"Seven cities strove for Homer, dead,
Through which the living Homer begged his bread."
More than seven churches have striven for the dead Abraham Lincoln, some of whom would not even now admit to their membership a living man who professed1 his sentiments.
Before we undertake the difficult task of assessing the real faith of Abraham Lincoln, let us dispose of a few of the claims that have been made on his behalf, or the charges that have been made against him, and which clearly have no sufficient weight of evidence. Let us ask first,
Herndon declared that Lincoln was an infidel, "sometimes bordering on atheism3." This last phrase has been overstrained. What Herndon appears to have meant was that in some of Lincoln's blackest hours of gloom his mind hung over that utter void; and he more than hints that in such hours Lincoln's mind was scarcely sound. Herndon was far from believing or meaning to charge that atheism was Lincoln's real view of God and the world. The contrary is shown in a score of places in Herndon's works and letters.
Some years ago the Open Court of Chicago contained an article by Theodore Stanton, quoted from the Westminster Review. It said:
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"That Lincoln was an orthodox Christian5 nobody pretends to assert. But his friends and biographers differ as to how much of a Christian he was. If Lincoln had lived and died an obscure Springfield lawyer and politician, he would unquestionably have been classed by his neighbors among freethinkers. But as is customary with the Church, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, when Lincoln became one of the great of the world, an attempt was made to claim him.... The shrewd politician who has not an elastic6 conscience—and that was Lincoln's case—simply keeps mum on religious subjects, or, when he must touch on the subject, deals only in platitudes7, and this is just what Lincoln did. Lincoln thought little on religious subjects, and read less. That, when left to himself, he was quite indifferent to religion, is frequently evident in the acts of his life."—Open Court, September 24, 1891, pp. 2962-63, quoting Westminster Review of September, 1890.
This statement was not sufficiently8 radical9 for one reader of the Open Court, who thought that Mr. Stanton had made Lincoln out to have been virtually an agnostic, and who wished to prove him an atheist. He wrote an article in which he said:
"Free-thinker means anything or nothing.... Plain words are the best. That Lincoln was A-theos connotes a definite attitude toward the great religious chimera10, and really defines Mr. Lincoln's position more closely than any of Mr. Stanton's epithets11 [as, e.g., Agnostic]. It is positive, not negative, indicates what the man professedly was rather than what he was not or what he oppugned. We are in position to define his life-creed12 with all due measure of exactness."—"What Was Abraham Lincoln's Creed?" by George M. McCrie, Open Court, November 26, 1891.
This writer then proceeded to define Mr. Lincoln's creed in terms of atheism. But his argument was based on a subjective13 scheme of philosophy, a kind of Hylo-Idealism derived15 from Hegel more than from Lincoln, and one which it is safe to affirm Lincoln would neither have admitted nor even understood.
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Some time after, the same journal had a third and very different article, which said:
"Lincoln was an extremely religious man, though not a technical Christian. He thought deeply, and his opinions were positive. His seriousness was a characteristic trait, showing itself even in his genuine good humor. His very jokes were a part of his seriousness.... Lincoln was an extremely practical man. He believed not for belief's sake, but for his own sake. He made a practice of religion; he used it. His religion was his life, and his life was his religious service. It was his own public profession. Religion was a fact to him. He believed in prayer, because he found use for it: and when the fate of the union seemed to waver, when doubt and despair hovered16 over the land and the future was uncertain, Lincoln often shut himself within his room and offered up his prayer to God. 'So, many times,' he said, 'I was forced to my knees, not knowing where else to go.'
"While there is considerable in his writings to indicate a strong faith in God and prayer, there is little to indicate his beliefs regarding Christ, the Bible, etc. But the very absence of anything on those points is good evidence that he did not hold the views that have been attributed to him....
"He was a firm believer in the 'great and good and merciful God,' but not in a revengeful or cruel God who could consign17 them to an eternal hell when nothing good to those who suffered could possibly come from such punishment. He believed in and used prayer as a means to bring himself in closer relations with right in everything.... He believed in 'universal inspiration and miracles under law,' and that all things, both matter and mind, are governed by law. He believed that all creation is an evolution under law, not a special creation of the Supreme18 Being. He hoped for a joyous19 meeting in the world to come with many loved ones gone before. He believed that Christianity consists in being, not believing; in loving 'the Lord thy God with all thy heart and thy neighbor as thyself.' He believed that the Bible is a book to be understood and appreciated as any other book, not merely to be accepted as a divine creation of infallibility. He believed in the man Christ, not in the God Christ.... He was once an admirer of Volney, Paine, and Voltaire; later[Pg 228] of Theodore Parker, Emerson, and Channing. He was once a scoffer21 of religion; later a supporter."—R. C. Roper, Religious Beliefs of Abraham Lincoln, Open Court, 1903, pp. 76-85.
Whatever Abraham Lincoln was, he was not an atheist. If any other convenient term were to be applied22 to him, it would be necessary that the term itself should be defined. Thus, Lyman Abbott has spoken of Lincoln as an agnostic, meaning that Lincoln did not find himself in position to affirm dogmatically on certain of the articles of faith. This article by Dr. Abbott was particularly illuminating24 as discriminating25 between the measure of uncertainty26 which a man may feel in the matter of positive declaration of his views, while cherishing in his heart and manifesting in his life the essentials of a Christian faith. It was published as an editorial in reply to a letter of inquiry27, and both are worth reprinting entire:
"'My dear Dr. Abbott: You are quoted in the New York Press of October 15 as having referred in your Yale sermon to Abraham Lincoln in the following terms: "Agnostic though he was." Are you correct in the implication? If so, I should greatly like to know, as it is a subject in which I am much interested. J. G. Holland says, in his Life of Lincoln, page 61 ff., "He believed in God, and in His personal supervision28 of the affairs of men.... This unwavering faith in a divine Providence29 began at his mother's knee, and ran like a thread of gold through all the inner experiences of his life"; and much more to the same purpose. You are doubtless familiar with his words on leaving Springfield for Washington: "He [Washington] would never have succeeded except for the aid of divine Providence upon which he at all times relied. On that same Almighty30 Being I place my reliance. Pray that I may receive that divine assistance without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain." The first inaugural32 would seem to indicate a most pronounced Christian sentiment. Not to consume too much of your time, I might refer further to Nicolay and Hay's Life, the following passages: Vol. VI, p. 539, which contains a statement of[Pg 229] Lincoln's religious principles; also, same volume, pp. 323, 324, 327, 328, 341, 342.
R. A. A.'"
To this letter Dr. Abbott replied:
"The life of Abraham Lincoln appears to me to furnish a very striking illustration both of the difference between theology and religion and of the way in which religious experience is often developed in the life of a true man, and is accompanied by a real though generally quite unconscious change in theological opinion. Mr. Herndon, in his Life of Lincoln, portrays33 the earlier religious faith of Mr. Lincoln, Nicolay and Hay his later religious faith: neither biographer is able to find that he ever formulated35 his own creed, neither is able to formulate34 one for him. Yet between the religious convictions of the period when he wrote an essay against Christianity, which, fortunately for his reputation, a wise friend threw into the fire, and the period when he wrote his second inaugural address, there is a difference which cannot be measured by the mere20 lapse36 of years.
"Agnostic? What is an agnostic? Huxley invented the phrase to define his own position in contrast with that of his friends whom he called gnostics because they had each a theory of the universe and he had none. He more specifically defines the basis of his no-theory of the universe in a pathetic letter to Charles Kingsley (Life and Letters, Vol. II, pp. 233-239): 'It is no use to talk to me of analogies and probabilities. I know what I mean when I say I believe in the law of the inverse37 squares, and I will not rest my lifelong hopes upon weaker convictions. I dare not, if I would.' Compare with this Mr. Herndon's measure of Mr. Lincoln's earlier habit of thought: 'As already expressed, Mr. Lincoln had no faith. In order to believe, he must see and feel, and thrust his hand into the place. He must taste, smell, or handle before he had faith or even belief.' Or compare Mrs. Lincoln's expression concerning her husband's religious opinions, as quoted by Mr. Herndon: 'Mr. Lincoln had no faith and no hope, in the usual acceptance of those words. He never joined a church; but still, as I believe, he was a religious man by nature. He first seemed to think about the subject when our[Pg 230] Willie died, and then more than ever about the time he went to Gettysburg; but it was a kind of poetry in his nature; and he was never a technical Christian.'
"Religion is always a kind of poetry. Faith is kin14 to imagination; both faith and imagination look upon the unseen and refuse to base life merely upon the senses or upon mathematical formularies like the law of the inverse squares. This poetry is often quite dissociated from philosophy, or is even inconsistent with the philosophy which the individual entertains. But Mr. Lincoln's early philosophy prepared for his later religious experience. Mr. Herndon reports him as saying: 'There are no accidents in my philosophy. The past is the cause of the present, and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are links in the endless chain stretching from the Infinite to the finite.' With this philosophy of fatalism was a profound faith in justice, a profound reverence38 for it, and an uncompromising obedience39 to it. At first he did not put this philosophy and this faith together. He who does put them together, that is, he who infuses this philosophy in an overruling cause with this faith, which is a 'kind of poetry,' in the supremacy40 of righteousness, comes to a faith in a righteous God, who deserves our reverence, not because he is great, but because he is good.
"When Abraham Lincoln began to feel the burden of the nation resting upon him, and felt it too great a burden for him to carry unaided, he wanted the sympathy of all men and women in the country who with him believed in a Power directing the course of human history greater than the actors in it, and who also believed in eternal justice; and he asked their prayers. As the conflict went on and the burden grew heavier and heavier, his faith in righteousness more and more infused his belief in a superhuman power and transformed it into a belief in a righteous God; but it was, till the last, a belief in a God of justice rather than a Christ of pity, even as it phrased itself in that most religious utterance41 of his life, his second inaugural: 'Fondly do we hope, fervently42 do we pray, that this mighty31 scourge43 of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondman's two hundred years of unrequited toil44 shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn45 with the lash46 shall be paid with another drawn with the sword, as was said three[Pg 231] thousand years ago, so still it must be said, "The judgments47 of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."'
"There is no evidence that Mr. Lincoln had become a gnostic, or that he had a comprehensive scheme of the universe, or that he had either wrought48 out a system of theology for himself or accepted any that had been wrought out by others; but there is abundant evidence that he had learned in the four years of tragedy a lesson of dependence49 and trust, that he had insensibly put together his belief in a supreme Power and his faith in righteousness, and that thus there had been born in him faith in a supreme righteous Power, whose will we may help to carry out, and on whose wisdom and strength we may rely in achieving it. It is thus that the life of Abraham Lincoln illustrates50 both how a reverent51 agnostic may be deeply religious and how the life of service and self-sacrifice leads through doubt to faith.—L. A."—The Outlook, November 17, 1906.
Was Abraham Lincoln a Roman Catholic?
The question is absurd, and worth asking only that it may receive a simple negative answer. Yet, singularly, a report was current and somewhat widely believed in 1860 that Abraham Lincoln had been baptized as a Roman Catholic and was himself a renegade from that faith. The rumor52 appears to have had two roots. First was the fact that much missionary53 work was done in early Illinois by Jesuit priests; and it was assumed, not only contrary to every fact but to every element of probability, that Abraham Lincoln had been baptized by one of them. The other was the fact that he acted as attorney for Rev4. Charles Chiniquy, who after fifty years in the Church of Rome came out from that communion and became a notable antagonist54 of the church in which he had been reared. His unsparing criticisms led to various attacks upon him through the courts and otherwise. When Lincoln was elected President much was made of the fact that Lincoln had been Father Chiniquy's attorney, and the rumor that he also was a renegade Catholic gained wide currency.
Chiniquy professed to see in these rumors55 a peril56 to the[Pg 232] life of Mr. Lincoln, and both then and at intervals57 during his administration warned the President that his life was in danger. The scarcely concealed58 favor of the Vatican toward the cause of the South did not tend to allay59 this anxiety. The fact that among those concerned in the plot which finally ended in the assassination60 of the President were several Roman Catholics, revived these reports immediately after his death, and they are occasionally recalled even now.
So far as our present inquiry is concerned, we have only to ask and answer the question. Mr. Lincoln was not in any period of his life affiliated61 in any way with the Roman Catholic Church.
Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist?
During Mr. Lincoln's occupancy of the White House, there were several rumors to the effect that President and Mrs. Lincoln were both Spiritualists. A definite claim that Mr. Lincoln fully62 believed in Spiritualism was set forth63 in 1891 by a medium named Mrs. Nettie Colburn Maynard. She wrote a book relating in detail almost innumerable sittings which she alleged64 were attended by Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln. According to her story her mediumship began in her childhood in 1845. At the outbreak of the war she was lecturing and giving public séances and went to Washington to gain a furlough for her brother. She learned of Mr. Lincoln's interest in Spiritualism, and of the visits to the White House of two mediums, Charles Colchester and Charles Foster. She was invited to the White House, where, if we are to credit her story, she imparted to Mr. Lincoln very nearly all the wisdom which he possessed65 during the period of the Civil War.
We learn from other sources that Lincoln permitted two or three mediums to come to the White House and to tell him what the spirits said he ought to know; but Lincoln said of them that the advice of the spirits, as thus received, was as contradictory66 as the voices of his own Cabinet, of whose meetings the séances reminded him.
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The last attempt to make Mr. Lincoln out a Spiritualist is by Mrs. Grace Garrett Durand, in a privately67 printed book issued since Sir Oliver Lodge68's Raymond. She claims to have talked with Raymond, with William T. Stead, and other people, as well as with Mrs. Eddy69, from whom she expects to receive additional material supplementary70 to her Science and Health, and Key to the Scriptures71. She is, however, according to her own account, especially intimate with Mr. Lincoln. She says:
"President Lincoln has himself told me in many conversations I have had with him from the spirit world that he was directed in his great work during the Civil War by his mother and others in the spirit world. Mr. Lincoln, or 'Uncle Abe,' as he has lovingly asked me to call him, said that had he respected his mother's advice the day of his assassination he would not have gone to the theater the fateful night, as his mother had that day warned him not to go."
If Mr. Lincoln's spirit has indeed requested this lady to call him "Uncle Abe" he has accorded her a liberty which was infrequent during his lifetime. Near neighbors of Mr. Lincoln during his years in Springfield inform me that no one called him "Abe" to his face, and that very few even of his political opponents thus spoke23 of him. He habitually72 addressed his partner as "Billy," but Mr. Herndon uniformly called him "Mr. Lincoln." One could wish that Abraham Lincoln in heaven might be at least as dignified73 as Abraham Lincoln was on earth.[52]
Was Abraham Lincoln superstitious74?
Both President and Mrs. Lincoln were superstitious. They believed in dreams and signs, he more in dreams and[Pg 234] she more in signs. When Mrs. Lincoln was away from him for a little time, visiting in Philadelphia in 1863, and Tad with her, Lincoln thought it sufficiently important to telegraph, lest the mail should be too slow, and sent her this message:
"Washington, June 9, 1863.
"Mrs. Lincoln,
"Philadelphia, Pa.
"Think you better put Tad's pistol away. I had an ugly dream about him.
"A. Lincoln."
—Quoted in facsimile in Harper's Magazine for February, 1897; Lincoln's Home Life in the White House, by Leslie J. Perry.
In Lamon's book of Recollections, published in 1895, a very different book from his Life of Lincoln, he devotes an entire chapter to Lincoln's dreams and presentiments77. He relates the story of the dream which Lincoln had not long before his assassination wherein he saw the East Room of the White House containing a catafalque with the body of an assassinated78 man lying upon it. Lincoln tried to remove himself from the shadow of this dream by recalling a story of life in Indiana, but could not shake off the gloom of it. Lamon says:
"He was no dabbler79 in divination80, astrology, horoscopy, prophecy, ghostly lore81, or witcheries of any sort.... The moving power of dreams and visions of an extraordinary character he ascribed, as did the Patriarchs of old, to the Almighty Intelligence that governs the universe, their processes conforming strictly82 to natural laws."—Recollections, p. 120.
In his Life of Lincoln, Lamon tells the story of the dream which Lincoln had late in the year 1860, when resting upon a lounge in his chamber83 he saw his figure reflected in a mirror opposite with two images, one of them a little paler than the other. It worried Lincoln, and he told his wife about it. She thought it was "a sign that Lincoln was to be elected for a[Pg 235] second term and that the paleness of one of the faces indicated that he would not see life through the last term" (p. 477).
As this optical illusion has been so often printed, and has seemed so weirdly84 prophetic of the event which followed, it may be well to quote an explanation of the incident from an address by Dr. Erastus Eugene Holt, of Portland, Maine:
"As he lay there upon the couch, every muscle became relaxed as never before.... In this relaxed condition, in a pensive85 mood and in an effort to recuperate86 the energies of a wearied mind, his eyes fell upon the mirror in which he could see himself at full length, reclining upon the couch. All the muscles that direct, control, and keep the two eyes together were relaxed; the eyes were allowed to separate, and each eye saw a separate and distinct image by itself. The relaxation87 was so complete, for the time being, that the two eyes were not brought together, as is usual by the action of converging88 muscles, hence the counterfeit89 presentiment76 of himself. He would have seen two images of anything else had he looked for them, but he was so startled by the ghostly appearance that he felt 'a little pang90 as though something uncomfortable had happened,' and obtained but little rest. What a solace91 to his wearied mind it would have been if someone could have explained this illusion upon rational grounds!"—Address at Portland, Maine, February 12, 1901, reprinted by William Abbatt, Tarrytown, N. Y., 1916.
Other incidents which relate to Mr. Lincoln's faith in dreams, including one that is said to have occurred on the night preceding his assassination, are well known, and need not be repeated here in detail.
It is not worth while to seek to evade92 or minimize the element of superstition93 in Lincoln's life, nor to ask to explain away any part of it. Dr. Johnson admits it in general terms, but makes little of concrete instances:
"The claim that there was more or less of superstition in his nature, and that he was greatly affected94 by his dreams, is not to be disputed. Many devout95 Christians96 today are equally superstitious, and, also, are greatly affected by their[Pg 236] dreams. Lincoln grew in an atmosphere saturated97 with all kinds of superstitious beliefs. It is not strange that some of it should cling to him all his life, just as it was with Garfield, Blaine, and others.
"In 1831, then a young man of twenty-two, Lincoln made his second trip to New Orleans. It was then that he visited a Voodoo fortune teller98, that is so important in the eyes of certain people. This, doubtless, was out of mere curiosity, for it was his second visit to a city. This no more indicates a belief in 'spiritualism' than does the fact that a few days before he started on this trip he attended an exhibition given by a traveling juggler99, and allowed the magician to cook eggs in his low-crowned, broad-rimmed hat."—Lincoln the Christian, p. 29.
I do not agree with this. Superstition was inherent in the life of the backwoods, and Lincoln had his full share of it. Superstition is very tenacious100, and people who think that they have outgrown101 it nearly all possess it. "I was always superstitious," wrote Lincoln to Joshua F. Speed on July 4, 1842. He never ceased to be superstitious.
