Lincoln's use of the Bible

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LINCOLN'S USE
OF THE BIBLE

BY

a TREVENA JACKSON

THE ABINGDON PRESS

NEW YORK CINCINNATI

Copyright, 1909, by
EATON & MAINS.

Printed December, 1909
Reprinted February, 1910 ; October, 1914

Mben aufet in m^ bouse IF sit,
^bg booft be m^ companion still;

Al2 jog tb^ saigings to repeat,
XTalft o'er tbe recorDs ot tb^ will,

2ln& searcb tbe oracles Divine,

©ill everfi beartfelt worO be mine.

— Charles Wesley.

OTe 3Bible is a book ot taitb,

% booli ot Doctrine,

Bnb a booft ot religion,

Ot especial revelation trom 6ob.

— Daniel Webster.

BnD wearis seefters ot tbe best,
Wic come back laDen trom our quests
Co finD tbat all tbe sages saiD—
f s in tbe :^ooft our motbers reab.

— Whittier.

LINCOLN'S USE OF THE BIBLE

** The Bible is the king's best copy, the mag-
istrate's best rtile, the housewife's best guidef
the servant's best directory, and the best com-
panion of youth/'

N a log cabin at Nolin^s Cr cekt
Hardin Countyt Kentucfcyt
the boy breathed the first
breath of life* Hope^s an-
chor hung on a slender string,
if we are to measure by the child^s home
surroundings* But his birthplace pos-
sessed a soul; for a home with a good
book in it has a souL This book was
the Bible* It mastered his mannerst
molded his mind, made mighty his
manhood, and gave to America the
matchless man*

In the Bible he found the truth for
the ills of men, the secret for the solu-
tion of lifers perplexing problems, the

LINCOLN'S USE

boon for the best beaten path, the suc-
cor for the safferingt the calmest com-
forts for the dyingt and the faithful
friend when foes are near and other
friends so far away*

We shall speak of what others have
said concerning LincoIn^s use of the
Bible; what he himself said of it; the
use he made of it; and the influence of
the Scriptures on his life and literature*

In Hemdon^s Life of Lincoln the
partner and President is portrayed as
a foe rather than a friend of the Bible*
This is seen to be erroneous by
simply reading his speeches, for they
are like the dewdrops on the blades
of green in early fall, sparkling every-
where* It is hard to read a great
speech of Lincoln's without seeing the
influence of the Bible on Iiis life,
works, and style*

Sarah K* Bolton writes: '' Mrs* Lin-

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OF THE BIBLE

coin possessed but one book in the
world, the Bible; and from this she
taught her children daily* Abraham
had been to school for two or three
months, to such a school as the rude
country afforded, and had learned to
read* Of quick mind and retentive
memory, he soon came to know the
Bible well-nigh by heart, and to look
upon his gentle teacher as the em-
bodiment of all the good precepts in
the book/^

LincoIn^s mother died after a linger-
ing illness when he was ten years old*
It is said that during her sickness he
cared for her as tenderly as a girl, and
that he often sat at her side and read
the Bible to her for hours* Much of
his later life and style was influenced
by his early reading of the Bible*

L* E* Chittenden says: ** Except
the instructions of his mother, the

LINCOLN'S USE

Bible more powerftilly controfled the
intellecttral development of the son than
all other catrses combined* He mem-
orized many of its chapters and had
them perfectly at his command* Early
m his professional life he learned that
the most txseftil of all books to the
public speaker was the Bible* After
1857 he seldom made a speech which
did not contain quotations from the
Bible*^^

Alexander Williamson, who was en-
gaged as tutor in the Lincoln family in
Washington, said: ** Mr* Lincoln very
frequently studied the Bible with the
aid of Cruden^s Concordance, which
lay on his table*** The Presbyterian
pastor in Springfield, Rev* James
Smith, states that Lincoln became a
believer in the Bible and Jesus Christ
as the Son of God* It is true that Mr*
Smith placed before Lincoln the argu-

