"VESTIGES OF CREATION"
LINCOLN was a man of few books. Much has been made of the fact that
when a lad he eagerly read every book within reach; but he did not
continue that habit in his mature years. Something happened to the
lad in adolescence that changed him mentally as well as physically.
His sudden upshoot in stature permanently tired him; he became
disinclined to activity. His movements were much slower, and his
habits of thought more sluggish. Arnold attempts to make a list of his
"favorite books," but does not make much progress (_Life of Lincoln_,
pp. 443, 444). About all there is to be said is that he read the
Bible both as a boy and man, and came to have an appreciation and
love of Shakspeare, particularly _Hamlet_ and _Macbeth_, but he never
read Shakspeare through. He was fond of some of the poems of Burns,
the rollicking humor of "Tam o' Shanter," the withering scorn--an
element which had a considerable place in Lincoln's nature--of "Holy
Willie's Prayer," the manly democracy of "A Man's a Man for a' That";
but he never quoted Burns. He had little appreciation of music, but
liked negro melodies--not the genuine ones, but the minstrel-show
sort--camp-meeting ballads, Scotch songs, and mournful narrative
compositions, of which the woods were moderately full in his boyhood,
and which he continued to enjoy. Broadly humorous songs moved him to
mirth, but he cared more for those that were sad. Everyone knows his
love for the mediocre but melodious poem, "O Why Should the Spirit
of Mortal be Proud," which like the religious song he loved, "How
tedious and tasteless the hours," moved mournfully in triple time,
flaunting crêpe in the face of the spirit of the waltz. About the only
contemporary poem which he is known to have cared much for was Holmes'
"Last Leaf," in which he was particularly moved by the lines,--
"_The mossy marbles rest
On the lips that he has prest,
In their bloom,
And the names he loved to hear
Have been carved for many a year
On the tomb._"
Herndon is correct in saying that Lincoln read less and thought more
than any man prominent in public life in his generation.
But the few books that Lincoln read in his mature years affected him
greatly; and when we know of his reading a book because he cared for
it, we may well endeavor to discover that book and inquire whether it
be not possible to trace its influence in the development, slow but
sure, of the mental and spiritual processes of Abraham Lincoln.
A highly important statement concerning the philosophical and religious
views of Lincoln is found in Herndon's _Life of Lincoln_, and it is
remarkable that neither Herndon nor any of the hundreds of writers
who have gleaned, as all must glean, from his pages, appears to have
followed further the most important of its suggestions:
"For many years I subscribed for and kept on our office table the
_Westminster_ and _Edinburgh Review_ and a number of other English
periodicals. Besides them, I purchased the works of Spencer, Darwin,
and the utterances of other English scientists, all of which I
devoured with great relish. I endeavored, but with little success,
in inducing Lincoln to read them. Occasionally he would snatch one
up and peruse it for a little while, but he soon threw it down with
the suggestion that it was entirely too heavy for an ordinary mind to
digest. A gentleman in Springfield gave him a book called, I believe,
_Vestiges of Creation_, which interested him so much that he read
it through. The volume was published in Edinburgh, and undertook to
demonstrate the doctrine of development, or evolution. The treatise
interested him greatly, and he was deeply impressed with the notion
of the so-called 'universal law' evolution; he did not extend greatly
his researches, but by continual thinking in a single channel seemed
to grow into a warm advocate of the new doctrine. Beyond what I have
stated he made no further advances into the realm of philosophy.
'There are no accidents,' he said one day, 'in my philosophy. Every
effect must have its cause. The past is the cause of the present,
and the present will be the cause of the future. All these are
links in the endless chain stretching from the Infinite to the
finite.'"--HERNDON, III, 438.
I count it remarkable that neither Herndon nor any other of Lincoln's
biographers appears to have made further inquiry about this book,
which is not mentioned in Herndon's index, and which I have not found
referred to elsewhere in connection with Lincoln. The book is not in
any of the great Lincoln collections which I have visited, nor has any
Lincoln student to whom I have mentioned it had it in mind, or failed
to be impressed with the value of it when we have discussed the matter.
The book itself is not in the Lincoln Home at Springfield, nor is it
in the Oldroyd Collection at Washington, in one of which places I
hoped that it might be found. Neither the librarian of the Illinois
Historical Society in Springfield, nor Mr. Barker, the painstaking and
discriminating collector and vendor of Lincoln books in Springfield,
had ever noticed the title in Herndon's book, though both were at once
impressed with its significance when I called it to their attention.
The material in Herndon's lectures on Lincoln is pretty well absorbed
in his book, and quoted in this volume; but there are some interesting
additional details in Herndon's letters. In these, answering specific
questions or replying to definite statements, he now and then added
a statement which was not later included in his book, but which has
present interest and in some cases value.
