be exposed, and they were ready and willing to aid in the work. Their testimony exhibits a frankness that is truly commendable. They knew that lying was a vice, but they did not know that truth-telling was a crime. They had yet to learn that the church tolerates murder more readily than the promulgation of a truth that is antagonistic to her creed. But this fact they were destined to learn. Lamon's work had scarcely been issued from the press before he WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 157 was anathematized and his book proscribed. The merciless attack that had already been commenced upon Herndon portended danger to them. Nor had they long to wait. In December, 1872, they were approached by Reed and his coadjutors. They were informed that the idol which their ruthless iconoclasm had helped to break must be repaired. They were given to understand that if they repented of the part they had performed and recanted, peace would be their portion here and endless bliss hereafter ; but that if they did not, endless misery would begin on Jan. 1, A.D. 1873. The situation was critical. They did not like to tell the world that they had borne false witness against the dead, nor did they, any more than Gali- leo, wish to wear a martyr's crown. A compromise was finally effected. It was incidentally ascertained by Reed that their evidence as presented by Lamon was riot originally given in the shape of a letter or a written statement, but orally. A happy thought suggested itself one worthy of the unscrupulous theological pettifogger that he is. The thought was this : " Say to the public, or rather let me say it for you, that you did not icrite a word of the testimony attributed to you." Just as a witness in court might point to the stenographer's report of his testimony and say, " I did not write a word of that." In addition to this, Mr. Stuart, in endeavoring to 158 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : explain away, as far as possible, the obnoxious char- acter of his testimony, declared that some things which he did say at the time his testimony was given had been omitted ; while something he did not say was inserted. They were both trivial matters, hardly worthy of notice, even if true, and having no especial bearing upon the case. But they served an admi- rable purpose in enabling Heed to say that the testi- mony adduced by Lamon was " abridged and dis- torted." Stuart's disclaimer, then, divested of its mislead- ing verbiage, contains but two points. In the first place, he says : " I could not have said that * Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity so late as 1858, and couldn't do it.' This sentence, like everything else in these disclaimers, is cunningly worded and intended to deceive. One would naturally suppose the idea he intends to convey is that he never declared that Dr. Smith tried to con- vert Lincoln and couldn't do it. This, it has been ascertained, is not his meaning. What he means is this : " I could not have said that ' Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity, so late as 1858, and couldn't do it.' His denial is a mere quibble about a date. He did undoubtedly say just what he is reported to have said. But admitting a doubt, and giving him the benefit of this doubt, by throwing out the disputed date, the passage is not less damaging WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 159 than it was before : " Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity, and couldn't do it." But let us omit the entire sentence, and the testimony of Mr. Stuart that remains, about which there is no dispute, that portion of his testimony which he ad- mits to be correct is as follows : "Lincoln went further against Christian beliefs and doctrines and principles than any man I ever heard ; he shocked me. I don't remember the exact line of his argument ; suppose it was against the inherent defects, so called, of the Bible, and on grounds of reason. Lincoln always denied that Jesus was the Christ of God denied that Jesus was the Son of God, as understood and maintained by the Christian church." In the second place, Mr. Stuart complains that the rumors concerning Dr. Smith's attempted con- version of Lincoln which he had mentioned to Mr. Herndon at the time of giving his testimony, were omitted. They were, and very properly, too. Mr. Stuart, or any other good lawyer, would have omit- ted them. Mr. Herndon desired him to testify about what he knew, and not about what lie had heard, especially as he was going to headquarters in regard to these rumors. He wrote to Dr. Smith himself about them, received his testimony, and gave it to the public. Stuart affects to believe that this story, which 160 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I Ninian Edwards is dragged around by Reed to verify, may possibly have been true. But in the same sentence, he refutes this idea, and refutes the claim itself, by saying: "I had no personal knowl- edge as to his alleged change of opinion." Stuart was a familv connection of Lincoln, and if Lincoln tt had been converted, he, as well as every other per- son in Springfield, would have known it. He states that Dr. Smith's first visit to Lincoln was " at the suggestion of a lady friend." To have avoided another glaring contradiction in the evidence of his witnesses, Reed should have had Major Stuart state that this "lady friend " was Thomas Lewis. As it is, the account given by Stuart of Dr. Smith's first visit and acquaintance with Lincoln is entirely at variance with the account given by Mr. Lewis in his