Herndon's Association with Lincoln--Character--Writings--
Competency as a Witness,--The Abbott Letter--Contribution to
the Liberal Age--Article in the Truth Seeker--Herndon's
"Life of Lincoln."
Having presented and reviewed the evidence in behalf of the affirmative
of this question, the evidence in support of the negative will next be
given, and in consideration of his long and intimate association with
Lincoln, and the character and comprehensiveness of his testimony, the
first to testify will be Hon. Wm. H. Herndon, of Springfield, Ill.
In 1843, Lincoln formed a partnership with Mr. Herndon in the law
business, which existed for a period of twenty-two years, and was only
dissolved by the bullet of the assassin. The strong attachment that
these men had for each other is illustrated in the following touching
incident, related in "The Everyday Life of Lincoln:"
"When he was about to leave for Washington, he went to the dingy little
law office which had sheltered his saddest hours. He sat down on the
couch and said to his law-partner, Herndon, 'Billy, you and I have been
together more than twenty years, and have never "passed a word." Will
you let my name stay on the old sign till I come back from Washington?'
The tears started to Mr. Herndon's eyes. He put out his hand. 'Mr.
Lincoln,' said he, 'I will never have any other partner while you live;'
and to the day of the assassination all the doings of the firm were in
the name of 'Lincoln & Herndon'" (Everyday Life of Lincoln, p. 377).
Mr. Herndon died in 1891. Though younger than his illustrious partner,
he was at the time of his death well advanced in years. He had retired
from the active practice of law, and resided at his country home
near Springfield. He was noted for his rugged honesty, for his broad
philanthropy, and for his strong and original mental qualities. He was
one of the pioneers in the antislavery movement, and one of the founders
of the Republican party. He was the Republican nominee for Presidential
Elector of the Springfield district when the first Republican ticket,
Fremont and Dayton, was placed in the field. Governor Bissell, Governor
Yates and Governor Oglesby successively appointed him Bank Commissioner
of Illinois. His talents were recognized and his friendship was sought
by many of the most eminent men in the nation. Garrison stopped for
weeks at his home; Theodore Parker was his guest; Horace Greeley was his
devoted friend, and Charles Sumner was his friend and correspondent.
When Lincoln and Herndon were first thrown into each other's society,
Lincoln's mind was dwelling, for the most part, in the theological (or
rather anti-theological) world, while Herndon's found a most congenial
habitation in the world of politics. They were destined to exercise
an important influence in molding each other's characters. Herndon was
indebted chiefly to Lincoln for the religious views he entertained,
while Lincoln was indebted mainly to Herndon for the political
principles which he finally espoused. Colonel Lamon, in his "Life of
Lincoln," gives the following truthful sketch of the character of the
man whom Lincoln made a Deist, and who in turn made an Abolitionist of
Lincoln. Alluding to the Abolitionists of Illinois, as they appeared in
1854, when Lincoln took his stand on the side of freedom, Lamon says:
"Chief among them was Owen Lovejoy; and second to him, if second to any,
was William H. Herndon. But the position of this latter gentleman
was one of singular embarrassment. According to himself, he was an
Abolitionist 'some time before he was born,' and hitherto he had made
his 'calling and election sure' by every word and act of a life devoted
to political philanthropy and disinterested political labors. While the
two great national parties divided the suffrages of the people, North
and South, everything in his eyes was dead. He detested the bargains by
which those parties were in the habit of composing sectional troubles,
and sacrificing the principle of freedom. When the Whig party paid its
breath to time, he looked upon its last agonies as but another instance
of divine retribution. He had no patience with time-servers, and
regarded with indignant contempt the policy which would postpone
the natural rights of an enslaved race to the success of parties and
politicians. He stood by at the sacrifice of the Whig party in Illinois
with the spirit of Paul when he held the clothes of them that stoned
Stephen. He believed it was for the best, and hoped to see a new party
rise in its place, great in the fervor of its faith, and animated by
the spirit of Wilberforce, Garrison, and the Lovejoys. He was a fierce
zealot, and gloried proudly in his title of 'fanatic;' for it was his
conviction that fanatics were at all times the salt of the earth, with
power to save it from the blight that follows the wickedness of men. He
believed in a God, but it was the God of Nature--the God of Socrates and
Plato, as well as the God of Jacob. He believed in a Bible, but it
was the open scroll of the universe; and in a religion clear and well
defined, but it was a religion that scorned what he deemed the narrow
slavery of verbal inspiration. Hot-blooded, impulsive, brave, morally
and physically, careless of consequences when moved by a sense of
individual duty, he was the very man to receive into his inmost heart
the precepts of Mr. Seward's 'higher law'" (Life of Lincoln, pp. 350,
351).
His literary abilities, both as a speaker and as a writer, were of a
high order. He had written a meritorious work on Mental Philosophy,
and a "Life of Lincoln," which had just been published when he died. In
addition to numerous addresses upon historical, economical, and other
subjects he prepared and delivered several able and interesting lectures
on Lincoln: "Abraham Lincoln and Ann Rutledge," a beautiful and touching
representation of that pathetic and romantic love episode which forms
one of the saddest chapters in Lincoln's history; "The Analysis of
Lincoln's Character," which appears in the "Lincoln Memorial Album," and
"Lincoln's Religion," which was published in the _State Register_, of
Springfield, Ill.
Carpenter, and in fact nearly every writer on Lincoln, has made free use
of Herndon's writings. Carpenter declares that his "masterly 'Analysis
of Lincoln's Character' has scarcely an equal in the annals of
biographical literature." Both Holland and Lamon acknowledge that they
were more deeply indebted to him in the preparation of their respective
works than to any other person. The Petersburg _Democrat_, published in
Menard county, where Lincoln spent the first years of his manhood, says:
"Mr. Herndon was the law partner of Mr. Lincoln from 1843 to 1860, and
knew his inner life better than any other man." The Sangamon county
_Monitor_, of Springfield, where Lincoln lived for a quarter of a
century, says: "Herndon knew Lincoln's views better than any man in
America." Judge David Davis, the lifelong friend of Lincoln, in whose
court both Lincoln and Herndon practiced for years, declared that
Herndon knew more about Lincoln's religion than any other man.
In this chapter will be reproduced the evidence of Mr. Herndon that has
already been made public.
The first elaborate exposition of Lincoln's Free-thought views was made
in 1870, in what is known as the "Abbott Letter," an article which Mr.
Herndon by request contributed to the _Index_, a paper then published at
Toledo, O., and edited by Francis E. Abbott. The article was extensively
copied and commented upon, and produced a profound sensation in the
religious world, which, to a great extent, had been misled by such
writers as Holland. The first and more important part of Mr. Herndon's
article will now be presented:
"Mr. Abbott: Some time since I promised you that I would send a letter
in relation to Mr. Lincoln's religion. I do so now. Before entering on
that question, one or two preliminary remarks will help us to understand
why he disagreed with the Christian world in its principles as well as
in its theology. In the first place, Mr. Lincoln's mind was a purely
logical mind; secondly, Mr. Lincoln was a purely practical man. He
had no fancy or imagination, and not much emotion. He was a realist
as opposed to an idealist. As a general rule, it is true that a purely
logical mind has not much hope, if it ever has faith in the unseen and
unknown. Mr. Lincoln had not much hope and no faith in things that
lie outside of the domain of demonstration; he was so constituted, so
organized, that he could believe nothing unless his senses or logic
could reach it. I have often read to him a law point, a decision, or
something I fancied. He could not understand it until he took the
book out of my hand, and read the thing for himself. He was terribly,
vexatiously skeptical. He could scarcely understand anything, unless he
had time and place fixed in his mind.
