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LINCOLN'S.USE OF.THE.BIBLE

S.TREVENA.JACKSON


[Illustration: A. Lincoln 1864]


LINCOLN'S USE OF THE BIBLE

by

S. TREVENA JACKSON







The Abingdon Press
New York      Cincinnati

Copyright, 1909, by
Eaton & Mains.

Printed December, 1909
Reprinted February, 1910; October, 1914




  When quiet in my house I sit,
    Thy book be my companion still;
  My joy thy sayings to repeat,
    Talk o'er the records of thy will,
  And search the oracles divine,
  Till every heartfelt word be mine.
                          --_Charles Wesley._

  The Bible is a book of faith,
  A book of doctrine,
  And a book of religion,
  Of especial revelation from God.
                          --_Daniel Webster._

  And weary seekers of the best,
  We come back laden from our quest,
  To find that all the sages said--
  Is in the Book our mothers read.
                          --_Whittier._




LINCOLN'S USE OF THE BIBLE

    "The Bible is the king's best copy, the magistrate's best rule, the
    housewife's best guide, the servant's best directory, and the best
    companion of youth."


In a log cabin at Nolin's Creek, Hardin County, Kentucky, the boy breathed
the first breath of life. Hope's anchor hung on a slender string, if we
are to measure by the child's home surroundings. But his birthplace
possessed a soul; for a home with a good book in it has a soul. This book
was the Bible. It mastered his manners, molded his mind, made mighty his
manhood, and gave to America the matchless man.

In the Bible he found the truth for the ills of men, the secret for the
solution of life's perplexing problems, the boon for the best beaten
path, the succor for the suffering, the calmest comforts for the dying,
and the faithful friend when foes are near and other friends so far away.

We shall speak of what others have said concerning Lincoln's use of the
Bible; what he himself said of it; the use he made of it; and the
influence of the Scriptures on his life and literature.

In Herndon's Life of Lincoln the partner and President is portrayed as a
foe rather than a friend of the Bible. This is seen to be erroneous by
simply reading his speeches, for they are like the dewdrops on the blades
of green in early fall, sparkling everywhere. It is hard to read a great
speech of Lincoln's without seeing the influence of the Bible on his life,
works, and style.

Sarah K. Bolton writes: "Mrs. Lincoln possessed but one book in the
world, the Bible; and from this she taught her children daily. Abraham had
been to school for two or three months, to such a school as the rude
country afforded, and had learned to read. Of quick mind and retentive
memory, he soon came to know the Bible well-nigh by heart, and to look
upon his gentle teacher as the embodiment of all the good precepts in the
book."

Lincoln's mother died after a lingering illness when he was ten years old.
It is said that during her sickness he cared for her as tenderly as a
girl, and that he often sat at her side and read the Bible to her for
hours. Much of his later life and style was influenced by his early
reading of the Bible.

L. E. Chittenden says: "Except the instructions of his mother, the Bible
more powerfully controlled the intellectual development of the son than
all other causes combined. He memorized many of its chapters and had them
perfectly at his command. Early in his professional life he learned that
the most useful of all books to the public speaker was the Bible. After
1857 he seldom made a speech which did not contain quotations from the
Bible."

Alexander Williamson, who was engaged as tutor in the Lincoln family in
Washington, said: "Mr. Lincoln very frequently studied the Bible with the
aid of Cruden's Concordance, which lay on his table." The Presbyterian
pastor in Springfield, Rev. James Smith, states that Lincoln became a
believer in the Bible and Jesus Christ as the Son of God. It is true that
Mr. Smith placed before Lincoln the arguments for and against the divine
authority of the Scriptures. He looked at it from a lawyer's viewpoint,
and, at the conclusion, declared the argument in favor of divine authority
and inspiration of the Bible unanswerable.

Mr. Arnold, in his Life of Lincoln, speaking of the Second Inaugural
Address, said: "Since the days of Christ's Sermon on the Mount, where is
the speech of emperor, king, or ruler which can compare with this? May we
not without irreverence say that passages of this address are worthy of
that holy book which he read daily, and from which, during his long days
of trial, he had drawn