Lincoln had contributed to its achievements.An oration of his on "Perpetuation of Our Free Institutions,"[10]a mere rhetorical "stunt"in his worst vein now deservedly forgotten,so delighted the young men that they asked to have it printed--quite as the same sort of young men to-day print essays on cubism,or examples of free verse read to poetry societies.
Just what views he expressed on things in general among the young men and others;how far he aired his acquaintance with the skeptics,is imperfectly known.[11]However,a rumor got abroad that he was an "unbeliever,"which was the easy label for any one who disagreed in religion with the person who applied it.The rumor was based in part on a passage in an address on temperance.In 1842,Lincoln,who had always been abstemious,joined that Washington Society which aimed at a reformation in the use of alcohol.His address was delivered at the request of the society.It contained this passage,very illuminating in its light upon the generosity,the real humility of the speaker,but scarcely tactful,considering the religious susceptibility of the hour:"If they [the Christians]
believe as they profess,that Omnipotence condescended to take on himself the form of sinful man,and as such die an ignominious death,surely they will not refuse submission to the infinitely lesser condescension for the temporal and perhaps eternal salvation of a large,erring and unfortunate class of their fellow creatures!Nor is the condescension very great.In my judgment such of us as have never fallen victims have been spared more from the absence of appetite than from any mental or moral superiority over those who have.Indeed,Ibelieve,if we take habitual drunkards as a class,their heads and their hearts will bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class."[12]How like that remark attributed to another great genius,one whom Lincoln in some respects resembled,the founder of Methodism,when he said of a passing drunkard:"There goes John Wesley,except for the Grace of God."But the frontier zealots of the 'forties were not of the Wesley type.The stories of Lincoln's skeptical interests,the insinuations which were promptly read into this temperance address,the fact that he was not a church-member,all these were seized upon by a good but very narrow man,a devoted,illiterate evangelist,Peter Cartwright.
In 1846,this religious issue became a political issue.The Whigs nominated Lincoln for Congress.It was another instance of personal politics.The local Whig leaders had made some sort of private agreement,the details of which appear to be lost,but according to which Lincoln now became the inevitable candidate.[13]He was nominated without opposition.The Democrats nominated Cartwright.
Two charges were brought against Lincoln:that he was an infidel,and that he was--of all things in the world!--an aristocrat.On these charges the campaign was fought.The small matter of what he would do at Washington,or would not do,was brushed aside.Personal politics with a vengeance!The second charge Lincoln humorously and abundantly disproved;the first,he met with silence.
Remembering Lincoln's unfailing truthfulness,remembering also his restless ambition,only one conclusion can be drawn from this silence.He could not categorically deny Cartwright's accusation and at the same time satisfy his own unsparing conception of honesty.That there was no real truth in the charge of irreligion,the allusions in the Speed letters abundantly prove.The tone is too sincere to be doubted;nevertheless,they give no clue to his theology.And for men like Cartwright,religion was tied up hand and foot in theology.Here was where Lincoln had parted company from his mother's world,and from its derivatives.Though he held tenaciously to all that was mystical in her bequest to him,he rejected early its formulations.The evidence of later years reaffirms this double fact.The sense of a spiritual world behind,beyond the world of phenomena,grew on him with the years;the power to explain,to formulate that world was denied him.He had no bent for dogma.Ethically,mystically,he was always a Christian;dogmatically he knew not what he was.
Therefore,to the challenge to prove himself a Christian on purely dogmatic grounds,he had no reply.To attempt to explain what separated him from his accusers,to show how from his point of view they were all Christian--although,remembering their point of view,he hesitated to say so--to draw the line between mysticism and emotionalism,would have resulted only in a worse confusion.Lincoln,the tentative mystic,the child of the starlit forest,was as inexplicable to Cartwright with his perfectly downright religion,his creed of heaven or hell--take your choice and be quick about it!--as was Lincoln the spiritual sufferer to New Salem,or Lincoln the political scientist to his friends in the Legislature.
But he was not injured by his silence.The faith in him held by too many people was too well established.Then,as always thereafter,whatever he said or left unsaid,most thoughtful persons who came close to him sensed him as a religious man.
That was enough for healthy,generous young Springfield.He and Cartwright might fight out their religious issues when they pleased,Abe should have his term in Congress.He was elected by a good majority.[14]