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ments for and against the divine au-
thority of the Scriptures* He looked
at it from a lawyer's viewpoint^ andt
at the conclusion, declared the argu-
ment in favor of divine authority and
inspiration of the Bible unanswerable*

Mr* Amoldt in his Life of Lincoln,
speaking of the Second Inaugural
Address, said: ** Since the days of
Christ's Sermon on the Mount, where
is the speech of emperor, king, or ruler
which can compare with this? May
we not without irreverence say that
passages of this address are worthy of
that holy book which he read daily,
and from which, during his long days
of trial, he had drawn inspiration and
guidance? This paper in its solemn
recognition of the justice of the Al-
mighty God reminds us of the words
of the old Hebrew prophets*''

Bishop Simpson, in his funeral ad-

LINCOLN'S USE

dress, said: ** Abraham Lincoln was
a good man, a man of noble heart in
every way* He read the Bible fre-
quently; he loved it for its great truths;
and he tried to be guided by its pre-
cepts* He believed in Christ as the
Saviour of sinners, and I think he was
sincere in trying to bring his life in
harmony with the precepts of revealed
religion* I doubt if any President has
shown such trust in God, or in public
document so frequently referred to
divine aid*^^

In the year 1 90 1 President Roose-
velt delivered an address before the
American Bible Society on ** Reading
the Bible,'' in which he said: ** Lin-
coln, sad, patient, kindly Lincoln,
who, after bearing upon his shoulders
for four years a greater burden than
that borne by any other man of the
nineteenth century, laid down his life

10

OF THE BIBLE

for the people whonit Iivingt tic had
served so well, built up his entire read-
ing upon his study of the Bible* He
had mastered it absolutely, mastered
it as later he mastered only one or two
other books, notably Shakespeare, mas-
tered it so that he became almost a
man of one book who knew that book,
and who instinctively put into prac-
tice what he had been taught therein;
and he left his life as part of the
crowning work of the century just
closed/^

Lincoln often spoke and wrote of
the value of the Bible* To Joshua F*
Speed, one of his most intimate
friends, and at one time his roommate,
he wrote; ** I am profitably engaged
in reading the Bible* Take all of this
book upon reason that you can, and
the balance on faith, and you will live

and die a better man/^ Mrs* Speed

u

LINCOLN'S USE

gave Lincoln a Bible, and, after a visit
to that home in J 84 It he wrote to the
daughter, Mary Speed, and at the
close said: ** Tell yotir mother I have
not got her present (an Oxford Bible)
with me, btit I intend to read it regu-
larly when I return home* I doubt not
that it is really, as she says, the best
cure for the blues, could one but take
it according to truth/*

On July 4, 1842, in writing to his
friend Speed of the service he had been
in bringing Joshua and Fanny, his
sweetheart, together, he said: ** I be-
lieve God made me one of the instru-
ments of bringing you and Fanny to-
gether, which union I have no doubt
he had foreordained* Whatever he
designs he will do for me yet* * Stand
still and see the salvation of the Lord *
is my text just now***

It is stated on good authority that

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OF THE BIBLE

after his election in I860 he said to
Judge Joseph Gillespie: ** I have read
on my knees the story of Gethsemane,
where the Son of God prayed in vain
that the ctip of bitterness might pass
from him. I am in the garden of
Gethsemane now, and my cap is nm-
ning over/^

LincoIn^s reply to a committee of
colored people of Baltimore who pre-
sented him with a Bible, September 7,
1864, gives his opinion of the Bible:
** Li regard to this great book I have
btxt to say: It is the best gift God has
given to man* All the good Saviour
gave to this world was communicated
through this book* But for it we
could not know right from v/rong* All
things most desirable for man*s wel-
fare here and hereafter are to be found
portrayed in it* To you I return my
most sincere thanks for the very ele-

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LINCOLN'S USE

gant copy of the great Book of God
which you present/'

At Springfield he addressed the
Bible Society and said: ** It seems to
me that nothing short of infinite wis-
dom cotild by any possibility have de-
vised and given to man this exceflent
and perfect moral code* It is suited
to men in aH the conditions of life, and
inculcates all the duties they owe to
their Creator, to themselves, and to
their fellow men/'

