CHAPTER XIX
FROM THE HOUSETOPS AND IN THE CLOSET
This part of our inquiry draws near its close. We have reserved for this chapter a selection from those religious expressions of Abraham Lincoln which belong to his mature years, and which are indisputably his. They are largely in addresses, proclamations, and official documents. In them religion is, as a rule, an incidental subject. But it finds frequent expression.
Here no literary criticism is necessary, for there is no question about the accuracy of the report. We shall quote nothing that is not contained in an accredited compilation of Lincoln's papers or addresses, omitting all that is disputable or open to the suspicion of glossation or coloring or exaggeration.
There is only one question, Was Abraham Lincoln sincere in these utterances? Did he speak them as his own profound convictions, or because he was expected to say something of this sort, and took refuge in pious commonplaces? Both statements have been made concerning these and like utterances. Let us read them with an open mind and discover what evidence they bear of their own sincerity.
These are not reports of private conversations, or utterances addressed to small groups. These are the words which Lincoln uttered in the ears of all men; and they afford some evidence of the faith that was in him.
In Lincoln's first annual Thanksgiving Day Proclamation, dated October 3, 1863, after reciting the blessings of God to the nation in the harvest and in the success of our arms, he said: