973.7L63 Pennell, Orin H. 
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 1899 Religious Views of 
 Abraham Lincoln 
 
LINCOLN ROOM 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS 
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ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
RELIGIOUS VIEWS 
 
 OF 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 
 Orr/n Jfcenry 
 
 PRICE, 2 CENTS. 
 
 B. If. SOBANTOW PBI1TTMOI CO., 
 AXJLIAHOB, OHIO. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
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 The author feels that no apology is needed in giving out this 
 booklet to the public. For several years, he has sought to lay under 
 tribute everything which might give light upon the subject herein 
 discussed. Much could be said of the claims made by Spiritualists 
 in insisting that Lincoln looked with favor upon their peculiar doc- 
 trine. Likewise, the Universalists have come in to announce that 
 Mr. Lincoln threw out friendly glances at them. The author has 
 sufficient material upon the religious glimpses of Lincoln to fill a 
 five hundred page volume. Had the book been swelled to a full 
 grown work, the price would have limited its sale and many 
 would never read it because of its size. The author feels that 
 confining the matter in these humble limits, will do more in 
 enlightening people in regard to what Mr. Lincoln believed in 
 spiritual things than in a more pretentious work. He has been 
 compelled to waive the discussions and claims made by exponents 
 of different doctrines, and devote the entire work to the question 
 whether Abraham Lincoln was a Christian or an Atheist. No 
 thought of money-making has prompted the attempt to give out 
 this work. The price has been placed at such a figure as to assure 
 neither loss nor gain to the writer. Hoping that by placing our 
 ear near the heart of our great martyr, we may be able to hear 
 him sing his songs in the night. 
 
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year of our Lord one thous- 
 and eight hundred and ninty-nine, by 
 
 ORRIN H. PBNNELL, 
 In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 
 
RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 
 
 Christianity needs not the names of the great and powerful 
 ones of earth to make it respectable or worthy of acceptation. 
 From the four quarters of the earth the praises to our holy relig- 
 ion arise like the voices of many waters. From every clime and 
 from every tongue, the name of our Lord is exalted. Nations 
 and rulers bow before Jehovah's awful throne. A religion which 
 has drawn to its altars the lights which have set the measure to 
 the march of civilization, needs not to claim its devotees among 
 those who are uncertain in their religious tone. 
 
 While it adds nothing to the truth of our holy religion, if 
 Abraham Lincoln received it as a little child receives gifts from 
 its parents; neither does it subtract from its credibilky, though 
 he rejected it; yet it is with joy we read that in the time of trouble 
 he besought God to "hide him in the secret of his tabernacle." 
 It has been one of the favorite customs of the free-thought world 
 to fasten the badge of infidelity on all great men, had such ones 
 ever expressed during their lifetime one word of doubt as to the 
 authenticity of the Scriptures or to the divinity of Christ. Not 
 one of the presidents from Washington down to Harrison, accord- 
 ing to the liberal press, were orthodox Christian communicants. 
 Washington, Franklin, Chase, Beecher and a host of others, 
 whose names have adorned our political constellation, have been 
 laid under tribute by the exponents of free- thought. 
 
 Was Abraham Lincoln a Christian man ? What were his views 
 in regard to religion ? How did he view the Bible ? These are 
 honest questions which should not be condemned, regardless of 
 the source from which they spring. It does seem reasonable 
 that after so many years elapsing since his death, some well 
 formulated statement might be given out in response to these 
 questions. The study of Lincoln, today, amounts to little less 
 than a mania. Magazines teem with articles dealing with some 
 phase of his life. Of the writing of books there seems to be no 
 end. His old Kentucky birth-place has become a Mecca to many 
 
6 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OP 
 
 admirers of the man. Springfield and Sagamon county have 
 literally been laid under tribute. Old neighbors of Lincoln have 
 been interviewed, courthouses have been ransacked which might 
 bring out anything old or new concerning his earlier years. All 
 persons ever privileged to have interviews with him, and there are 
 not a few, are not slow in giving the substance of the same to the 
 world. Generals, senators, governors, and, in fact, all who ever 
 had audiences with him in regard to any matters, jealously retain 
 such rare moments in everlasting remembrance. Even across 
 the Atlantic his name seems to have gathered fragrance in its 
 transit. Dr. Newman Hall, of London, one of the most eminent 
 preachers in Great Britain, declares that the mentioning of the 
 name of Lincoln to his great congregation has an electrifying 
 effect. Yet, notwithstanding all that has been gleaned concern- 
 ing this great man, the old question still comes ringing in our 
 ears: "Was he a Christian ?" It would be a falsehood to attempt 
 to fix the name of Lincoln with any denomination. It would be 
 a still greater folly to associate him with any formulated creed. 
 No man's views among all Americans, has caused so much 
 discussion as those of Lincoln's. There are reasons for this: Mr. 
 Lincoln never allied himself with any visible church. On the 
 other hand, his life and utterances would stamp him as a believer 
 of the most ultra kind. This apparent inconsistency is the founda- 
 tion for all the discussion which has arisen of late years in regard 
 to the views he entertained in matters of religion. 
 
 STATEMENT OF THE INFIDEL PRESS. 
 
 The "Truth Seeker" of New York, the most popular free- 
 thought journal in America, and, perhaps, enjoying the largest 
 circulation of any liberal paper published in our land, made the 
 following statement recently: "In regard to a Supreme Being he 
 entertained at times Agnostic and even Atheistic opinions. Dur- 
 ing the later years of his life, however, he professed a sort of 
 Deistic belief, but he did not accept the Christian or anthropomor- 
 phic conception of a Deity. 
 
 So far as the doctrine of immortality is concerned, he was an 
 agnostic. 
 
 He did not beHeve in the Christian doctrine of inspiration of 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 7 
 
 the' Scriptures. He believed that Burns and Paine were as much 
 inspired as David and Paul. 
 
 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. 
 
 He did not believe in the doctrine of special creation. 
 
 He believed in the theory of evolution, so far as this theory 
 had been developed in his time. 
 
 He did not believe in miracles and special providence. He 
 believed all things are governed by immutable laws, and that 
 miracles and special providences, in the evangelical sense of these 
 terms, are impossible. 
 
 He rejected the doctrine of total, or inherent depravity. 
 
 He repudiated the doctrine of vicarious atonement." 
 
 Accompanying the above statements, was a picture of Lin- 
 coln underneath the words, "Free thinkers of the past and pres- 
 ent." 
 
 Two books have found their way to the press, written ob- 
 viously, to stem the current of the fast growing opinion that 
 Lincoln was a Christian. One book was written by a Mr. John 
 E. Remsburg of Atchison, Kansas. The other by Mr. Herndon, 
 law partner of Lincoln's and an old time skeptic. The whole 
 burden of Mr. Remsburg's book deals with the questions of his 
 religion. In this volume he ingeniously and ably attempts to 
 show that Lincoln was not a Christian. He has brought into 
 requisition, every bit of evidence accessible. Christian and liberal 
 testimony is given, and then with a wave of his hand he silences 
 the Christian testimony by pronouncing it false. The other book, 
 by Mr. Herndon, deals with the personal side of Lincoln. Mr. 
 Herndon, however, did not forget his primary object in writing 
 his volume. The latter part of the book is devoted to the task of 
 removing the stain of Christianity thrown around Lincoln. 
 
 Ingersol, in his eulogy on Mr. Lincoln, represents Lincoln 
 as hostile to the whole claim of Christianity. 
 
RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 LINCOLN FROM CHILDHOOD TO 1860. 
 
 Mrs. Lincoln the mother of the president, was a woman of 
 the deepest religious feeling. Her character was the most exem- 
 plary, and she was affectionately devoted to her family. She had 
 found time in the midst of her busy life to teach her son to read 
 and write. Her deep devotional nature impressed inefficably on 
 Abraham the love of truth and justice, love and reverence for 
 God which characterized his entire life. "These virtues were 
 even associated in his mind with the most tender love and respect 
 for his mother." Later in life when the delicate form of his 
 mother remained but as a sweet memory, he said: "All that I 
 am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." 
 
 He was not long permitted, however, to enjoy the devotions 
 of a mother. She died when her son was only nine years old. 
 "My boast is not that I derive my birth 
 From loins enthroned and rulers of the earth, 
 But higher far my proud pretensions rise, 
 The son of parents passed into the skies." 
 Sad, indeed was the humble Indiana home in which the 
 mother breathed her last ! The lad would go about his humble 
 work mechanically, with his heart pierced. The burying ground 
 in which she was laid to rest, was perhaps half a mile from the 
 cabin. There, under a sycamore tree they dug the grave and 
 laid away the mother of the president. The funeral services 
 were in keeping with the surroundings, simple but solemn. At 
 that time there was no minister to officiate. "Perhaps," says 
 Arnold; "the first practical use the boy made of the aquisition of 
 writing, was to write a letter to Rev. David Elkin, a traveling 
 preacher, whom the family had known in Kentucky, begging him 
 to come over and perform religious services over the grave of his 
 mother. The preacher came, but not until some months after- 
 wards, traveling on horse back through the wild forests to reach 
 their residence. There the iainily gathered with a few of their 
 friends and neighbors, under the sycamore to hear from the lips 
 of the minister an account of the mother's life and of the City 
 Beyond. ' ' 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 9 
 
 Mr. Raymond in his "Life and Public Services of Abraham 
 Lincoln," adds the following: "One of the very first efforts of 
 his faltering pen was writing a letter to an old friend of his 
 mother's, a traveling preacher, urging him to come and deliver a 
 sermon over her grave. The invitation must have been couched 
 in impressive, if not affecting language; for, although the letter 
 was not written until nine months after his mother's remains had 
 been deposited in their last resting place, Parson Elkins, the 
 preacher to whom it was extended, responded to the request, and 
 three months subsequently, just a year after her decease, preached 
 a sermon commemorative of the virtues of one whom her neigh- 
 bors still held in sacred and respectful remembrance. It is said 
 that the parson in his discourse, alluded to the manner in which 
 he had received the invitation. "His faith in 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 truth in God." (Arnold's Life of Lincoln.) 
 
