"Moderate, frank, truthful, gentle, forgiving, loving, just, Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as eminently a Christian President; and the almost immeasurably great results which he had the privilege of achieving were due to the fact that he was a Christian President."
This prediction and this assumption are false, change one word and make them grandly true.
"Moderate, frank, truthful, gentle, forgiving, loving, just, Mr. Lincoln will always be remembered as eminently a Liberal President; and the almost immeasurably great results which he had the privilege of achieving were due to the fact that he was a Liberal President."
CHAPTER III. REVIEW OF CHRISTIAN TESTIMONY—REED AND HIS WITNESSES.
Reed—Smith—Edwards—Lewis—Brooks—Statements of Edwards,
Smith, and Brooks Compared—Sunderland—Miner—Gurley—
Failure of Reed to Establish his Claims.
Of the twenty Christian witnesses whose testimony is given in Chapter I., ten admit that, during a part of his life, Lincoln was an unbeliever, or Infidel. Of the remaining ten, not one denies the fact. It is conceded, then, that he was once an Infidel. Now, it is a rule of law that when a certain state or condition of things is once proven to exist, that state or condition is presumed to continue to exist until the contrary is proven. If Lincoln was, at one time, an Infidel, it is fair to assume that he remained an Infidel, unless it can be shown that he changed his belief and became a Christian. This Dr. Reed attempts to do.
His lecture, under the caption of "The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Abraham Lincoln," will be found in Scribner's Monthly for July, 1873. The evidence presented by Lamon had placed Dr. Holland in a most unenviable light. As Reed's lecture reaffirmed the claim made by Holland, and brought forward fresh evidence to substantiate the claim, it was naturally regarded by many Christians as a vindication of Holland's position, especially by those who had not read Lamon's work. Holland was particularly pleased at its opportune appearance, and cheerfully gave it a place in his magazine.
Reed's individual testimony proves nothing. He does not profess to know, from personal knowledge, what Lincoln's religious views were. The object of his lecture was to invalidate, if possible, the testimony of those who affirmed that he died an Infidel, and to present, in addition to what had already been presented by Holland, the testimony of those who affirmed that during the last years of his life he was a Christian. To answer his witnesses is to answer his lecture.
The Rev. Dr. Smith affirms that he converted Lincoln to a belief in "the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures." It was imperative that he should, for, said he, "It was my honor to place before Mr. Lincoln arguments designed to prove the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures." As a matter of course, "the result was the announcement by himself that the arguments in favor of the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures were unanswerable." Consequently, "Mr. Lincoln did avow his belief in the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures."