The Soul of Abraham Lincoln

by William E. Barton

Herndon stoutly denied having written a single line of Lamon's book, but he furnished the greater part of the material in the form of documents, and gave further aid by letters and suggestions. Thirteen years after it was published he wrote to Lamon, who was still hoping to issue a new biography which would include the volume already issued and a second volume, and said:

"I desire to see your new Life win. Your first Life is nearly suppressed—is suppressed or will be by rings—bears, and like. Lamon's first Life of Lincoln is the truest Life that was ever written of a man, as I think. I do not agree to all it says, and yet it is the most truthful Life of Lincoln written, or to be written probably, except your second Life. . . . Why, Lamon, if you and I had not told the exact truth about Lincoln, he would have been a myth in a hundred years after 1865. We knew him—loved him—had ideas and had the courage of our convictions. We told the world what Lincoln was and were terribly abused for it."—(World's Work, February, 1911, p. 14044).

One of the chief things which Lamon set out to do was to refute Holland's estimate of Lincoln's faith, particularly as it appeared in Holland's account of the Bateman story. Lamon held that any impression which people got that Lincoln possessed substantial Christian faith, was due to the fact that Lincoln was a wily politician, who saw the power and appreciated the prejudices of the churches and was determined not to suffer from their hostility. He not only grew more cautious as he grew older, but actually dissembled. His religious references were made as vague and general as possible, and he permitted himself to be misunderstood and misrepresented by ministers and others because of "his morbid ambition, coupled with a mortal fear that his popularity would suffer by an open avowal of his deistic convictions" (Lamon, Life of Lincoln, p. 498).

His estimate of Lincoln is that "On the whole, he was an honest, although a shrewd, and by no means unselfish politician." He attributes Lincoln's melancholy definitely to his utter lack of faith.

"It is very probable that much of Mr. Lincoln's unhappiness, the melancholy that 'dripped from him as he walked,' was due to his want of religious faith. When the black fit was on him, he suffered as much mental misery as Bunyan or Cowper in the deepest anguish of their conflicts with the Evil One. But the unfortunate conviction fastened upon him by his early associations, that there was no truth in the Bible, made all consolation impossible, and penitence useless. To a man of his temperament, predisposed as it was to depression of spirit, there could be no chance of happiness if doomed to live without hope and without God in the world. He might force himself to be merry with his chosen comrades; he might 'banish sadness' in mirthful conversation, or find relief in a jest; gratified ambition might elevate his feelings, and give him ease for a time: but solid comfort and permanent peace could come to him only 'through a correspondence fixed with heaven.' The fatal misfortune of his life, looking at it only as it affected him in this world, was the influence at New Salem and at Springfield which enlisted him on the side of unbelief. He paid the bitter penalty in a life of misery."—Lamon, Life of Lincoln, p. 504.

In support of this thesis, Lamon, aided and abetted by Herndon, sought for testimonials from those who had known Lincoln, endeavoring to prove that he had no religious faith. Herndon himself wrote a letter which we shall quote later because of its bearing upon a particular point which we have yet to discuss, and gave the names of Judge Logan, John T. Stuart, Joshua F. Speed, and James H. Matheny as those who would confirm his declaration that Lincoln was an infidel. Herndon's own definition of the term infidel is susceptible of such varying definitions in his different letters and published articles that it is not always easy to tell just what he meant by it, but in some of these he was specific and told, from his own alleged knowledge or his memory of the testimony of others, what Lincoln believed and denied. Judge Logan appears not to have contributed to the discussion, but from several of the others and from some other men whose letters Herndon already had, Lamon made up a considerable volume of testimony concerning the unbelief of Lincoln. Some of these we quote, reserving others for later consideration.

Hon. John T. Stuart was alleged to have said:

"I knew Mr. Lincoln when he first came here, and for years afterwards. He was an avowed and open infidel, sometimes bordered on atheism. I have often and often heard Lincoln and one W. D. Herndon, who was a free-thinker, talk over this subject. 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 God,—denied that Jesus was the Son of God, as understood and maintained by the Christian Church. The Rev. Dr. Smith, who wrote a letter, tried to convert Lincoln from infidelity so late as 1858, and couldn't do it."—Lamon, Life of Lincoln, p. 488.

It later developed that these quotations which appeared in Lamon's book in the form of letters to Herndon were in some instances, if not in all, Herndon's own reports of conversations with these friends of Lincoln, and not, in any case, signed letters. Several of the putative authors repudiated the statements attributed to them.

Dr. C. H. Ray was quoted as saying: