Seven of Lamon's witnesses—Ray, Hannah, Keys, Fell, Nicolay, Davis, and Mrs. Lincoln—remain to testify. The testimony of these witnesses will now be presented.
DR. C. H. RAY.
Dr. Kay, editor of the Chicago Tribune, a prominent figure in Illinois politics thirty years ago, and a personal friend and admirer of Lincoln, testifies as follows:
"You knew Mr. Lincoln far better than I did, though I knew him well; and you have served up his leading characteristics in a way that I should despair of doing, if I should try. I have only one thing to ask: that you do not give Calvinistic theology a chance to claim him as one of its saints and martyrs. He went to the Old School Church; but, in spite of that outward assent to the horrible dogmas of the sect, I have reason from himself to know that his 'vital purity.' if that means belief in the impossible, was of a negative sort" (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, pp. 489, 490).
Dr. Kay states that Lincoln held substantially the same theological opinions as those held by Theodore Parker.
WILLIAM H. HANNAH.
A leading member of the Bloomington bar, when Lincoln practiced there, was Wm. H. Hannah. He was an honest, truthful man, and knew Lincoln well. Concerning Lincoln's views on the doctrine of endless punishment, Mr. Hannah says:
"Since 1856 Mr. Lincoln told me that he was a kind of immortalist; but that he never could bring himself to believe in eternal punishment; that man lived but a little while here, and that, if eternal punishment were man's doom, he should spend that little life in vigilant and ceaseless preparation by never-ending prayer" (Life of Lincoln, p. 489).
JAMES W. KEYS.
Mr. Jas. W. Keys, an old and respected citizen of Springfield, who became acquainted with Lincoln soon after his removal there, and who had many conversations with him on the subject of theology, says:
"As to the Christian theory, that Christ is God, or equal to the Creator, he said that it had better be taken for granted; for, by the test of reason, we might become Infidels on that subject, for evidence of Christ's divinity came to us in a somewhat doubtful shape" (Life of Lincoln, p. 490).
HON. JESSE W. FELL.
Jesse W. Fell, who died at Bloomington in the spring of 1887, was one of the best known and most highly respected citizens of Illinois. He was Secretary of the Republican State Central Committee during the memorable Lincoln-Douglas campaign, and was largely instrumental in bringing Lincoln forward as a candidate for the Presidency in 1860. It was for him that Lincoln wrote an autobiographical sketch of his life, which formed the basis of his campaign biographies, the facsimile of which appears in Lamon's "Life of Lincoln," and in the "Lincoln Memorial Album." Mr. Fell was a Christian of the Unitarian denomination, and there were few men for whom Lincoln had a more profound respect. The following is his testimony:
"Though everything relating to the character of this extraordinary personage is of interest, and should be fairly stated to the world, I enter upon the performance of this duty—for so I regard it—with some reluctance, arising from the fact that, in stating my convictions on the subject, I must necessarily place myself in opposition to quite a number who have written on this topic before me, and whose views largely pre-occupy the public mind. This latter fact, whilst contributing to my embarrassment on this subject, is, perhaps, the strongest reason, however, why the truth in this matter should be fully disclosed; and I therefore yield to your request. If there were any traits of character that stood out in bold relief in the person of Mr. Lincoln, they were those of truth and candor. He was utterly incapable of insincerity, or professing views on this or any other subject he did not entertain. Knowing such to be his true character, that insincerity, much more duplicity, were traits wholly foreign to his nature, many of his old friends were not a little surprised at finding, in some of the biographies of this great man, statements concerning his religious opinions so utterly at variance with his known sentiments. True, he may have changed or modified those sentiments after his removal from among us, though this is hardly reconcilable with the history of the man, and his entire devotion to public matters during his four years' residence at the national capital. It is possible, however, that this may be the proper solution of this conflict of opinions; or, it may be, that, with no intention on the part of anyone to mislead the public mind, those who have represented him as believing in the popular theological views of the times may have misapprehended him, as experience shows to be quite common where no special effort has been made to attain critical accuracy on a subject of this nature. This is the more probable from the well-known fact that Mr. Lincoln seldom communicated to anyone his views on this subject. But, be this as it may, I have no hesitation whatever in saying that, whilst he held many opinions in common with the great mass of Christian believers, he did not believe in what are regarded as the orthodox or evangelical views of Christianity.
