"THE CHRISTIAN'S DEFENCE"
IN the spring of the year 1850, after the death of their little son
Eddie, Mr. and Mrs. Lincoln visited Mrs. Lincoln's relatives in
Kentucky. While they were on this visit, Mr. Lincoln picked up a
book entitled _The Christian's Defence_, by Rev. James Smith. He was
interested, for Dr. Smith was a townsman of his, and in the absence of
Mrs. Lincoln's rector Dr. Smith had conducted the little boy's funeral
service in the Lincoln home. Lincoln read a part but not the whole
of the book while on this visit. Dr. Smith, as the book showed, had
himself been a doubter, but had become convinced of the truth of the
Christian religion, and had become a valiant defender of the faith, and
an eager debater with skeptics. Out of a three weeks' discussion with
one of these this book had grown.
On his return to Springfield Mr. Lincoln took occasion to secure the
book, and to cultivate a closer acquaintance with its author.
Lincoln found him well worth knowing; and the reader of this book
deserves an introduction to him and his work.
I have obtained from Miss Jeanette E. Smith, of Springfield,
granddaughter of Rev. James Smith, a considerable body of manuscript
and other material relating to her grandfather.
James Smith was born in Glasgow, Scotland, May 11, 1801, and died in
Scotland July 3, 1871. He was the son of Peter and Margaret Smith. In
youth he was wild, and in his opinions was a deist; but when converted
he became a fearless defender of the faith. He was a big, brainy
man, with a great voice and with positive convictions. He was called
from Shelbyville, Kentucky, to the First Church of Springfield, his
pastorate beginning March 14, 1849, and closing December 17, 1856.
He was a strong temperance man. His sermon on "The Bottle, Its Evils
and Its Remedy," from Habakkuk 2:15, was preached on January 23,
1853, and printed at the request of thirty-nine men who heard it,
Abraham Lincoln being one of those who signed the request. "Friends of
Temperance" they called themselves. I have a copy of this remarkable
sermon. In one part it essayed a vindication of the distiller and
liquor-seller, affirming that a community that licensed them had no
right to abuse them for doing what they had paid for the privilege of
doing; and that the State with money in its pocket received as a share
in the product of drunkenness had no right to condemn the saloonkeeper
for his share in the partnership. He called on the Legislature then in
session to pass a prohibitory law, forbidding all sale of intoxicating
liquor except for medical, mechanical, and sacramental purposes.
Such sermons became abundant forty years afterward, but they were
not abundant in 1853. Dr. Smith was one of the men who held these
convictions, and Abraham Lincoln was one of the men who wanted to see
them printed and circulated.
It is remarkable that all knowledge of the massive book which Dr.
Smith wrote and published should have perished from Springfield.
Lamon manifestly knew nothing of it as a book, but thought of it as
a manuscript tract, prepared especially for the ambitious business
of converting Mr. Lincoln. His sarcastic description implies this,
and Herndon, who may have known better at the time, had apparently
forgotten. Both men were disqualified for the discussion of it by their
ignorance of it, as well as the violence of their prejudice.
On February 12, 1909, a service was held in the old First Presbyterian
Church in Springfield, then occupied by the Lutherans, the
Presbyterians having erected a larger building. The address was given
by Rev. Thomas D. Logan, Dr. Smith's successor, whose pastorate had
begun in 1888. In all the more than twenty years of his ministry in
Springfield, he had never seen this book. He had never known of it as
a book at the time he wrote the first draft of this centenary address.
The substance of the address he sent in advance as an article for
the Lincoln Number of _The Continent_ in February, 1909; but in the
revision of the proof he inserted a footnote saying that Dr. Smith's
granddaughter, Miss Jeanette E. Smith, had come into possession of a
copy of her grandfather's book, which he had just seen.
The prime reason for this complete ignorance of the book, even in the
church which Lincoln attended, is that it was published six years
before Dr. Smith came to Springfield, in a limited edition, and
completely sold out before it came from the press; so that it never
came into general circulation in Springfield.
Miss Smith has placed at my disposal her own copy of this book,
which was her grandfather's, and I have been able to locate about a
half-dozen copies in various public libraries, and by rare good fortune
to buy one for myself.