letter, quoted in chapter I. Mr. Stuart evidently entertained no very kind opinion of Colonel Lamon's work, and this made him all the more disposed to accede to Reed's de- mands. His position on the slavery question, for a time, was one which, in the light of subsequent events, he had no reason to be proud of, and Lamon in narrating the acts of Lincoln's life found it neces- sary frequently to refer to this. Such passages as the following were calculated not only to make him offended at Lamon, but jealous of Herndon : " John T. Stuart was keeping his eye on Lincoln, with the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 161 view of keeping him on his side -the totally dead conservative side." " Mr. Lincoln was beset by warm friends and by old coadjutors, and besought to pause in his anti-slavery course while there was vet time. Among these there was none more earnest or persuasive than John T. Stuart, who was but the type of a class. . . . But Mr. Herndon was more than a match for the full array against him. An earnest man, instant in season and out of season, he spoke with the eloquence of apparent truth and of real personal love " (Life of Lincoln, pp. 374, 352). Colonel Matheny was not prepared to deny the correctness of a single statement in his testimony, but was forced to modify its bearing as a whole. He was made to say : " It does not express my senti- ments of Mr. Lincoln's entire life and character." Now, anyone who reads his evidence cannot fail to observe that he did intend to cover Lincoln's entire life and character. There is not in it the slightest intimation that he referred merely to a part of his life. Indeed, there is one statement in his evidence which utterly precludes such an assumption. He expressly says : " I never heard that Lincoln changed his views, though his personal and political friend from 1834 to 1860." But Heed must have a sufficient portion of his life reserved in which to in- ject the story of his alleged conversion; and so Matheny's offense was condoned on the condition 162 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I that be retain the earlier part of Lincoln's life for his testimony to rest upon, and concede the remain- der to Eeed for " The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Lincoln." This division of Lincoln's life is quite indefinite, but Reed would have us be- lieve that Colonel Matheny's evidence relates wholly to that portion of his life anterior to 1848, when Dr. Smith began the task of Christianizing him, Matheny's disclaimer is dated Dec. 16, 1872. On Dec. 9, 1873, he made the following explanation, which was published in a Springfield paper : "What I mean, in my Reed letter, by Mr. Lincoln's earlier life, is his whole life and history in Illinois. In Illinois, and up to the time he left for Washing- ton, he was, as I understand it, a confirmed Infidel. What I mean by Mr. Lincoln's later life, is his Washington life, where he associated with religious people, when and where I believe he thought he became a Christian. I told Mr. Reed all this just before signing the letter spoken of. I knew nothing of Mr. Lincoln's investigation into the subject of Christianity." He says that his evidence " is a mere collection of sayings gathered from private conversations." It is doubtless true that he had many private conversa- tions with Mr. Herndon on this subject ; but his published testimony was all given at one sitting, and more, he signed that testimony. Every word attributed WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 163 to him in Lainon's work, and repeated in this chap- ter, originally appeared above his signature. The concluding words of his disclaimer are as fol- lows : " While I do believe Mr. Lincoln to have been an Infidel in his former life, when his mind was as yet unformed, and his associations principally with rough and skeptical men, yet I believe he was a very different man in later life ; and that after associating with a different class of men, and investigating the subject, he was a firm believer in the Christian religion." These words, as modified by the following, con- stitute a most remarkable statement : "In Illinois, and up to the time he left for Wash- ington, he was, as I understand it, a confirmed In- fidel. What I mean by Mr, Lincoln's later life, is his Washington life, where he associated with re- ligious people." Colonel Matheny confines Lincoln's Infidelity to that portion of his life " when his mind was as yet unformed," and affirms that this portion comprised all the years preceding his removal to Washington in 1861. Thus during the first fifty-two years of Lincoln's life, " his mind was as yet unformed." His enviable reputation as one of the foremost law- yers of Illinois was achieved while " his mind was as yet unformed ;" when his friends sent him to Con- 164 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: gress " his mind was as yet unformed;" when he made his Bloomington speech, " his mind was as yet unformed ;" when he delivered his famous Spring- field speech, " his mind was as yet unformed ;" when he conducted his masterly debates with Stephen A. Douglas, " his mind was as yet un- formed ;" when lie prepared and delivered that model of political addresses, the Cooper In- stitute address, " his mind was as yet unformed ;" when at the Chicago Convention he outstripped in the race for Presidential nominee such emi- nent leaders as Seward and Chase, " his mind was as yet unformed ;" when he was elected Chief . Magistrate of this great nation, " his mind was as yet unformed." It was only by