"On the innate depravity of man, the character and office of the great head of the church, the atonement, the infallibility of the written revelation, the performance of miracles, the nature and design of present and future rewards and punishments (as they are popularly called) and many other subjects, he held opinions utterly at variance with what are usually taught in the church. I should say that his expressed views on these and kindred topics were such as, in the estimation of most believers, would place him entirely outside the Christian pale. Yet, to my mind, such was not the true position, since his principles and practices and the spirit of his whole life were of the very kind we universally agree to call Christian; and I think this conclusion is in no wise affected by the circumstance that he never attached himself to any religious society whatever.
"His religious views were eminently practical, and are summed up, as I think, in these two propositions: 'the fatherhood of God, and the brotherhood of man.' He fully believed in a superintending and overruling Providence that guides and controls the operations of the world, but maintained that law and order, and not their violation or suspension, are the appointed means by which this Providence is exercised.
"I will not attempt any specification of either his belief or disbelief on various religious topics, as derived from conversations with him at different times during a considerable period; but, as conveying a general view of his religious or theological opinions, will state the following facts: Some eight or ten years prior to his death, in conversing with him on this subject, the writer took occasion to refer, in terms of approbation, to the sermons and writings generally of Dr. W. E. Channing; and, finding he was considerably interested in the statement I made of the opinions held by that author, I proposed to present him a copy of Channing's entire works, which I soon after did. Subsequently, the contents of these volumes, together with the writings of Theodore Parker, furnished him, as he informed me, by his friend and law-partner, Mr. Herndon, became naturally the topics of conversation with us; and though far from believing there was an entire harmony of views on his part with either of those authors, yet they were generally much admired and approved by him.
"No religious views with him seemed to find any favor, except of the practical and rationalistic order; and if, from my recollections on this subject, I was called upon to designate an author whose views most nearly represented Mr. Lincoln's on this subject, I would say that author was Theodore Parker. As you have asked from me a candid statement of my recollections on this topic, I have thus briefly given them, with the hope that they may be of some service in rightly settling a question about which—as I have good reason to believe—the public mind has been greatly misled. Not doubting that they will accord, substantially, with your own recollections, and that of his other intimate and confidential friends, and with the popular verdict after this matter shall have been properly canvassed, I submit them" (Life of Lincoln, pp. 490-492).
Mr. Fell's testimony is full and explicit. He affirms that Lincoln rejected nearly all the leading tenets of orthodox Christianity; the inspiration of the Scriptures, the divinity of Christ, the innate depravity of man, the atonement, the performance of miracles, and future rewards and punishments. "His expressed views on these and kindred topics," Mr. Fell says, "were such as, in the estimation of most believers, would place him entirely outside the Christian pale." Mr. Fell, himself, was not disposed to withhold from Lincoln the appellation of Christian, but it was only because he stood upon the broad Liberal Christian, or rather non-Christian, platform which permitted him to welcome a Theist, like Parker; a Pantheist, like Emerson; or even an Agnostic, like Ingersoll.
COL JOHN G. NICOLAY.
The next witness introduced by Lamon, is Col. John G. Nicolay, Lincoln's private secretary at the White House. Nicolay's relations with the President were more intimate than those of any other man. To quote the words of Lincoln's partner, "Mr. Lincoln loved him and trusted him." His testimony is among the most important that this controversy has elicited. It proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that all these stories concerning Lincoln's alleged conversation at Washington are false, that he did not change his belief, that he died as he had always lived—a Freethinker. In a letter written May 27, 1865, just six weeks after Lincoln's death, Colonel Nicolay says: "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way, change his religious ideas, opinions or beliefs, from the time he left Springfield till the day of his death. I do not know just what they were, never having heard him explain them in detail, but I am very sure he gave no outward indications of his mind having undergone any change in that regard while here" (Life of Lincoln, p. 492).
HON. DAVID DAVIS.
