Abraham Lincoln: Was He A Christian? Part 10

"Rev. J. A. Reed:

"Dear Sir--

"My attention has been called to a statement in relation to the religious opinions of Mr. Lincoln, purporting to have been made by me, and published in Lamon's 'Life of Lincoln.' The language of that statement is not mine; it was not written by me, and I did not see it until it was in print. I was once interviewed on the subject of Mr.

Lincoln's religious opinions, and doubtless said that Mr. Lincoln was in the earlier part of his life an Infidel. I could not have said that 'Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity so late as 1858, and couldn't do it.' In relation to that point I stated, in the same conversation, some facts which are 'omitted in that statement, and which I will briefly repeat. That Eddie, a child of Mr. Lincoln, died in 1848 or 1849, and that he and his wife were in deep grief on the account That Dr. Smith, then pastor of the First Presbyterian church of Springfield, at the suggestion of a lady friend of theirs, called upon Mr. and Mrs.

Lincoln, and that first visit resulted in great intimacy and friends.h.i.+p between them, lasting till the death of Mr. Lincoln, and continuing with Mrs. Lincoln till the death of Dr. Smith. I stated that I had heard at the time that Dr. Smith and Mr. Lincoln had much discussion in relation to the truth of the Christian religion, and that Dr. Smith had furnished Mr. Lincoln with books to read on that subject, and among others one which had been written by himself, sometime previous, on Infidelity; and that Dr. Smith claimed that after this investigation Mr. Lincoln had changed his opinions, and became a believer in the truth of the Christian religion; that Mr. Lincoln and myself never conversed upon that subject, and I had no personal knowledge as to his alleged change of opinion. I stated, however, that it was certainly true that up to that time Mr. Lincoln had never regularly attended any place of religious wors.h.i.+p, but that after that time he rented a pew in the First Presbyterian church, and with his family constantly attended the wors.h.i.+p in that church until he went to Was.h.i.+ngton as President. This much I said at the time, and I can now add that the Hon. Ninian W. Edwards, the brother-in-law of Mr. Lincoln, has, within a few days, informed me that when Mr. Lincoln commenced attending the First Presbyterian church he admitted to him that his views had undergone the change claimed by Dr.

Smith. I would further say that Dr. Smith was a man of great ability, and on theological and metaphysical subjects had few superiors and not many equals. Truthfulness was a prominent trait in Mr. Lincoln's character, and it would be impossible for any intimate friend of his to believe that he ever aimed to deceive, either by his words or his conduct.

"Yours truly,

"John T. Stuart."

Col. Matheny's disclaimer is as follows:

"Springfield, Dec. 16th, 1872.

"Rev. J. A. Reed:

"Dear Sir--

"The language attributed to me in Lamon's book is not from my pen. I did not write it, and it does not express my sentiments of Mr. Lincoln's entire life and character. It is a mere collection of sayings gathered from private conversations that were only true of Mr. Lincoln's earlier life. I would not have allowed such an article to be printed over my signature as covering my opinion of Mr. Lincoln's life and religious sentiments. While I do believe Mr. Lincoln to have been an Infidel in his former life, when his mind was as yet unformed, and his a.s.sociations princ.i.p.ally with rough and skeptical men, yet I believe he was a very different man in later life, and that after a.s.sociating with a different cla.s.s of men and investigating the subject, he was a firm believer in the Christian religion.

"Yours truly,

"Jas. H. Matheny."

This disclosure startles you, my dear reader. But be patient. I will show you that this apparently mortal thrust of Dr. Reed's was made, not with a lance, but with a boomerang.

When Reed made his a.s.sault upon Lamon's witnesses, all stood firm but two--two old Springfield politicians whose political aspirations had not yet become extinct--John T. Stuart and James H. Matheny.

These men had been among the first to testify in regard to Lincoln's unbelief. His Christian biographers had misrepresented his religious views; they believed that the fraud ought to be exposed, and they were ready and willing to aid in the work. Their testimony exhibits a frankness that is truly commendable. They knew that lying was a vice, but they did not know that truth-telling was a crime. They had yet to learn that the church tolerates murder more readily than the promulgation of a truth that is antagonistic to her creed. But this fact they were destined to learn. Lamon's work had scarcely been issued from the press before he was anathematized and his book proscribed. The merciless attack that had already been commenced upon Herndon portended danger to them. Nor had they long to wait. In December, 1872, they were approached by Reed and his coadjutors. They were informed that the idol which their ruthless iconoclasm had helped to break must be repaired.