While superstition had its part in the life and thought of Lincoln, it was not the most outstanding fact in his thinking or his character. For the most part his thinking was rational and well ordered, but it had in it many elements and some strange survivals—strange until we recognize the many moods of the man and the various conditions of his life and thought in which from time to time he lived.
Was Lincoln a Quaker?
In his autobiographical sketch102 written for Jesse W. Fell, Mr. Lincoln stated that his paternal103 grandfather, Abraham Lincoln, emigrated from Rockingham County, Virginia, to Kentucky about 1781 or 1782; "his ancestors, who were Quakers, went to Virginia from Berks County, Pennsylvania." This reference to a remote Quaker ancestry104 has suggested to some writers the possibility that Mr. Lincoln himself may have been, in conviction, a Quaker.
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This suggestion is utilized105 to its full value and beyond by Henry Bryan Binns, the first English biographer of Lincoln, whose book appeared in 1907, and others have followed his intimations. He says:
"In some brief autobiographical notes, Lincoln remarks that his ancestors, when they left Berks County, Pennsylvania, were Quakers. The allusion106 has significance, not merely because it is the only reference to any religious body in these notes, but because it suggests an interesting spiritual affiliation107 to which we shall refer again later."
He fulfills108 this promise, and refers to it repeatedly. The Quaker ancestry finds reinforcement in his assurance that the Shipley strain in Nancy Hanks was "probably" Quaker. These references occur a number of times in the early part of his book, and recur109 in the concluding chapter with more than a suggestion that Mr. Lincoln continued to bear some of the inherited spiritual qualities of the Quaker.
These suggestions lack evidential value. Lincoln's grandfather's ancestors were believed by him to have been Quakers in Pennsylvania, and their ancestors are believed to have been Puritans in Massachusetts. But the New Englanders no more surely dropped their Massachusetts Puritanism in Pennsylvania than the Pennsylvania Quakers dropped their Quakerism in Virginia and Kentucky. The Quaker ancestry was not forgotten nor was it a thing to be ashamed of, but the distinctive110 tenets of the Friends had no large part in the working creed of Abraham Lincoln. He respected the Quakers, and on more than one occasion showed his interest in them; but there is no reason to believe that he shared either their theology or their theory of non-resistance. He was compelled to approve some severe measures against American citizens who refused to fight, and a number of Quakers suffered in consequence. Lincoln saw no way to prevent these sufferings altogether, though he did his best to mitigate111 them, and he always respected the principles of those who held in sincerity112 the Quaker faith which he did not share.
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Was Lincoln a Unitarian or a Universalist?
It is my opinion that Lincoln did not believe in endless punishment, and also that he did not accept the supernatural birth of Christ. The evidence on which these opinions rest has already been indicated. But I do not regard him as a Universalist or a Unitarian. The basis of his religious belief was Calvinism of the most rigid113 sort. It could accept some incidental features of other systems, but at heart it was Calvinistic.
I have talked with Rev. Jasper Douthit, of Shelbyville, concerning Unitarianism in central Illinois. He quotes Jenkin Lloyd Jones as saying of his Shelbyville church, that "Unitarianism attempted to locate in the Capitol City of Illinois, but struck the dome114 of the State House, glanced off, and stuck in the mud at Shelbyville." In some sense the movement of Mr. Douthit is the present survival of the attempt before the Civil War to domesticate115 Unitarianism in Springfield and vicinity. I have clipped from the Christian Register a communication which, without pretending to technical knowledge of the organific principle of the several sects116, goes near to the heart of this question:
"To the editor of the Christian Register:—
"Apropos117 of 'Lincoln Day,' may I ask for definite information as to Mr. Lincoln's religious belief? The author of that little pamphlet, 'What do Unitarians Believe?' implies that he is to be numbered among Unitarians, and quotes from the author of Six Months at the White House to prove his assertion. Now I don't know who the author of Six Months at the White House is, and care less. His testimony118 is 'second hand' viewed in any light you please. He may have been a Unitarian himself, though I hardly think he would have used the word 'Saviour,' in speaking of Mr. Lincoln's words, unless Lincoln himself had used it. At any rate, the only direct testimony bearing on Mr. Lincoln's religious views is found in his own writings, and I want to quote from his Fast Day proclamation of March 30, 1863, as throwing some light on the subject.
"He says: 'Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well[Pg 239] as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions119 in humble120 sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance121 will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime122 truth announced in the Holy Scriptures, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
"'And, insomuch as we know that by His Divine laws, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity123 of Civil War, which now desolates124 the land, may be but a punishment inflicted125 upon us for our presumptuous126 sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients127 of the choicest bounties128 of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity.
"'We have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings129 were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue130 of our own.'
"If this isn't Calvinism pure and simple, then I don't know what Calvinism is.