One of the most important, and in some respects the most eminent witness summoned to testify in regard to this question, is the Hon. David Davis. In moral character he stood above reproach, in intellectual ability, almost without a peer. Every step in his career was marked by unswerving integrity and freedom from prejudice. His rulings and decisions in the lower courts of Illinois, and on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, commanded universal respect. As a legislator, his love of truth and justice prevented him from being a political partisan. As United States Senator and Vice-President of the United States, the party that elected him could obtain his support for no measure that he deemed unjust. Referring to his acquaintance with Lincoln, Judge Davis says: "I enjoyed for over twenty years the personal friendship of Mr. Lincoln. We were admitted to the bar about the same time, and traveled for many years what is known in Illinois as the Eighth Judicial Circuit. In 1848, when I first went on the bench, the circuit embraced fourteen counties, and Mr. Lincoln went with the court to every county." A large portion of this time they passed in each other's company. They often rode in the same vehicle, generally ate at the same table, and not infrequently slept together in the same bed. The closest intimacy existed between them as long as Lincoln lived, and when he died, Mr. Davis became his executor. Judge Davis would not intentionally have misrepresented the opinions of an enemy, much less the opinions of his dear dead friend. Briefly, yet clearly, he defines the theological views of Lincoln:
"He had no faith, in the Christian sense of the term—had faith in laws, principles, causes, and effects—philosophically" (Life of Lincoln, p. 489).
Speaking of the many stories that had been circulated concerning Lincoln's religious belief, such as the Bateman and Vinton interviews, together with the various pious speeches he is reported to have made to religious committees and delegations that visited him, such as his reputed speech to the Negroes of Baltimore, Judge Davis says:
"The idea that Lincoln talked to a stranger about his religion or religious views, or made such speeches, remarks, &c, about it as are published, is to me absurd. I knew the man so well. He was the most reticent, secretive man I ever saw, or expect to see" (Ibid).
MRS. MARY LINCOLN.
But one of Lamon's witnesses remains—the wife of the martyred President. Her testimony ought of itself to put this matter at rest forever. Mrs. Lincoln says:
"Mr. Lincoln had no hope, and no faith, in the usual acceptation of those words" (Life of Lincoln, p. 489).
In addition to what Colonel Lamon has presented, Mrs. Lincoln also stated the following:
"Mr. Lincoln's maxim and philosophy were, 'What is to be, will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree.' He never joined any church. He was a religious man always, I think, but was not a technical Christian" (Herndon's "Religion of Lincoln").
It may be charged that Mrs. Lincoln subsequently repudiated a portion of this testimony. In anticipation of such a charge I will here state a few facts. This testimony was given by Mrs. Lincoln in 1865. When it was given, while her heart was pierced by the pangs of her great grief, her mind was sound. About Jan. 1, 1874, a brief article, purporting to come from her pen, appeared, in which the testimony attributed to her was in part denied. At the time this denial was written, Mrs. Lincoln had been for more than two years insane. The chief cause in dethroning her reason was the death of her universally beloved Tad (Thomas), which occurred on July 15, 1871. Referring to this sad event, Mr. Arnold, one of the principal witnesses on the Christian side of this controversy, says: "From this time Mrs. Lincoln, in the judgment of her most intimate friends, was never entirely responsible for her conduct" (Life of Lincoln, p. 439).
The only effect of this denial on the minds of those acquainted with the circumstances, was to excite a mingled feeling of pity and disgust—pity for this unfortunate woman, and disgust for the contemptible methods of those who would take advantage of her demented condition and make her contradict the honest statements of her rational life.
Before dismissing this witness, I wish to advert to a subject with which many of my readers are familiar. For years, both before and after Lincoln's death, the religious press of the country was continually abusing Mrs. Lincoln. If a ball was held at the White House, she became at once the recipient of unlimited abuse. If Lincoln attended the theater, she was accused of having dragged him there against his will. It was almost uniformly asserted that he would not have gone to the theater on that fatal night had it not been for her, and in not a few instances it was infamously hinted that she was cognizant of the plot to murder him. But even the Rev. Dr. Miner, who was acquainted with the facts, is willing to vindicate her from these imputations. He says: "It has been said that Mrs. Lincoln urged her husband to go to the theater against his will. This is not true. On the contrary, she tried to persuade him not to go."
Lincoln's biographers have, for the most part, endeavored to do his wife justice, and have rebuked the insults showered upon her. Alluding to President and Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Herndon says: "All that I know ennobles both." Colonel Lamon says: "Almost ever since Mr. Lincoln's death a portion of the press has never tired of heaping brutal reproaches upon his wife and widow, whilst a certain class of his friends thought they were honoring his memory by multiplying outrages and indignities upon her at the very moment when she was broken by want and sorrow, defamed, defenseless, in the hands of thieves, and at the mercy of spies." Mr. Arnold says: "There is nothing in American history so unmanly, so devoid of every chivalric impulse as the treatment of this poor, broken-hearted woman."