Dr. Smith's statement was made in a letter from Cainno, Scotland, dated
January 24, 1867:
"It was my honor to place before Mr. Lincoln arguments designed
to prove the divine authority and inspiration of the Scriptures,
accompanied by the arguments of infidel objectors in their own
language. To the arguments on both sides Mr. Lincoln gave a most
patient, impartial, and searching investigation. To use his own
language, he examined the arguments as a lawyer who is anxious
to investigate truth investigates testimony. The result was the
announcement made by himself that the argument in favor of the divine
authority and inspiration of the Scriptures was unanswerable."--REV.
JAMES A. REED: "The Later Life and Religious Sentiments of Abraham
Lincoln," _Scribner's Magazine_, July, 1873, p. 333.
Mr. Thomas Lewis, a lawyer whose office adjoined that of Mr. Lincoln in
Springfield, and who for a time was in the same office, was an elder in
the church which Lincoln attended. In 1898 he wrote his recollections
of Dr. Smith's book and its influence upon Mr. Lincoln:
"I was an elder, trustee, treasurer, collector, superintendent of
the Sunday school, and pew-renter. The following Tuesday, after the
second Sunday, Mr. Lincoln called on me and inquired if there were
any pews to rent in the church. I replied, 'Yes, and a very desirable
one, vacated by Governor Madison, who has just left the city.' 'What
is the rent?' said he. 'Fifty dollars, payable quarterly.' He handed
me $12.50. Said he, 'Put it down to me.' From that date he paid each
three months on said pew until he left for Washington; and from the
first Sunday he was there I have not known of his not occupying that
pew every Sunday he was in the city until he left. The seat was
immediately in front of mine. The third Sunday his children came in
the Sunday school.
"Shortly thereafter there was a revival in the church, and Mr. and
Mrs. Lincoln, when he was in the city, attended meeting. In his
absence she was there. They attended not only the regular meetings,
but the inquiry meetings also, and it was the belief that both would
unite with the church. When the candidates were examined Mr. Lincoln
was in Detroit, prosecuting a patent right case, a branch of the
profession in which he had acquired an enviable reputation. Mrs.
Lincoln stated that she was confirmed in the Episcopal Church when
twelve years of age, but did not wish to join the church by letter,
but upon profession of faith, as she was never converted until Dr.
Smith's preaching. She was admitted [1852]. Mr. Lincoln never applied.
Some months later the session of the church invited Mr. Lincoln to
deliver a lecture on the Bible. When it became known that Mr. Lincoln
was to lecture in the Presbyterian church it assured a full house. It
was said by divines and others to be the ablest defense of the Bible
ever uttered in that pulpit.
"From the introduction of Mr. Lincoln to Dr. Smith their intimacy was
of a most cordial character. At their last meeting previous to Mr.
Lincoln's leaving for Washington, as they parted, Mr. Lincoln said,
'Doctor, I wish to be remembered in the prayers of yourself and our
church members.'"--_Illinois State Register_, December 10, 1898.
A very interesting bit of testimony to the relations of Mr. Lincoln
and his pastor, Dr. Smith, was given by Rev. William Bishop, D.D., in
an address at Salina, Kansas, on February 12, 1897, and published in
the local papers at the time. Dr. Bishop was graduated from Illinois
College in 1850, and for a time was a member of the faculty there. In
the summer after his graduation, he supplied Dr. Smith's pulpit during
his vacation:
"I first met Dr. Smith in the summer of 1850 in Jacksonville, at
the commencement exercises of Illinois College, from which I had
graduated and had just been appointed a member of the faculty of
instruction. The acquaintance then formed ripened into mutual and
congenial friendship. And during the two years of my connection with
the college I was frequently a visitor and guest at his house in
Springfield, and when, by reason of removal to another institution
in another State, the visits were fewer and farther between, 'a free
epistolary correspondence' continued to strengthen and brighten the
links of fellowship. With his other accomplishments, Dr. Smith was
an interesting and instructive conversationalist--in fact, quite a
raconteur, somewhat like his friend Lincoln, always ready with a
story to illustrate his opinions, and which gave piquancy to his
conversation. Whenever he had occasion to speak of Lincoln he always
evinced the strongest attachment and the warmest friendship for him,
which was known to be fully reciprocated. Democrat as he was, and
tinged with Southern hues--though never a secessionist--there seemed
to be a mystic cord uniting the minister and the lawyer. This was
subsequently beautifully shown on the part of Mr. Lincoln, who never
forgot to do a generous thing. When he was elected President Dr. Smith
and wife were getting old, their children all married and gone, except
their youngest[42] son, a young man of twenty-three or four years of
age. One of Lincoln's first official acts, after his inauguration,
was the appointment of this young man to the consulate at Dundee,
Scotland. The doctor, with his wife and son, returned to the land of
his birth. The son soon returned to America, and Dr. Smith himself
was appointed consul, which position he retained until his death in
1871.
