Abraham Lincoln: Was He A Christian? Part 21

In a discussion touching upon the paternity of Jesus, he said:

"There must have been s.e.xual intercourse between man and woman, and not between G.o.d and his daughter."

The above words were uttered in the presence of Mr. Green Caruthers and Mr. W. A. Browning, of Springfield.

Lincoln contended that Jesus was either the son of Joseph and Mary, or the illegitimate son of Mary.

In a conversation with his friend, Mr. E. H.

Wood, of Springfield, concerning the doctrine of endless punishment, he said:

"There is no h.e.l.l."

In regard to this subject, he often observed: "If G.o.d be a just G.o.d, all will be saved or none" (_Manford's Magazine_).

The orthodox idea of G.o.d--a G.o.d that creates poor, fallible beings, and then forever d.a.m.ns them for failing to believe what it is impossible for them to believe--he abhorred. The Golden Rule was his moral standard, and by this standard he measured not only the conduct of man, but of G.o.d himself. Like the irrepressible Dr. T. L. Brown, he wanted G.o.d to "d.a.m.n others as he would be d.a.m.ned himself." He delighted to repeat the epitaph of the old Kickapoo Indian, Johnnie Kongapod:

"Here lies poor Johnnie Kongapod; Have mercy on him, gracious G.o.d, As he would do if he were G.o.d And you were Johnnie Kongapod."

Lincoln thought that G.o.d ought at least to be as merciful as a respectable savage.

Many contend that the doctrine of future rewards and punishments, even if untrue, has a restraining influence upon the ma.s.ses of mankind. That Lincoln did not share this fallacious opinion, is shown by the following extract from an address delivered in Springfield in 1842: "Pleasures to be enjoyed, or pains to be endured, after we shall be dead and gone, are but little regarded.... There is something so ludicrous, in promises of good, or threats of evil, a great way off, as to render the whole subject with which they are connected, easily turned into ridicule.

'Better lay down that spade you're stealing, Paddy--if you don't, you'll pay for it at the Day of Judgment.' 'Be the powers, if ye'll credit me so long I'll take another'" (Lincoln Memorial Alb.u.m, p. 91).

Commenting upon the question of one's returning and communicating with his friends after death, he observed: "It is a doubtful question whether we ever get anywhere to get back" (Statement of E. H. Wood).

He did not believe in the freedom of the will. An observation which he repeatedly made was the following:

"No man has a freedom of mind" (Testimony of W. H. Herndon).

His fatalistic notions are confirmed by his own words: "I have all my life been a fatalist. What is to be will be; or, rather, I have found all my life, as Hamlet says:

'There's a divinity that shapes our ends, Rough-hew them how we will.'"

(Every-Day Life of Lincoln, p. 198).

The following was a favorite maxim with him:

"What is to be will be, and no prayers of ours can arrest the decree"

(Statement of Mrs. Lincoln).

In a speech on Kansas, delivered in 1856, he used the following words in regard to Providence: "Friends, I agree with you in Providence; but I believe in the Providence of the most men, the largest purse, and the longest cannon" (Lincoln's Speeches, p. 140).

The writer has in his possession, among others of Lincoln's papers, a leaf from his copybook, tattered and yellow from age, on which, seventy years ago, Lincoln, a school-boy of fourteen, wrote the following characteristic lines:

"Abraham Lincoln, his hand and pen; He will be good, but G.o.d knows when."

If by _good_ he meant _pious_, the prophecy was never fulfilled.

But a short time before he was elected President, he said to Dr. Ray: "I think that I stand about where that man [Theodore Parker] stands"

(Statement of Rev. Eobert Collyer).

The author whose writings exerted the greatest influence upon Lincoln's mind, in a theological way, was Thomas Paine. Ah! that potential "Age of Reason!" Criticise it as you may, no one ever yet carefully perused its pages and then honestly affirmed that the Bible is the infallible word of G.o.d. Hern-don and others declare that Paine was a part of Lincoln from 1834 till his death. To a friend he said:

"I never tire of reading Paine" (Statement of James Tuttle).

In the later years of his life, when the subject of religion was mentioned, with a knowing smile, he was wont to remark:

"It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it is apt to lead to Infidelity" (_Manford's Magazine_).

It has been stated that Lincoln was opposed in his political campaigns on account of his disbelief. This is confirmed by a letter he wrote to Martin M. Morris, of Petersburg, Ill., March 26,1843. In this letter, he says:

"There was, too, the strangest combination of church influence against me. Baker is a Campbellite; and therefore, as I suppose, with few exceptions, got all that church. My wife has some relatives in the Presbyterian churches, and some with the Episcopal churches; and therefore, wherever it would tell, I was set down as either the one or the other, while it was everywhere contended that no Christian ought to go for me, because I belonged to no church--was suspected of being a Deist.... Those influences levied a tax of a considerable per cent upon my strength throughout the religious controversy" (Lamon's Life of Lincoln, p. 271).

He never changed his opinions, and the church never ceased to oppose him. In the Bateman interview, seventeen years later, he was compelled to note its relentless intolerance:

"Here are twenty-three ministers of different denominations, and all of them are against me but three; and here are a great many prominent members of the churches, a very large majority of whom are against me"

(Holland's Life of Lincoln, p. 236).

For thirty years the church endeavored to crush Lincoln, but when, in spite of her malignant opposition, he achieved a glorious immortality, this same church, to hide the mediocrity of her devotees, attempts to steal his deathless name.

In a speech delivered in Springfield, in 1857, alluding to the negro, he said: "All the powers of the earth seem rapidly combining against him.

Mammon is after him,... and the theology of the day is fast joining in the cry" (Lincoln Memorial Alb.u.m, p. 100).

The theology of the day was orthodox Christianity. "In this sentence,"

says Mr. Herndon, "he intended to hit Christianity a left-handed blow, and a hard one."

In his Second Inaugural address, referring to the contending Christian elements in the civil war, he says: "Both read the same Bible and pray to the same G.o.d, and each invokes his aid against the other."

What a commentary upon the hypocritical a.s.sumption that Christians possess an infallible moral standard, is contained in the above words!

The "Lincoln Memorial Alb.u.m" pretends to give the Second Inaugural complete, but omits the words quoted. As this address comes almost immediately after his reputed speech to the "Illinois clergyman," the editor probably noticed a lack of harmony between the two, and thought that the retention of these heretical words would cast suspicion upon the genuineness of that remarkable confession. The "Memorial Alb.u.m" is a meritorious work, but had Mr. Oldroyd manifested as great a desire to present the genuine utterances of Lincoln as the apocryphal, its value would have been enhanced. The unmutilated version of the last Inaugural may be found in Holland's "Life of Lincoln," pp. 503, 504; Arnold's "Life of Lincoln," pp. 403, 404; Arnold's "Lincoln and Slavery," pp.

625-627; and "The Every-Day Life of Lincoln," pp. 681, 682.

No President, probably, was ever so much annoyed by the clergy as Lincoln. The war produced an increased religious fervor, and theological tramps innumerable, usually labeled "D. D.," visited the White House, each with a mission to perform and a precious morsel of advice to offer. In the following caustic words, he expresses his contempt for their officiousness: "I am approached with the most opposite opinions and advice, and by religious men who are certain they represent the Divine will.... I hope it will not be irreverent in me to say, that if it be probable that G.o.d would reveal his will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed he would reveal it directly to me" (Religious Convictions of Abraham Lincoln).

Equally pertinent, and, indeed, similar was his language to a pious lady, a Friend, who came as G.o.d's agent to instruct him what to do: "I have neither time nor disposition to enter into discussion with the Friend, and end this occasion by suggesting for her consideration the question, whether, if it be true that the Lord has appointed me [she claimed that he had] to do the works she has indicated, it is [(is it) PG Ed.] not probable that he would have communicated knowledge of the fact to me as well as to her?" (Every-Day Life of Lincoln, pp. 536, 537).

He steadily prohibited his generals from meddling with the religious affairs of those residing within the limits of their respective departments, and at the same time counseled them not to permit the pretended sanct.i.ty of the church to s.h.i.+eld offenders from justice.

In a letter to General Curtis, censuring the provost marshal of St.

Louis for interfering with church matters, he writes: "The United States Government must not undertake to run the churches. When an individual in a church, or out of it, becomes dangerous to the public interest he must be checked" (Nicolay and Hay's Life of Lincoln).

In an order relating to a church in Memphis, issued May 13, 1864, he said: "If there be no military need for the building, leave it alone, neither putting any one in or out of it, except on finding some one preaching or practicing treason, in which case lay hands upon him, just as if he were doing the same thing in any other building" (Ibid).

During the war his attention was called to the notoriously bad character of army chaplains. He expressed his contempt for them, and for orthodox preachers generally, by relating the following story: "Once, in Springfield, I was going off on a short journey, and reached the depot a little ahead of time. Leaning against the fence just outside the depot was a little darky boy, whom I knew, named d.i.c.k, busily digging with his toe in a mud-puddle. As I came up, I said, 'd.i.c.k, what are you about?

'Making a church,' said he. 'A church?' said I; 'what do you mean?'

'Why, yes,' said d.i.c.k, pointing with his toe, 'don't you see? there is the shape of it; there's the steps and front door--here's the pews, where the folks set--and there's the pulpit.' 'Yes, I see,' said I, 'but why don't you make a minister?' 'Laws,' answered d.i.c.k, with a grin, 'I hain't got _mud_ enough'" (Anecdotes of Lincoln, p. 86).