The evidence of Colonel Lamon's ten witnesses has now been presented. This evidence includes, in addition to the testimony of other intimate friends, the testimony of his wife; the testimony of his first law partner, Hon. John T. Stuart; the testimony of his last law partner, Hon. Win. H. Herndon; the testimony of his friend and political adviser, Col. James H. Matheny; the testimony of his private secretary, Col. John G. Nicolay; and the testimony of his lifelong friend and executor after death, Judge David Davis. No one can read this evidence and then honestly affirm that Abraham Lincoln was a Christian. This is the evidence, the perusal of which so thoroughly enraged that good Christian biographer, Dr. J. G. Holland; this is the evidence, the truthfulness of which the Rev. J. A. Reed, unmindful of the fate of Ananias, attempted to deny.
As a full and just answer to this attempted refutation of Lamon's witnesses by Reed, I quote from the New York World the following:
"This individual testimony is clear and overwhelming, without the documentary and other evidence scattered profusely through the rest of the volume. How does Mr. Reed undertake to refute it? In the first place, firstly, he pronounces it a 'libel,' and in the second place, secondly, he is 'amazed to find'—and he says he has found—that the principal witnesses take exception to Mr. Lamon's report of their evidence. This might have been true of many or all of Mr. Lamon's witnesses without exciting the wonder of a rational man. Few persons, indeed, are willing to endure reproach merely for the truth's sake, and popular opinion in the Republican party of Springfield, Ill., is probably very much against Mr. Lamon. It would, therefore, be quite in the natural order if some of his witnesses who find themselves unexpectedly in print should succumb to the social and political terrorism of their place and time, and attempt to modify or explain their testimony. They zealously assisted Mr. Herndon in ascertaining the truth, and while they wanted him to tell it in full they were prudently resolved to keep their own names snugly out of sight. But Mr. Reed's statement is not true, and his amazement is entirely simulated. Two only out of the ten witnesses have gratified him by inditing, at his request, weak and guarded complaints of unfair treatment. These are John T. Stuart, a relative of the Lincolns and Edwardses, and Jim Matheny, both of Springfield, whom Mr. Lincoln taught his peculiar doctrines, but who may by this time be deacons in Mr. Reed's church. Neither of them helps Mr. Reed's case a particle. Their epistles open, as if by concert, in form and words almost identical. They say they did not write the language attributed to them. The denial is wholly unnecessary, for nobody affirms that they did write it. They talked and Mr. Herndon wrote. His notes were made when the conversation occurred, and probably in their presence. At all events, they are both so conscious of the general accuracy of his report that they do not venture to deny a single word of it, but content themselves with lamenting that something else, which they did not say, was excluded from it. They both, however, in these very letters, repeat emphatically the material part of the statements made by them to Mr. Herndon, namely, that Mr. Lincoln was to their certain knowledge, until a very late period of his life, an 'Infidel,' and neither of them is able to tell when he ceased to be an Infidel and when he began to be a Christian. And this is all Mr. Reed makes by his re-examination of the two persons whom he is pleased to exalt as Mr. Lamon's 'principal witnesses.' They are but two out of the ten. What of the other eight? They have no doubt been tried and plied by Mr. Reed and his friends to no purpose; they stand fast by the record. But Mr. Reed is to be shamed neither by their speech nor their silence."
Were I to rest my case here, the evidence already adduced is sufficient, I think, to convince any unprejudiced mind that Lincoln was not a Christian. But I do not propose to rest here. I have presented the testimony of half a score of witnesses; before I lay down my pen I shall present the testimony of nearly ten times as many more.
In this chapter will be given the testimony of some of the relatives and intimate associates of Lincoln. The testimony of his relatives confirms the claim that he was not religious in his youth; the others testify to his unbelief while a resident of New Salem and Springfield.
MRS. SARAH LINCOLN.
If there was one person to whom Lincoln was more indebted than to any other, it was his stepmother, Sally Lincoln, a beautiful woman—beautiful not only in face and form, but possessed of a most lovely character. She was not highly educated, but she loved knowledge, and inspired in her step-son a love for books. She was a Christian, but she attached more importance to deed than to creed. She loved Lincoln. After his death she said: "He was dutiful to me always. I think he loved me truly. I had a son, John, who was raised with Abe. Both were good boys; but I must say, both now being dead, that Abe was the best boy I ever saw, or expect to see." Lincoln was too good and too great not to appreciate this woman's care and affection.
When the materials for Lincoln's biography were being collected, Mrs. Lincoln was considered the most reliable source from which to obtain the facts pertaining to his boyhood. Her recollections of him were recorded with the utmost care. His Christian biographers, in order to make a Sunday-school hero of him, have declared him to be a youth remarkable for his Christian piety and his love of the Bible. The statements of Mrs. Lincoln disprove this claim. The substance of her testimony, as given by Lamon, is given as follows: "His step-mother—herself a Christian, and longing for the least sign of faith in him—could remember no circumstance that supported her hope. On the contrary, she recollected very well that he never went off into a corner, as has been said, to ponder the sacred writings, and to wet the page with his tears of penitence" (Life of Lincoln, pp. 486, 487).
"The Bible, according to Mrs. Lincoln, was not one of his studies; 'he sought more congenial books.' At that time he neither talked nor read upon religious subjects. If he had any opinions about them, he kept them to himself" (Ibid, p. 38).
DENNIS F. HANKS.
The next witness is Lincoln's cousin, Dennis Hanks. Mr. Hanks held "the pulpy, red, little Lincoln" in his arms before he was "twenty-four hours old," and remained his constant companion during all the years that he lived in Kentucky and Indiana. He lived a part of the time in the Lincoln family, and married one of Lincoln's step-sisters. I met him recently at Charleston, Ill. With evident delight he rehearsed the story of Lincoln's boyhood, and reaffirmed the truthfulness of the following statements attributed to him by Lincoln's biographers:
"Abe wasn't in early life a religious man. He was a moral man strictly.... In after life he became more religious; but the Bible puzzled him, especially the miracles" (Every-Day Life of Lincoln, p. 54).
"'Religious songs did not appear to suit him at all,' says Dennis Hanks; but of profane ballads and amorous ditties he knew the words of a vast number.
"Another was:
a song which Dennis thinks should be warbled only in the 'fields;' and tells us they knew and enjoyed all such songs as this'" (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, pp. 58, 59).
The fitness of the above coarse travesty to be warbled, even in the fields, may well be doubted. Lamon would hardly have recorded it, and I certainly should not quote it, but for the fact that it strikingly illustrates one phase of Lincoln's "youthful piety."
Among the many Christian hymns which Lincoln parodied, Mr. Hanks recalls the following:
MRS. MATILDA MOORE.
Lincoln's first husband was named Johnston. By him she had three children, a son and two daughters. The latter, like their mother, developed into noble specimens of womanhood; and both loved Lincoln as tenderly as though he had been their own brother. The elder was married to Dennis Hanks; the younger, Matilda, married Lincoln's cousin, Levi Hall, and, after his death, a gentleman named Moore.
Lamon says that Lincoln in his youth made a mockery of the popular religion; not from any lack of reverence for what he believed to be good, but because "he thought that a person had better be without it." That he was accustomed to turn so-called sacred subjects into ridicule is attested by his stepsister, Mrs. Moore. She says:
"When father and mother would go to church, Abe would take down the Bible, read a verse, give out a hymn, and we would sing. Abe was about fifteen years of age. He preached and we would do the crying" (Every-Day Life of Lincoln, p. 71).
JOHN HALL.
On the 28th of April, 1888, the writer, in company with Mr. Charles Biggs, of Westfield, Ill., visited the old Lincoln homestead, near Farmington, Ill. We dined with Mr. John Hall, a son of Lincoln's stepsister Matilda, in the old log-house built by Lincoln's father sixty years ago, and in which his father and step-mother died. Mr. Hall, who owns the homestead and preserves with zealous care this venerable relic, is an intelligent farmer over sixty years of age. He greatly reveres the memory of his illustrious uncle and loves to dwell on his many noble traits of character. He stated that the family tradition is that while Abe was a most honest and humane boy he was not religious. He referred to the mock sermons he is said to have preached. "At these meetings," said Mr. Hall, "my mother would lead in the singing while Uncle Abe would lead in prayer. Among his numerous supplications, he prayed God to put stockings on the chickens' feet in winter."
WILLIAM McNEELT.
William McNeely, of Petersburg, Ill., who became acquainted with Lincoln in 1831, when he arrived at New Salem on a flatboat, says:
"Lincoln said he did not believe in total depravity, and although it was not popular to believe it, it was easier to do right than wrong; that the first thought was: what was right? and the second—what was wrong? Therefore it was easier to do right than wrong, and easier to take care of, as it would take care of itself. It took an effort to do wrong, and a still greater effort to take care of it; but do right and it would take care of itself.
