973.7L63 Bl|P12r Packard, R.D. The riddle of Lincoln's religion,. LINCOLN ROOM UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY E RIDDLE OF U by R. D. Packard Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/riddleoflincolnsOOpack < aj~ THE RIDDLE OF LINCOLN'S RELIGION by R. D. PACKARD 'Twas in his years of service, through his deeds That we knew Lincoln, loved his simple creeds; Drank from his soul of richness, national power Sufficient unto rising 'bove death's aivful hour. — George William Bell Printed By E. O. Hodge Co. Cleveland, Ohio Copyright, 1946 by R. D. Packard This first copies, nu consists of one hundred and signed. C0 Py ^ry number . * * THE RIDDLE OF LINCOLN'S RELIGION When Believe-it-or-not Ripley recently told his nation-wide radio audience that Abraham Lincoln committed the entire Bible to memory, he must have relied for acceptance of this unfamiliar claim upon the gullible nature of the American people who readily believe all reports of piety ascribed to their Sixteenth President. The statement was a fabulous exaggeration, but it did renew interest in the controversy regarding Lincoln's religious beliefs which has been waged for more than three-quarters of a century. What was the character of his faith? Was he an atheist or an agnostic, or did he give his assent to the doctrines prescribed by any of the several Christian Churches of his day? No other phase of Lincoln's career has provoked such a prolonged and spirited disagreement. An early biography written by Dr. J. G. Holland, a distinguished theologian and hymnologist, contained what was intended to be convincing evidence of the Emancipator's accept- ance of Christianity. This account, which enjoyed a large circulation, was pleasing to religionists, but an outspoken group of his devoted followers, believing that quite the contrary was true, vigorously disputed the claims, made. A Lincoln biography, with interpretations of his spiritual beliefs differing strongly from those of Dr. Holland, soon made its inevitable appearance, its counter claims proving extremely offensive to church people, some of whom sought, with partial success, to bar it from sale. Dr. Holland and others thought it a "national misfortune.'' This siai- ation was repeated some years later when stormy protests were regis- tered against Herndon's outspoken "Life of Lincoln." Caustic letters from fervid pens have been exchanged in this strange dispute and nationally known men have taken to the platform in an effort to prove that this plain Illinois lawyer who gained the world's approval and affection during his four difficult years in the White House, either was a believer in Christianity or that he was not. Contemporaries who observed the day-by-day Lincoln as he walked the earth have left us their willing testimony on the mooted question, but this too, unfortunately, is hopelessly at odds. Moreover, accord is not to be found in the statements of even the very few who might have been called his most intimate friends. Some declared that he lived in reasonable compliance with doctrinal Christianity, while others, equally well-informed, placed him, with a great deal of emphasis, high on that roster of notable religious non-conformists which carries the names of Franklin and Jefferson. This wide difference of opinion may be noted from the recorded testimony of two legal associates; "It is all folly for any man to say that Mr. Lincoln was a Christian," said one; the second, in sharp denial, stated that "No more reverent Christian than Lincoln ever sat in the Executive Chair ..." Those who would explore the background of this disagreement are confronted with a large and contradictory literature. Most biographers have considered it prudent to avoid an adequate discussion of his religious faith but scores of Lincoln students have assiduously supplied the lack. Most of these have reflected their own views and few have acknowledged the discrepancies involved in a consideration of all the evidence. Some literary contenders that Lincoln was a skeptic in all things religious have been sincere and capable; all have been active and articulate. They have, however, been numerically overwhelmed by believers in his Christianity, for a large majority of the books and articles dealing with his religion have been attempts to promote the claim that at least his last years were lived within the safe precincts of the requirements of the Christian Church. "It Was Everywhere Contended" It is natural to assume that one who sets himself to the laborious assignment of memorizing the Bible must indeed be a very devout person. Mr. Ripley's claim fits in well with what most people think about the revered Lincoln. Perhaps not many would prefer to believe the truth, which is that although he became familiar with a large number of biblical passages, he would never have attempted such an enormous task, that he would have considered learning the Bible by rote both a freakish and unprofitable accomplishment, one unrelated to an appreciation of its worth as a guide to daily living. Certain facts are well established. As a young man Lincoln did not accept the doctrinal Christianity which churches then held neces- sary for membership in their communions. Much evidence implies that his early views were somewhat influenced by the works of Voltaire and Paine and it appears that his disbelief during these years greatly exceeded that of a commonplace doubter. A close reading of Paine's "Age of Reason" induced him to set his own opinions down in writing, an essay which no doubt expressed his personal defiance of all theological pretensions. This interesting document is said to have been destroyed by an admiring friend who thought that a public knowledge of such unpopular opinions would kill the political chances of the man who voiced them. Notwithstanding this clumsy attempt to hide them, Lincoln's unorthodox views became well-known in his home town of Spring- field, Illinois, causing religionists there to oppose his political aspira- tions, a fact he discovered when, at thirty-seven, he sought votes to send him to Congress. "The strongest combination of church influence was against me, . "he wrote, " It was everywhere contended that no Christian ought to vote for me because I belonged to no church and was suspected of being a Deist." This feeling of religious people toward him continued to the very end of his Illinois days. In the presidential canvass of I860, nearly all of Springfield's twenty-six clergymen announced their intention of voting against him or of not voting at all, a fact which must be attributed in large measure to their dislike of his religious opinions, or lack of them, and not to his clearly stated political prin- ciples, which should have been much more satisfactory to the Church than those of his opponents. Thus, after twenty-five years of associ- ation with the man who was shortly to write his name among the stars, a considerable number of his friends and neighbors thought him unfit, because of his indifference to organized religion, to be the head of a "Christian" nation. These fellow townsmen must have been surprised and puzzled by this unbeliever's words to them when, at the beginning of his fifty- third year, he left Springfield for Washington, never to return; Without the assistance of that Divine Being — I cannot succeed. With that assistance I cannot fail. Trusting in Him, who can go with me and remain with you, and be everywhere for good — to His care, commending you as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell." Other facts are also seemingly contradictory and confusing. The language used in many of his presidential addresses marked the com- poser as a man of pronounced religious sentiment. He was much given to using references from the Bible in his conversations and in his public papers. His fondness for portions of both the Old and New Testaments infer that the well-stated truths which he had first read there many years before, continued to attract him. It is not difficult to prove that Lincoln believed himself an instrument of Divine Forces in the preservation of the Union of the States. This assumption he made known even before his elevation and he acted on it many times during his presidency. "I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say," he professed, "that if it is probable that God would reveal His will to others on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He would reveal it directly to me, for unless I am more deceived in myself than I often am, it is my earnest desire to know the will of Providence in this matter." Well-authenticated statements made by him when president offer irrefutable evidence of his personal dependence upon a Divine Power. "I should be the most presumptuous blockhead upon this footstool," he asserted, "if I, for one day, thought that I could discharge the duties which have come upon me since I came into this place without the aid and enlightenment of the One who is wiser and stronger than all others." Once he was heard to declare that the Sermon on the Mount contained "the essence of all law and justice," and this strikingly religious passage may be found in his proclamation appointing a National Fast Day — "It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves — to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." During his presidency he requested, accepted and acknowledged the prayers of Christian people in his behalf. And there can be little doubt that he himself prayed for the success of the Union cause. Sub- stantial evidence supports such a claim and we also have this revealing statement, widely believed to be his own — " I have been driven many times to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. My own wisdom and that of all about me seemed insufficient for the day." President Lincoln attended church with fair regularity during his years in Washington. Seeking a place to worship "whose clergy- man does not preach politics," he was referred to the New York Avenue Presbyterian Church where a pew was engaged for his family on an annual basis. He did not become a member of this church, nor did he make the public profession of his religious faith which it was reliably reported he intended to do and which so many thousands hoped that he would. Following his dramatic assassination, the martyr was acclaimed in the press and from thousands of pulpits a spiritual as well as a political leader, a man whose purposeful life had gloriously exemplified Christianity. Yet, in spite of this, his secretary, John Hay, insisted that he had never departed from his early disbelief in any formal religion and when questioned about it, the widowed Mrs. Lincoln said, "He never joined a church. He was not a technical Christian. He had no hope or faith in the usual acceptation of these words." And it has since been contended, with the backing of much evidence, that "while he was alive no one would have presumed to have called him a Christian." His "Poetical Instinct" Participants on both sides of this singular discussion have been guilty of submitting unreliable evidence and there have been those on each side who have distorted the facts in order to better serve their own beliefs and prejudices. Stories concerning Lincoln's religious life, of whatever shade of truth, have been eagerly repeated; oftentimes, as in Mr. Ripley's case, with the addition of new and absurd particulars. Much of the argument which has been presented by advocates of his Christianity has consisted of the testimony of witnesses who inclined to that view, to his extensive use of the Bible during his presidency and to the religious tone of many of his speeches and papers. Every statement and incident favorable to their claim that he should be given a passing theological grade has been stressed, doubtless with the notion that at least his partial conformity to a conventional religion must be proved if his exalted character is to be satisfactorily explained. A Springfield clergyman, Dr. James Smith, wrote