Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian?Remsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Religion
Abraham Lincoln: Was He a Christian?
Remsburg, John E. (John Eleazer)
Lincoln, Abraham, 1809-1865 -- Religion
Hon. Geo. W. Julian--Hon. John B. Alley--Hon. Hugh McCulloch--
Donn Piatt--Hon. Schuyler Colfax--Hon. Geo. S.
Boutwell--Hon. Wm. D. Kelly--E. H. Wood--Dr. J. J. Thompson--
Rev. James Shrigley--Hon. John Covode--Jas. E. Murdock--
Hon. M. B. Field--Harriet Beecher Stowe--Hon. J. P. Usher--
Hon. S. P. Chase--Frederick Douglas--Mr. Defrees--Hon. Wm.
H. Seward--Judge Aaron Goodrich--Nicolay and Hay's "Life of
Lincoln"--Warren Chase--Hon. A. J. Grover--Judge James M.
Nelson.
The evidence of more than fifty witnesses has already been adduced to
prove that Lincoln was not a Christian in Illinois. Those who at first
were so forward to claim that he was, have generally recognized the
futility of the claim. They have abandoned it, and content themselves
with affirming that he became a Christian after he went to Washington.
These claimants, being for the most part rigid sectarians themselves,
endeavor to convince the world that he not only became a Christian, but
an orthodox Christian, and a sectarian; that even from a Calvinistic
standpoint, he was "sound not only on the truth of the Christian
religion but on all its fundamental doctrines and teachings."
The testimony of Colonel Lamon, Judge Davis, Mrs. Lincoln, and Colonel
Nicolay, not only refutes this claim, but shows that he was not in any
just sense of the term a Christian when he died. In addition to this
evidence, I will now present the testimony of a score of other witnesses
who knew him in Washington. These witnesses do not all affirm that he
was a total disbeliever in Christianity; but a part of them do, while
the testimony of the remainder is to the effect that he was not orthodox
as claimed.
HON. GEORGE W. JULIAN.
Our first witness is George W. Julian, of Indiana. Mr. Julian was for
many years a leader in Congress, was the Anti-Slavery candidate for
Vice-President, in 1852, and one of the founders of the party that
elected Lincoln to the Presidency. He was one of Lincoln's warmest
personal friends and intimately acquainted with him at Washington.
Writing to me from Santa Fe, N. M., under date of March 13,1888, Mr.
Julian says: "I knew him [Lincoln] well, and I know that he was not a
Christian in any old-fashioned orthodox sense of the word, but only a
religious Theist. He was, substantially, such a Christian as Jefferson,
Franklin, Washington, and John Adams; and it is perfectly idle to assert
the contrary."
HON. JOHN B. ALLEY.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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