Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian?

by John E. Remsburg

CYRUS O. POOLE.

I quote next from a monograph on "The Religious Convictions of Abraham Lincoln," written by Cyrus O. Poole. Referring to Arnold's and Holland's biographies of Lincoln, Mr. Poole says: "Most sectarians now think, write, and act as if they had a copyright to apply 'Christian' to everything good and God-like about this President; yet no one presumed to call him a Christian until after his death. It may be a soul-saving process like the ancient one of Pope Gregory in the sixth century. It is related that one day he was meditating on an anecdote of the Pagan Emperor Tragan's having turned back, when at the head of his legions on his way to battle, to render justice to a poor widow who flung herself at his horse's feet. It seemed to Gregory that the soul of a prince so good could not be forever lost, Pagan though he was; and he prayed for him, till a voice declared Tragan to have been saved through his intercession. And thus, through the prayer of a Christian Pope, a pagan of the first, was materialized into a Christian in the sixth century, and was, of course, transferred from hell to heaven. Now behold how a modern politician [Arnold] can play theologian in Christianizing Abraham Lincoln.

"There is now hope for Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson, as well as the chieftains, Red Jacket, Tecumseh, and Black Hawk."

Respecting Lincoln's message to his dying father, Mr. Poole, himself a firm believer in the doctrine of immortality, says: "This prophetic affirmation of a continued existence, is the only written evidence of his views on this momentous question that can be found."

In addition to the above, I cull from the same work the following brief extracts:

"He lived in a remarkably formative and progressive period, and was in all matters fully abreast with his time. As a truthful thinker, he greatly excelled any of the statesmen of his day."

"Lincoln, like Socrates, was a man so natural, so thoughtful, rational, and sagacious, that he clearly saw that the popular traditional theology of his day and age was not religion."

A CITIZEN OF SPRINGFIELD.

A gentleman residing in Springfield, Ill., who was intimately acquainted with Lincoln from the time he located in that city up to the time he removed to Washington, a period of nearly twenty-five years, in a letter dated Aug. 20, 1887, writes as follows: "I will say in regard to Mr. Lincoln's religious views that he was not orthodox in his belief, unless he changed after he left Springfield. He was heterodox—did not believe in the divinity of Christ—in short, was a Freethinker. Now I do not want to be brought into public notice in this matter."

In deference to this writer's request his name is omitted, and this omission destroys, to a great extent, the value of his testimony. It is inserted not because it adds any particular weight to the evidence already adduced, but as a specimen of a very large amount of evidence of the same character that must be withheld simply because the persons writing or interviewed shrink from publicity. A chapter, yes, a volume, of this anonymous testimony might be given. At least a hundred personal friends of Lincoln, living in and about Springfield, privately and confidentially assert that he was an Infidel, but will not permit their names to be used. Twenty years ago a majority of them would not have objected to their statements being published: but the relentless war waged by the church against those who have publicly certified to the facts has sealed their lips.