CHAPTER XXIII
THE CREED OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln made no effort, so far as we know, to formulate a creed. It would have been an exceedingly difficult thing for him to have accomplished. His utterances on religious subjects were not made as dogmatic affirmations. He merely uttered as occasion seemed to him to demand such sentiments and principles as expressed those aspects of truth which he felt and believed to need expression at those particular times. Nevertheless, these utterances together cover a somewhat wide range; and while they were not intended to epitomize any system of Christian doctrine, they make a nearer approach to an epitome of this character than on the whole might reasonably have been expected.
It will be interesting and profitable to close this study with a series of short quotations from documents, letters, and addresses, certified as authentic and touching directly upon points of Christian doctrine. In most instances these have been quoted already, with their context, but they are here brought together in briefer form in order to facilitate our inquiry whether they afford any material out of which might be made some approach to a statement of Christian faith.
Materials for a Lincoln creed:
I sincerely hope father may recover his health, but, at all events, tell him to remember to call upon and confide in our great and good and merciful Maker, who will not turn away from him in any extremity. He notes the fall of a sparrow, and numbers the hairs of our heads, and He will not forget the dying man who puts his trust in Him.... If it be his lot to go now he will soon have a joyous meeting with many loved ones gone before, and where the rest of us with the help of God hope ere long to join them.—Letter to his dying father, January 12, 1851. Complete Works, I, 165.
Without the assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him [Washington] I cannot succeed. With that assistance, I cannot fail. Trusting in His care who can go with me, and remain with you, and be everywhere for good, let us confidently hope that all will yet be well. To His care commending you, as I hope in your prayers you will commend me, I bid you an affectionate farewell.—Farewell Address, Springfield, February 11, 1861. Complete Works, I, 672.
If the Almighty Ruler of Nations, with His eternal truth and justice, be on our side of the North, or on yours of the South, that truth and that justice will surely prevail by the judgment of this great tribunal of the American people.... Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him who has never yet forsaken this favored land, are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.... My dissatisfied fellow countrymen ... you have no oath registered in heaven to destroy the government, while I have the most solemn one to preserve, protect, and defend it.—First Inaugural, March 4, 1861. Complete Works, II, 7.
May God give you that consolation which is beyond all earthly power.—Letter to parents of Colonel Elmer Ellsworth, May 25, 1861. Complete Works, II, 52.