The Religious Belief of Abraham Lincoln
Letter to Mr. Seip, New York, May 28, 1896.

by Robert G. Ingersoll
(1896)

From The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll (Dresden Edition, 1900–1902), Volume 12.
Source: https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/religious-belief-of-abraham-lincoln/
Public domain. CC0 / Public Domain Mark 1.0.

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New York, May 28, 1896.

MY DEAR MR. SEIP: I have carefully read your article on the religious
belief of Abraham Lincoln, and in accordance with your request I will
not only give you my opinion of the evidence upon which you rely, as set
out in your article, but my belief as to the religious opinions of Mr.
Lincoln, and the facts on which my belief rests.

You speak of a controversy between myself and General Collis upon this
subject. A few years ago I delivered a lecture on Mr. Lincoln, in this
city, and in that lecture said that Lincoln, so far as his religious
opinions were concerned, substantially agreed with Franklin,
Jefferson, Paine and Voltaire. Thereupon General Collis wrote me a note
contradicting what I had said and asserting that "Lincoln invoked the
power of Almighty God, not the Deist God, but the God whom he worshiped
under the forms of the Christian church of which he was a member." To
this I replied saying that Voltaire and Paine both believed in God, and
that Lincoln was never a member of any Christian church.

General Collis wrote another letter to which, I think, I made no reply,
for the reason that the General had demonstrated that he knew nothing
whatever on the subject. It was evident that he had never read the life
of Lincoln, because if he had, he would not have said that he was a
member of a church. It was also evident that he knew nothing about the
religious opinions of Franklin, Voltaire or Paine, or he would have
known that they were believers in the existence of a Supreme Being. It
did not seem to me that his letter was worthy of a reply.

Now as to your article: I find in what you have written very little that
is new. I do not remember ever to have seen anything about the statement
of the daughter of the Rev. Mr. Gurley in regard to Lincoln's letters.
The daughter, however, does not pretend to know the contents of the
letters and says that they were destroyed by fire; consequently these
letters, so far as this question is concerned, are of no possible
importance. The only thing in your article tending to show that Lincoln
was a Christian is the following: "I think I can say with sincerity that
I hope I am a Christian. I had lived until my Willie died without
fully realizing these things. That blow overwhelmed me. It showed me
my weakness as I had never felt it before, and I think I can safely say
that I know something of a change of heart, and I will further add that
it has been my intention for some time, at a suitable opportunity, to
make a public religious profession."

Now, if you had given the name of the person to whom this was said, and
if that person had told you that Lincoln did utter these words, then the
evidence would have been good; but you are forced to say that this was
said to an eminent Christian lady. You do not give this lady's name. I
take it for granted that her name is unknown, and that the name of the
person to whom she told the story is also unknown, and that the name
of the man who gave the story to the world is unknown. This falsehood,
according to your own showing, is an orphan, a lonely lie without
father or mother. Such testimony cannot be accepted. It is not even good
hearsay.

In the next point you make, you also bring forward the remarks claimed
to have been made by Mr. Lincoln when some colored people of Baltimore
presented him with a Bible. You say that he said that the Bible was
God's best gift to man, and but for the Bible we could not know right
from wrong. It is impossible that Lincoln should have uttered these
words. He certainly would not have said to some colored people that the
book that instituted human slavery was God's best gift to man; neither
could he have said that but for this book we could not know right from
wrong. If he said these things he was temporarily insane. Mr. Lincoln
was familiar with the lives of Socrates, Epictetus, Epicurus, Zeno,
Confucius, Zoroaster and Buddha, not one of whom ever heard of the
Bible. Certainly these men knew right from wrong. In my judgment they
would compare favorably with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and the Jews
that crucified Christ. These pretended remarks must be thrown away; they
could have been uttered only by an ignorant and thoughtless zealot, not
by a sensible, thoughtful man. Neither can we rely on any new evidence
given by the Rev. Mr. Gurley. If Mr. Gurley at any time claimed that
Lincoln was a Christian, such claim was born of an afterthought. Mr.
Gurley preached a funeral sermon over the body of Lincoln at the White
House, and in that sermon he did not claim that Mr. Lincoln was in any
sense a Christian. He said nothing about Christ. So, the testimony of
the Rev. Mr. Sunderland amounts to nothing. Lincoln did not tell him
that he was a Christian or that he believed in Christ. Not one of the
ministers that claim that Lincoln was a Christian, not one, testifies
that Lincoln so said in his hearing. So, the lives that have been
written of Lincoln by Holland and Arnold are of no possible authority.
Holland knew nothing about Lincoln; he relied on gossip, and was
exceedingly anxious to make Lincoln a Christian so that his Life would
sell. As a matter of fact, Mr. Arnold knew little of Lincoln, and knew
no more of his religious opinions than he seems to have known about the
opinions of Washington.

I find also in your article a claim that Lincoln said to somebody that
under certain conditions, that is to say, if a church had the Golden
Rule for its creed, he would join that church; but you do not give the
name of the friend to whom Lincoln made this declaration. Still, if
he made it, it does not tend to show that he was a Christian. A church
founded on the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would that others
should do unto you," would not in any sense be a Christian church.
It would be an ethical society. The testimony of Mr. Bateman has been
changed by himself, he having admitted that it was colored, that he
was not properly reported; so the night-walking scene given by James
E. Murdoch, does not even tend to show that Lincoln was a Christian.
According to Mr. Murdoch he was praying to the God of Solomon and he
never mentioned the name of Christ. I think, however, Mr. Murdoch's
story is too theatrical, and my own opinion is that it was a waking
dream. I think Lincoln was a man of too much sense, too much tact, to
have said anything to God about Solomon. Lincoln knew that what God did
for Solomon ended in failure, and if he wanted God to do something for
him (Lincoln) he would not have called attention to the other case. So
Bishop Simpson, in his oration or funeral sermon, said nothing about
Lincoln's having been a Christian.

Now, what is the testimony that you present that Lincoln was a
Christian?

First, Several of your witnesses say that he believed in God.

Second, Some say that he believed in the efficacy of prayer.

Third, Some say that he was a believer in Providence.

Fourth, An unknown person says that he said to another unknown person
that he was a Christian.

Fifth, You also claim that he said the Bible was the best gift of God to
man, and that without it we could not have known right from wrong.

The anonymous testimony has to be thrown away, so nothing is left except
the remarks claimed to have been made when the Bible was presented
by the colored people, and these remarks destroy themselves. It
is absolutely impossible that Lincoln could have uttered the words
attributed to him on that occasion. I know of no one who heard the
words, I know of no witness who says he heard them or that he knows
anybody who did. These remarks were not even heard by an "eminent
Christian lady," and we are driven to say that if Lincoln was a
Christian he took great pains to keep it a secret.

I believe that I am familiar with the material facts bearing upon the
religious belief of Mr. Lincoln, and that I know what he thought of
orthodox Christianity. I was somewhat acquainted with him and well
acquainted with many of his associates and friends, and I am familiar
with Mr. Lincoln's public utterances. Orthodox Christians have the habit
of claiming all great men, all men who have held important positions,
men of reputation, men of wealth. As soon as the funeral is over
clergymen begin to relate imaginary conversations with the deceased, and
in a very little while the great man is changed to a Christian—possibly
to a saint.

All this happened in Mr. Lincoln's case. Many pious falsehoods were
told, conversations were manufactured, and suddenly the church claimed
that the great President was an orthodox Christian. The truth is that
Lincoln in his religious views agreed with Franklin, Jefferson, and
Voltaire. He did not believe in the inspiration of the Bible or the
divinity of Christ or the scheme of salvation, and he utterly repudiated
the dogma of eternal pain.

In making up my mind as to what Mr. Lincoln really believed, I do not
take into consideration the evidence of unnamed persons or the contents
of anonymous letters; I take the testimony of those who knew and loved
him, of those to whom he opened his heart and to whom he spoke in the
freedom of perfect confidence.

Mr. Herndon was his friend and partner for many years. I knew Mr.
Herndon well. I know that Lincoln never had a better, warmer, truer
friend. Herndon was an honest, thoughtful, able, studious man, respected
by all who knew him. He was as natural and sincere as Lincoln himself.
On several occasions Mr. Herndon told me what Lincoln believed and what
he rejected in the realm of religion. He told me again and again
that Mr. Lincoln did not believe in the inspiration of the Bible, the
divinity of Christ, or in the existence of a personal God. There was no
possible reason for Mr. Herndon to make a mistake or to color the facts.

Justice David Davis was a life-long friend and associate of Mr. Lincoln,
and Judge Davis knew Lincoln's religious opinions and knew Lincoln as
well as anybody did. Judge Davis told me that Lincoln was a Freethinker,
that he denied the inspiration of the Bible, the divinity of Christ,
and all miracles. Davis also told me that he had talked with Lincoln on
these subjects hundreds of times.