In J* G* Holland's Life of Lincoln
he gives us the conversation with Mr*
Bateman: ** Mr* Bateman, I have
carefully read the Bible/' Then he
drew from his pocket a New Testa-
ment: ** These men will know that I
am for freedom in the territories, free-
dom everywhere as far as the Constitu-
tion and laws will permit, and my oppo-
nents are for slavery* They know

14

OF THE BIBLE

thiSt yctt with this book in their hands,
in the light of which human bondage
cannot live a momentt they are going
to vote against me* I know there is a
Godt and that he hates injustice and
slavery* I see the storm coming, and
I know that his hand is in it* If he
has a place for me — and I think he has
— I believe I am ready* I am nothing,
but truth is everything* I know I am
right, for Christ teaches it, and Christ
is God*^^

In his Lyceum speech he speaks of
the advantage of an education and
being able to read the history of his
own and other countries, by which we
may appreciate the value of our free
institutions, to say nothing of the ad-
vantages and satisfaction to be de-
rived from all being able to read for
themselves the Scriptures and other
works both of a religious and moral

15

LINCOLN^S USE

nature* In this same speech he uses
this language: ** If destrtiction be otrr
lot we mast ourselves be its author and
finisher/^ Then, speaking of the Rev-
oltition, he desired the history of it to
**be read and recounted as long as the
Bible shall be read/^

The night before the President left
Springfield for the White House a
friend from Chicago sent him the Amer-
ican flag with these words: ** Have
not I commanded thee? Be strong
and of a good courage; be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord
thy God is with thee whithersoever
thou goest* There shall not any man
be able to stand before thee all the
days of thy life: as I was with Moses,
so I will be with thee J*

It has been said by those who pride
themselves on having no faith in the
inspiration of the Scriptures that Lin-

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OF THE BIBLE

coin held their views* But he ad-
dressed conventions and Sunday
schoolst and the Bible was as often
quoted by him as Blackstone* The
addresses and letters of Lincoln are
saturated with expressions from the
Holy Scriptures* In his reply to Doug-
las he gave his speech great force hy
the words of Christ: ** A house di-
vided against itself cannot stand/^
In writing to Mr* W* Durley he uses
scriptural terms: ** By the fruit the
tree is to be known* An evil tree
cannot bring forth good fruit*^^

Ann Rutledge gave him a new view
of the Bible and Shakespeare* Abra-
ham LincoIn^s is the language of the
Bible* He never used the Bible in an
irreverent way* In the Lincoln Mu-
seum^ Washington, there is a copy of
the Holy Scriptures* It is well worn,
and shows the signs of good use* In-

J7

LINCOLN'S USE

side the cover are these words in his
own handwriting: *^ A» Lincoln, his
own book/'

He wrote a letter to Rev* J* M» Peck
in 1848 asking him, ** Is the precept,
* Whatsoever ye would that men
should do to you, do ye even so to
them/ obsolete, of no force, of no ap-
plication?*' In his description of Ni-
agara he said: ** It calls tip the in-
definite past when Christ suffered on
the cross, when Moses led Israel
through the Red Sea — nay, even when
Adam first came from the hand of his
Maker; then, as now, Niagara was roar-
ing here/'

In writing to John D* Johnston con-
cerning his father's illness, he said:
** I sincerely hope Father will recover
his health, but, at all events, tell him
to remember and call upon and con-
fide in our great and good and merciful

18

OF THE BIBLE

Maker* He notes the fall of the spar-
row and numbers the hairs of our
headst and he will not forget the dying
man who puts his trust in him/^

Mr* "William S* Speer wrote to Mr*
Lincoln asking him to write a letter to
give his definite views on the slavery-
question* Lincoln replied: ** I have
already done this many, many times,
and it is in print and open to all who
will read* Those who will not read
or heed what I have aheady publicly
said would not read or heed a repetition
of it* ^If they hear not Moses and
the prophetSt neither will they be per-
suaded though one rose from the
dead*^ ''