"I was acquainted with him a long time, and I never knew him to do a wrong act" (Lincoln Memorial Album, pp. 393-395).
WILLIAM G. GREEN.
One of Lincoln's early companions at New Salem was William G. Green. He and Lincoln clerked in the same store and slept together on the same cot. The testimony of Mr. Green has not been preserved. We have simply an observation of his, incidentally made, the substance of which is thus presented by Lamon:
"Lincoln's incessant reading of Shakspere and Burns had much to do in giving to his mind the 'skeptical' tendency so fully devoloped by the labors of his pen in 1834-5, and in social conversations during many years of his residence at Springfield" (Life of Lincoln, p. 145).
Mr. Green's conclusion, especially in regard to Burns, is quite generally shared by Lincoln's friends. Burns's satirical poems were greatly admired by-Lincoln. "Holy Willie's Prayer," one of the most withering satires on orthodox Christianity ever penned, was memorized by him. Every one of its sixteen stanzas, beginning with the following, was an Infidel shaft which he delighted to hurl at the heads of his Christian opponents:
JOSHUA F. SPEED.
Another of Lincoln's earliest and best friends was Joshua F. Speed. When he was licensed as a lawyer and entered upon his professional career at Springfield without a client and without a dollar, Speed assisted him to get a start. W. H. Herndon was clerking for Speed at the time, and for more than a year Lincoln, Herndon and Speed roomed together. Referring to the religious views held by Lincoln at that time, Mr. Speed, in a lecture, says:
"I have often been asked what were Mr. Lincoln's religious opinions. When I knew him, in early life, he was a skeptic. He had tried hard to be a believer, but his reason could not grasp and solve the great problem of redemption as taught."
This is the testimony of an orthodox Christian, and a church-member. Mr. Speed, during the years that he was acquainted with Lincoln, was not a member of any church; but late in life he united with the Methodist church. As "the wish is father to the thought," Mr. Speed professed to believe that Lincoln before his death modified, to some extent, the radical views of his early manhood.
GREEN CARUTHERS.
Soon after Lincoln removed to Springfield, he became acquainted with Mr. Green Caruthers and remained on intimate terms with him during all the subsequent years of his life. Mr. Caruthers was a quiet, unobtrusive old gentleman, universally respected by those who knew him. The substance of his testimony is as follows:
"Lincoln, Bledsoe, the metaphysician, and myself, boarded at the Globe hotel in this city. Bledsoe tended toward Christianity, if he was not a Christian. Lincoln was always throwing out his Infidelity to Bledsoe, ridiculing Christianity, and especially the divinity of Christ."
JOHN DECAMP.
Another of Lincoln's most intimate Springfield friends was John Decamp. Mr. Decamp was interviewed by Mr. Herndon regarding Lincoln's religious views in July, 1887. His statement was brief, but to the point. He says:
"Lincoln was an Infidel."
MR. LYNAN. In 1880, at Bismarck Grove, Kan., the writer of this delivered a lecture entitled, "Four American Infidels," a portion of which was devoted to a presentation of Lincoln's religious views. In its report of the lecture, the Lawrence Standard, edited by Hon. E. G. Ross, formerly United States Senator from Kansas, and more recently Governor of New Mexico, said:
"In regard to Abraham Lincoln being an Infidel, the evidence adduced was overwhelming, and was confirmed by a gentleman present, Mr. Lynan, who had known him intimately for thirty years. Mr. Lynan declared that none but personal acquaintance could enable one to realize the nobility and purity of Lincoln's character, but that he was beyond doubt or question a thorough disbeliever in the Christian scheme of salvation to the end of his life" (Lawrence Standard, Sept. 4, 1880).
JAMES B. SPAULDING.
Mr. J. B. Spaulding, well known as one of the leading nurserymen and horticulturists of the United States, a man of broad culture and refinement, who resides near Springfield, became intimately acquainted with Lincoln as early as 1851, and for a long time resided on the same street with him in Springfield. Mr. Spaulding says:
"Lincoln perpetrated many an irreverent joke at the expense of church doctrines. Regarding the miraculous conception, he was especially sarcastic. He wrote a manuscript as radical as Ingersoll which his political friends caused to be destroyed."
EZRA STRINGHAM.