"I became acquainted with Mr. Lincoln in 1834, and I think I knew him
well to the day of his death. His mind, when a boy in Kentucky, showed a
certain gloom, an unsocial nature, a peculiar abstractedness, a bold and
daring skepticism. In Indiana, from 1817 to 1830, it manifested the same
qualities or attributes as in Kentucky: it only intensified, developed
itself, along those lines in Indiana. He came to Illinois in 1830, and,
after some little roving, settled in New Salem, now in Menard county
and state of Illinois. This village lies about twenty miles northwest of
this city. It was here that Mr. Lincoln became acquainted with a class
of men the world never saw the like of before or since. They were large
men--large in body and large in mind; hard to whip and never to be
fooled. They were a bold, daring, and reckless sort of men; they were
men of their own minds--believed what was demonstrable; were men of
great common sense. With these men Mr. Lincoln was thrown; with them
he lived, and with them he moved and almost had his being. They were
skeptics all--scoffers some. These scoffers were good men, and their
scoffs were protests against theology--loud protests against the follies
of Christianity. They had never heard of Theism and the newer and better
religious thoughts of this age. Hence, being natural skeptics, and being
bold, brave men, they uttered their thoughts freely. They declared
that Jesus was an illegitimate child. They were on all occasions, when
opportunity offered, debating the various questions of Christianity
among themselves. They took their stand on common sense and on their
own souls; and, though their arguments were rude and rough, no man
could overthrow their homely logic. They riddled all divines, and not
unfrequently made them skeptics, disbelievers as bad as themselves.
They were a jovial, healthful, generous, social, true, and manly set of
people. It was here and among these people that Mr. Lincoln was thrown.
About the year 1834 he chanced to come across Volney's 'Ruins' and
some of Paine's theological works. He at once seized hold of them, and
assimilated them into his own being. Volney and Paine became a part of
Mr. Lincoln from 1834 to the end of his life. "In 1835 he wrote out a
small work on Infidelity, and intended to have it published. This book
was an attack upon the whole grounds of Christianity, and especially
was it an attack upon the idea that Jesus was the Christ, the true and
only-begotten son of God, as the Christian world contends. Mr. Lincoln
was at that time in New Salem, keeping store for Mr. Samuel Hill,
a merchant and postmaster of that place. Lincoln and Hill were very
friendly. Hill, I think, was a skeptic at this time. Lincoln, one day
after the book was finished, read it to Mr. Hill, his good friend. Hill
tried to persuade him not to make it public, not to publish it. Hill
at that time saw in Mr. Lincoln a rising man, and wished him success.
Lincoln refused to destroy it--said it should be published. Hill
swore it should never see light of day. He had an eye on Lincoln's
popularity--his present and future success; and believing that if the
book was published it would kill Lincoln forever, he snatched it from
Lincoln's hand when Lincoln was not expecting it, and ran it into
an old-fashioned tinplate stove, heated as hot as a furnace; and so
Lincoln's book went up to the clouds in smoke. It is confessed by all
who heard parts of it that it was at once able and eloquent; and, if I
may judge of it from Mr. Lincoln's subsequent ideas and opinions, often
expressed to me and to others in my presence, it was able, strong,
plain, and fair. His argument was grounded on the internal mistakes of
the Old and New Testaments, and on reason and on the experiences and
observations of men. The criticisms from internal defects were sharp,
strong, and manly.
"Mr. Lincoln moved to this city in 1837, and here became acquainted
with various men of his own way of thinking. At that time they called
themselves Freethinkers, or free thinking men. I remember all these
things distinctly; for I was with them, heard them, and was one of them.
Mr. Lincoln here found other works--Hume, Gibbon, and others--and drank
them in. He made no secret of his views; no concealment of his religion.
He boldly avowed himself an Infidel.
"When Mr. Lincoln was a candidate for our Legislature, he was accused
of being an Infidel and of having said that Jesus Christ was an
illegitimate child. He never denied his opinions nor flinched from his
religious views. He was a true man, and yet it may be truthfully said
that in 1837 his religion was low indeed. In his moments of gloom he
would doubt, if he did not sometimes deny, God.
"Mr. Lincoln ran for Congress against the Rev. Peter Cartwright in the
year 1846. In that contest he was accused of being an Infidel, if not
an Atheist. He never denied the charge--would not--'would die first.'
In the first place, because he knew it could and would be proved on him;
and in the second place, he was too true to his own convictions, to his
own soul, to deny it.
"When Mr. Lincoln left this city for Washington, I knew he had undergone
no change in his religious opinions or views. He held many of the
Christian ideas in abhorrence, and among them there was this one,
namely, that God would forgive the sinner for a violation of his laws.
Lincoln maintained that God could not forgive; that punishment has to
follow the sin; that Christianity was wrong in teaching forgiveness.
"From what I know of Mr. Lincoln, and from what I have heard and
verily believe, I can say, first, that he did not believe in a special
creation, his idea being that all creation was an evolution under
law; secondly, that he did not believe that the Bible was a special
revelation from God, as the Christian world contends; thirdly, he
did not believe in miracles as understood by Christians; fourthly, he
believed in universal inspiration and miracles under law; fifthly,
he did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the son of God, as the
Christian church contends; sixthly, he believed that all things,
both matter and mind, were governed by laws, universal, absolute, and
eternal. All his speeches and remarks in Washington conclusively prove
this. Law was to Lincoln everything, and special interferences, shams
and delusions."
In 1874 Mr. Herndon delivered in Springfield a lecture on "Lincoln's
Religion." It was a reply to Reed's lecture, and was published in the
_State Register_, of Springfield. In this lecture he reaffirms the
statements made in the "Abbott Letter," supports them with substantial
arguments and proofs, and completely overthrows the claims advanced by
Reed. From it I quote the following:
"It is a curious fact that when any man by his genius, good fortune,
or otherwise rises to public notice and to fame, it does not make much
difference what life he has led, that the whole Christian world claims
him as a Christian, to be forever held up to view as a hero and a saint
during all the coming ages, just as if religion would die out of the
soul of man unless the great dead be canonized as a model Christian.
This is a species of hero or saint worship. Lincoln they are determined
to enthrone among the saints, to be forever worshiped as such."
"I believe that Mr. Lincoln did not late in life become a firm believer
in the Christian religion. What! Mr. Lincoln discard his logical
faculties and reason with his heart? What! Mr. Lincoln believe that
Jesus was the Christ of God, the true and only begotten son of him, as
the Christian creed contends? What! Mr. Lincoln believe that the New
Testament is of special divine authority, and fully and infallibly
inspired, as the Christian contends? What! Mr. Lincoln abandon his
lifelong ideas of universal, eternal and absolute laws and contend that
the New Testament is any more inspired than Homer's poems, than Milton's
'Paradise Lost,' than Shakspere, than his own eloquent and inspired
oration at Gettysburg? What! Mr. Lincoln believe that the great Creator
had connection through the form and instrumentality of a shadow with a
Jewish girl? Blasphemy! These things must be believed and acknowledged
in order to be a Christian."
"One word concerning this discussion about Mr. Lincoln's religious
views. It is important in this: 1. It settles a historic fact. 2. It
makes it possible to write a true history of a man free from the fear
of fire and stake. 3. It assures the reading public that the life of Mr.
Lincoln will be truly written. 4. It will be a warning forever to all
untrue men, that the life they have lived will be held up to view. 5. It
should convince the Christian pulpit and press that it is impossible in
this day and generation, at least in America, to daub up sin, and make
a hero out of a fool, a knave, or a villain, which Mr. Lincoln was not.
Some true spirit will drag the fraud and lie out to the light of day. 6.
Its tendency will be to arrest and put a stop to romantic biographies.
And now let it be written in history, and on Mr. Lincoln's tomb: 'He
died an unbeliever.'"