"Now, Mr. Editor, if you can show me any reference in Mr. Lincoln's own words that point as strongly toward 'Unitarianism' and those truths which it claims as peculiarly its own, I shall be glad to see it.
"Charles B. Toleman."
A number of Lincoln's old neighbors, contributing to the Irwin article in denial of the alleged infidelity of Lincoln, affirm that he was a Universalist. In their denial of his infidelity they were correct; and also in their detection of the fallacy of Herndon in which he counted every opinion to be infidel that did not conform to the severe orthodoxy with which he was familiar. As between Herndon and these writers, they were correct. Lincoln's "infidelity" consisted in good part of his denial of eternal punishment. But that did[Pg 240] not make him an infidel; neither did it constitute him technically131 a Universalist. The substratum of his belief was the old-time predestinarianism which he heard in his youth and never outgrew132. How he could make this blend with his wide departures from conventional orthodoxy in other points, those can best understand who have heard the kind of preaching on which Lincoln grew up. Its effect is not easily obliterated133.
Was Abraham Lincoln a Methodist?
This question would seem to require no answer, yet it is one that should receive an answer, for claims have been made, and are still current, which imply that Lincoln was actually converted in the Methodist Church, whose doctrine134 he accepted because Calvinism was repugnant to him; and that while he continued to attend the Presbyterian Church, he was essentially135 a Methodist.
Lincoln had a very high regard for the Methodist Church. It was rent asunder136 during the Civil War, and the Northern branch of the church which had long been vigorously anti-slavery was warmly loyal. On May 18, 1864, in a letter of reply to a deputation of ministers from that body, he said, "God bless the Methodist Church—bless all the churches, and blessed be God who, in this our great trial, giveth us the churches."
Reference has been made to the fact that Methodism did not at any time appear greatly to influence the Lincoln family in matters of theology, and that the early environment of the family from the birth of Lincoln was Baptist. I am inclined to think that the Hanks family had Methodist antecedents. Thomas and Nancy Lincoln were married by a Methodist preacher, Rev. Jesse Head. He is known to have been a foe137 of slavery, and there is some reason to think that the Lincoln family derived some part of its love of freedom from him.
From time to time Lincoln met Methodist preachers who deeply impressed him. One of these was Rev. Peter Akers,[Pg 241] whom he heard in 1837, when Lincoln was twenty-eight years of age.
"He and a group of associates went out to hear him at a camp-meeting six miles west of Springfield, at the 'Salem Church.' The Rev. Peter Akers was a vigorous and fearless man. He spoke of certain prophecies, and predicted 'the downfall of castes, the end of tyrannies, and the crushing out of slavery.' On the way home they were earnestly discussing the sermon. Lincoln is alleged to have said: '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 interpretation138 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, I was deeply impressed that I should be somehow strangely mixed up with them."—Tarbell, Life of Lincoln, I, 237.
In the lecture on Abraham Lincoln by Bishop139 Fowler, as finally prepared for the press, is an incident which apparently140 was not in its earlier editions. At a reunion of the Seventy-third Illinois Volunteers, held in Springfield on September 28, 29, 1897, the colonel of that regiment141, Rev. James F. Jacquess, D.D., related an incident in which he stated that while he was serving a Methodist Church in Springfield in 1839, Mr. Lincoln attended a series of revival142 services held in that church, and was converted. The story was heard with great interest by the old soldiers of that regiment, many of whose officers had been Methodist preachers, and it was printed in the Minutes of the Proceedings143 of the Eleventh Annual Reunion of Survivors144 of the Seventy-third Illinois Infantry145.
Twelve years later, in 1909, in connection with the Centenary Celebration of the birth of Lincoln, the story was reprinted, with certain added details obtained from the brother of Colonel Jacquess. As thus wrought into literary form, it was printed in the New York Christian Advocate in an article entitled "The Conversion146 of Lincoln," by Rev. Edward L. Watson, of Baltimore.
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Already Bishop Fowler, to whom Colonel Jacquess alluded147 in his address at Springfield as having no adequate account of Lincoln's conversion, had accepted the story and incorporated it into the final version of his famous lecture (Patriotic Orations148, p. 102). The death of Colonel Jacquess and the additions made by his brother give this incident its permanent form in the Christian Advocate article of November 11, 1909.
I am glad to have been able to obtain from the Christian Advocate their last copy of that issue, outside their office file, and it appears in full in the Appendix to this volume. It may be accepted as the authoritative149 form of this story.
That the story as told by Colonel Jacquess must have had some element of truth I think beyond question; that it occurred exactly as he related it, I greatly doubt. The years between 1839 and 1897 numbered fifty-eight, and that is more than ample time for a man's memory to magnify and color incidents almost beyond recognition.