The following is an excerpt from a letter of Herndon to John E.
Remsburg, and bears in an important way on Lincoln's use of _Vestiges
of Creation_:
"I had an excellent private library, probably the best in the city
for admired books. To this library Mr. Lincoln had, as a matter of
course, full and free access at all times. I purchased such books
as Locke, Kant, Fichte, Lewes; Sir William Hamilton's _Discussions
of Philosophy_; Spencer's _First Principles_, _Social Studies_,
etc.; Buckle's _History of Civilization_, and Lecky's _History of
Rationalism_. I also possessed the works of Parker, Paine, Emerson and
Strauss; Gregg's _Creed of Christendom_, McNaught on _Inspiration_,
Volney's _Ruins_, Feuerbach's _Essence of Christianity_, and other
works on Infidelity. Mr. Lincoln read some of these works. About the
year 1843[44] he borrowed the _Vestiges of Creation_ of Mr. James
W. Keys, of this city, and read it carefully. He subsequently read
the sixth edition of this work, which I loaned him. He adopted the
progressive and development theory as taught more or less directly in
that work. He despised speculation, especially in the metaphysical
world. He was purely a practical man."--REMSBURG: _Six Historic
Americans_, pp. 114-15.
As already stated Dr. Smith's book _The Christian's Defence_ is
excessively rare. The edition was small; the argument which it
contained was modified with the progress of discovery; there was little
to keep in circulation the few copies of the book that survived. They
have nearly all disappeared. I have searched the second-hand shops
of the principal cities and the dusty duplicates of libraries with
repeated disappointment. For this reason, I have carried a complete
analysis of the book into the Appendix of this volume; for few who read
the present volume will be able to see the book itself.
It is quite otherwise with _Vestiges of the Natural History of
Creation_. It was widely circulated, and copies of even the older
editions are not impossible to obtain. It can be purchased, new, at
very small cost.[45] But most of the editions that the reader will be
likely to find, if he seeks for them, are later than the one which
influenced Lincoln, and contain more or less of supplementary matter.
Before passing to another subject, it will be well to say a further
word about this book, for a fuller discussion of which one may go to
Andrew D. White's _Conflict of Science with Theology_ and other learned
works.
The author of this book was Robert Chambers,[46] one of the famous firm
of publishers, and himself an author of note. He was born in Peebles,
Scotland, July 10, 1802, and died at St. Andrews, March 17, 1871. He
was an author as well as publisher of books. He published this book
anonymously, and its authorship was not known for forty years. In 1884,
thirteen years after his death, his name appeared for the first time
upon the title page of a new edition.
It was, in the author's own phrase, "the first attempt to connect the
natural sciences with the history of creation."
From it Lincoln learned geology and comparative biology. In it he
found not only studies of the rocks, but also of the prenatal life of
man, as related in its successive stages to corresponding types in the
geological world. It was, in a word, an introduction to Darwin, which
appeared many years later.
That many ministers denounced it as contradictory to the Bible we
know, and the author anticipated this, nor is this a matter which gives
us present concern. Some ministers believed it, and others, still
unconvinced, read it with an open mind and waited for more light.
The important thing for us to know and clearly recognize is that in
this book Abraham Lincoln not only learned what Herndon considers, and
we are justified in considering, the essential theory of evolution, but
he learned that such a view of creation is consistent with faith in God
and the Bible.
We shall not find it possible to overestimate the importance of this
discovery. Abraham Lincoln wrought out his philosophy of creation,
his scheme of cause and effect, his theory of the processes of nature
and life, under influences not atheistic nor hostile to religion, but
distinctly favorable to it. He learned of evolution, and was convinced
of its truth, from a book whose spirit and purpose was to present the
view in harmony with the Christian faith.
The second, and subsequent editions, of _Vestiges_ were "Greatly
Amended by the Author," as the title page gave notice, and the changes
were partly to incorporate new scientific data, but more to make clear
the fact that the author's theory did not remove God from his universe,
as some critics had asserted, but like Butler's _Analogy_ had shown
that God is in His world, working through the processes of nature.
In 1846 appeared _Explanations: A Sequel to Vestiges of the Natural
History of Creation_, a thin volume added to carry still further this
double purpose, and doing it with marked success. The sixth edition
combined the two in one volume.
It is interesting to learn that Lincoln, having read the first edition,
later procured and read the sixth, in which the religious spirit of the
author was made still more apparent.
This was the book which gave to Lincoln his theory of creation, of
"miracles under law," and with one divine mind and purpose working
through it all. Lincoln read little of natural science and cared
practically nothing for philosophy, but he found in this book what he
needed of both; and he found them in a system whose soul and center was
the will of a righteous God.