A short time since I was conversing with a party of gentlemen in Riverton, Ill. It being near Lincoln's old home, the subject of his religious belief was introduced. An old gentleman, who up to this time had not been taking part in the conversation, quietly observed: "I think I knew Lincoln's religious views about as well as any other man." "What was he?" said one of the party. "An Infidel of the first water," was the prompt response. The old gentleman was Ezra Stringham, one of Lincoln's early acquaintances in Illinois.
DR. G. H. AMBROSE.
Dr. G. H. Ambrose, of Waldo, Fla., who was associated in the law business at Springfield from 1846 to 1849 with a relative of Mrs. Lincoln, says: "Mr. Lincoln was an Infidel—an outspoken one."
J. H. CHENERY.
Mr. J. H. Chenery, one of Springfield's pioneers—for many years owner and proprietor of the leading hotel of Springfield—says:
"Reed tried to prove that Lincoln was a church man; but everybody here knows that he was not. Once in a great while, and only once in a great while, I saw him accompany his wife and children to church. His attacks upon the church were most bitter and sarcastic. He wrote a book against Christianity, but his friends got away with it."
SQUIRE PERKINS.
A few years ago there died near Atchison, Kan., an old gentleman named Perkins. He was poor, but honest, and a bright man intellectually. He was a son of Major Perkins who was killed in the Black Hawk war. Lincoln after the fight discovered the scalp of Major Perkins, which his savage assassin had taken but lost. His first impulse was to keep it and take it home to the family of the dead soldier. Then realizing that it would only tend to intensify their grief, he opened the grave and deposited it with the body. This incident led to an intimate acquaintance between Lincoln and the younger Perkins. In June, 1880, Mr. Perkins made the following statement relative to Lincoln's religious belief:
"During all the time that I was acquainted with Abraham Lincoln I know that he was what the church calls an Infidel. I do not believe that he ever changed his opinions. When Colfax was in Atchison I had a talk with him about Lincoln. Among other things, I asked him if Lincoln had ever been converted to Christianity. He told me that he had not."
W. PERKINS.
Mr. Perkins, an old lawyer and journalist of Illinois, who was acquainted with Lincoln for upward of twenty years, and who was his associate counsel in several important cases, writing from Belleview, Fla., under date of August 22, 1887, says:
"The unfair efforts that Christians have been putting forth to drag Lincoln into their waning faith betray a pitiable imbecility. Were it possible for them to get the world to believe that Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln, all prayed, had faith, and were washed in the blood of the Lamb, would that prove the inspiration of their Bible, harmonize its contradictions, put a ray of reason in its gross absurdities, or humanize the first one of its numerous bloody barbarities? I knew Mr. Lincoln from the spring of 1838 till his death. Like Archibald Williams, our contemporary, an able Lord Coke lawyer, he no more believed in the inspiration of the Bible than Hume, Paine, or Ingersoll. Less inclined openly to denounce its absurdities and cruelties, or to antagonize the well-meaning credulous professors, than was Williams. Mr. Lincoln had no faith whatever in the first miracle of the Bible, or the scheme of bloody redemption it teaches. To attribute such sentiments to him, is to tarnish his well-earned reputation for common sense, and to impair the estimation of his countrymen and the world of his high sense of humanity, justice, and honor. Two of my Presbyterian friends at Indian Point, near Petersburg, told me that they had interviewed Mr. Lincoln to prevent his impending duel with Shields—claiming that it was contrary to the Bible and Christianity. He admitted that the dueling code was barbarous and regretted much to find himself in its toils, but said he, 'The Bible is not my book, nor Christianity my profession.'"
In some reminiscences of Lincoln, recently published, referring to a celebrated murder case in which they were counsel for the defendant, Mr. Perkins says: "I reminded him that from the first I had seen, and to him said, the case is hopeless, and that he must have expected to work a miracle to save the accused. He answered that I did him injustice, since he had no faith in miracles."
Alluding to Lincoln's alleged change of heart, he writes:
"He never changed a sentiment on the subject up to his final sleep."
JAMES GORLEY.
Mr. Gorley, who was the confidential friend of Lincoln, and who spent much time with him, both at home and abroad, made the following statement:
"Lincoln belonged to no religious sect. He was religious in his own way—not as others generally. I do not think he ever had a change of heart, religiously speaking. Had he ever had a change of heart he would have told me. He could not have neglected it."
WILLIAM JAYNE, M.D.