They were given to understand that if they repented of the part they had performed and recanted, peace would be their portion here and endless bliss hereafter; but that if they did not, endless misery would begin on Jan. 1, a.d. 1873.

The situation was critical. They did not like to tell the world that they had borne false witness against the dead, nor did they, any more than Galileo, wish to wear a martyr's crown. A compromise was finally effected. It was incidentally ascertained by Reed that their evidence as presented by Lamon was not originally given in the shape of a letter or a written statement, but orally. A happy thought suggested itself--one worthy of the unscrupulous theological pettifogger that he is. The thought was this: "Say to the public, or rather let me say it for you, that you did not _write_ a word of the testimony attributed to you."

Just as a witness in court might point to the stenographer's report of his testimony and say, "I did not write a word of that."

In addition to this, Mr. Stuart, in endeavoring to explain away, as far as possible, the obnoxious character of his testimony, declared that some things which he did say at the time his testimony was given had been omitted; while something he did not say was inserted. They were both trivial matters, hardly worthy of notice, even if true, and having no especial bearing upon the case. But they served an admirable purpose in enabling Reed to say that the testimony adduced by Lamon was "abridged and distorted."

Stuart's disclaimer, then, divested of its misleading verbiage, contains but two points. In the first place, he says: "I could not have said that 'Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity so late as 1858, and couldn't do it.'" This sentence, like everything else in these disclaimers, is cunningly worded and intended to deceive. One would naturally suppose the idea he intends to convey is that he never declared that Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln and couldn't do it.

This, it has been ascertained, is not his meaning. What he means is this: "I could not have said that 'Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity, _so late as_ 1858, and couldn't do it.'" His denial is a mere quibble about a date. He did undoubtedly say just what he is reported to have said. But admitting a doubt, and giving him the benefit of this doubt, by throwing out the disputed date, the pa.s.sage is not less damaging than it was before: "Dr. Smith tried to convert Lincoln from Infidelity, and couldn't do it." But let us omit the entire sentence, and the testimony of Mr. Stuart that remains, about which there is no dispute, that portion of his testimony which he admits to be correct--is as follows:

"Lincoln went further against Christian beliefs and doctrines and principles than any man I ever heard; he shocked me. I don't remember the exact line of his argument; suppose it was against the inherent defects, so called, of the Bible, and on grounds of reason. Lincoln always denied that Jesus was the Christ of G.o.d--denied that Jesus was the Son of G.o.d, as understood and maintained by the Christian church."

In the second place, Mr. Stuart complains that the rumors concerning Dr.

Smith's attempted conversion of Lincoln which he had mentioned to Mr.

Herndon at the time of giving his testimony, were omitted. They were, and very properly, too. Mr. Stuart, or any other good lawyer, would have omitted them. Mr. Herndon desired him to testify about what he _knew_, and not about what he had _heard_, especially as he was going to headquarters in regard to these rumors. He wrote to Dr. Smith himself about them, received his testimony, and gave it to the public.

Stuart affects to believe that this story, which Ninian Edwards is dragged around by Reed to verify, may possibly have been true. But in the same sentence, he refutes this idea, and refutes the claim itself, by saying: "I had no personal knowledge as to his alleged change of opinion." Stuart was a family connection of Lincoln, and if Lincoln had been converted, he, as well as every other person in Springfield, would have known it.

He states that Dr. Smith's first visit to Lincoln was "at the suggestion of a lady friend." To have avoided another glaring contradiction in the evidence of his witnesses, Reed should have had Major Stuart state that this "lady friend" was Thomas Lewis. As it is, the account given by Stuart of Dr. Smith's first visit and acquaintance with Lincoln is entirely at variance with the account given by Mr. Lewis in his letter, quoted in chapter I.

Mr. Stuart evidently entertained no very kind opinion of Colonel Lamon's work, and this made him all the more disposed to accede to Reed's demands. His position on the slavery question, for a time, was one which, in the light of subsequent events, he had no reason to be proud of, and Lamon in narrating the acts of Lincoln's life found it necessary frequently to refer to this. Such pa.s.sages as the following were calculated not only to make him offended at Lamon, but jealous of Herndon: "John T. Stuart was keeping his eye on Lincoln, with the view of keeping him on his side--the totally dead conservative side." "Mr.

