Lincoln speech on the Bible?

[Rob Wick]

My research of late has been focused on William E. Barton and how he related to Ida Tarbell's work. In addition to going through some of his papers in the University of Chicago collection, I've been reading his correspondence with the Bobbs-Merrill Company of Indianapolis, who published the majority of Barton's later books, including his two-volume Life of Abraham Lincoln.

In going through newspaper articles, I came across an article about the discovery of James Smith's The Christian's Defence and how it was said to have influenced Lincoln. What struck me was the closing paragraph of the article, which states "Two years later Lincoln delivered a lecture on the Bible in Smith's church which was said by ministers to be the ablest defense of the Bible ever heard in that pulpit." This is certainly news to me.

I turned to Barton's The Soul of Abraham Lincoln in which he quotes an article written in 1873 that appeared in Scribner's Monthly. The author, James A. Reed, quoted a letter that Smith had written to William Herndon in 1867, after Herndon wrote Smith asking about Lincoln's religious views. Smith wrote a scathing letter to Herndon which also appeared in the Springfield Journal in March 1867. Smith wrote "It will no doubt be gratifying to the friends of Christianity to learn that very shortly after Mr. Lincoln became a member of my congregation, at my request, in the presence of a large assembly at the annual meeting of the Bible Society of Springfield, he delivered an address the object of which was to inculcate the importance of having the Bible placed in possession of every family in the State. In the course of it he drew a striking contrast between the Decalogue and the moral codes of the most eminent lawgivers of antiquity, and closed (as near as I can recollect) in the following language: 'It seems to me that nothing short of infinite wisdom could by any possibility have devised and given to man this excellent and perfect moral code. It is suited to men in all conditions of life, and includes all the duties they owe to their Creator, to themselves, and to their fellow-men.'"

Barton also quoted at length a man named Thomas Lewis, who was a lawyer in Springfield whose office adjoined Lincoln's. In November 1898, Lewis wrote a letter from his home in Kansas which appeared in both Springfield newspapers in which he mentioned the alleged lecture. "Some month's 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 the public. (Barton, The Soul of Abraham Lincoln, 159)

There are a number of issues with this claim. First, Smith's recollection merits only a "C" from the Fehrenbachers, who note "There appears to be no other evidence of Lincoln's having delivered such an address, and all testimony regarding Lincoln's religion should probably be regarded with skepticism." Lewis's recollections comes from a man 46 years after the fact. It should also be noted that in the book Barton puts the article in the Springfield papers on December 10, 1898 while it actually appeared in both papers on December 16, 1898. The confusion may have stemmed from the date of Lewis's letter, which was November 10, 1898.

More important, however, is, as the Fehrenbacher's note, there is no supporting evidence such a lecture ever took place. I searched both the Illinois State Journal and the Illinois State Register for the year 1852 and no mention is made in either paper of a lecture by Lincoln. Given Lewis's claim that the news of Lincoln's lecture "assured a full house" it seems unlikely that neither paper would have some comment on it, especially given Lincoln's known views on religion, if such a lecture ever took place. In addition, there is nothing on the website, The Lincoln Log, about a lecture. 1852 was the year that Lincoln delivered his eulogy on Henry Clay, and he was mentioned often in both papers throughout the year. I personally don't think such a lecture ever took place. But of greater importance to me, does this put into question Smith's entire testimony? In the Collected Works, Lincoln mentions that Smith was "an intimate personal friend of mine" (Vol. 6, Pg. 51) but I don't see any other reference other than second-hand testimony that Lincoln ever read The Christian's Defence nor was moved by its arguments. Even Robert Bray, in his article "What Lincoln Read" calls it unlikely that Lincoln read the book. (Bray, Journal of the Abraham Lincoln Association, Summer 2007 Pg. 75) It seems to me that Barton was taken in by testimony presented at the time to negate Herndon's and later Ward Hill Lamon's belief that Lincoln was an infidel.

Best
Rob