The story as it is thus told lacks confirmatory evidence.[53] If Lincoln was converted in a Methodist Church in 1839 and remained converted, a considerable number of events which occurred in subsequent years might reasonably have been expected to have been otherwise than they really were. Each reader must judge for himself in the light of all that we know of Abraham Lincoln how much or how little of this story is to be accepted as literal fact. The present writer cannot say that he is convinced by the story.
Was Abraham Lincoln a Freemason?
In an address delivered before Harmony Lodge, in Washington, D. C., on January 28, 1914, Dr. L. D. Carman delivered an address, which has since been printed, entitled "Abra[Pg 243]ham Lincoln, Freemason." In this address it was set forth that "It was not an unusual practice in the early days of Masonry150 in this country in sparsely151 settled localities, remote from an active lodge, for several members of the fraternity to get together, form an emergent or occasional lodge, and make Masons." Abraham Lincoln was presumed to have been made such a Mason because of utterances152 of his, quoted at length, which appeared to show familiarity with Masonic usage.[54]
Those utterances, when examined, carry no such presumption153, nor was there any occasion for such an emergent lodge. A lodge existed at Petersburg, near New Salem, and a number of Lincoln's friends belonged to it; their names are on record. The records of the Springfield Lodge, also, are preserved, and bear no mention of his name; nor is there any evidence so far as the present author knows that on any occasion he was ever in a Masonic Lodge. Orators154 may use the symbolic155 language of architecture without knowledge of speculative156 Masonry, and Lincoln used it so.
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1
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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atheist
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| n.无神论者 | |
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atheism
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| n.无神论，不信神 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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elastic
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| n.橡皮圈，松紧带；adj.有弹性的；灵活的 | |
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platitudes
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| n.平常的话，老生常谈，陈词滥调( platitude的名词复数 )；滥套子 | |
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sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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radical
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| n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的 | |
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chimera
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| n.神话怪物；梦幻 | |
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epithets
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| n.（表示性质、特征等的）词语( epithet的名词复数 ) | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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subjective
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| a.主观(上)的，个人的 | |
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kin
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| n.家族，亲属，血缘关系；adj.亲属关系的，同类的 | |
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derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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hovered
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| 鸟( hover的过去式和过去分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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consign
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| vt.寄售（货品），托运，交托，委托 | |
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18
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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19
joyous
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| adj.充满快乐的；令人高兴的 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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scoffer
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| 嘲笑者 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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illuminating
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| a.富于启发性的，有助阐明的 | |
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discriminating
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| a.有辨别能力的 | |
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26
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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inquiry
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| n.打听，询问，调查，查问 | |
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supervision
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| n.监督，管理 | |
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providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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almighty
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| adj.全能的，万能的；很大的，很强的 | |
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mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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32
inaugural
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| adj.就职的；n.就职典礼 | |
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portrays
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| v.画像( portray的第三人称单数 )；描述；描绘；描画 | |
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34
formulate
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| v.用公式表示；规划；设计；系统地阐述 | |
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formulated
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| v.构想出( formulate的过去式和过去分词 )；规划；确切地阐述；用公式表示 | |
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36
lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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inverse
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| adj.相反的，倒转的，反转的；n.相反之物；v.倒转 | |
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38
reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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39
obedience
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| n.服从，顺从 | |
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40
supremacy
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| n.至上；至高权力 | |
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41
utterance
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| n.用言语表达，话语，言语 | |
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42
fervently
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| adv.热烈地，热情地，强烈地 | |
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43
scourge
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| n.灾难，祸害；v.蹂躏 | |
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44
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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45
drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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46
lash
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| v.系牢；鞭打；猛烈抨击；n.鞭打；眼睫毛 | |
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47
judgments
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| 判断( judgment的名词复数 )； 鉴定； 评价； 审判 | |
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48
wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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49
dependence
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| n.依靠，依赖；信任，信赖；隶属 | |
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50
illustrates
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| 给…加插图( illustrate的第三人称单数 )； 说明； 表明； （用示例、图画等）说明 | |
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51
reverent
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| adj.恭敬的，虔诚的 | |
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52
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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53
missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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54
antagonist
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| n.敌人，对抗者，对手 | |
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55
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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56
peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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57
intervals
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| n.[军事]间隔( interval的名词复数 )；间隔时间；[数学]区间；（戏剧、电影或音乐会的）幕间休息 | |
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58
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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59
allay
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| v.消除，减轻(恐惧、怀疑等) | |
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60
assassination
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| n.暗杀；暗杀事件 | |
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61
affiliated
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| adj. 附属的, 有关连的 | |
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62
fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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alleged
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| a.被指控的，嫌疑的 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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contradictory
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| adj.反驳的，反对的，抗辩的；n.正反对，矛盾对立 | |
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privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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68
lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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69
eddy
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| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
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supplementary
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| adj.补充的，附加的 | |
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71
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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72
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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dignified
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| a.可敬的，高贵的 | |
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superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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mansion
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| n.大厦，大楼；宅第 | |