Dr. Jayne, who was appointed Governor of Dakota by Lincoln, is one of the most prominent citizens of Springfield, and was one of Lincoln's ablest and most faithful political friends. He secured Lincoln's nomination for the Legislature once, and was one of the first to pit him against Douglas. In a letter to me, dated August 18, 1887, Dr. Jayne says:
"His general reputation among his neighbors and friends of twenty-five years' standing was that of a disbeliever in the accepted faith of orthodox Christians. His mind was purely logical in its construction and action. He believed nothing except what was susceptible of demonstration.... His most intimate friends here, and close to him in the confidential relations of life, assert, in regard to those who claim for Lincoln a faith in the orthodox Christian belief, that the claim is a fraud and utter nonsense."
HON. JESSE K. DUBOIS.
Jesse K. Dubois, for a time State Auditor of Illinois, a noble and gifted man, and one whom Lincoln dearly loved, once related an anecdote which shows that if Lincoln did believe in a Supreme Being, he had little reverence for the God of Christianity. In company with Dubois, he was visiting a family in or near Springfield. It was summer, and while Dubois was in the house with the family, Lincoln occupied a seat in the yard with his feet resting against a tree, as was his wont. The lady, who was a very zealous Christian, called attention to his appearance and commented rather severely upon his ugliness. When they returned home Dubois referred to the lady's remarks. Lincoln was silent for a moment, and then said: "Dubois, I know that I am ugly, but she worships a God who is uglier than I am."
HON. JOSEPH GILLESPIE.
Judge Gillespie, of Edwardsville, Ill., one of Lincoln's most valued friends, writes as follows:
"Mr. Lincoln seldom said anything on the subject of religion. He said once to me that he never could reconcile the prescience of Deity with the uncertainty of events." "It was difficult," says Judge Gillespie, "for him to believe without demonstration."
JUDGE STEPHEN T. LOGAN.
Lincoln was admitted to the bar in 1837, when he was twenty-eight years of age, Judge Logan being on the bench at the time. Soon after his admission he formed a partnership with John T. Stuart which existed nearly four years, or until Mr. Stuart entered Congress. He then became the partner of Judge Logan, and continued in business with him until 1843, when he united his practice with that of Mr. Herndon. The testimony of Mr. Stuart and Mr. Herndon has already been given. No formal statement of Judge Logan concerning this question has been preserved. All that I have been able to find is contained in a letter from Mr. Herndon dated Dec. 22, 1888. Mr. Herndon wrote in relation to Lincoln's letter of consolation to his dying father. In Lincoln's letter, while Christ and Christianity are wholly ignored, there is an implied recognition of immortality and an expressed hope that he may meet his father again. Lincoln's friends, for the most part, consider the letter merely conventional, not an expression of his real sentiments, but simply an effort to console his Christian father whom he could never meet again on earth. Mr. Herndon, however, is inclined to believe that while the tone of the letter is not exactly in accordance with the views generally held by Lincoln, it is yet a sincere expression of the feelings he entertained at the time. Referring to this letter, Mr. Herndon says:
"I showed the letter to Logan, Stuart, et al, Logan laughed in my face as much as to say: 'Herndon, are you so green as to believe that letter to be Lincoln's real ideas?' I cannot give the exact words of Logan, but he in substance said: 'Lincoln was an Infidel of the most radical type.'"
HON. LEONARD SWETT.
I close this division of my evidence with the testimony of that gifted lawyer and honored citizen of Illinois, Leonard Swett. Previous to his removal to Chicago, in 1865, Mr. Swett resided in Bloomington, and for a dozen years traveled the old Eighth Judicial Circuit with Lincoln. Few men knew Lincoln better than did Swett, and none was held in higher esteem by Lincoln than he. It was he who placed Lincoln in nomination for the Presidency at Chicago in 1860. I quote from a letter written by Mr. Swett in 1866:
"You ask me whether he [Lincoln] changed his religious opinions toward the close of his life. I think not. As he became involved in matters of the greatest importance, full of great responsibility and great doubt, a feeling of religious reverence, a belief in God and his justice and overruling providence increased with him. He was always full of natural religion. He believed in God as much as the most approved church member, yet he judged of him by the same system of generalization as he judged everything else. He had very little faith in ceremonials or forms. In fact he cared nothing for the form of anything.... If his religion were to be judged by the lines and rules of church creeds, he would fall far short of the standard."