leaving Illinois and going to Wash- ington that he was thrown into religious society. Washington politicians are noted for their piety, you know. According to Matheny et al., New Salem was a second Sodom, Springfield a second Gomorrah and Washington a sort of New Jerusalem, inhabited chiefly by saints Neither in Matheny 's letter, nor in his interpreta- tion of this letter, is there a word to indicate that he recognized the fact that Lincoln went to Washington to assume the office and perform the duties of Presi- dent. On the contrary, the whole tenor of his re- marks is to the effect that he believed the people WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 165 sent him there on account of his wickedness, and while " his mind was as yet unformed," to attend a reform school, and that subsequently he entered a theological seminary, and there died. The most amusing feature of Matheny's letter is that he unwittingly certifies that his own character was not good. He declares that Lincoln was an Infidel because his associations were " with rough and skeptical men ;" but that after removing to Washington and " associating with a different class of men ' he became a Christian. Now, it is well known that one of the most conspicuous of his "rough and skeptical' 1 associates in Illinois was James H. Matheny. Colonel Matheny, in his explanatory remarks, says : " I believe he thought he became a Christian ;" and in almost the next breath says, " I knew nothing of Mr. Lincoln's investigation into the subject of Christianity." Can anything be more unreasonable than this ? Colonel Matheny knowing that Lincoln was a confirmed Infidel an Infidel when he went to Washington knowing nothing about his having afterward investigated Christianity knowing that he had no time for such an investigation, and yet believing that Lincoln thought he became a Chris- tian ! Why did he not mention this when he gave his testimony ? The fact is, he did not believe that Lincoln became a Christian ; but with an orthodox 166 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: club raised above his head, he found it very con- venient to profess to believe it. As Mr. Reed has endeavored to prove that Lamou and H&yndon did not faithfully report the evidence of Stuart and Matheny, it is but just that Mr. Hern- don, who took down their testimony, be permitted to speak in his own defense. In his Springfield lecture, delivered in Major Stuart's town, if not in his pres- ence, referring to Stuart's testimony, he says : " Mr. Stuart did not write the note and no one ever said he did. "What is there stated was the sub- stance of a conversation between Mr. Stuart and my- self about Mr. Lincoln's religion. I took down in a note in his office and in his presence his words and ideas as I did in other cases. The conversation spoken of took place in Mr. Stuart's office, and in the east room. Mr. Stuart does not deny that the note is substantially correct. He simply says he could not have said that Dr. Smith tried to convert Mr. Lincoln, and couldn't do it. I well remember that he did use this language. It seemed to do him good to say it. ... It seems that Mr. Stuart had heard that Mr. Lincoln and Dr. Smith had much discussion about Christianity, but he failed to hear of Mr. Lincoln's conversion, or anything like it, and well might he say, as Jte did, that ' Dr. Smith tried to convert Mr. Lincoln, but couldn't do it.' " Any charitably disposed person, knowing the gen- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 167 eral good character of both men, instead of crying " Fraud !" as Reed has done, will readily conclude that Mr. Herndon was mistaken, or that Mr. Stuart had forgotten just what he did say, and is it not more reasonable to suppose that the latter gentle- man, in the lapse of six years, should have forgotten some things he said, than that Mr. Herndon, who recorded them the moment they were uttered, should be mistaken ? Alluding to Colonel Matheny's evidence, in the same lecture, Mr. Herndon says : " The next gentleman introduced by Mr. Heed is Col. James H. Matheny.. He is made to say, in a letter addressed to Mr. Reed, that he did not write the statement in Lamon's 'Life of Lincoln.' I do not claim that he did. I wrote it in the court house this hall in Mr. Matheny's presence, and at his dictation. I read it over to him and he approved it. I wrote it all at once as he spoke it to rne ; it is not made up of scraps ' a mere collection of sayings gathered from private conversations, that were only true of Mr. Lincoln's earlier life.' I say that this statement was written all at one time and place, and not at different times and places. Let any critic, any man of common sense, read it and he will say : This was all written at once.' I appeal to the manner the close connection of words and ideas in which it runs word with word, sentence with sen- 168 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: tence, and idea with idea, for the proof that it was made at one sitting. Mr. Matheny has often told me that Mr. Lincoln was an Infidel. He admits this in his letter to Mr. Reed. He never intimated in that or any other conversation with me that he believed that Mr. Lincoln in his later life became a Christian." In a letter dated Sept. 14, 1887, Mr. Herndon writes : " I acted in this matter honestly, and I will always abide by my notes taken down at the time. I was cautious very careful of what I did, because I knew that the church would damn me and prove me false if it could. I stood on the exactness of truth squarely." I have thus far assumed that Stuart and Matheny really wrote the letters of disclaimer addressed to Reed. Mr. Heed states that he is " amazed to find " that they did not write the statements attributed to them by Lamon. The reader is by this time suffi- ciently familiar with this reverend gentleman's methods that he will not be "amazed to find" that Stuart and Matheny did not write these disclaimers. I now affirm that James H. Matheny did not write a word of the letter purporting to have been written by him. It was Written by the Rev. J. A. Heed ! We have not the expressed declaration of Mr. Stuart that this is true of the letter imputed to him, but WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 169 there is other evidence which makes it clearly ap- parent that this letter was also written by Mr. Reed. Nor is this all. I shall now endeavor to show that the greater part of the evidence presented by Eeed, in his lecture, was composed and written by himself. Let us take the four letters credited respectively to Edwards, Lewis, Stuart, and Matheny. I shall attempt to demonstrate the common origin of these letters, first, by their form ; secondly, by the language of their contents. The different forms employed in epistolary corre- spondence are numerous, far more numerous than generally supposed. To illustrate : four hundred letters, written by as many different persons, and all addressed to the same person, were, without examina- tion, divided into one hundred parcels of four letters each. They were then examined in regard to the form employed by the writer. The heading, the ad- dress, the introduction, and the subscription were noted no attention being paid to the body of the letter, or the signature. In not one of these one hundred parcels were found four letters having the same form. The heading of these letters exhibited nine different forms ; the address, fourteen ; the introduction, eight ; and the subscription, eleven. Again, nearly every writer employs certain idioms of language that are peculiar to him, and which reveal his identity, even though he tries to conceal it. 170 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I Let us now institute a brief analysis of the four letters under consideration. Errors will be noticed, not for the purpose of reflecting upon the literary attainments of the writer, but solely with a view of discovering his identity. These are mostly of a trivial character, confined to marks of punctuation, etc.; and it is a recognized fact that a majority of educated persons, including many professional writers, are more or less deficient in the art of punctuation. In proof of the common authorship of these four letters, the following reasons are sub- mitted : 1. In all of them we recognize a stiff formality a studied effort to conform to one ideal standard. 2. All of them were written at Springfield, 111., and all omit the name of the state. 3. In each of them, the day of the month is fol- lowed by the suffix " th." This, if not wholly im- proper, is not common usage. Had these letters been written by the four persons to whom they are ascribed, at least three of them would have omit- ted it. 4 In all, but one, the address is " Rev. J. A. Reed," and in the exception the writer merely sub- stitutes "Jas." for "J." 5. In each of them the address is followed by a colon instead of a comma, the proper mark to use. Had they been written by four persons, it is possible . WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 171 that a part, or even all, would have made an error, but it is highly improbable that all would have made the same error. 6. In these letters, the introductory words are uniformly " Dear Sir " the most common form of introduction, and the one that a writer, in drafting a letter addressed to himself, would most naturally employ. 7. In every instance, the introduction is followed by a dash instead of a colon a uniformity of error, again. 8. In the subscription, the term, " Yours truly," is invariably used, except in the Lewis letter, which concludes with " Yours, etc." 9. The Edwards letter and the Lewis letter begin with the same idea, expressed in nearly the same words. Edwards is made to say, " A short time after the Rev. Dr. Smith," etc.; and Lewis "Not long after Dr. Smith." 10. Omitting the introductory sentence in the Stuart letter, which is merely the expansion of an idea used in writing the Matheny letter on the pre- ceding day, the Stuart and Matheny letters begin with the same idea. Stuart says : " The language of that statement is not mine ; it was not written by me." Matheny says : " The language attributed to me ... is not from my pen. I did not write it." Reed himself uses substantially the same Ian- 172 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I guage that is ascribed to them. Had their state- ments, as published in Lamon's work, been forgeries, or grossly inaccurate, they might have used the language quoted above. Under the circumstances they would not have used it. Major Stuart and Colonel Matheny were lawyers, not pettifoggers. 11. These prefatory sentences of Stuart and Ma- thenv both begin with the same words " the Ian- guage." 12. In both the Edwards and Lewis letters, refer- ence is made to a theological work which Dr. Smith is said to have written. The writer of neither letter is able to state the name of the book ; Dr. Reed is unable to state the name of it ; Dr. Smith himself does not mention the name of it ; but he does plainly state that it was a work on the Bible. For " the business he had on hand," however, it suited Reed's purpose better to give a semi-erroneous im- pression of its character, and so he affirms that it was a work on "the evidences of Christianity." Curiously enough, in the Edwards letter and again in the Lewis letter, the book is described as a work on " the evidences of Christianity." 13. The Edwards letter reports Lincoln as saying : " I have been reading a work of Dr. Smith on ih? evidences of Christianity." The Lewis letter repre- sents him as saying that " He had seen and partially read a work of Dr. Smith on the evidences of Christian- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 173 ity" Here are ten consecutive words in the two letters identical. 14 Mr. Beed, in his lecture, never once uses the word " Christianity," except as above noticed to de- scribe Dr. Smith's book ; he always uses the words " the Christian religion " employing this term no less than seven times. This usage is not common. An examination of various theological writings shows that " Christianity " is used twenty times where " the Christian religion " is used once. Yet in these letters the word " Christianity " is not to be found, except in the same sense as used by Dr. Reed, while " the Chris- tian religion ' occurs in each of the four letters. 15. rt The truth of the Christian religion " is a favorite phrase with Reed, occurring three times in his lecture. This phrase also occurs three times in these letters once in the Edwards letter, and twice in the Stuart letter. 16. Reed has much to say about Lincoln's " life and religious sentiments ;" in fact, his lecture is entitled, " The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Abraham Lincoln." In the Matheny letter, too, we find "Mr. Lincoln's life and religious senti- ments." 17. The words " earlier " and " later " are fre- quently used by Reed in connection with Lincoln's life. The same words are used in the Stuart and Matheny letters, and in the same connection. x 174 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : 18. The Stuart letter is, for the most part, de- voted to the narration of " some facts ' which Mr. Stuart is said to have presented to Mr. Herndon, beginning with this : " That Eddie, a child of Mr. Lincoln, died in 1848 or 1849," etc. Now, Mr. Stuart well knew that, during all this time, Mr. Herndon was the intimate associate of Lincoln and thoroughly familiar with every event in his history. The " facts " given in this letter are not such as Mr. Stuart would have communicated to Mr. Herndon, but they are such as Mr. Reed would naturally desire to place before the public. 19. Nothing in Dr. Eeed's career has excited his vanity more than the fact that he was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield the church which Lincoln once attended. Consequently, the " First Presbyterian Church ' is a conspicuous ob- ject in his lecture, and nowhere is it more conspic- uous than in these letters. In the Stuart letter it appears three times, and the writer never fails to state that it was the " First Presbyterian Church " the church of which Dr. Heed was pastor. 20. According to the principle of accretion, if two articles or letters are written on the same subject, the second will usually be longer than the first. This is true of these letters. The Lewis letter, re- lating to Smith's reputed conversion of Lincoln, was written after the Edwards letter relative to the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 175 same subject, and is longer. The Stuart disclaimer, which is the longer of the two, was written after the Matheny disclaimer. From the foregoing, is it not clearly evident that these four letters were all written by the same per- son ? If so, then knowing that Dr. Reed wrote one of them, the Matheny letter, does it not necessarily follow that he wrote them all ? In the Gurley testimony, such expressions as " the Christian religion " and " the truth of the Christian religion," together with the Heed story concerning Lincoln's intention of making a profession of relig- ion, reveal the authorship of this testimony also. .-. 176 ABRAHAM LINCOLN I OHAPTEK IX. TESTIMONY OF THE REMAINING WITNESSES PRESENTED BY LAMON. Dr. C. H. Ray Wm. II. Hannah, Esq. James W. Keys Hon. Jesse W. Fell Col. John G. Nicolay Hon. David Davis Mrs. Mary Lincoln Injustice to Mrs. Lincoln Answer to Reed's Pretended Ref- utation of the Testimony of Lamon's Witnesses. SEVEN of Lamon's witnesses Bay, Hannah, Keys, Fell, Nicolay, Davis, and Mrs. Lincoln remain to testify. The testimony of these witnesses will now be presented. DR. C. H. RAY. Dr. Bay, editor of the Chicago Tribune, a promi- nent figure in Illinois politics thirty years ago, and a personal friend and admirer of Lincoln, testifies as follows : "You knew Mr. Lincoln far better than I did, though I knew him well ; and you have served up his leading characteristics in a way that I should despair of doing, if I should try. I have only one thing to ask : that you do not give Calvinistic theol- ogy a chance to claim him as one of its saints and martyrs. He went to the Old School Church ; but, WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 177 in spite of that outward assent to the horrible dogmas of the sect, I have reason from himself to know that his ' vital purity,' if that means belief in the impossible, was of a negative sort" (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, pp. 489, 490). Dr. Kay states that Lincoln held substantially the same theological opinions as those held by Theodore Parker. WILLIAM H. HANNAH. A leading member of the Bloomington bar, when Lincoln practiced there, was Wm. H. Hannah. He was an honest, truthful man, and knew Lincoln well. Concerning Lincoln's views on the doctrine of endless punishment, Mr. Han- nah says : " Since 1856 Mr. Lincoln told me that he was a kind of immortalist ; but that he never could bring himself to believe in eternal punishment ; that man lived but a little while here, .and that, if eternal punishment were man's doom, he should spend that little life in vigilant and ceaseless preparation by never-ending prayer " (Life of Lincoln, p. 489). JAMES W. KEYS. Mr. Jas. W. Keys, an old and respected citizen of Springfield, who became acquainted with Lincoln soon after his removal there, and who had many con- 178 ABRAHAM LINCOLN! versations with him on the subject of theology, says : " As to the Christian theory, that Christ is God, or equal to the Creator, he said that it had better be taken for granted ; for, by the test of reason, we might become Infidels on that subject, for evidence of Christ's divinity came to us in a somewhat doubt- ful shape " (Life of Lincoln, p. 490). HON. JESSE W. FELL. Jesse W. Fell, who died at Bloomington in the spring of 1887, was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Illinois. He was Secre- tary of the Republican State Central Commitee dur- ing the memorable Lincoln-Douglas campaign, and was largely instrumental in bringing Lincoln forward as a candidate for the Presidency in 1860. It was for him that Lincoln wrote an autobiographical sketch of his life, which formed the basis of his cam- paign biographies, the fac-simile of which appears in Lamon's " Life of Lincoln," and in the " Lincoln Memorial Album." Mr. Fell was a Christian of the Unitarian denomination, and there were few men for whom Lincoln had a more profound respect. The following is his testimony : " Though everything relating to the character of this extraordinary personage is of interest, and should be fairly stated to the world, I enter upon the WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 179 performance of this duty for so I regard it with some reluctance, arising from the fact that, in stating my convictions on the subject, I must necessarily place myself in opposition to quite a number who have written on this topic before me, and whose views largely pre-occupy the public mind. This latter fact, whilst contributing to my embarrassment on this subject, is, perhaps, the strongest reason, however, why the truth in this matter should be fully disclosed ; and I therefore yield to your request. If there were any traits of character that stood out in bold relief in the person of Mr. Lincoln, they were those of truth and candor. He was utterly in- capable of insincerity, or professing views on this or any other subject he did not entertain. Knowing such to be his true character, that insin- cerity, much more duplicity, were traits wholly foreign to his nature, many of his old friends were not a little surprised at finding, in some of the biographies of this great man, statements concerning his religious opinions so utterly at variance with his known sentiments. True, he may have changed or modified those sentiments after his removal from among us, though this is hardly reconcilable with the history of the man, and his entire devotion to public matters during his four years' residence at the national capital. It is possible, however, that this may be the proper solution of this conflict 01 180 ABRAHAM LINCOLN ! opinions ; or, it may be, that, with no intention on the part of anyone to mislead the public mind, those who have represented him as believing in the popular theological views of the times may have mis- apprehended him, as experience shows to be quite common where no special effort has been made to attain critical accuracy on a subject of this nature. This is the more probable from the well-known fact that Mr. Lincoln seldom communicated to anyone his views on this subject. But, be this as it may, I have no hesitation whatever in saying that, whilst he held many opinions in common with the great mass of Christian believers, he did not believe in what are regarded as the orthodox or evangelical views of Christianity. " On the innate depravity of man, the character and office of the great head of the church, the atone- ment, the infallibility of the written revelation, the performance of miracles, the nature and design of present and future rewards and punishments (as they are popularly called) and many other subjects, he held opinions utterly at variance with what are usually taught in the church. I should say that his expressed views on these and kindred topics were such as, in the estimation of most believers, would place him entirely outside the Christian pale. Yet, to my mind, such was not the true position, since his principles and practices and the spirit of his whole WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 181 life were of the very kind we universally agree to call Christian ; and I think this conclusion is in no wise affected by the circumstance that he never at- tached himself to any religious society whatever. " His religious views were eminently practical, and are summed up, as I think, in these two proposi- tions : ' the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man.' He fully believed in a superintending and overruling Providence that guides and controls the operations of the world, but maintained that law and order, and not their violation or suspension, are the appointed means by which this Providence is exercised. "I will not attempt any specification of either his belief or disbelief on various religious topics, as de- rived from conversations with him at different times during a considerable period; but, as conveying a general view of his religious or theological opinions, will state the following facts : Some eight or ten years prior to his death, in conversing with him on this subject, the writer took occasion to refer, in terms of approbation, to the sermons and writings generally of Dr. W. E. Charming ; and, finding he was considerably interested in the statement I made of the opinions held by that author, I proposed to present him a copy of Channing's entire works, which I soon after did. Subsequently, the contents f these volumes, together with the writings of .' . 182 ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Theodore Parker, furnished him, as he informed me, by his friend and law-partner, Mr. Herndon, became naturally the topics of conversation with us ; and though far from believing there was an entire har- mony of views on his part with either of those authors, yet they were generally much admired anil approved by him. " No religious views with him seemed to find anv CJ *j favor, except of the practical and rationalistic order ; and if, from my recollections on this subject, I was called upon to designate an author whose views most nearly represented Mr. Lincoln's on this subject, I would say that author was Theodore Parker. " As you have asked from me a candid statement of my recollections on this topic, I have thus briefly given them, with the hope that they may be of some service in rightl}* settling a question about which as I have good reason to believe the public mind has been greatly misled. Not doubting that they will accord, substantially, with your own recollec- tions, and that of his other intimate and confidential friends, and with the popular verdict after this mat- ter shall have been properly canvassed, I submit them " (Life of Lincoln, pp. 490-492). Mr. Fell's testimony is full and explicit. He affirms that Lincoln rejected nearly all the leading tenets of orthodox Christianity ; the inspiration of the Scriptures, the divinity of Christ, the innate de- WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 183 pravity of man, the atonement, the performance of miracles, and future rewards and punishments. >; His expressed views on these and kindred topics," Mr. Fell says, " were such as, in the estimation of most believers, would place him entirely outside the Christian pale." Mr. Fell, himself, was not disposed to withhold from Lincoln the appellation of Chris- tian, but it was only because he stood upon the broad Liberal Christian, or rather non-Christian, platform which permitted him to welcome a Theist, like Parker ; a Pantheist, like Emerson ; or even an Agnostic, like Ingersoll. CO L JOHN G. N I CO LAY. The next witness introduced by Lamon, is Col. John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary at the White House. Nicolay's relations with the President were more intimate than those of any other man. To quote the words of Lincoln's partner, " Mr. Lin- coln loved him and trusted him." His testimonv is / among the most important that this controversy has elicited. It proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that all these stories concerning Lincoln's alleged conversation at Washington are false, that he did not change his belief, that he died as he had always lived a Freethinker. In a letter written Mav 27, / 1865, just six weeks after Lincoln's death, Colonel Nicolay says : 184 ABRAHAM LINCOLN : " Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way, change his religious ideas, opinions or beliefs, from the time he left Springfield till the day of his death. I do not know just what they were, never having heard him explain them in detail, but I am very sure he gave no outward indications of his mind having undergone any change in that regard while here' (Life of Lincoln, p. 492). HON. DKVID DAVIS. One of the most important, and in some respects the most eminent witness summoned to testify in regard to this question, is the Hon. David Davis. In moral character he stood above reproach, in iiitel- lectual ability, almost without a peer. Every step in his career was marked by unswerving integrity and freedom from prejudice. His rulings and decisions in the lower courts of Illinois, and on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, commanded uniyersal respect. As a legislator, his love of truth and justice prevented him from being a political partisan. As United States Senator and Vice-Presi- dent of the United. States, the party that elected him could obtain his support for no measure that he deemed unjust. Referring to his acquaintance with Lincoln, Judge Davis says : " I enjoyed for over twenty years the personal friendship of Mr. Lincoln. We were admitted to the bar about the same time, WAS HE A CHRISTIAN? 185 and traveled for many years what is known in Illinois as the Eighth Judicial Circuit. ID 1848, when I first went on the bench, the circuit embraced fourteen counties, and Mr. Lincoln went with the court to every county." A large portion of this time they passed in each other's company. They often rode in the same vehicle, generally ate at the same table, and not infrequently slept together in the same bed. The closest intimacy existed between them as long as Lincoln lived, and when he died, Mr. Davis became his executor. Judge Davis would not intentionally have misrepresented the opinions of an enemy, much less the opinions of his dear dead friend. Briefly, yet clearly, he defines the theolog- ical views of Lincoln : " He had no faith, in the Christian sense of the term had faith in laws, principles, causes, and effects philosophically' 1 (Life of Lincoln, p. 489). Speaking of the many stories that had been circu- lated concerning Lincoln's religious belief, such as the Bateman and Vinton interviews, together with the various pious speeches he is reported to have made to religious committees and delegations that visited him, such as his reputed speech to the Negroes of Baltimore, Judge Davis says : " The idea that Lincoln talked to a stranger about his religion or religious views, or made such speeches, remarks, ages, while its Sunday edition often reaches twenty. Helen H. Gardener may herefore congratulate herself that her book has induced so widely read a ournal to give its world an opinion BO damaging to the claims of Christianity aa the following notice of "Men, Women, and Gods :"] " Men* Women and Gods, and Other Lectures," by Helen H. Gardener, is a duodecimo volume of about 186 pages, containing three lectures with an appendix, setting forth some of the authorities from which the lecturer draws tome of her material. The first lecture gives the title to the book, the second is on " Vicarious Atonement." and the third on " Historical Facts and Theological Fictions." All are keen, vigorous, and acrid attacks on the Christian church forms of theology. They can scarcely be said to be attacks on religion or religious feel- ing, since the flower of that plant is charity of thought and action, and in this Miss Gardener sees the highest end of man's emotional side, as in absolute freedom of investigation and opinion she sees the highest end of his intellectual side. Her leading purpose seems to be to show that women, of all persons, should least support the Bible and the churches which hold it in reverence. The first lecture is a surprisingly bitter and scathing denunciation of the Old Testament as the sum of all cruelty and brutality toward women, and she makes upastartlingly strong case from the pages of the book itself. If any one does not think the case can DC made strong let him read carefully this book and also the thirty-first chapter of " Numbers." The second lecture arraigns vicarious atonement as an inexcusable injustice in itself, weakening and corrupting in its influence, like indiscriminate alms- giving, and points out that it is not peculiar to Christianity, but is found in some form in every religious system known in history. Both these lectures are strong productions, but are disfigured with a good deal of flippant phrasing, designed, no doubt, to catch the popular attention by tickling the popular ear. The lecturer's strongest work is done in the third lecture, where her purpose is to show that our civilisation is in no sense based upon Christianity, and that the Christian religion has especially not contrib- uted to the elevation of woman in any respect. Here she drops largely her lippancy of style and settles down to earnest work. Civilization she holds to be chiefly the creature of environment, the basis of which, in this world, is in climate and soil. In support of Vr view of the posi- tion of woman she quotes largely from Sir Henry Maine, showing among other things that the position of woman in Roman law and usage, before the intro- duction of Christianity, was in advance of what it is even now in some respects, and that the tendency of the canon (church) law was invariably to force her back into the degradation from which she had been rescued by a long and painful evolution. In this lecture, too, she answers the questions as to what she would substi- tute for the sanctions of Christianity, and she takes considerable pains to how. what one would think need scarcely be insisted upon in our day, that the morals of civilization morals in general, indeed we not at all based in or dependent upon religiom, certainly not on Christianity) rinoe the *r -called ** golden rule," the highest principle of morality} antedates tboaMnd yean* INGERSOLL'S WORKS. [Sold Wholesale and Retail at THE TRUTH SEEKER Office/ The Gods. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.25. In five lec- tures, comprising, "The Gods," "Humboldt," "Thomas Paine/ "Individuality," and "Heretics and Heresies." The Ghosts. Paper, 50 cents; cloth, $1.25. Including, "Liberty for Man, Woman, and Child;" "The Declaration of Independence," "About Farming in Illinois;" 'The Grant Banquet," "The Eev. Alexander Clarke," "The Past Bisesbe fore Me Like a Dream," and "A Tribute to Ebon C. Ingersoll." Some Mistakes of Moses. Its chapters are : Some Mistakes of Moses, Free Schools, The Politicians, Man and "Woman, The Pentateuch, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, He Made the Stars Also, Friday, Saturday, Let us Make Man, Sunday, The Necessity for a Good Memory, The Garden, The Fall, Dampness, Bacchus and Babel, Faith in Filth, The Hebrews, The Plagues, The Flight, Confess and Avoid, Inspired Slavery, Inspired Marriage, Inspired War, Inspired Religious Liberty, Conclusion. Paper, 50 cents cloth, $1.25. fhe Christian Religion. By K. G. Ingersoll, Judge Jeremiah S. Black, and Prof. George P. Fisher. This is a series of articles which appeared in the North American Review, and excited great interest from the high position of the au- thors. Judge Black refused to answer Mr. Ingersoll's second paper and the services of Mr. Fisher were obtained. Paper, oO cents ; cloth, $1.00. Interviews on Talmage. Being Six Interviews with the Famous Orator on Six Sermons by the Rev. T. 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