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presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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presentiments
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| n.（对不祥事物的）预感( presentiment的名词复数 ) | |
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assassinated
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| v.暗杀( assassinate的过去式和过去分词 )；中伤；诋毁；破坏 | |
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dabbler
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| n. 戏水者, 业余家, 半玩半认真做的人 | |
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80
divination
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| n.占卜，预测 | |
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81
lore
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| n.传说；学问，经验，知识 | |
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82
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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83
chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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weirdly
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| 古怪地 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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86
recuperate
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| v.恢复 | |
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87
relaxation
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| n.松弛，放松；休息；消遣；娱乐 | |
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converging
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| adj.收敛[缩]的，会聚的，趋同的v.（线条、运动的物体等）会于一点( converge的现在分词 )；（趋于）相似或相同；人或车辆汇集；聚集 | |
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counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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pang
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| n.剧痛，悲痛，苦闷 | |
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91
solace
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| n.安慰；v.使快乐；vt.安慰(物)，缓和 | |
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92
evade
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| vt.逃避，回避；避开，躲避 | |
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superstition
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| n.迷信，迷信行为 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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devout
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| adj.虔诚的，虔敬的，衷心的 (n.devoutness) | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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saturated
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| a.饱和的，充满的 | |
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98
teller
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| n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员 | |
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99
juggler
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| n. 变戏法者, 行骗者 | |
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100
tenacious
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| adj.顽强的，固执的，记忆力强的，粘的 | |
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101
outgrown
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去分词 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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102
sketch
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| n.草图；梗概；素描；v.素描；概述 | |
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103
paternal
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| adj.父亲的，像父亲的，父系的，父方的 | |
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104
ancestry
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| n.祖先，家世 | |
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105
utilized
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| v.利用，使用( utilize的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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106
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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107
affiliation
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| n.联系，联合 | |
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108
fulfills
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| v.履行（诺言等）( fulfill的第三人称单数 )；执行（命令等）；达到（目的）；使结束 | |
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109
recur
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| vi.复发，重现，再发生 | |
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110
distinctive
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| adj.特别的，有特色的，与众不同的 | |
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111
mitigate
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| vt.（使）减轻，（使）缓和 | |
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112
sincerity
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| n.真诚，诚意；真实 | |
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113
rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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114
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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115
domesticate
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| vt.驯养；使归化，使专注于家务 | |
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116
sects
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| n.宗派，教派( sect的名词复数 ) | |
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117
apropos
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| adv.恰好地；adj.恰当的；关于 | |
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118
testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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119
transgressions
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| n.违反，违法，罪过( transgression的名词复数 ) | |
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120
humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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121
repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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122
sublime
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| adj.崇高的，伟大的；极度的，不顾后果的 | |
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123
calamity
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| n.灾害，祸患，不幸事件 | |
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124
desolates
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| 毁坏( desolate的第三人称单数 )； 极大地破坏； 使沮丧； 使痛苦 | |
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inflicted
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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presumptuous
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| adj.胆大妄为的，放肆的，冒昧的，冒失的 | |
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recipients
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| adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器 | |
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128
bounties
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| （由政府提供的）奖金( bounty的名词复数 )； 赏金； 慷慨； 大方 | |
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129
blessings
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| n.（上帝的）祝福( blessing的名词复数 )；好事；福分；因祸得福 | |
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130
virtue
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| n.德行，美德；贞操；优点；功效，效力 | |
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technically
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| adv.专门地，技术上地 | |
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132
outgrew
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| 长[发展] 得超过（某物）的范围( outgrow的过去式 )； 长[发展]得不能再要（某物）； 长得比…快； 生长速度超过 | |
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133
obliterated
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| v.除去( obliterate的过去式和过去分词 )；涂去；擦掉；彻底破坏或毁灭 | |
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134
doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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135
essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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136
asunder
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| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
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137
foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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138
interpretation
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| n.解释，说明，描述；艺术处理 | |
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139
bishop
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| n.主教，（国际象棋）象 | |
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140
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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141
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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143
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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144
survivors
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| 幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 ) | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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146
conversion
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| n.转化，转换，转变 | |
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147
alluded
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| 提及，暗指( allude的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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148
orations
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| n.（正式仪式中的）演说，演讲( oration的名词复数 ) | |
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authoritative
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| adj.有权威的，可相信的；命令式的；官方的 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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151
sparsely
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| adv.稀疏地；稀少地；不足地；贫乏地 | |
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utterances
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| n.发声( utterance的名词复数 )；说话方式；语调；言论 | |
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153
presumption
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| n.推测，可能性，冒昧，放肆，[法律]推定 | |
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154
orators
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| n.演说者，演讲家( orator的名词复数 ) | |
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155
symbolic
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| adj.象征性的，符号的，象征主义的 | |
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speculative
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| adj.思索性的，暝想性的，推理的 | |
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