In January, 1883, Mr. Herndon contributed an article on "Lincoln's
Religion" to the _Liberal Age_, of Milwaukee. From this article the
following extracts are taken and submitted:
"In 1837, Mr. Lincoln moved to the city of Springfield, and there came
across many people of his own belief. They called themselves at that
time Freethinkers. Some of these men were highly educated and polished
gentlemen. Mr. Lincoln read in this city Hume, Gibbon, and other
Liberal books. He was in this city from 1837 to 1861, an
Infidel--Freethinker--Liberal--Free Religionist--of the radical type."
"In his philosophy, he was a realist, as opposed to an idealist; he was
a sensationalist, as opposed to an intuitionalist; and was a materialist
as opposed to a spiritualist."
"Some good men and women say that Mr. Lincoln was a Christian, because
he was a moral man. They say that he was a _rational_ Christian, because
he loved morality. Do not other people, who are not Christians, love
morality? Morality is not _the_ test of Christianity, by any means.
If it is the test, then all moral men, Atheists, Agnostics, Infidels,
Mohammedans, Buddhists, Mormons, and the rest, are Christians. A
_rational_ Christian is an anomaly, an impossibility; because when
reason is left free, it demands proofs--it relies on experience,
observation, logic, nature, laws. Why not call Mr. Lincoln a rational
Buddhist, a rational Mohammedan, a rational Confucian, a rational
Mormon, for all these, if true to their faith, love morality."
"Did Mr. Lincoln believe in prayer as a means of moving God? It is said
to me by Christians, touching his religion: 'Did not he, in his parting
speech in Springfield, in 1861, say, "I hope you, my friends, will
pray that I may receive," etc.?' and to which I say, yes. In his last
Inaugural he said: 'Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray.' These
expressions are merely conventional. They do not prove that Mr. Lincoln
believed that prayer is a means of moving God.... He believed, as I
understood him, that human prayer did the prayer good; that prayer
was but a drum beat--the taps of the spirit on the living human soul,
arousing it to acts of repentance for bad deeds done, or to inspire it
to a loftier and a higher effort for a nobler and a grander life."
"Did Mr. Lincoln, in his said Inaugural, say: 'Both read the same _Word
of God?_' No, because that would be admitting revelation. He said: 'Both
read the same _Bible_' Did Mr. Lincoln say: 'Yet if God wills that
it [the war] continue till all the wealth piled by the bondman's two
hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until
every drop of blood drawn by the lash shall be paid with another drawn
by the sword, _as was said by God_ three thousand years ago?' He did
not; he was cautious, and said: 'As was said_ three thousand years ago_.'
Jove never nods."
A little later Mr. Herndon wrote an article entitled, "Abraham Lincoln's
Religious Belief," which appeared in the _Truth Seeker_ of New York.
From this article I quote the following passages:
"In 1842 I heard Mr. Lincoln deliver a speech before the Washingtonian
Temperance Society, of this city.... He scored the Christians for the
position they had taken. He said in that lecture this: 'If they [the
Christians] believe, as they profess--that Omnipotence condescended
to take on himself the form of sinful man,' etc. This was spoken with
energy. He scornfully and contemptuously emphasized the words _as they
profess_. The rebuke was as much in the manner of utterance as in
the substance of what was said. I heard the criticisms of some of
the Christians that night. They said the speech was an insult and an
outrage."
"It is my opinion that no man ever heard Mr. Lincoln pray, in the true
evangelical sense of that word. His philosophy is against all human
prayer, as a means of reversing God's decrees."
"He has told me often that there was no freedom in the human will, and
no punishment beyond this world. He denied God's higher law, and wrote
on the margin of a newspaper to his friends in the Chicago convention
in 1860, this: 'Lincoln agrees with Seward in his irrepressible-conflict
idea; but he is opposed to Seward's _higher law_' This paper was handed
to Judge Davis, Judge Logan, and other friends."
"Mr. Lincoln and a minister, whose name is kept in the dark, had a
conversation about religion. It appears that Mr. Lincoln said that when
his son--bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh, and blood of his own
heart--died, though a severe affliction, it did not arouse him to think
of Christ; but when he saw the graves of so many soldiers--strangers to
him--... that sad sight aroused him to love Jesus.... It is a fine thing
for the reputation of the 'Illinois Clergyman' that his name is to the
world unknown. It is a most heartless thing, this supposed conversation
of Lincoln with the Illinois clergyman. What! Lincoln feel more for the
_graves_ of strangers than for the death of his once living, loving, and
lovable son, now dead, moldering to ashes in the silent tomb! The charge
is barbarous. To make Lincoln a lover of Jesus, whom he once ridiculed,
this minister makes him a savage." "I wish to give an illustration
of the uncertainty and unreliability of those loose things that float
around in the newspapers of the day, and how liable things are to be
inaccurate--so made even by the best of men. Mr. Lincoln on the morning
he started for Washington to take the oath of office, and be inaugurated
President of this great Republic, gave a short farewell address to his
old friends. It was eloquent and touching. That speech is copied in
Holland's 'Life of Lincoln,' in Arnold's 'Lincoln and Slavery,' and in
Lamon's 'Life of Lincoln,' and no two are exactly alike. If it is hard
to get the exact truth on such an occasion as this, how impossible is it
to get at Mr. Lincoln's sayings which have been written out by men weeks
and months after what he did say have passed by! All these loose and
foolish things that Mr. Lincoln is supposed to have said are like the
cords of driftwood, floating on the bosom of the great Mississippi, down
to the great gulf of--Forgetfulness. Let them go."
Herndon's "Life of Lincoln," is a most important contribution to
biographical literature. It will enable the present and future
generations to become better acquainted with Lincoln the man than with
any other prominent American. The author has performed substantially the
same work for Lincoln that Boswell performed for Johnson; only he has
performed it more faithfully. Political partisans and religious bigots
may condemn the work, but impartial critics are almost unanimous in
their praise of it.
The metropolitan journals of Lincoln's and Hern-don's own state commend
the work. The Chicago Tribune says: "All these loving adherents [of
Lincoln] will hail Herndon's 'Lincoln' with unmixed, unbounded joy." The
Chicago _Times_ says: "Herndon's 'Life' is the best yet written." The
_Inter Ocean_ says that Herndon "knew more of Lincoln's inner life than
any living man." The Chicago _Herald_ says: "It enables one to approach
more closely to the great President." The Chicago _Evening Journal_
says: "It presents a truthful and living picture of the greatest of
Americans."
The _Nation_ thus refers to it: "The sincerity and honesty of the
biographer appear on every page." The New York _Sun_ says: "The marks of
unflinching veracity are patent in every line." The Washington _Capital_
says that it places "Lincoln before the world as he really was." The
_Commercial Gazette_, of Cincinnati, says: "He describes the life of his
friend Lincoln just as he saw it." The _Morning Call_, of San Francisco,
affirms that it "contains the only true history of the lamented
President." The St. Louis _Republic_ says: "It will do more to shape the
judgment of posterity on Mr. Lincoln's character than all that has been
written or will be hereafter written."
In this work Mr. Herndon states in brief the substance of the articles
already quoted in this chapter. I quote as follows:
"No man had a stronger or firmer faith in Providence--God--than Mr.
Lincoln, but the continued use by him late in life of the word God must
not be interpreted to mean that he believed in a personal God. In 1854
he asked me to erase the word _God_ from a speech which I had written
and read to him for criticism, because my language indicated a personal
God, whereas he insisted that no such personality ever existed" (Life
of Lincoln, pp. 445, 446).
"The world has always insisted on making an orthodox Christian of him,
and to analyze his language or sound his belief is but to break the idol"
(Ibid).
"The benevolence of his impulses, the seriousness of his convictions,
and the nobility of his character, are evidences unimpeachable that his
soul was ever filled with the exalted purity and the sublime faith of
natural religion" (Ib.).