 The boyhood of Lincoln was not characterized by anything 
 supernatural. Says one of his biographers (Col. John Hay.) 
 "We are making no claim of saintship for him. He was merely 
 a good boy, with sufficient wickedness to prove his humanity." 
 
 From his boyhood until he settled in Springfield, there Is 
 very little known of the religious tone of Lincoln which is reliable. 
 One thing is certain, that while he resided in New Salem, he was 
 thrown continually into the society of Free Thinkers. One of 
 these associates has risen, up and, in a reckless way, portrays 
 Lincoln as a monster. He claims he went to church only to 
 scoff. That he would mock the preachers, and ridicule prayer. 
 One of these men has gone so far that he even claims Lincoln to 
 have written a book against Christianity. Another claims it as 
 only a tract; while still another believes it to have been an essay. 
 This supposed booklet is claimed to have attacked the whole sys- 
 tem of Christianity. The work, however, was suppressed by his 
 friends, they fearing thac it would annihilate his popularity and 
 future political prospects. It is gratifying to know that the 
 author of these sweeping charges has been silenced in his traduc- 
 tion. Persons whose names were coupled in these assertions, 
 have promptly disclaimed any knowledge of the stains charged 
 
10 RELIGIOUS VIBWS OF 
 
 against Lincoln. The probability is that the whole matter is a 
 sheer fabrication. Possibly, his faith faltered in those days. He 
 read Volney, Paine, Hume, Gibbon, and other liberal books. 
 His friends of the liberal faith have attempted to make much 
 capital out of such reading. It proves nothing. Many a genuine 
 orthodox minister has gone through all ot these works without 
 implicating himself. Again the enemies of Christianity claim that 
 because of his logical mind, it was impossible for him to reason 
 by faith. This is too absurd. Let them forget not that Copernicus, 
 Kepler, and Newton were earnest Christians who saw the hand- 
 writing of God in the works of nature ! 
 
 In Miss Ida M. Tarbell's "Life of Lincoln," the following 
 appears: "There was no institution in Springfield in which Lin- 
 coln had not taken an active interest in the first year of his resi- 
 dence, and now that he had decided to remain in the town, he 
 resumed all his old relations, from the daily visits to the drug 
 stores on the public square, which were the recognized rendezvous 
 of Springfield politicians and lawyers, to his weekly attendance 
 at the First Presbyterian Church. That he was as regular in his 
 attendance on the latter as on the former, all his old neighbors 
 testify." 
 
 In 1851, his father lay dying. He wrote a letter of consola- 
 tion addressed to his half brother, John Johnson. Lincoln writes: 
 "I sincerely hope father may recover his health, but at all events, 
 tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and 
 good and merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him in 
 any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the 
 hairs of our heads, and He will not forget the dying man who 
 puts his trust in Him." 
 
 Of the genuineness of this letter, there never has been any 
 question. In another part of this same letter he adds: "Say to 
 him if it be his lot to go now, he will soon have a joyous meeting 
 with loved ones gone before, and where the rest of us, through 
 the help of God, hope ere long to join him." 
 
 There are several remarkable statements in this epistle. He 
 fully acknowledges the efficacy of prayer. He partially quotes one 
 of the most endearing expressions of our Savior and applies it to the 
 father's state. He believes in, yea, he longs for an immortality. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. II 
 
 While residing in Springfield, he oftentimes was called upon 
 to deliver temperance addresses. More than once, he addressed 
 Sunday School and Bible Society Conventions. In every good 
 work, he was conspicuous. The Bible was consulted and quoted 
 as freely as Blackstone. After 1845, he very seldom made a 
 speech without alluding to the Scriptures. 
 
 Events from 1850 to 1860 traveled fast. The repeal of the 
 Missouri Compromise, the outrages in Kansas, the Dred Scott 
 Decision, and John Brown's raid, had raised the country to a high 
 pitch of excitement. In the succession of these events came the 
 Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for 
 President. There were already rumors of secession in the air. 
 President Buchanan had allowed the conspirators of the nation to 
 sit in the cabinet and carry out their treasonable designs. All 
 felt that some crisis was imminent. The Democratic party by the 
 division of its power, was overthrown in the presidential election. 
 
 THE FAMOUS BATEMAN INTERVIEW. 
 
 During the exciting time from Lincoln's nomination until 
 his inauguration, he was given rooms in the state house in which 
 he received delegations of friends who came to pay him their 
 respects. Hon. Newton Bateman was Superintendent of Public 
 Instruction at the time, and occupied rooms in the same building 
 These men became very intimate. Oiten, when crowds of people 
 had dispersed for the night, Mr. Bateman would slip into Lincoln's 
 room and, there, they would spend an hour discussing the politi- 
 cal movements which were stirring the land. According to Hol- 
 land's "Life of Lincoln," the following conference took place: 
 "On one of these occasions Mr. Lincoln took up a book contain- 
 ing 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. Calling Mr. Bate- 
 men to a seat at his side, having previously locked all the doors, 
 he said: 'Let us look over this book. I wish to see particularly 
 how the ministers of Springfield are going to vote. ' The leaves 
 were turned, one by one, and as the names were examined Mr. 
 
12 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 Lincoln frequently asked if this one and that were not a minister, 
 or an elder, or the member of such a church, and sadly expressed 
 his surprise on receiving an affirmative answer. In that manner 
 they went through the book, and then he closed it and sat silently 
 and for somfi minutes regarding a memorandum in pencil which 
 lay before him. At length he turned to Mr. Bateman with a face 
 ful of sadness and said: 'Here are twenty-three ministers, of 
 different denominations, 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. Batemau, I 
 am not a Christian God knows I would be one but I have care- 
 fully read the Bible, and I do not so understand this book,' and 
 he drew from his bosom a pocket New Testament, 'these men 
 will know,' he continued, 'that I am for freedom in the territor- 
 ies, 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 regain or to retain his self-possession. Sloping 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.' 
 
 The effect of this conversation upon the mind of Mr. Bateman, 
 a Christian gentleman whom Mr. Lincoln 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 on this class of sub- 
 jects. Certainly your friends 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 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 13 
 
 these subjects than upon all others, and I have dotie so for years; 
 and am willing that you should know it.' " 
 
 For years, infidels have tried to get over this Bateman affair. 
 Hon. Newton Bateman was well known throughout the state of 
 Illinois. He was a man of sterling qualities. No one ever 
 questioned his honesty or truthfulness, until this conversation 
 was given out to the world. Some of the friends of free thought 
 have come out and boldly denied the whole story as a falsehood. 
 Others have admitted that the interview took place and that Lin- 
 coln denounced the ministers and churches as above stated, 
 accounting for the small vote Lincoln received in Springfield to 
 his skeptical sentiment which he was always expressing. Still 
 other enemies of the church, seeing an opportunity of giving 
 Christianity a thrust, received the conversation as a fact thereby 
 showing where ministers and churches stood on the slavery 
 question. They deny the latter part of the interview, however, 
 explaining that Mr. Bateman was excited or agitated and over- 
 represented the interview. Another scheme has been advanced 
 to invalidate this story. The Batemau interview was first given 
 out in Holland's "Life of Lincoln." One infidel writer affirms 
 that Holland put his story of Bateman's in his book without con- 
 sulting Bateman himself. That ,'after the book was published 
 Bateman was urged to put out a denial to the whole matter. 
 This writer continues to say that the only reason assigned by 
 Bateman for not disavowing it was that, "my aversion to publicity 
 in such matters is intense." In all of these attempts to destroy 
 the story, the truth has bacome more self-evident. 
 
 HIS LAST HOUR IN SPRINGFIELD. 
 
 The morning he left his old home, a large number of his old 
 neighbors accompanied him to the depot. As he stood upon the 
 platform of the car he uttered the following words: "My friends: 
 No one, not in my position, can realize the sadness I feel at this 
 parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived 
 more than a quarter of a century. Here my children were born 
 and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall 
 
14 RELIGIOUS VIBWT OP 
 
 see you again. I go to assume a task more difficult than that 
 which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Wash- 
 ington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of 
 Divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel 
 that I cannot succeed without the same Divine blessing which 
 sustained him; and on the same Almighty Being I place my 
 reliance for support. And I hope you, my friends, will all pray 
 that I may receive the Divine assistance, without which I cannot 
 succeed, but with which, success is certain. Again, I bid you an 
 affectionate farewell." 
 
 This farewell speech, like the Bateman interview, has receiv- 
 ed a great deal of attention from those who would claim Lincoln 
 an infidel. They would have the world to understand that these 
 pathetic and pious words of Lincoln, were but the request that 
 they should wish him well. Some newspapers, in commenting 
 on these farewell words, call them "Old Abe's Latest Joke." 
 They were words which came from a soul bowed down with the 
 thought of a burden so soon to be laid upon him. His old 
 neighbors understood them as words coming from a heart acquaint- 
 ed with grief. When a little more than four years later, his body 
 was borne into the state house, the following couplet, in allusion 
 to his departure was placed over its door: 
 
 "He left us borne up by our prayers; 
 He returns embalmed in our tears." 
 
 Rev. Dr. Birch who was a witness to his departure adds the 
 following: "As I stretched my vision across the thirty-four years 
 which have rolled away since the rainy morning of February i ith, 
 1 86 1, I count that brief experience one of the great privileges of 
 my life. The lapse of time only deepens the impression of the 
 long, gaunt form with its thoughtful face, as in the true simplic- 
 ity of his real greatness, Abraham Lincoln lingers on the rear 
 platform of the car to take his last look at the old home and to 
 say his last words to his townsmen." 
 
 President McKinley states that the night before the good 
 president left Springfield, to start on his way to Washington, a 
 friend from Chicago sent him a flag of our country, bearing these 
 words, taken from the first chapter of Joshua, and written upon 
 its silken folds: "Have I not commanded thee; be strong and of 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 15 
 
 good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the 
 Lord, thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. There 
 shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy 
 life. As I was with Moses, so shalt I be with thee." 
 
 The Psalmist says, "Thy statutes have been my song in the 
 house of my pilgrimage." As he journeyed across the country 
 to the seat of the government, all along his circuitous route, he 
 failed not to declare to the people that he was going forth in the 
 name of the Living God of Israel. Truly God's statutes became 
 the song of his pilgrimage! 
 
 At Columbus he said: ''I turn then to God for support who 
 has never forsaken the people. A reliance on God." At 
 Steubenville: "Nothing shall be wanting on my part, if sustained 
 by the American people and God." At Buffalo: "I must trust in 
 that Supreme Being who has never forsaken this favored land." 
 At Albany: "I still have confidence that the Almighty, the 
 Maker of the universe, will bring us through this." At New 
 York City: "Aided by the wisdom of Almighty God." At New- 
 ark: "I am sure, however, that I have not the ability to do any- 
 thing unaided of God." At Trenton: ''I shall be most happy, 
 indeed, if I shall be an humble instrument in the hands of the 
 Almighty, and of this his most chosen people, as the chosen 
 instrument, also in the hands of the Almighty of perpetuating 
 the object of that great struggle." At Philadelphia: "I have 
 said nothing but that I am willing to live by. and, if it be the 
 pleasure of Almighty God, die by." 
 
 LINCOLN AND PROVIDENCE. 
 
 Perhaps, there never was a ruler who felt and believed in the 
 intervention of God in human affairs to such an extent as Abra- 
 ham Lincoln. There might be given a good sized volume of 
 matter, showing his belief in special Providence. 
 
 When a young man, Lincoln made his second trip down to 
 New Orleans with a cargo of produce. After having disposed of 
 the cargo, he and one of his fellow boatmen, sauntered through 
 one of the great slave marts. Here were gathered planters from 
 
1 6 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OP 
 
 all parts of the South West. Black men and women were arrang- 
 ed in rows for sale. The auctioneer would show their good qual- 
 ities by inviting his purchasers to examine them as you would so 
 many horses or mules. Should any of the slaves happen to be 
 Christians, and the fact known to the crier, he would boldly 
 proclaim it hoping thereby to get a higher figure. Again and 
 again the hammer fell. Husbands separated from wives, parents 
 from children, brothers from sisters. Lincoln and his friend 
 witnessed these doings. His lips quivered, and his voice choked 
 in his throat as he turned to his companion and said: "If ever I 
 get a chance to hit that thing, I will hit it hard by the Eternal 
 Goo." 
 
 Dr. David Gregg in commenting over this New Orleans 
 scene makes the following comment: "Who is he to hit the 
 "thing" a blow? He is only a boatman, a splitter of rails, a 
 teamster, a backwoodsman, nothing more. His poverty is so 
 deep that his clothes are in tatters. What position of influence 
 or power is he likely to attain to enable him to strike a blow ? The 
 "thing" which he would like to hit is incorporated into the frame 
 work of society, and legalized in half the states composing the 
 Republic. It is intrenched in church and state alike. It is a 
 political force, recognized in the Constitution. It enters into the 
 basis of representation. Is there the remotest probability that he 
 ever will be able to smite such an institution ? Why utter these 
 words ? Why raise the right hand to heaven and swear the 
 solemn oath ? Was it some dim vision of what might come to 
 him through Divine Providence in the unfolding years ? Was it 
 an illumination of the Spirit forecasting for the moment the im- 
 pending conflict between right and wrong in which he was to 
 take a conspicuous part? Was it a whisper by a divine messen- 
 ger that he was to be the chosen one to wipe the "thing" from 
 the earth, and give deliverance to millions of his fellow men ? 
 Was it not rather the mind and heart and power of God planted 
 deep in the depth of his very being and abiding there with an 
 holy impatience waiting for the clock of destiny to strike ?" 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 17 
 
 HEARING REV. PETER AKERS PREACH. 
 
 Dr. Akers was one of the most eminent preachers in the 
 Methodist Episcopal Church, during the days when slavery was 
 the great bone of contention. He unsparingly denounced slav- 
 ery as a sin, and a sin which would receive a merited punishment 
 from God in his own good time. In 1837, Lincoln, with a com- 
 pany of friends, visited a camp-meeting a few miles out of Spring- 
 field, on which occasion Dr. Akers preached. On this occasion 
 the preacher painted the wickedness of slavery in all its cruel 
 form. He predicted a great war which would follow this blighting 
 curse. That slavery would receive its death through the struggle. 
 He also pictured how the nation would receive a new baptism 
 of freedom when the sin was no more. 
 
 On returning from this service the preacher's sermon was the 
 only subject of discussion. Lincoln remarked: "It was the most 
 instructive sermon and he is the most impressive preacher I have 
 ever heard. It is wonderful that God has given such power to 
 men. I firmly believe his interpretation of prophecy, so far as I 
 understand it, and especially about the breaking down of civil 
 and religious tyrannies, and odd as it may seem, when he describ- 
 ed those changes and revolutions, I was deeply impressed that I 
 should be somewhat strangely mixed up with them." 
 
 In 1849 he wrote to his friend, Joshua Speed, concerning his 
 own social troubles: "Whatever He designs, He will do for me. 
 'Stand still and see the salvation of the Lord' is my text now." 
 
 In the North American Review of 1896, the following from 
 the pen of Ex Senator James F. Wilson, illustrates the feeling of 
 the president during the dark days of the war. Mr. Wilson with 
 several other gentlemen, had called upon the president eliciting 
 information as to the condition of the army and its movements. 
 After each of the callers had given his views concerning slavery 
 and the advisability of an immediate proclamation, he responded 
 as follows, "My faith is greater than yours. I not only believe 
 that Providence is not unmindful of the struggle in which this 
 nation is engaged, that if we do not do right God will let us go 
 our own way to our ruin; and that if we do right, He will lead us 
 
1 8 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 safely out of this wilderness, crown our arms with victory, and 
 restore our dissevered union, as you have expressed your belief; 
 but I also believe He will compel us to do right in order He may 
 do these things, not so much because we desire them as that they 
 accord with His plans of dealing with this nation, in the midst of 
 which He means to establish Justice. I think that He means 
 that we shall do more than we have yet done in the furtherance 
 of His plans and He will open the way for our doing it. I have 
 felt His hand upon me in great trials and submitted to His guid- 
 ance, and I trust that as He shall further open the way, I will be 
 ready to walk therein, relying on His help and trusting in His 
 goodness and wisdom." 
 
 It can readily be seen that every time Mr. Lincoln expressed 
 himself in regard to the dispensation of Providence, he, on each 
 occasion, breathes out a strong faith in the Almighty. As the 
 war progressed he more clearly saw the mysterious movements 
 of God. At last he saw himself as we now see him, an instru- 
 ment in the hands of God. 
 
 After the Emancipation Proclamation was given to the 
 world, colored people, wherever the grand message went, nearly 
 went wild with delight. On plantations their weeping was 
 turned into joy; in churches, where they were wont to assemble 
 for worship, their souls mounted high in Thanksgiving to God 
 for their emancipator. Colonel McKay who was a member of a 
 committee to investigate the conditions of the colored people, 
 alter having reported his investigation to the president, related 
 to him how the lately freed slaves looked upon him as their lib- 
 erator. Mr. Lincoln replied: "It is a momentous thing to be the 
 instrument, under Providence, of the liberation of a race." 
 
 Those were eloquent days when one man held the key which 
 would bid a whole race rejoice. Long had prophets of freedom 
 foretold that happy day. For years all over the north the friends 
 of the lowly had cried themselves to sleep with the burning 
 thought that part of the people were in chains. The friends of 
 the oppressed had been killed, incarcerated and insulted by the 
 slave oligarchy. They, too, were more defiant each year. 
 Nothing would satisfy them until their blood hounds could lac- 
 erate their victims under the shadow of Bunker Hill. Now it 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 19 
 
 looked as though human slavery had fed on its last victim. The 
 veteran abolitionist saw his day and was glad. Already the 
 president had hinted that the Constitution granted him the power 
 to remove slavery as a military measure. He still waited ! Con- 
 gress was not unmindful of the great moment. The friends of 
 human slavery were bringing to bear their best efforts to stay the 
 hand of the emancipator. It was too late ? He spoke and it 
 was done. As the paper was brought to him by the secretary of 
 State to be signed, he said: "Mr. Seward, I have been shaking 
 hands all day and my right hand is almost paralyzed. If my 
 name ever gets into history it will be for this act, and my whole 
 soul is in it. If my hand trembles when I sign the proclamation 
 those who examine the document hereafter will say he hesitated." 
 Then taking up his pen, having rested his arm for a moment, 
 slowly and firmly wrote Abraham Lincoln. He smiled as, hand- 
 ing the paper to Mr. Seward, he said: "That will do." Then 
 was fulfilled the saying of him who had exclaimed thirty and 
 five years before: "If I ever get a chance to hit the accursed 
 thing, I will hit it hard, by the Eternal God." 
 
 The hopes, prayers, and rejoicing of these millions of bond- 
 men found expression in the following words of Whittier. 
 
 "We pray de Lord, He gib us signs 
 
 Dat some day we be free; 
 De Norf wind tell it to the pine, 
 
 De wild duck to de sea. 
 We tink it when the church bell ring, 
 
 We dream it in de dream; 
 De rice bird mean it when he sing, 
 
 De eagle when he scream . 
 
 De yam will grow, de cotton blow, 
 
 We'll hab de rice and corn; 
 Oh neber you fear if neber you hear 
 
 De driver blow his horn. 
 