"In the spring of 1857 Dr. Smith, anticipating a necessary absence
from his church of two or three months during the summer, invited me
to supply his pulpit until his return. Being young and inexperienced
in the ministry, with considerable hesitation I accepted his urgent
invitation. So I spent my college vacation performing as best I could
this service. Mr. Lincoln was a regular attendant at church and
evidently an attentive hearer and devout worshiper.
"As a college student I had seen and heard him and looked up to him
as a being towering above common men; and, I confess, I was not a
little intimidated by his presence as he sat at the end of a seat
well forward toward the pulpit, with his deep eyes fixed upon me, and
his long legs stretched out in the middle aisle to keep them from
[using one of his own colloquialisms] being scrouged in the narrow
space between the pews. My 'stage fright,' however, was soon very much
relieved by his kindliness and words of encouragement.
"On a certain Sunday, the third, as I recollect it, in my term of
service, I delivered a discourse on the text, 'Without God in the
World.' The straight translation from the Greek is, 'Atheists in the
World.' In discussing atheism, theoretical and practical, I endeavored
to elucidate and enforce the fallacy of the one and the wickedness
of the other. At the close of the service Mr. Lincoln came up and,
putting his right hand in mine and his left on my shoulder, with other
impressive remarks, said, 'I can say "Amen" to all that you have said
this morning.' From that time on my interest in him grew apace.
"He was then known extensively all over the West as a great and good
man, and only a year afterward he bounded into national fame by his
victory in the great debate with Douglas, who, up to that time, was
regarded as a debater invincible.
"During my brief sojourn in Springfield I had many opportunities of
meeting Lincoln, hearing him, and talking with him at home, in church,
in society, and in the courts of justice.
"Dr. Smith returned in due time to resume his pastoral functions.
In reporting to him, in general, my labors in the church as his
substitute during his absence, and in particular my conceptions of
Lincoln's religious character, he intimated that he knew something
of Lincoln's private personal religious experiences, feelings, and
beliefs which resulted in his conversion to the Christian faith. After
some urging to be more explicit, he made the following statement,
which is herewith submitted, couched substantially in his own
language. The doctor said:
"'I came to Springfield to take the pastoral charge of this church
[First Presbyterian] about eight years ago [1849]. During the first
of these years, I might say, I had only a speaking or general
acquaintance with Mr. Lincoln [then forty years old]. Two or three
years previous to my coming here Mrs. Lincoln, who had been a member
of our church, for some reason changed her church relations and was
a regular attendant at the services of the Episcopal Church. Mr.
Lincoln, at that time, having no denominational preferences, went with
her. And so the family continued to frequent the sanctuary for a year
or more after I began my ministry here. The occasion which opened up
the way to my intimate relations to Mr. Lincoln was this, viz.: In
the latter part of 1849 death came into his family. His second son
died at about three or four years of age. The rector, an excellent
clergyman, being temporarily absent, could not be present to conduct
the burial service, and I was called to officiate at the funeral. This
led me to an intimate acquaintance with the family, and grew into an
enduring and confidential friendship between Mr. Lincoln and myself.