Lincoln was beset by warm friends and by old coadjutors, and besought to pause in his anti-slavery course while there was yet time. Among these there was none more earnest or persuasive than John T. Stuart, who was but the type of a cla.s.s.... But Mr. Herndon was more than a match for the full array against him. An earnest man, instant in season and out of season, he spoke with the eloquence of apparent truth and of real personal love" (Life of Lincoln, pp. 374, 352).

Colonel Matheny was not prepared to deny the correctness of a single statement in his testimony, but was forced to modify its bearing as a whole. He was made to say: "It does not express my sentiments of Mr.

Lincoln's entire life and character." Now, anyone who reads his evidence cannot fail to observe that he did intend to cover Lincoln's entire life and character. There is not in it the slightest intimation that he referred merely to a part of his life. Indeed, there is one statement in his evidence which utterly precludes such an a.s.sumption. He expressly says: "I never heard that Lincoln changed his views, though his personal and political friend from 1834 to 1860." But Reed must have a sufficient portion of his life reserved in which to inject the story of his alleged conversion; and so Matheny's offense was condoned on the condition that he retain the earlier part of Lincoln's life for his testimony to rest upon, and concede the remainder to Reed for "The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Lincoln." This division of Lincoln's life is quite indefinite, but Reed would have us believe that Colonel Matheny's evidence relates wholly to that portion of his life anterior to 1848, when Dr. Smith began the task of Christianizing him. Matheny's disclaimer is dated Dec. 16, 1872. On Dec. 9, 1873, he made the following explanation, which was published in a Springfield paper:

"What I mean, in my Reed letter, by Mr. Lincoln's earlier life, is his whole life and history in Illinois. In Illinois, and up to the time he left for Was.h.i.+ngton, he was, as I understand it, a confirmed Infidel.

What I mean by Mr. Lincoln's later life, is his Was.h.i.+ngton life, where he a.s.sociated with religious people, when and where I believe he thought he became a Christian. I told Mr. Reed all this just before signing the letter spoken of. I knew nothing of Mr. Lincoln's investigation into the subject of Christianity."

He says that his evidence "is a mere collection of sayings gathered from private conversations." It is doubtless true that he had many private conversations with Mr. Herndon on this subject; but his published testimony was all given at one sitting, and more, _he signed that testimony_. Every word attributed to him in Lamon's work, and repeated in this chapter, originally appeared above his signature.

The concluding words of his disclaimer are as follows:

"While I do believe Mr. Lincoln to have been an Infidel in his former life, when his mind was as yet unformed, and his a.s.sociations princ.i.p.ally with rough and skeptical men, yet I believe he was a very different man in later life; and that after a.s.sociating with a different cla.s.s of men, and investigating the subject, he was a firm believer in the Christian religion."

These words, as modified by the following, const.i.tute a most remarkable statement:

"In Illinois, and up to the time he left for Was.h.i.+ngton, he was, as I understand it, a confirmed Infidel. What I mean by Mr. Lincoln's later life, is his Was.h.i.+ngton life, where he a.s.sociated with religious people."

Colonel Matheny confines Lincoln's Infidelity to that portion of his life "when his mind was as yet unformed," and affirms that this portion comprised all the years preceding his removal to Was.h.i.+ngton in 1861.

Thus during the first fifty-two years of Lincoln's life, "his mind was as yet unformed." His enviable reputation as one of the foremost lawyers of Illinois was achieved while "his mind was as yet unformed;" when his friends sent him to Congress "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he made his Bloomington speech, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he delivered his famous Springfield speech, "his mind was as yet unformed;"

when he conducted his masterly debates with Stephen A. Douglas, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he prepared and delivered that model of political addresses, the Cooper Inst.i.tute address, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when at the Chicago Convention he outstripped in the race for Presidential nominee such eminent leaders as Seward and Chase, "his mind was as yet unformed;" when he was elected Chief Magistrate of this great nation, "his mind was as yet unformed."

It was only by leaving Illinois and going to Was.h.i.+ngton that he was thrown into religious society. Was.h.i.+ngton politicians are noted for their piety, you know. According to Matheny et al., New Salem was a second Sodom, Springfield a second Gomorrah and Was.h.i.+ngton a sort of New Jerusalem, inhabited chiefly by saints.