 Sing on, poor heart ! your chant shall be 
 
 Our sign of blight or bloom 
 The gala-song of liberty, 
 
 Or death-rune of our doom." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln was charged during the war as being too ambi- 
 tious. His antagonists in the North even dared whisper, 
 
20 EEUGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 "dictator," ''usurper," "Cromwell." Some saw in this kind 
 and gentle spirit, only a tyrant. He was. indeed, clothed in vast 
 power. No president was ever so much trusted by Congress as 
 was Lincoln. As David said of his God, "I will sing aloud of 
 thy mercy.' ' even so can the world sing of the beloved Lincoln. 
 It is true that on a question involving right and wrong he would 
 not be moved. He would reach over into the national legislature 
 and make his influence felt in that body. More than once he 
 moved out on certain political lines against the advice of his 
 cabinet. He had reached that place in his great career that he 
 could say with Paul, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly 
 vision." He was not a fatalist. Only interpreting the mind of 
 God and acting accordingly without fear or favor. Time has 
 vindicated his actions. If ever he erred, it was on the side of 
 mercy. 
 
 Says the gifted Henry Watterson in a most beautiful, truth- 
 ful and eloquent tribute to the great emancipator: "Born as 
 lowly as the Sou of God, reared in penury and squalor, with no 
 gleam of light nor fair surroundings, it was reserved for this 
 strange being, late in life, without fame or name or seeming pre- 
 paration, to be snatched from obscurity, raised to a supreme 
 command at a supreme moment, and intrusted with the destiny 
 of a nation. Where did Shakespeare get his genius ? Where 
 did Mozart get his music ? Whose hand smote the lyre 'of the 
 Scottish plowman and staid the life of the German priest ? God 
 alone, and as surely as these were raised by God, inspired of 
 God was Abraham Lincoln. A thousand years hence, no story, 
 no tragedy, no epic poem will be filled with greater wonder than 
 that which tells of his life and death. If Lincoln was not in- 
 spired of God then there is nothing on earth as special providence 
 or the interposition of divine power in the affairs of men." 
 
ABRAHAM UNCOLN. 21 
 
 WHEN DID LINCOLN BECOME A CHRISTIAN ? 
 
 Infidels think they have, forever, silenced the claims that 
 Lincoln was a Christian on the grounds that the defenders of the 
 faith disagree among themselves as to the time when he is sup- 
 posed to have embraced religion. One Free Thinker on comment- 
 ing on the statement of Dr. Barrows, concerning the date of his 
 (Mr. Lincoln's) conversion, cynically adds: "This is the fifth 
 time Lincoln gave his heart to God." 
 
 These different testimonies offered by Christians from the 
 four quarters of our land, conflicting as to the time alleged when 
 Lincoln became a Christian, need not cause any one to falter. 
 Let it be remembered that the Christian world has not yet arrived 
 at a unanimous conclusion as to what conversion is. Farrar says: 
 "A conversion may be said to be that change in the thoughts, de- 
 sires, disposition and life of a sinner which is brought about when 
 the Holy Ghost enters the heart as the result of the exercise of a 
 saving faith in the atonement, by which the sinner is justified." 
 
 This is the view held by one man only. There are multitudes 
 of people, rich in scholarship and Christian experience as Farrer, 
 who view the whole subject in an entirely different light. Visible 
 and distinct bodies of communicants hold their indentity upon 
 their respective views of the nature of conversion. If he ever be- 
 came a Christian it was entirely a matter of the heart. He was 
 never baptized or received into any visible church. It was a 
 matter of a Christian experience, then, or nothing. We will 
 study his own language, hear his own confessions, and mark his 
 life to ascertain whether he possessed the spirit of Christ. 
 
 Frank Carpenter who knew Lincoln, perhaps, as intimately 
 as any one outside of his own family expresses the following: 
 "Mr. Lincoln, referring to what he called a change of heart, said 
 he did not remember any precise time when he passed through 
 any special change or purpose, or of heart; but, he would say, 
 that his own election to office, and the crisis immediately follow- 
 ing, influentially determined him in what he called 'a process of 
 chrystalization, then going on in his mind." Carpenter recites 
 another incident which adds to the testimony already given. A 
 
22 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 lady in the service of the Christian Commission had occasion in 
 the prosecution of her duties, to have several interviews with the 
 president. Naturally their conversation would turn toward the 
 subject of religion. They talked of Christian experience and 
 matters of a kindred nature. Being invited by the president to 
 give her views as to what constituted a religious experience, she 
 readily consented. After she had clearly set forth her views, Mr. 
 Lincoln responded as follows: 'If what you have told me is really 
 a correct view of this subject, I think I can say with sincerity, 
 that I hope that I am a Christian. I had lived until my boy 
 Willie died without fully realizing these things. That blow 
 overwhelmed me. It showed me my weakness as I had never 
 felt it before and if I can take what you have stated as a test I 
 think that I can safely say that I know something of that change 
 of which you speak, I will further add that it has been my inten- 
 tion for some time at a suitable opportunity to make a public re- 
 ligious profession.' ' 
 
 Dr. James Smith, pastor of the First Presbyterian Church at 
 Springfield, in the days of Lincoln's residence there gives the 
 following testimony: "It is a very easy matter to prove that 
 while I was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Springfield, 
 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 at the present, but 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, and 
 the circumstances attending it, together with very interesting in- 
 cidents illustrative of the excellence of his character in my pos- 
 session vShould be made known to the public." This Christian 
 gentlemen then adds how that he set before Mr. Lincoln argu- 
 ments advanced by the infidel world and along side of it he 
 placed arguments calculated to show the authenticity of the 
 Scriptures. Mr. Lincoln, after careful examination of the proofs, 
 for ard against Christianit} 7 , pronounced the argument in favor 
 of divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures unanswer- 
 able. This testimony of Mr. Smith's has been confirmed by 
 words of attestation from Hon. Ninian Edwards, brother-in-law 
 of the president's and also from people still living who were 
 formerly members of Dr. Smith's church. 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 23 
 
 Mr. Noah Brooks, newspaper correspondent and a bosom 
 friend of Lincoln's while he was president, gives us many pen 
 pictures of the personal side of Lincoln's life. He gives us the 
 following glimpses of the man. "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. '" Again he comments upon Lincoln: "once or 
 twice, speaking to me 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, and I am very positive that in his own mind he 
 identified it about the time of Willie's death. In many conver- 
 sations with him, I absorbed the firm conviction that Mr. Lin- 
 coln was at heart a Christian man, believed in the Savior, and 
 was seriously considering the step which would formally connect 
 him with the visible church on earth." Once he said in com- 
 menting on the church and its doings, "When any church will in- 
 scribe over its altars as its sole qualification for membership the 
 Savior'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 heart and soul.' ' 
 
 If Mr. Lincoln, himself cannot give any set date when he 
 accepted Christ, yet conscious of "Peace in believing," how 
 absurd it would be for others to attempt to fix that moment ! 
 
24 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 LINCOLN AND PRAYER. 
 
 Prayer is the burden of a sigh. 
 
 The falling of a tear, 
 The upward glancing of an eye, 
 
 When none but God is near. 
 
 Prayer is the Christian's vital breath, 
 
 The Christian's native air, 
 His watchword at the gates of death, 
 
 He enters Heaven with prayer. 
 
 One of the most conclusive evidences showing the sincerity 
 of purpose of Saul of Tarsus, was that "Behold he prayeth." If 
 praying to Jehovah stamps a man a believer, surely Abraham 
 Lincoln can be numbered among God's annointed. He made 
 supplications to God in secret as well as in public. He announced 
 it in official papers, as well as to individuals. Free Thinkers, 
 unable to deny the fact of his supplication, come boldly forward 
 and inform us that Lincoln's praying must not be confused with 
 the orthodox prayers. Mr. Herndou, the old law partner of Lin- 
 coln, and a notorious exponent of infidelity attempts to analyze 
 Lincoln's prayers. He employs the following words to show 
 forth prayer: "Did Mr. Lincoln believe in prayer as a means of 
 moving God ?" Mr. Herndon, referring to Lincoln's last farewell 
 address at Springfield, when he asked his townsmen to pray for 
 him, comments as follows: "These expressions are merely con- 
 ventional. 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 inspire to 
 a loftier and higher effort for a nobler and grander life. ' ' Of all 
 the definitions given to prayer this is certainly the most novel 
 yet known. The man who offers this exposition on prayer is the 
 same gentleman who refused to believe in Lincoln's conversation 
 in Washington on the score that: ''If Mr. Lincoln changed his 
 religious views he owed it to me to warn me." In other words 
 he feels that Lincoln would certainly have informed him had he 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 25 
 
 ever been converted. While it might be comforting to the hearts 
 of some prophets and followers of Paine to hang unto these words 
 of Herndon in an almost idolatrous way, receiving them as the 
 last words and will of Abraham Lincoln, to hear the great man 
 speak for himself is far more gratifying. On one occasion a 
 friend was talking to him about the burden of government which 
 was pressing him toward the grave. He was reminded by his 
 friend that millions of people were praying, not to be heard of 
 men, in his behalf. He caught the words, "not to be heard of 
 men." "Yes," says Lincoln, "I like that phrase, "not to be 
 heard of men," and guess it is generally true as you say; at least 
 I have been told so and I have been a good deal helped by just 
 that thought." 
 
 The interview which Gen. James F. Rusling had with Lin- 
 coln immediately after the battle of Gettysburg, is sufficiently 
 conclusive to sweep away the last vestige of infidelity urged 
 against the man. 
 
 The story has been given to the public of late years. It is 
 not so late, however, to be considered apocryphal. General 
 Sickles, who is still living, fully confirms the story. It is of such 
 paramount importance that the entire interview will be given. 
 
 Says General Rusling: "The next time I saw Mr. Lincoln 
 was on July 5, 1863 the Sunday after the battle of Gettys- 
 burg. He had come down from the Soldiers' Home with his little 
 son, "Tad," to call on General Daniel E. Sickles, of New York, 
 who had arrived in Washington that morning, having lost a leg 
 at Gettysburg. I also had called to see Sickles (my corps com- 
 mander then), and was there still when Lincoln was announced. 
 They shook hands cordially, if not pathetically, and after many 
 inquiries about the killed and wounded and how the latter was 
 faring, Mr. Lincoln passed next to the fact of our victory at 
 Gettysburg, and what Meade proposed to do with it. Sickles, 
 of course, answered him warily, as became so astute a man and 
 soldier, and got his side of the story of Gettysburg well into the 
 President's mind and heart and presently inquired whether he 
 and the cabinet had not been a little anxious about affairs there ? 
 Mr. Lincoln replied, the cabinet had but he had not; and then 
 went on to make candid confession that in the very pinch and 
 
26 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 stress of the Gettysburg campaign he had gone to the Almighty 
 in secret prayer. He said he told the Lord this was His country, 
 and the war was His war, but that we could not stand another 
 Fredericksburg or Chancellorsville; and that he then and there 
 made a solemn vow with his Maker that if He would stand 
 by us at Gettysburg he would stand by Him; and then 
 he added: 'And He did, and I will!' He said, after thus 
 praying, he didn't know how it was, but somehow a sweet 
 comfort crept into his soul that God Almighty had taken the 
 whole business there into His hands, and we were bound to win 
 at Gettysburg. 
 
 Afterward, in the same interview, he added he had also been 
 praying over Vicksburg, because we needed it so badly in order 
 to bisect the Confederacy and save Mississippi to the Union, and he 
 somehow had faith that Grant was going to win down there too. 
 He said he didn't want it repeated then; some might laugh; 
 but it was a solemn fact that he had prayed mightily over both 
 Gettysburg and Vicksburg, and verily believed our heavenly 
 Father was somehow going to take care of the American republic. 
 Of course Mr. Lincoln did' not know that Vicksburg had already 
 fallen and that a Union gunboat was then on its way up the 
 Mississippi to Cairo with the glorious news that was soon to thrill 
 the country through and through. 
 
 Gettysburg and Vicksburg ! our great twin victories ! 
 What were they not to us in that fateful summer of 1863 ? And 
 what would have happened to the American Republic had both 
 gone the other way. Of course it will not do to say that Abra- 
 ham Lincoln's faith and prayers saved us there; but they certainly 
 did not do the Union any harm. And his serene confidence in 
 victory there because of these (or resulting therefrom), was some- 
 thing beautiful to behold on that memorable July 5, 1863. 
 
 I never saw" Mr. Lincoln again. In November, 1863, 1 was 
 ordered west to Tennessee, and was there still in 1865, when he 
 was assassinated. But this conversation made a deep impression 
 and I need scarcely add settled the question of his religious faith 
 with me and General Sickles forever. Whatever Mr. Lincoln may 
 have been in earlier years and under narrower conditions, it is 
 certain that our great war, as it proceeded involving a whole con- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 27 
 
 tinent with world-wide and timelong results, sobered and steadied 
 him and anchored him on God as the supreme Ruler of nations as 
 a like experience sobered and anchored William of Orange and 
 Cromwell and Washington; and in the end Abraham Lincoln be- 
 came a ruler worthy to rank with even these. Of all the great 
 figures of our civil war, L/incoln alone looms up loftier and 
 grander as the years roll on, and his place in the pantheon of 
 history is secure forever." 
 
28 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 LINCOLN AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 "The rolling sun, the changing light, 
 And nights and days, Thy power confess, 
 But the best volume Thou hast writ, 
 Reveals Thy justice and Thy grace." 
 
 At the beginning of this work, a statement was set forth 
 showing just what the infidel world credited to Lincoln as being 
 his views touching the salient features of a religious belief. This 
 is one of the assertions: "He did not believe in the Christian 
 doctrine of the inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. He believed 
 that Burns and Paine were as much inspired as David and Paul. ' ' 
 In another place the following statement is made which is yet 
 bolder: "He wrote a book against the Bible." Burns, we never 
 shall forget, was one of Lincoln's favorite authors. This great 
 genius of Scotland, however, became enslaved by the rum power 
 and bowed himself down at its shrine. With all his greatness of 
 heart; with all his hatred of vice and hypocrisy, his last days were 
 clouded by the sin of intemperance. 
 
 Thomas Paine, the man, who for some time was a good 
 patriot and for a still longer time, a writer against the Bible and 
 whose last days were spent in attempting to villify the noble 
 Washington, is placed alongside of Burns; and these two men are 
 brought forward to receive the same credit for inspiration as David 
 and Paul. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Lincoln was familiar with the writ- 
 ings of all the above named authors. Did Lincoln really com- 
 pare the two profane authors with the two sacred authors in re- 
 gard to inspiration, or was it another reckless statement born in 
 the mind of some enemy of God's word ? 
 
 In the Lincoln Museum at Washington City there is an old 
 copy of the Bible. It shows that it has been well studied, its 
 pages are'well worn by constant handling. On the inside of the 
 cover are [these words in the hand- writing of its owner: "A. 
 Lincoln, his own book." 
 
 This is the book that received the same attention as did 
 Blackstone. In his early triumphs at the bar, the Bible found a 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 29 
 
 conspicuous place in his pleadings. His political addresses were 
 pregnant with selections from the Scriptures. His joint discus- 
 sions with Douglass abound with thoughts arid quotations selected 
 from the Sacred Writ. The friends of Free Thought have tried 
 to explain this wholesale use of the Scriptures by Mr. Lincoln 
 with very poor results. They allege that since the Bible abounds 
 in rich imagery and wealth of language, the president employed 
 it without any other thought than its literary and rhetorical 
 features. This explanation would be quite satisfactory had Lincoln 
 been cut off at the beginning of his presidency. We will see that 
 his public and private utterances in his later life clearly demon- 
 strate whether he looked oa the Bible as merely a human pro- 
 duction or whether it was given to the world by inspiration. His 
 famous declaration, "A house divided against itself cannot stand," 
 is borrowed from the New Testament. 
 
 Did he employ this expression because it seemed to suit the 
 occasion or because it was found in the Scriptures and thus was 
 truth? Again, he in writing to his brother in regard to his 
 father's sickness says: "He notes the fall of a sparrow and num- 
 bers the hairs of our head." Did he select these words in the 
 presence of his dying father because of their literary adaptation 
 or because they are words of consolation dropped from the lips of 
 the Savior ? About a year before his assassination, in a conver- 
 sation with his old time friend, Joshua Speed, he remarked I am 
 profitably engaged in reading the Bible. Take all of this book 
 upon reason that you can and the balance on faith, and you will 
 live and die a better man." 
 
 The colored people of Baltimore, desirous of showing their 
 love for their emancipator, presented him with a beautiful copy 
 of the Scriptures. After the presentation address was concluded 
 he responded in the following language: "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 through this book." If Lincoln believed the Bible to 
 be an uninspired volume, why did he employ such extravagant 
 words ? Did he do it to tickle their ears? If he did he could be 
 no less than a hypocrite. Now, if he felt that the Scriptures were 
 only a man-arranged scheme, it was his duty to tell these poor, 
 
30 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 deluded negroes that they were mistaken. A man who could write 
 a fatherly letter to Hooker, telling him of his weakness; a man 
 who had the fortitude to express his opinion to a Democratic 
 delegation from Ohio in regard to Vallandigham had certainly the 
 moral strength to make known his views in regard to that Book ! 
 No, those words of his on this occasion were the expression of his 
 heart. 
 
 His second inaugural address is perhaps the most quoted 
 document ever given out by any American President. He there 
 remarked: "Both read the same Bible." Why was this sentence 
 thrown into his address? One writer whose views are hostile to 
 Christianity remarks as follows in regard to the expression quoted 
 above: "What a commentary upon the hypocritical assumption 
 that Christians possess an infallible moral standard, is contained 
 in the above words." This sage of free thought assumes that 
 Lincoln had an old time grudge against the Bible and Christian- 
 ity in general and thus takes the occasion on his second inaugural 
 to air his views. Of all the comments on that last inaugural 
 address, the words of this infidel expositor are the most ridicu- 
 lous. 
 
 Mr. Arnold, commenting on this address of the president's, 
 uses the following beautiful words: "Since the days of Christ's 
 sermon on the mount, where is the speech of emperor, king or 
 ruler, which can compare with this? May we not, without irrev- 
 erence, say that passages of this address are worthy of that holy 
 Book, which daily he read, and from which, during his long days 
 of trial, he had drawn inspiration and guidance? Where else, but 
 from the teachings of the Son of God, could he have drawn that 
 Christian charity which pervades the last sentence in which he so 
 unconsciously describes his moral nature: 'With malice toward 
 none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives 
 us to see the right.' No other state paper in American annals, 
 not even Washington's farewell address, has made so deep an im- 
 pression upon the people as this." He adds further: "This paper 
 in its solemn recognition of the justice of Almighty God, reminds 
 us of the words of the old Hebrew prophets." 
 
 Chief Justice Chase administered the oath of office to the 
 president. After this part of the ceremony was over Mr. Ijn- 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 31 
 
 coin kissed the Bible which was open before him. His lips touched 
 the ajth and 28th verses of the 5th chapter of Isaiah. The 
 verses read thus: "None shall be weary, nor stumble among them; 
 none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their 
 loins be loosed, nor the lachet of their shoes be broken, whose 
 arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall 
 be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind." 
 
 All in all it was the most impressive inaugural service ever 
 witnessed. The day of the ceremony had been stormy until the 
 hour of twelve. Then the Sun came out from behind the dark- 
 ness illuminating the large assembly who had gathered to witness 
 the inaugural. This time, too, the Chief Justice who adminis- 
 tered the oath of office had a heart that was right toward the 
 Union. On the former occasion four years before, that magis- 
 trate's heart was with the South. Four years before, he was an 
 untried man from the prairies; on this occasion the nation, yea, 
 the whole world looked upon him as one of the most remarkable 
 men of the age. 
 
32 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 HIS RELATION TO THE SABBATH. 
 
 "Hail to the Sabbath day ! 
 
 The day divinely given. 
 When men to God their homage pay, 
 
 And earth draws near to heaven. 
 
 The Temple is the arch 
 
 Of yon unmeasured sky; 
 The Sabbath, the stupendous march 
 
 Of vast eternity." 
 
 The Sabbath is the citadel of American institutions. It has 
 been assaulted by foreign and domestic foes. 
 
 Anarchists, agnostics, saloon keepers, and imported relig- 
 ious doctrines, savoring strongly of eastern mixture, are found 
 arrayed against this bulwark of freedom. One exponent of infi- 
 delity declares that: "Lincoln himself attached no more sanctity 
 to Sunday than to other days. He worked on Sunday himself. 
 In Springfield his Sundays were frequently spent in preparing 
 cases for court. In company with his boys he often passed the 
 entire day making excursions into the country or rambling 
 through the woods that skirted the Sangamon. He seldom went 
 to church either in Springfield or Washington." Rev. Dr. James 
 Smith, already quoted, declares that he usually attended church 
 with his wife. This Dr. Smith was for a long time pastor of a 
 Presbyterian church in Springfield. He was highly respected by 
 Mr. Lincoln who appointed him to a consulship in Scotland. 
 
 How does his Sabbath profanation measure up with the fol- 
 lowing general order in regard to Sabbath observance in the pub- 
 lic service ? The order was given Nov. i6th, 1864: "The Presi- 
 dent, Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, desires and 
 enjoins the orderly observance of the Sabbath by the officers and 
 men in the military and naval service. The importance for man 
 and beast of the prescribed weekly rest, the sacred rights of 
 Christian soldiers and sailors, a becoming deference to the best 
 sentiment of Christian people, and a due regard for the Divine 
 will, demand that Sunday labor in the Army and Navy be reduced 
 to the measure of strict necessity. The discipline and character 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN 
 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 33 
 
 of the national forces should not suffer, nor the cause they defend 
 be imperiled by the profanation of the day or the name of the 
 Most High. 'At this time of public distress (adopting the words 
 of Washington in 1776), men may find enough to do in the ser- 
 vice of their God and their country without abandoning them- 
 selves to vice and immorality.' " The first general order issued 
 by the Father of His Country after the Declaration of Independ- 
 ence indicated the spirit in which our Institutions were founded 
 and should ever be defended. "The General hopes and trusts 
 that every officer and man will endeavor to live and act as be- 
 comes a Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and liber- 
 ties of his country." In enlarging on this remarkable order, 
 one of his biographers adds: "the date of this remarkable order 
 leaves no possibility for insinuation that it sprang from any 
 political purpose or intention. Mr, Lincoln has just been re- 
 elected by an overwhelming majority; his party everywhere was 
 triumphant; his own personal popularity was unbounded; there 
 was no temptation to hypocrisy or deceit. There is no expla- 
 nation of the order except that it was the offspring of sincere con- 
 victions. " As usual, there are always some apologists of free 
 thought ready to fully explain the words and acts of the president. 
 One offers the following: "This document gives expression to 
 sentiments regarding the sanctity of the Christian Sabbath that 
 Lincoln personally did not entertain. It was issued to appease 
 the clamor of the clergy who demanded it, and was drafted, not 
 by Lincoln, but by some pious Sabbatarian." Very little is 
 known, indeed, of the clergy besieging the president to issue an 
 army order in regard to Sabbath observance. Every author of 
 the life of Lincoln tells the same story, however, that how from 
 the assault^on Fort Sumpter until the emancipation was given 
 out, he was importuned by delegation after delegation to issue an 
 emancipation proclamation. It would be just as reasonable then, 
 to say that Lincoln at heart was not in the matter but he submit- 
 ted to the clamor of the people. One infidel writer explains 
 away all of the references to Providence, prayer, Sabbath observ- 
 ance, etc., by declaring it some of "Seward's nonsense." 
 
34 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 While Mr. Lincoln was president, he was responsible for 
 every act of the government. If any order or statement was given 
 out without his knowledge or against his views, it was his duty 
 to disavow the whole matter. This he did do in regard to the 
 Mason and Slidell affair. Also, when Generals Fremont and 
 Hunter issued orders in regard to the liberation of slaves, he 
 quickly corrected such proclamations. Would it seem reasonable 
 then that Secretary Seward could sit in the cabinet for almost 
 five years with the president continually writing state papers 
 without the knowledge or consent of the president ? Infidels 
 would have us believe that Secretaries Chase, Stanton and Seward 
 added to or took from the body of the president's papers at their 
 will. If such were the case we will never be able to ascertain 
 from whom emanated the Emancipation Proclamation, the 
 Thanksgiving Proclamation, or the issuing of the call for the 
 first seventy- five thousand troops. No, we will never think of 
 Abraham Lincoln controlling his administration with his hands 
 tied. It would rob him of his greatness. It would reduce him 
 to an effeminate character bowing to the dictate of higher powers. 
 
 But if it will be contended that the president acquiesced to 
 the clamor of his advisers, being at heart opposed to these senti- 
 mental expressions of religion appearing in his state papers, the 
 following matter ought to silence such ones for all time. This 
 document was penned when the fate of the Republic seemed to 
 have hung in a balance. It is a paper which Mr. Lincoln wrote 
 in September, 1862, while his mind was burdened with the great- 
 est question of his life. The future of the country looked dark. 
 Not one star of hope appeared . Already thousands of lives had 
 been offered on their country's altar. A large portion of his 
 own party was dissatisfied with him. Jealously was rife in the 
 army. The counsel of friends was unavailing. The Confeder- 
 acy was gaining sympathy and prestige in Europe. Wearied 
 with all the considerations of law and expediency with which he 
 had been struggling for two years, he withdrew himself into se- 
 clusion of mind. As Moses retired, for a time, from the scenes 
 of his labors and drew up into the Mount with Jehovah, leaving 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 35 
 
 the cares at its base, so did Lincoln rise above the wrangling of 
 men and parties and ponder the relation of human government to 
 the Divine. In this frame of mind, absolutely separated from 
 any earthly consideration, he wrote this meditation. It was 
 written not to be seen of men. It was written in the awful sin 
 cerity of a perfectly honest soul trying to bring itself into a 
 closer communion with its Master. 
 
 "The will of God prevails. In great contests each party 
 claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be 
 and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the 
 same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite 
 possible that God's purpose is something different from the pur- 
 pose of either party; and yet the human instrumentalities, working 
 just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose. 
 I am almost ready to say that this is probably true. That God 
 wills this contest, and wills that it should not end yet. By his 
 mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, he could 
 have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human con- 
 test. Yet the contest began. And having begun, He could 
 have given the final victory to either side any day. Yet the con- 
 test proceeds." The probability is that not one member of the 
 cabinet ever beheld this meditation. It was the breathing of his 
 heart to be unheard by human ears. The song of Mirian finds 
 a counterpart in this flight of human contemplation of the 
 majesty of God. 
 
36 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 LINCOLN AND HIS RELATION TO THE CHURCH 
 AND THE CLERGY. 
 
 'I love thy Church, O God! 
 Her walls before thee stand, 
 Dear as the apple of thine eye, 
 And graven on thy hand. 
 
 For her my tears shall fall, 
 
 For her my prayers ascend; 
 
 To her my tears and toils be given. 
 
 Till toils and cares shall end. 
 
 Beyond my highest joy 
 
 I prize her heavenly ways, 
 
 Her sweet communion, solemn vows, 
 
 Her hymns of love and praise." 
 
 It is no wonder that in war, involving the question of 
 human slavery and the dissolution of the best government 
 ever organized by men, should find such an array of church 
 power on the side of freedom. From one end of the loyal 
 states to the other, the churches seemed to vie with each 
 other in thundering forth their voices in behalf of humanity 
 and patriotism. Many of the pupils of the North for fifty 
 years, had championed the cause of the oppressed. Now, 
 in hundreds of instances, ministers left their pulpits to go 
 forth and fight for the same cause. The most conservative 
 churches were riot far in the rear of the most advanced in 
 bearing testimony in behalf of the Union. From the Ro- 
 man Catholic Church down to the humble Quaker Com- 
 munion, religious bodies put themselves on record for liberty. 
 A small volume might be written recording the resolutions 
 of assemblies, conventions, conferences, synods, and yearly 
 meetings. As the war advanced each year the tone of 
 these convocations became more decided. Only one or two 
 fragments of these deliverances can here be given. The 
 New School Presbyterian Church lifted up its voice in the 
 following strain: "Since the day of your inauguration, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. . 37 
 
 the thousands of our membership have followed you with 
 unceasing prayer, besieging the throne of grace in your be- 
 half. When we look at the history of your administration 
 hitherto, and at the wonderful way in which the people 
 have been led under your guidance, we glorify God in you." 
 
 The president was not unmindful of these testimonies. 
 He responded to one of these bodies in the following words: 
 "It has been my happiness to receive testimonies of a simi- 
 lar nature from, I believe, all denominations of Christians . 
 This to me is most gratifying because from the beginning I 
 saw that the issues of our great struggle depended on the 
 divine interposition and favor. As a pilot, I have used my 
 best exertions to keep afloat our Ship of State, and shall be 
 glad to resign my trust at the appointed time to another 
 pilot more skillful and more successful than I may prove. 
 In every case and at all hazards, the government must be 
 perpetuated. Relying, as I do on the Almighty Power, 
 and encouraged, as I am by these resolutions which you 
 have just read with the support which I receive from Chris- 
 tian men, I shall not hesitate to use all the means at my 
 control to secure the termination of this rebellion and will 
 hope for success. ' ' 
 
 To the Methodist Episcopal Church he spoke as fol- 
 lows in his benediction upon them: "God bless the Metho- 
 dist Church. Bless all the churches. Blessed be God who 
 in this our great trial giveth us the churches." 
 
 The Quakers were placed in a delicate position by the 
 war. One of the great principles of the Friends, is the op- 
 position to war. Now, these people hate slavery fully as 
 much. When the war came and they saw that it was 
 either death to slavery and the breaking up of the Union, 
 or slavery forever and anarchy, they were much perplexed 
 as a body. It was with these conditions in his mind that 
 the president sent the following letter to Mrs. Gurney, the 
 wife of a famous English preacher of the communion of 
 Friends. 
 
38 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 "My esteemed Friend: I have not forgotten probably 
 never shall forget the very impressive occasion when your- 
 self and friends visited me on Sabbath forenoon, two years 
 ago; nor has your kind letter, written nearly a year later, 
 ever been forgotten. In all, it has been your purpose to 
 strengthen my reliance on God. I am much indebted to 
 the good Christian people of this country for their constant 
 prayers and consolation and to no one of them more than 
 to yourself. The purposes of the Almighty are perfect and 
 must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail to accu- 
 rately perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy 
 termination of this terrible war long before this; but God 
 knows best and ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowl- 
 edge His wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile 
 we must work earnestly in the best light he gives us, trust- 
 ing that so working still conduces to the great ends he or- 
 dains. Surely he intends some good to follow this mighty 
 convulsion, which no mortal could make and no mortal 
 could stay. Your people, the Friends, have had and are 
 having a very great trial. On principle and faith opposed 
 to both war and oppression. They can only practically op- 
 pose oppression by war y In this hard dilemma, some have 
 chosen one horn and some the other. For those appealing 
 to me on conscientious grounds, I have done, and shall do, 
 the best I could and can, in my own conscience, under my 
 oath to the law. That you believe this, I doubt not, and 
 believing it, I shall still receive for my country and myself 
 your earnest prayers to our Father in heaven." 
 
 Over against this startling testimony we will insert 
 some words from an infidel already quoted (Remsburg.) 
 He sees Lincoln looking on the churches with a frown. 
 "No president, probably, was ever so much annoyed by the 
 clergy as Lincoln. The war produced an increased re- 
 ligious fervor, and theological tramps innumerable, usually 
 labeled "D. D.," visited the White House each with a 
 mission to perform and a precious morsel of advice to offer." 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 39 
 
 It is singular, indeed, that any man would rise up and 
 make such groundless charges. Of the thousands of min- 
 isters who called upon Lincoln, probably there was not one 
 who ever received a snub or an insult from him. He lived 
 on the best terms with all the churches. Such ministers 
 as Beecher, Gray, Simpson, Sunderland, Gurley and Smith, 
 ministers who have visited him repeatedly, and conversed 
 with him freely on divers themes, are swift to bear testi- 
 mony of his Christian sentiments and character. 
 
4O RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 HIS CARICATURES OF RELIGION. 
 
 The churches of the land often became a butt against 
 his humor and indignation. In the former case, he was 
 giving his witty vein a treat without malice or feeling 
 against any body or thing. Right or wrong ministers and 
 good people have indulged in these pleasantries from time 
 immemorial till the present without being questioned. In 
 the case of Mr. Lincoln, however, the enemies of Christi- 
 anity think they have a good case showing with what ir- 
 reverence Mr. Lincoln viewed the institution. 
 
 On the other hand when his wrath was turned against 
 any church or man it was not to condemn Christianity but 
 to expose hypocrisy. He studied the Bible for himself. 
 He knew for what Christianity stood. When seeing a 
 church or individual professing to be a follower of Christ 
 and living or voting contrary to the ideas set forth by the 
 sermon on the Mount, he was not slow to expose such incon- 
 sistency. 
 
 John the Baptist, Christ, Paul, Whitefield, Edwards, 
 and a host of servants of God too numerous to mention, 
 have been just as severe on hypocrites without ever being 
 branded as enemies of the church. 
 
 In what is known as "Lincoln's lost speech," the fol- 
 lowing arraignment of the churches is given: "We see it 
 in Christian statesmen, and Christian newspapers, and 
 Christian pulpits applauding the cowardly act of a low bully, 
 who crawled upon his victim behind his back and dealt the 
 deadly blow." In another part of the same address, he ap- 
 peals to the people in this fashion: "Can we as Christian 
 men, and strong and free ourselves, wield the sledge or hold 
 the iron which is to manacle a new and already oppressed 
 race?" 
 
 He denounced the ministers of Springfield for withhold- 
 ing their votes from him when he stood for freedom while 
 Douglass stood for bondage. 
 
ABRAHAM UNCOCK. 4! 
 
 In his last inaugural address, he uncovers pharisaical 
 worship in the following lines: "Both read the same Bible 
 and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid 
 against the other. It may seeing strange that any men 
 should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their 
 bread from the sweat of other men's faces. But let us 
 judge not, that we be not judged." In whatever way we 
 view the president's denunciations, we can only see what a 
 high conception be had of what Christ taught. 
 
42 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 CHARGE OF DEISM AND INFIDELITY IN HIS 
 CAMPAIGNS. 
 
 Lincoln stood before the people time and again, as a 
 . candidate to receive their suffrage. He was in his state 
 legislature for several years. He sat for one term in the 
 national House of Representatives. He ran for United 
 States senatorship once, and stood up twice as a candidate 
 for presidency of the republic. According to his own testi- 
 mony he never was beaten by the people but once. Then, 
 as now, a man who offered himself for public office was 
 severly dealt with by his antagonists. The man figured 
 quite as large in a campaign as the principles for which he 
 stood. Lincoln, not being a member of any church, was a 
 great target at which to shoot. His opponents thought 
 that in this fact they saw a vulnerable spot. Regardless of 
 his opponent's veneration for religion, the charge of infidelity 
 would be good political ammunition. The capital, however, 
 which his enemies hoped to make out of the matter was not 
 very productive of good results. 
 
 Lincoln generally ran ahead of his ticket. Let it not 
 be forgotten, too, that the sections ot Illinois which elected 
 him to office were not unknown to the footsteps of the 
 churches. That part of the state at an early period was 
 settled by stalwart Christians from the eastern and southern 
 states. In his campaigns for the state legislature the charges 
 of infidelity were only whispered. Several years ago when 
 he ran for Congress against the celebrated Peter Cartwright, 
 there were bold charges of Deism urged against him. Cart- 
 wright himself was not unfamiliar to the ways of political 
 campaigns, having figured many times prior to this in such 
 matters. Cartwright was one of the most venerated and 
 unique figures in the Methodist Church at that time. Method- 
 ism, even at that period, numbered its people by the thous- 
 ands in that state. It would seem, indeed, that a candidate, 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 43 
 
 known as an avowed infidel, and running for office in a dis- 
 trict largely peopled by Christian voters, would stand a very 
 slim chance for office. It came to pass, however, that 
 Abraham Lincoln ran far ahead of his ticket in his campaign 
 with Cartwright. There is only one way to account for this 
 phenomenal vote: that the people who knew him the best 
 did not believe the charges. The whole matter was only a 
 political trick to reduce the vote for Lincoln . 
 
 If we hearken to all that is waged against a candidate 
 for office, such a one appears like a monster or a miscreant 
 of the foulest type. We can never forget that he who re- 
 poses in the tomb at Mt. Vernon when candidate for the 
 presidency, was denounced as a dictator, mimicing the ways 
 of the crowned heads of Europe; let it not be forgotten that 
 the lamented and Christian president Garfield was accused 
 as a receiver of bribes while in Congress. Keeping in mind 
 that these things must need come we can clearly see why in 
 those days of feverish excitement anything could be legiti- 
 mately employed which might cripple the opposition. 
 
 A few years later when Lincoln measured strength with 
 Douglass in the senatorial race, the old charge of infidelity 
 was forgotten. Lincoln had not changed in these few years, 
 but other weapons were employed which might have a more 
 telling effect. Infidelity, then, need not probe into the past 
 in order to draw out comfort in this line. They will find 
 out that even in those days the charge of Deism and free- 
 thought urged against Lincoln was indignantly denied by 
 the people. 
 
44 fiEUGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 MODE ADOPTED TO INVALIDATE CHRISTIAN 
 TESTIMONY. 
 
 In almost every instance where an author has attempted 
 to show Lincoln to have been a Christian, that author has, 
 at once, received the most scathing vituperation from some 
 infidel quarter. Mr. Lincoln, once, wisely said, "By a 
 course of reasoning, Euclid proves that all the angles in a 
 triangle are equal to two right angles. Now, if you under- 
 take to disprove that proposition, would you prove it false 
 by calling Euclid a liar?" In the face of the above well- 
 known saying of that good man, his would-be admirers have 
 sought to cripple Christian testimony by calling the authors 
 harsh names. To show the desperation of their case, a few 
 instances of these abusive criticisms will be noted. One of 
 the earliest and possibly one of the best biographies of Mr. 
 Lincoln given out is that of Holland. Mr. Holland was in 
 his day a journalist of no limited influence. His skillful 
 pen has placed him in the household of American literature. 
 The following is the estimation put upon his excellent work 
 by a follower of Paine: "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 appraised of his unbelief, had been repeatedly told of 
 it before he wrote his biography. But this did not deter 
 him from asserting 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 crumb- 
 ling creed, and would have it at any sacrifice, particularly 
 when its possession required no greater sacrifice than truth." 
 The above traduction needs no comment. 
 
 Hon. Isaac Arnold also has given to the world a splendid 
 volume upon the life and character of Mr. Lincoln. Hon. 
 Robert Lincoln, son of the great emancipator, assures the 
 author of this little work, that Mr. Arnold has well done his 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 45 
 
 work in describing his father's religious tone. Mr. Arnold 
 had a large place in his heart for President Lincoln. The 
 Chicago district sent him to the national house of repre- 
 sentatives repeatedly. He had almost daily interviews with 
 Mr. Lincoln while he was president. An infidel disposes of 
 Arnold in the following style: "They know that a cold re- 
 ception awaits their works unless they are able to clothe the 
 character of their subjects in the popular robes of super- 
 stition. Mr. Arnold realized this when he wrote his 'Life 
 of Lincoln.' He had been most forcibly reminded of the 
 fate of two biographies of his own subject which had already 
 appeared, Holland's and Lamon's. Holland's by catering 
 to the popular predjudice, regardless of truth, had been 
 financially a success. Lamon's work by adhering to the 
 truth, regardless of popular prejudice, had been financially 
 a failure. Determined to profit by these examples and 
 intimidated 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 regard- 
 ing Lincoln's religious belief." This man would have us 
 believe that Arnold wrote his biography with only a merce- 
 nary motive regardless of truth. Listen to what Hon. E. 
 B. Washburne says on this very point: "From the time that 
 Mr. Arnold entered Congress, at the breaking out of the 
 Civil War, he became one of the most trusted advisers of 
 Mr. Lincoln, and few men outside of the Cabinet were more 
 frequently consulted by him in important matters. No one 
 knew better Mr. Lincoln's thoughts and intentions than Mr. 
 Arnold, and no one enjoyed his confidence to a higher degree. 
 It may be truly said that no man was better qualified to 
 write a series and authoritative life of Mr. Lincoln and to 
 enlighten the public in respect to the character, career and 
 services of that illustrious man. ' ' 
 
 Dr. Byron Sunderland, a noble Christian minister of 
 Washington City, having given out what he heard from 
 Lincoln's own lips is impeached in the following manner: 
 
46 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 "He can probably put more falsehood and calumny in a 
 page of foolscap than any priest out of prison. ' ' 
 
 Hon. Ninian Edwards, brother-in-law of the president, 
 after telling what he knew of his noble relative's views, is 
 summarily brought to bay in the following manner by an 
 orthodox free thinker: "Being a believer in Christianity 
 himself, he considered Lincoln's infidelity a grave defect in 
 his character and was vexed to see that this 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 defective and treacherous, he must 
 have known was untrue." 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 47 
 
 HIS POWER OF GIVING COMFORT. 
 
 "Come, ye disconsolate, wher'er ye languish; 
 
 Come to the mercy seat, fervently kneel; 
 Here bring your wounded hearts, Here tell your anguish; 
 
 Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot heal. 
 
 Joy to the desolate, light of the straying, 
 
 Hope of the penitent, fadeless and pure, 
 Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, 
 
 'Earth hath no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure. ' 
 
 Here see the bread of life, see waters flowing, 
 Forth from the throne of God, pure from above; 
 
 Come to the feast of love; come, ever knowing, 
 Earth has no sorrow but Heaven can remove." 
 
 He was not the Comforter but lived to bear witness of 
 the true Comforter. All around him were bleeding hearts. 
 "In Rama there was a voice heard, lamentation and weep- 
 ing, and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children 
 and would not be comforted, because they are not." A. 
 widow of Boston had five sons all of whom had fallen 
 for their country. On learning of the fact he hastens to 
 offer his condolence in the following words: "I pray our 
 Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereave- 
 ments and leave only the cherished memory of the loved 
 and lost, and the solemn pride which must be yours to 
 have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom." - 
 
 As his towering form leaned over the wounded Sickles 
 when the stoutest heart scarcely dared to hope for the hero's 
 recovery, Lincoln could say, "You will get well; I am a 
 prophet today." More than once he would go through the 
 hospitals, shaking the hands of the sick and wounded soldiers, 
 inquiring their names, their state, and their regiments. He 
 would, sometimes, pause and look into their faces a moment 
 and kindly say: "God bless you. " 
 
48 RELIGIOUS VIBWS OP 
 
 HIS SUFFERINGS. 
 
 "For here in knotted cord and vein 
 I trace the varying chart of years; 
 
 I know the troubled heart, the strain, 
 The weight of Atlas and the tears." 
 
 "Again I see the patient brow, 
 
 That palm erewhile was wont to press; 
 
 And now 'tis furrowed deep, and now 
 
 Made stnoothe with hope and tenderness." 
 
 "A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief," was 
 applied to the Savior. This could have verily been said of 
 Abraham Lincoln. Even before he started for Washington, 
 he felt the piercing of the thorns prepared for him. He ex- 
 claims: "I see the storm coming." On his way to the 
 seat of the government plots had been concocted to assassi- 
 nate him. They hated him without a cause. In the midst 
 of the mighty carnage of war his beloved son Willie died. 
 The blow well nigh overwhelmed him. To a friend one 
 day who was picturing to him the happy end of the war and 
 how that his last days would be the best of all, he replied 
 with pathos that language cannot describe: "I feel as 
 though I shall never be glad any more." 
 
 After the terrible repulse at Fredericksburg, he ex- 
 claimed: "If there is a man out of perdition that suffers 
 more than I do, I pity him.". Hon. Schuyler Colfax, in 
 his funeral oration said of him: "One morning, over two 
 years ago, calling upon him on business, I found him look- 
 ing more than usually pale and careworn, and inquired the 
 reason. He replied, with the bad news he had received at 
 a late hour the previous night, which had not yet been com- 
 municated to the press, he had not closed his eyes or break- 
 fasted; and with an expression I shall never forget, he ex- 
 claimed: 'How willingly would I exchange places today 
 with the soldier who sleeps on the giound in the Army of 
 the Potomac.' Noah Brooks gives the following glimpse 
 
ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 49 
 
 of his affliction: "I shall never forget the picture of de- 
 spair. He held a telegram in his hand, and as he closed the 
 door and came toward us I mechanically noticed his face, 
 usually sallow, was ashen in hue. The paper on the wall 
 behind him was of the tint known as 'French Gray,' and 
 even in that moment of sorrow and dread expectation I 
 took in the thought that the complexion of the president's 
 visage was almost exactly like that of the wall. He gave 
 me the telegram and in a voice trembling with emotion said, 
 'Read it, news from the army.' The dispatch was from 
 Gen. Butterfield, Hooker's Chief of staff, addressed to the 
 War Department, and was to the effect that the army had 
 been withdrawn from the south side of the Rappahannock, 
 and was then safely encamped in its former position. The 
 appearance of the president as I read these fateful word 8 
 with trembling voice was piteous. Never as long as I 
 knew him did he seem to be so broken, so disspirited, and 
 so ghostlike. Clasping his hands behind his back, he 
 walked up and down the room, saying 'My God! My God! 
 What will the country say! What will the country say!' 
 
 One day at Fortress Monroe he said to an army officer: 
 "Colonel did you ever dream of a lost friend, and feel that 
 you were holding sweet communion with that friend, and 
 yet have a sad consciousness that it was not a reality? Just 
 so I dreatn of my boy Willie. " Overcome with emotion he 
 dropped his head on the table and sobbed aloud. It was 
 just this suffering, too, that made his faith in God perfect. 
 Well could he say with David, "When my heart is over- 
 whelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I." 
 
50 RELIGIOUS VIEWS OF 
 
 HIS FAVORITE LITERATURE. 
 
 His mood ranged over a key board of many octaves, on 
 which he played at its extremes. Now he would be relish- 
 ing a good, witty story which chanced to come his way, and 
 again he would relapse into a gloom which was ghostlike. 
 While his lighter vein would find a treat in Nasby's letters, 
 yet, as is well known, literature of the pathetic order best 
 fed his sad nature. The mutterings of Job as he more than 
 once admitted, furnished him wholesome meditation. The 
 two poems which seemed to captivate him the most com- 
 pletely were Holmes's poem of "The Last Leaf," and "Oh ! 
 why should the spirit of mortal be proud." It is said he 
 never grew tired reciting these beautiful stanzas, or wearied 
 at hearing them uttered by others. The last Sunday of his 
 life, he read the following from Macbeth: "Duncan is in his 
 grave; After life's fitful fever he sleeps well; Treason has 
 done his worst; nor steel, nor poison,]malice domestic, foreign 
 levy, nothing can touch him farther." 
 
ABRAHAM UNCOLN. 51 
 
 HIS LAST DAY. 
 
 "He wrestled ceaselessly through four black and dread- 
 ful purgatorial years, when God was cleansing the sins of 
 the people as by fire. At last, the watchman beheld the 
 gray dawn. The mountains began to give forth their forms 
 from out the darkness, and the east came rushing toward us 
 with arms full of joy for all the sorrows. Then it was for 
 him to be glad exceedingly that he had sorrowed immeasur- 
 ably." He stood in Richmond where the Confederacy 
 recently had established it's headquarters. He lived long 
 enough to see their bows completely broken. His life was 
 stretched out long enough to see that his Emancipation 
 Proclamation, would forever be held sacred by the Ameri- 
 can people. Despite the fact that he had a presentiment 
 that he would not long survive the war, the last day of his 
 life was a happy one. Like a boy fresh from school, he was 
 just coming out of a dreadful nightmare. He was intoxi- 
 cated with joy. No more blood to be spilt was ointment to 
 his tender heart. He was assassinated in a theatre. We 
 would have ordered it otherwise. The free thought world 
 has reminded the church of this fact. They insist that Mr. 
 Lincoln showed his irreverance for the church by going to a 
 place of amusement generally proscribed by the churches. 
 
 Mr. Miner, an old friend and neighbor of the president, 
 in a letter to the Boston Christian Leader, states the follow- 
 ing: "Mrs. Lincoln informed me that the last day he lived 
 was the happiest day of his life. The very last moment of 
 his conscious life was spent in conversation with his wife 
 about his future plans and what he wanted to do when his 
 term of office expired. He said he wanted to visit the Holy 
 Land and see those places hallowed by the footprints of the 
 Savior. He said there was no city he so much desired to 
 see as Jerusalem and with the word half spoken on his 
 tongue the bullet from the pistol of the assassin entered the 
 
52 RELIGIOUS VIEW OF 
 
 brain and the soul of the great and good president was 
 carried by the angels to the New Jerusalem above." 
 
 Mr. Lincoln went to the theatre that fatal night more 
 to gratify others than to gratify himself. He along with 
 Grant was advertised to be present. General Grant was 
 called away to a neighboring city, thus the president went 
 in order to not dissappoint any one. When the intelligence 
 of his death reached the people, their grief could not be 
 concealed. Mourners went about the street. No man could 
 stand up and apologize for the crime and live. As the re- 
 mains of the great and good man were borne across the 
 country to his western home, the people lifted up their 
 voices at his coming and wept. 
 
 His face in death had a Christ-like appearance. His 
 features easily recalled his words so lately uttered, "With 
 malice toward none, with charity for all." His name is now 
 sweet to the ears of all people. He lifted his beloved land 
 high up toward God. His wrestlings with the Almighty; 
 his struggles in the garden of darkness and despair; his 
 trained heart, hearkening to the voice of the Father, will 
 ever associate him with the best of the Lord's annointed. 
 
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