One result was that the wife and mother returned to her ancestral
church, and the husband and father very willingly came with her, and
ever since has been a constant attendant upon my ministry. I found him
very much depressed and downcast at the death of his son, and without
the consolation of the gospel. Up to this time I had heard but little
concerning his religious views, and that was to the effect that he
was a deist and inclined to skepticism as to the divine origin of
the Scriptures, though, unlike most skeptics, he had evidently been
a constant reader of the Bible. I found him an honest and anxious
inquirer. He gradually revealed the state of his mind and heart, and
at last unbosomed his doubts and struggles and unrest of soul. In
frequent conversations I found that he was perplexed and unsettled on
the fundamentals of religion, by speculative difficulties, connected
with Providence and revelation, which lie beyond and above the
legitimate province of religion. With some suggestions bearing on
the right attitude required for impartial investigation, I placed
in his hands my book (_The Christian's Defence_) on the evidence of
Christianity, which gives the arguments for and against the divine
authority and inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. Mr. Lincoln took the
book, and for a number of weeks, as a lawyer, examined and weighed the
evidence, pro and con, and judged of the credibility of the contents
of revelation. And while he was investigating I was praying that the
Spirit of Truth might lead him into the kingdom of truth. And such
was the result, for at the conclusion of his examination he came
forth his doubts scattered to the winds and his reason convinced by
the arguments in support of the inspired and infallible authority of
the Old and New Testaments--a believer in God, in His providential
government, in His Son, the way, the truth, and the life, and from
that time [nearly seven years] to this day his life has proved the
genuineness of his conversion to the Christian faith. For this I
humbly ascribe to our heavenly Father the honor and the glory.'"
In an earlier statement than that previously quoted, Mr. Thomas Lewis,
under date of January 6, 1873, said:
"Not long after Dr. Smith came to Springfield, and I think very near
the time of his son's death, Mr. Lincoln said to me that when on a
visit somewhere he had seen and partially read a work of Dr. Smith on
the evidences of Christianity, which had led him to change his view
of the Christian religion, and he would like to get that work and
finish the reading of it, and also to make the acquaintance of Dr.
Smith. I was an elder in Dr. Smith's church, and took Dr. Smith to Mr.
Lincoln's office, and Dr. Smith gave Mr. Lincoln a copy of his book,
as I know, at his own request."
This is a very different story from that which Lamon tells, of a
self-advertising preacher, ostentatiously preparing a tract to convert
Mr. Lincoln, and thrusting it upon him uninvited and thereafter to be
neglected.
That Mr. Lincoln was impressed by the book is as certain as human
testimony can make it. He told Dr. Smith that he regarded its argument
as "unanswerable," and Lamon's slighting remark will not stand against
so emphatic a word.
Moreover, Hon. John T. Stuart, whom Lamon had quoted as saying, "The
Rev. Dr. Smith, who wrote a letter, tried to convert Lincoln as late as
1858, and couldn't do it," repudiated that statement, declared he never
had said it; and on the contrary affirmed that he understood from those
who had reason to know that Dr. Smith's book had produced a change in
the mind of Mr. Lincoln.
Ninian W. Edwards, Mr. Lincoln's brother-in-law, on December 24, 1872,
entered the discussion with this emphatic statement:
"A short time after the Rev. Dr. Smith became pastor of the First
Presbyterian Church in this city, Mr. Lincoln said to me, 'I have been
reading a work of Dr. Smith on the evidences of Christianity, and have
heard him preach and converse on the subject, and am now convinced of
the truth of the Christian religion.'"
Just what doctrines he was convinced were true, we may not know. But
we do know that he requested the book and declared it unanswerable,
that he and his wife changed their church affiliation and he became a
regular attendant, that Dr. Smith became his friend and was honored and
recognized by him as long as Lincoln lived, and that those who knew
Lincoln best were told by him that some change had come in his own
belief.
Under these conditions, the word and work of Rev. James Smith are not
to be thrown unceremoniously out of court. They have standing in any
fair consideration of the question of Lincoln's religious faith.
I have looked through many Lives of Lincoln to discover whether any
biographer of Lincoln had ever looked up this book, and thus far have
not discovered any. I have inquired for the book at the Chicago
Historical Library and the Illinois Historical Library, and neither of
those libraries contains it, nor had it been thought of in connection
with Lincoln. Mr. Oldroyd does not have it in his matchless collection,
where I hoped I might find the veritable copy that Lincoln read, and
he had never heard of it; nor does the matron of the Lincoln Home at
Springfield know anything about it.[43]
I shall give in the Appendix of this book an outline of the contents of
Dr. Smith's solid work, that the reader may judge for himself whether
such a book, placed in the hands of Mr. Lincoln at such a time, may not
have had upon his mind all the influence that Dr. Smith ever claimed
for it.