Li a letter to Reverdy Johnson he
wrote: ** I am a patient man, always
willing to forgive on the Christian
terms of repentance, and also to giwz
ample time for repentance*^^ Lincoln

J9

LINCOLN'S USE

wrote to General J* A* McCIernand:
** My belief is that the permanent esti-
mate of what a general does in the
field is fixed by the * cloud of witnesses *
who have been with him in the field/*

Lincoln was ever bringing his knowl-
edge of the Scriptures to the minds of
men* When an aged citizen, John
Phillips^ had done him honor, he wrote
him: ** The example of such devotion
to civic duties in one whose days have
been already extended an average life-
time beyond the psalmist^s limit cannot
but be valuable and fruitful/*

We find in his speeches and letters
the Bible at his tongue^s end* In his
reply to Douglas at Alton he said:
** He has warred upon them as Satan
wars upon the Bible* The Bible says
somewhere we are desperately selfish***
Andt writing to J* F* Speed, he writes
of those who are so interested in slav-

20

OF THE BIBLE

cry, and says: ** If, like Hamaiit they
should hang upon the gallows of their
own buildingt I should not be among
the mourners for their fate/^ Then
again he says: ** Let us judge not,
that we be not judged/^ Then the
words of the Christ: ** Woe unto the
world because of offenses! for it must
needs be that offenses come; but woe
to that man by whom the offense
Cometh r^

Li his temperance speech in 1842 he
sees the spirit of temperance like the
conqueror in the Revelation going
forth ** conquering and to conquer/*
He sees the drunkard reclaimed, and,
like the man in the gospel, ^* clothed
and in his right mind**; then, describ-
ing the reclaimed, ^^ out of their abun-
dant hearts their tongues give utter-
ance/* Then he speaks of the un-
pardonable sin for the drunkard as

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LINCOLN'S USE

unknown: ** As in Christianity it is
taught, * while the lamp holds out to
bum the vilest sinner may return/*^
Then he refers to the Scriptures and
says: ** He ever seems to have gone
forth like the Egyptian angel of death,
commissioned to slay, if not the first,
the fairest bom of every family/*
Then he takes us over to the prophet:
** Come from the four winds, O breath,
and breathe upon these slain, that
they may live/*

He was very fond of a poem called
Adam and Eve*s Wedding Song**:

**

" "When Adam was created
He dwelt in Eden's shade.
As Moses has recorded,

And soon a bride was made.

t»

Some thought that Lincoln was its
author, but he said: *^ I am not the
author* I would gbre all I am worth,
and go in debt, to be able to write so

22

OF THE BIBLE

fine a piece/^ In speaking of the
tariff he said: ^*In the early days of
otjr race the Almighty said to the first
of our race, * In the sweat of thy face
shalt thou eat bread/ '^

In I848t when President Polfc sent
a message to Congress stating that
Mexico *^had shed American blood
upon American soilt^^ Lincoln made a
long speech against war with Mexico^
and recafled the death of Abel thus:
**That he [President Polk] is deeply
conscious of being in the wrong; that
he feels the blood of this war^ like the
blood of Abelt is crying to heaven
against him/^

In LincoIn^s eulogy on Henry Qay
he brings the Book of God before
the people: ^^Pharaoh^s country was
cursed with plagues and his hosts were
lost in the Red Sea for striving to re-
tain a captive people who had already

23

LINCOLN'S USE

served them more than four hundred
years* May this disaster never befall

tisr

His knowledge of the Bible is clearly
seen in his debate with Judge Douglast
for when the latter described man in
the garden with evil or good to choose
from LincoIn^s reply was: ^^God did
not place good and evil before man^
telling him to take his choice* On the
contrary^ he did tell him there was one
tree of the fruit of which he should not
eat upon pain of certain death/^ Later
Judge Douglas said that Lincoln
had a proneness for quoting the
Scripturest and Lincoln replied in his
Springfield address^ July I7t 1858:
** If I should do so now it occurs
that he places himself somewhat upon
the ground of the parable of the lost
sheep which went astray upon the
mountainst and when the owner of the