Neither in Matheny's letter, nor in his interpretation of this letter, is there a word to indicate that he recognized the fact that Lincoln went to Was.h.i.+ngton to a.s.sume the office and perform the duties of President. On the contrary, the whole tenor of his remarks is to the effect that he believed the people sent him there on account of his wickedness, and while "his mind was as yet unformed," to attend a reform school, and that subsequently he entered a theological seminary, and there died.

The most amusing feature of Matheny's letter is that he unwittingly certifies that his own character was not good. He declares that Lincoln was an Infidel because his a.s.sociations were "with rough and skeptical men;" but that after removing to Was.h.i.+ngton and "a.s.sociating with a different cla.s.s of men" he became a Christian. Now, it is well known that one of the most conspicuous of his "rough and skeptical" a.s.sociates in Illinois was James H. Matheny.

Colonel Matheny, in his explanatory remarks, says: "I _believe_ he _thought_ he became a Christian;" and in almost the next breath says, "I knew nothing of Mr. Lincoln's investigation into the subject of Christianity." Can anything be more unreasonable than this? Colonel Matheny knowing that Lincoln was a confirmed Infidel--an Infidel when he went to Was.h.i.+ngton--knowing nothing about his having afterward investigated Christianity--knowing that he had no time for such an investigation, and yet believing that Lincoln thought he became a Christian! Why did he not mention this when he gave his testimony? The fact is, he did not believe that Lincoln became a Christian; but with an orthodox club raised above his head, he found it very convenient to _profess_ to believe it.

As Mr. Reed has endeavored to prove that Lamon and Herndon did not faithfully report the evidence of Stuart and Matheny, it is but just that Mr. Herndon, who took down their testimony, be permitted to speak in his own defense. In his Springfield lecture, delivered in Major Stuart's town, if not in his presence, referring to Stuart's testimony, he says:

"Mr. Stuart did not write the note and no one ever said he did. What is there stated was the substance of a conversation between Mr. Stuart and myself about Mr. Lincoln's religion. I took down in a note in his office and in his presence his words and ideas as I did in other cases. The conversation spoken of took place in Mr. Stuart's office, and in the east room. Mr. Stuart does not deny that the note is substantially correct. He simply says he could not have said that Dr. Smith tried to convert Mr. Lincoln, and couldn't do it. I well remember that he did use this language. It seemed to do him good to say it.... It seems that Mr. Stuart had heard that Mr. Lincoln and Dr. Smith had much discussion about Christianity, but he failed to hear of Mr. Lincoln's conversion, or anything like it, and well might he say, _as he did_, that 'Dr. Smith tried to convert Mr. Lincoln, _but couldn't do it_.'"

Any charitably disposed person, knowing the general good character of both men, instead of crying "Fraud!" as Reed has done, will readily conclude that Mr. Herndon was mistaken, or that Mr. Stuart had forgotten just what he did say, and is it not more reasonable to suppose that the latter gentleman, in the lapse of six years, should have forgotten some things he said, than that Mr. Herndon, who recorded them the moment they were uttered, should be mistaken?

Alluding to Colonel Matheny's evidence, in the same lecture, Mr. Herndon says:

"The next gentleman introduced by Mr. Reed is Col. James H. Matheny. He is made to say, in a letter addressed to Mr. Reed, that he did not write the statement in Lamon's 'Life of Lincoln.' I do not claim that he did.

I wrote it in the court house--this hall--in Mr. Matheny's presence, and at his dictation. I read it over to him and he approved it. I wrote it all at once as he spoke it to me; it is not made up of sc.r.a.ps--'a mere collection of sayings gathered from private conversations, that were only true of Mr. Lincoln's earlier life.' I say that this statement was written all at one time and place, and not at different times and places. Let any critic, any man of common sense, read it and he will say: 'This was all written at once.' I appeal to the manner--the close connection of words and ideas in which it runs--word with word, sentence with sentence, and idea with idea, for the proof that it was made at one sitting. Mr. Matheny has often told me that Mr. Lincoln was an Infidel.

He admits this in his letter to Mr. Reed. He never intimated in that or any other conversation with me that he believed that Mr. Lincoln in his later life became a Christian."

In a letter dated Sept. 14, 1887, Mr. Herndon writes:

"I acted in this matter honestly, and I will always abide by my notes taken down at the time. I was cautious--very careful of what I did, because I knew that the church would d.a.m.n me and prove me false if it could. I stood on the exactness of truth squarely."