a paper on the subject of Christian Evidences in 1848 and later announced that it had been influential in converting Lincoln, then at the close of his brief Congressional career, to a belief in Christianity. Another result of his article, Dr. Smith said, was that the tall, senior member of Lincoln and Herndon, Attorneys-at-law, thereafter attended his church, the Presbyterian, with some regularity. Dr. Smith's claims were upheld by others who fixed the date of Lincoln's changed religious thinking as the time the tract was written. The testimony of contemporary churchmen on this point is by no means unanimous, however, some affirming that he dropped his skepticism twelve years after this, when he became president; others that he did so at the time of his son's death in the White House, early in 1862. Still others declared that he became a Christian in July, 1863, simultaneously with the great Northern victories at Vicks- burg and Gettysburg. It has also been said that this event definitely occurred when he visited the Gettysburg battlefield four months later in the modest role of a secondary speaker. The tendency to tell agreeable but unproved and unlikely Lincoln incidents and stories has carried many well-intentioned sponsors of his Christianity well beyond the facts. He has repeatedly been called a Christian in the most restricted meaning of that term, and clergymen, greatly remiss in their information, have variously reported that he became a member of several branches of the church, including the Roman Catholic. One such denominational zealot wrote with enthu- siasm, "It is with no small degree of pleasure that I am able to prove that Methodism had a hand in the making of the greatest American." Claimants that Lincoln was an unbeliever have made the most of that considerable body of evidence which seems to support their posi- tion. They have counted heavily upon the statements of many sincere persons who testified that he was not a Christian prior to the time the national spotlight was focused upon him. They have reminded us that Springfielders very definitely regarded him as an agnostic, if not an atheist. Conceding that Illinois evidence loses much of its validity when applied to Lincoln the President, anti-religionists have, at great pains, compiled the opinions of those who were in a position to know and who believed that he retained his early skepticism throughout his troubled Washington years. The opinions of a few who had first- hand knowledge of his entire life have also been gathered and pub- licized in this determined effort to prove that he lived and died a disbeliever. Emphatic denial has been made of Dr. Smith's claims, qualified witnesses saying that Lincoln laid his tract aside without giving it any attention whatever. Competent testimony to the effect that he seldom attended any church when living in Springfield, that he usually spent Sunday mornings at his law office, has also been produced. Disclaimers of his Christianity have listed the articles of belief required by the several churches of that period, setting against them the statements of witnesses, or of Lincoln's own words, showing that he entertained no such beliefs. They have contended that the fre- quent insertion of biblical passages in his papers was to please pious associates who thought such expressions "appropriate." His several references to the Deity have been attributed to his "poetical instinct" and a liking for "effective imagery." Self-styled "Freethinkers," who have provided most of the opposi- tion to the allegations of churchmen, have pointed out that although Lincoln had many opportunities to examine the claims of the church, he nevertheless rejected them. His failure to assume church member- ship has been one of their major arguments and organized religion has been roundly accused of fraudulently trading upon the magic of a famous and unsullied name in order that "crumbling creeds" might be benefitted. One prediction made by the "Freethinkers" many years ago has not been fulfilled. This was that all claims of Lincoln's Christianity would be forgotten, much less accepted, fifty years after his death. A large proportion of the literature having to do with this con- troversial theme has been written since the passing of this deadline and the last word regarding it has not yet been spoken. "Mammon is After Him" We may as well conclude that Lincoln was never a Christian in a formal, orthodox sense. A large majority of those who knew him in his home state thought such an idea preposterous and satisfactory evidence does not exist to justify the many claims that he later changed his views. It is certain that he never sanctioned the creed of any church. Dogmas such as those of total depravity and endless punish- ment, then a required belief for membership in most churches, found him unresponsive. The wrathful and vindictive God preached in his day had no terrors for him. It was his feeling that punishment for any offense should terminate when a temperate justice had been satisfied. The late Dr. William E. Barton, a thorough and capable Lincoln scholar, saw no reason to believe that he ever accepted the Virgin Birth, a fact which should set aside all presumptions of his Christian orthodoxy. To understand his attitude toward institutionalized religion, we must give weight to his own statement in regard to it, one made with characteristic Lincoln forthrightness: "I have never united myself to any church because I found difficulty in giving my assent, without mental reservations, to the long, complicated statements of Christian doctrines which characterize their articles of belief and confession of faith. When any church will inscribe over its altar as its sole quali- fication for membership the Saviour's condensed statement of the substance of both Law and Gospel, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself,' that church will I join with all my soul." Lincoln resisted creeds and forms because he could not reconcile them with his own thinking