24

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hundred sheep found the one that was
lost and threw it upon his shoulders,
and came home rejoicingt it was said
that there was more rejoicing over the
one sheep that was lost and had been
found than over the ninety and nine
in the fold* The application is made
by the Saviour in this parable thus:
* Verily I say unto you, there is more re-
joicing in heaven over one sinner that
repenteth than over ninety and nine
just persons that need no repentance/
Repentance before forgiveness is a pro-
vision of the Christian system/* In
his fragments of a speech he claims
** the revelation in the Bible, and his
revelation the Bible/'

Lincoln has before his mind the
ideas of the early church when he says:
** * Give to him that is needy * is a
Christian rule of charity/' Li 1859
he gave a lecture on ** Discoveries,

25

LINCOLN'S USE

Inventionst and ImprovcmcntSt^^ in
which he gives a description of o«r
first parents: ** It was the destined
work of Adam^s race to develop by
discoveries, inventions, and improve-
ments, and the first invention of which
we have any account is the fig-leaf
apron* Speech was tised by our first
parents, and even by Adam before
the creation of Eve/^

At Cincinnati he speaks of ** the
loaves and fishes,^^ and concludes his
speech almost with Bible words: **The
good old maxims of the Bible are appli-
cable, and truly applicable, to human
affairs; and in this as in other things
we may say here that he who is not
for us is against us; and he who gath-
ereth not with us scattereth/^ He
concludes his speech in Kansas in the
same year with the same words*

"When the people were anxious to

26

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hear and sec him on his way to the
White Hotise he was desirous of keep-
ing silence, and often quoted: ** Solo-
mon says there is a time to keep si-
lence/^ At Pliiladelphia, in Independ-
ence Hall, he spoke: ** AH my politi-
cal welfare has been in favor of the
teachings that come from these sacred
wafls^ May my right hand forget its
cunning, and my tongue cleave to the
roof of my mouth, if ever I prove false
to these teachings/^

When Lincoln proclaimed a national
fast day he declared that all must be
done in full conviction ** that the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wis-
dom/^

An old man had come to Lincoln for
his son, who was to be shot, and said:
** Mr* Lincoln, my wife sent me to you*
We had three boys* They all joined
your army* One of ^em has been

27

LINCOLN'S USE

fcilledt onc^s a-fighting now, and one
of ^em, the youngest, has been tried for
deserting, and he's going to be shot
day after to-morrow* He never de-
serted* He's wild and may have drunk
too much and wandered off, but he
never deserted* 'Tain't in the blood*
He's his mother's favorite, and if he's
shot I know she'll die*" General But-
ler was telegraphed to to suspend the
execution* The old man was afraid
to go home with this message, thinking
the President might gtve a different
order to-morrow* Lincoln said to the
old man: ** Tell his mother that I
said, *If your son lives until they get
further orders from me, when he does
die people will say that old Methuselah
was a baby compared to him*' "

It is said that the best result which
the convention achieved at Cleveland
in 1864, when it nominated Fremont

28

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for the presidency and John Cochrane
for the vice-presidency, was that it
called forth a bit of wit from the Pres-
idents Some one remarked to him
thatt instead of the expected thou-
sands, only about four hundred per-
sons were present* He turned to the
Bible wliich, say Nicolay and Hay,
commonly lay on his desk, and read
I Sam* 22* 2: **And every one that
was in distress, and every one that
was in debt, and every one that was
in bitterness of soul, gathered them-
selves unto him ; and he became a
captain over them: and there were
with him about four hundred men/'

A primary and intermediate school
was so located as to be separated by a
fence from the rear of the White House
grounds. The President often watched
the children play. One morning the
teacher gave them a lesson in neatness,

29

LINCOLN'S USE

and asked each boy to come to school

next day with his shoes blacked. They

all obeyed. One of them, John S.^ a

poor one-armed lad, had tised stove

polish, the only kind his home afforded.

The boys were merciless in their ridi-

cule^ The boy was only nine years

old, the son of a dead soldier, his

mother a washerwoman, with three

other children to provide for. The

President heard the boys jeering

Johnny, and learned the facts about

the boy*

The next day John S. came to

school with a new suit and with new

shoes, and told that the President had

called at his home and took him to the

store and bought two suits of clothes

for him and clothes for his sisters, and

sent coal and groceries to the house.

In addition to this the lad brought to

the teacher a scrap of paper contain-
so

OF THE BIBLE

ing a verse of Scripttfre, which Mr*
Lincoln had requested to have written
tipon the blackboard :

** Inasmuch as ye have done it unto
one of the least of these my brethren^
ye have done it unto me/^

Some weeks after the President vis-
ited the school^ and the teacher
directed his attention to the verse^
which was still there. Mr. Lincoln
read it ; then^ taking a crayon, said :
** Boyst I have another quotation from
the Bible, and I hope you will learn it
and come to know its truth as I have
known and felt it.^^ Then below the
other verse he wrote :

** It is more blessed to give than to
receive. A. LINCOLN/'

The influence of the Bible on the
life and literature of Lincoln was re-
markable* It gave to this nation and
the world a life of service, and in that

3J

LINCOLN'S USE

service he placed the most delicate
spirit of sincerity^ sobrietyt sympathyt
and love* In literature he has given
to xss abiding beatity in its simplicity
and strength of expression* Of his
Gettysburg speech the London Quar-
terly Review saidt substantially, that
the oration surpassed every produc-
tion of its class known in literature;
that only the oration of Pericles over
the victories of the Peloponnesian War
could be compared to it, and that was
put into his mouth by the historian
Thucydides* Mr* Sumner said it was
the most finished piece of oratory he
had ever seen* Every word was ap-
propriate* None could be omitted and
none added and none changed*

Professor Albert S* Cook, teacher of
English Language and Literature in
Yale, in his book. The Bible and Eng-
lish Prose Style, seeking to show the

32

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influence of the Bible on the style of
great writers, says: ** But the matter
is beyond dispute when we come to a
piece of classic prose like LincoIn^s
Second Inaugural, which certainly owes
nothing to the Romans of the Deca-
dence/^ Then this sample of the Bible
style is given: ^* ^ Neither party ex-
pected the magnitude or the duration
which it has already attained* Neither
anticipated that the cause of the con-
flict might cease with, or even before
the conflict itself should cease* Each
looked for an easier triumph, and a re-
sult less fundamental and astounding*
Both read the same Bible and prayed
to the same God, and each invoked his
aid against the other* It may seem
strange that any men should dare to
ask a just God^s assistance in wringing
their bread from the sweat of other
men^s faces; but let us judge not, that

33

LINCOLN'S USE

wc be not jtidgcd* The prayers of
both cotdd not be answered* That of
neither has been fully* The Almighty
has his own purposes! *

** At this point we may patise, for we
need no further demonstration of the
indebtedness of English prose style to
the Bible^ nor would it be easy to dis-
cover a better illustration of biblical
qualities in modem guise exemplified
in a passage of more interest to all the
world* South recognized it as a mark
of illiteracy to be fond of high-flown
metaphors and allegories, attended and
set off with scraps of Greek and Latin*
If this be true, the American people so
far escape the imputation as they have
set their seal of approval on such writ-
ings as LincoIn^s; and that they have
had judgment and taste to do so is due,
more than to any other cause, to their
familiarity with the Bible**

34

OF THE BIBLE

The spirit life of the Bible was btiilt
into LincoIn^s boyhood, expanded in
his young manhood, ripened in his
middle age, sustained him when sor-
rows seared his sotti, and gave to him a
grip upon God, man, freedom, and im-
mortality* The influence of the Bible
upon him gave him reverence for God
and his will; for Christianity and its
Christ; for the Holy Spirit and its help;
for prayer and its power; for praise and
its purpose; for the immortal impulse
and its inspiration*

Truly might Henry Watterson ask:
Where did Shakespeare get his gen-
ius? Where did Mozart get his music?
Whose hand smote the lyre of the Scot-
tish plowman, and stayed the life of
the German priest? God, God, and
God alone, and surely as these were
raised up by God, so was Abraham
Lincoln/'

35

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