I was well acquainted with Col. Ward H. Lamon and had many conversations
with him about Mr. Lincoln's religious belief, before and after he wrote
his life of Lincoln. He told me that he had told the exact truth in his
life of Lincoln, that Lincoln never did believe in the Bible, or in the
divinity of Christ, or in the dogma of eternal pain; that Lincoln was a
Freethinker.

For many years I was well acquainted with the Hon. Jesse W. Fell, one
of Lincoln's warmest friends. Mr. Fell often came to my house and we had
many talks about the religious belief of Mr. Lincoln. Mr. Fell told me
that Lincoln did not believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures, and
that he denied the divinity of Jesus Christ. Mr. Fell was very liberal
in his own ideas, a great admirer of Theodore Parker and a perfectly
sincere and honorable man.

For several years I was well acquainted with William G. Green, who was
a clerk with Lincoln at New Salem in the early days, and who admired and
loved Lincoln with all his heart. Green told me that Lincoln was always
an Infidel, and that he had heard him argue against the Bible hundreds
of times. Mr. Green knew Lincoln, and knew him well, up to the time of
Lincoln's death.

The Hon. James Tuttle of Illinois was a great friend of Lincoln, and
he is, if living, a friend of mine, and I am a friend of his. He knew
Lincoln well for many years, and he told me again and again that Lincoln
was an Infidel. Mr. Tuttle is a Freethinker himself and has always
enjoyed the respect of his neighbors. A man with purer motives does not
live.

So I place great reliance on the testimony of Col. John G. Nicolay. Six
weeks after Mr. Lincoln's death Colonel Nicolay said that he did not in
any way change his religious ideas, opinions or belief from the time he
left Springfield until the day of his death.

In addition to all said by the persons I have mentioned, Mrs. Lincoln
said that her husband was not a Christian. There are many other
witnesses upon this question whose testimony can be found in a book
entitled "Abraham Lincoln, was he a Christian?" written by John E.
Remsburg, and published in 1893. In that book will be found all
the evidence on both sides. Mr. Remsburg states the case with great
clearness and demonstrates that Lincoln was not a Christian.

Now, what is a Christian?

First. He is a believer in the existence of God, the Creator and
Governor of the Universe.

Second. He believes in the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments.

Third. He believes in the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ; that the
Holy Ghost was his father.

Fourth. He believes that this Christ was offered as a sacrifice for the
sins of men, that he was crucified, dead and buried, that he arose from
the dead and that he ascended into heaven.

Fifth. He believes in the "fall of man," in the scheme of redemption
through the atonement.

Sixth. He believes in salvation by faith, that the few are to be
eternally happy, and that the many are to be eternally damned.

Seventh. He believes in the Trinity, in God the Father, God the Son and
God the Holy Ghost.

Now, is there the slightest evidence to show that Lincoln believed in
the inspiration of the Old and New Testaments?

Has anybody said that he was heard to say that he so believed?

Does anybody testify that Lincoln believed in the miraculous birth of
Jesus Christ, that the Holy Ghost was the father or that Christ was or
is God?

Has anybody testified that Lincoln believed that Christ was raised from
the dead?

Did anyone ever hear him say that he believed in the ascension of
Jesus Christ? Did anyone ever hear him assert that he believed in the
forgiveness of sins, or in salvation by faith, or that belief was a
virtue and investigation a crime?

Where, then, is the evidence that he was a Christian?

There is another reason for thinking that Lincoln never became a
Christian.

All will admit that he was an honest man, that he discharged all
obligations perceived, and did what he believed to be his duty. If
he had become a Christian it was his duty publicly to say so. He was
President; he had the ear of the nation; every citizen, had he spoken,
would have listened. It was his duty to make a clear, explicit statement
of his conversion, and it was his duty to join some orthodox church, and
he should have given his reasons. He should have endeavored to reach
the heart and brain of the Republic. It was unmanly for him to keep his
"second birth" a secret and sneak into heaven leaving his old friends to
travel the road to hell.

Great pains have been taken to show that Mr. Lincoln believed in,
and worshiped the one true God. This by many is held to have been his
greatest virtue, the foundation of his character, and yet, the God he
worshiped, the God to whom he prayed, allowed him to be assassinated.

Is it possible that God will not protect his friends?