of what religion should consist. His inquiring mind was never receptive to that which he could not reduce to essential elements. It has been said that he made no pretense to knowledge concerning those questions which "theologians deal with so flippantly." And he could not join the church, thereby subscribing to a belief in doctrines which he privately admitted were beyond his full understanding. A solitary reasoner, he would accept only his own decisions. "If there were any traits of character that stood out in bold relief in the person of Mr. Lincoln," wrote one of his associates, "they were those of truth and candor. He was utterly incapable of insincerity or professing views on any subject that he did not entertain." When a young man he found it difficult to understand the criticism occasioned because he, a reputed disbeliever, had been per- mitted to deliver a temperance address from a Christian pulpit. Neither could he comprehend the protests of the members of that church against the sympathy he expressed for the victims of strong drink. Formal religionists then entertained contrary opinions con- cerning the desirability of temperance, an issue he thought deserved the effective support of all whose lives were presumed to be devoted to the uplift of society. He is credited with having said, "From the sideboard of the parson down to the ragged pocket of the houseless loafer, intoxicating liquor is constantly found." It is well known that Lincoln seemed to prefer and enjoy the company of men regarded as irreligious. The favored friends of his early and not so early years included several outcasts from the technical exactions of church membership. A keen student of people and move- ments, he undoubtedly compared the behavior of professing Christians with that of his skeptic friends, noting their respective attitudes to- wards fundamental truth and justice. When president, he was not surprised to discover that the least trustworthy member of his cabinet was its most pious churchman. This did not cause him to accuse religion or the church, for his understanding of human nature per- mitted him no delusions concerning the power of membership in any organization to correct the frailties of men. His observations of the current Christian Church, with its petty 8 denominational rivalries and theological dissensions, did little to gain his support. He witnessed among other similar events, the split of the Methodist Church on the slavery question in 1844 — sixteen years before the political secession of any Southern state. He would have been further perplexed had he known that this division of a leading Christian body into Northern and Southern communions would endure until 1939. To one of his intense convictions on the subject the slavery attitude of a large portion of the country's religious forces was wholly inconsistent with the doctrines which the church itself taught. It puzzled him that Christian leaders, some north of the Mason and Dixon Line, were among slavery's most vociferous supporters. An inveterate reader of Southern periodicals, Lincoln was aware of arguments such as these which were made for the slaveholder by the clergymen of that section; — "I have no doubt that if Jesus Christ were on earth, he would, under certain circumstances, become a slave- holder," — "I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the New and Old Testament to hold the slaves in bondage," — "It was recognized accordingly by Christ and his Apostles. They condemned all inter- meddlers with it," — "The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example." These facts compelled the rising Champion of the Black Man to declare with indignation, "All the powers of the earth seem rapidly combining against the slave . . . Mammon is after him and the theology of the day is fast joining in the cry." His own philosophy of slavery had been registered in imperishable words, "As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master." Later, during the war, he asked, "Doesn't it appear strange that men can ignore the moral aspects of this contest?" A Passion for Simplicity Lincoln's possession of spiritual qualities usually associated only with a Christian experience has largely inspired the mistaken claims of those who have termed him an orthodox Christian. On the other hand, his indifference to conventional religious requirements has mis- led opponents of Christianity into their emphatic claim that he had no sympathy with religious ideals or the mission of the church. Some few of those religionists who have given recognition to Lincoln's personal achievement of a superior brand of Christianity have not attempted to prove even his partial conformity to the doctrines of the church. These have admitted his lifelong disinterest in creeds and what he sincerely thought was the superficialities of church requirements. They have admitted that his coldness to formal religion was too conspicuous to be ignored, much less denied. De- claring themselves satisfied with the choice spiritual fruits of his life, they have not considered it necessary to provide him with a theo- logical explanation. Despite his unorthodoxy they have welcomed him into the ranks of Christians, saying, among other laudatory pronouncements, that he was "too good a man to be a Pharisee and too charitable a man to be a bigot." The unconventional character of his religion detracted nothing from their belief in its surpassing quality. One of these believers in his sound spiritual life was Dr. Lyman Abbott, a prominent clergyman of the post Civil War period. Dr. Abbott's answer to the riddle of Lincoln's religion, obviously a logical one, was to term him a reverent agnostic. Reverent agnostics neither affirm nor deny any of the multiple doctrines which control institutional religion and they profess no understanding of theological imponderables. Yet, they do not ridicule devotion to any faith. We have Lincoln's word that he was no scoffer. "I have never," he once said, "spoken with intentional disrespect of religion in general, or of any denomination of Christians in particular." Granting little weight to the importance of dogmas for conducing upright living, reverent agnostics sometimes make their lonely way, as Lincoln did, into spiritual spheres of their own choosing. The Russian Tolstoy, also finding his religious satisfaction in this manner, called his great American contemporary "a Christ in miniature." Lincoln was born with both the desire and the will to deal rightly, even charitably, in matters both small and great, and he had the capacity to understand basic principles of right and wrong. His concepts of these principles were most delicately adjusted. He was his own successful disciplinarian. He never would have cast the first stone, nor the last one, and in humility he would always go the second mile. These were spiritual results to which all sincere Christians aspire. They were reached without observance of doctrines regarded by formal religionists as necessary to their attainment. Mrs. Lincoln was right. Her distinguished husband was never a technical Chris- tian, his very nature precluding his being technical in any respect. Whether the rectitude of conduct he demonstrated throughout his life, achieved without a belief in the divinity of the founder of Chris- 10 tianiry, made him a Christian or not, is an academic question which should be of small concern to either clergy or laity. A passion for simplicity in all things was one of Lincoln s dominant characteristics. This simplicity he carried into his naturally religious life. There can be no doubt that he came to appreciate the basic purpose of the church, but the delightful informality of the smalltown lawyer who deplored stilted legal procedures and carried his papers in his hat could not allow its possessor to embrace a planned religious creed. The regulations designed by man for the promotion of organized Christianity interested him not at all. Oddly enough, this man who found it impossible to concur in the beliefs and formalities which circumscribe formalized Christianity has been awarded a place of high distinction in a Christian Church. His gaunt figure now occupies the Nineteenth Century niche in the Historical Parapet of New York's famed Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Kentucky's lowly son will be stationed there throughout the ages in the distinguished company of Frederick the Great, Char- lemagne, Shakespeare and Washington. And among his companions of the Parapet are such stalwart churchmen as Saints Benedict, Gregory and Francis of Assisi. "He Bore The Sorrows" There was contained within the soul of Lincoln, in impressive degree, one Christian virtue which history has not always identified with religious leaders. This was his virile spirit of toleration. His was a broad tolerance toward men of all faiths and toward those of no faith. The Jews had much reason to know that he was no anti- Semitic and today they venerate him as an exceedingly helpful friend of their race. That this tolerance was also shown to the enemies of his country is revealed by his brief comment upon the death of the noted rebel, General Stonewall Jackson, "Let us forget his errors over his fresh-made grave." No theologian of that day of bitter animosities had a greater measure of tolerance and compassion. John Hay has given us a distressing word picture of his chief's last days; "He bore the sorrows of the nation in his own heart; he suffered deeply, not only from disappointment, from treachery, from hope deferred, from the open assaults of enemies, and from the sincere anger of discontented friends, but also from the world-wide distress and affliction which flowed from the great conflict in which he was engaged* and which he could not evade his eyes grew veiled 11 from constant meditation on momentous subjects. He aged rapidly." Due credit must be given to this chastening experience of his presidency for increasing Lincoln's dependence upon spiritual values. When he felt the weight of his terrifying burdens, he came into the fullness of a belief he had always had in a Higher Power which directs the course of both individuals and history. That belief, which was dormant only in his youth and early manhood, found open expression when he said goodbye to his Springfield neighbors. It caused him to reach often to the Infinite during the critical war years. His last important public utterance, the Second Inaugural Address, proves as no other words can, the growth of the faith he came to have in the justice, wisdom and strength of that Unseen Power. So fully did his natural and unaffected spiritual impulses re- spond to the dark outlook with which he was confronted that we are told he "approached his country's God as artlessly, confidently, con- fidingly as a child approaches his earthly father." The fact that he did not affiliate with any church, although giving approval and support to the larger aims of Christianity through courageous, foursquare living, should be a comforting circumstance, not one of question and doubt. When a statesman of his towering stature appears on the world scene, dogmatism is not likely to have produced him. Men of his mental and moral endowments are not drawn to a sectarianism which, in his case, might have deprived him of his inherent right to spiritual kinship with men of all beliefs, everywhere. If the immortal Lincoln intended to make a public statement of his religious faith, an act supposedly canceled by his untimely death, we may be certain that he would not have given his support to any- particular church or theological viewpoint. Although it had deepened his spiritual life, the War between the States had also strengthened his disregard of ecclesiastical requirements and creedal differences. His confession would have been to the greatness and the goodness of a God of all nations and of all peoples. t t t t 12 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 973.7L63B4P12R C001 THE RIDDLE OF LINCOLN'S RELIGION CLEVELA 0112 031798660