Article February 13, 1937 Issue

Signs of the Times

Topic: True Democratic Freedom

with contributions from George Richmond Grose, Mark Sullivan

[George Richmond Grose, in the Star-News, Pasadena, California]

A fresh excursion into the life of Abraham Lincoln leaves upon the writer a vivid impression of one quality of his religion—its common sense. Lincoln has been variously characterized ... as atheist, free thinker, skeptic, liberal believer, deeply religious. These contradictory representations are due, not to the enigma of his character, but to the fact that it is the habit of many writers to endow the subject of their biography with their own beliefs and prejudices. We need to remember also that Lincoln's faith must be interpreted against the religious background of his age.

A careful reading of Lincoln's own statements of his religious attitude discloses one marked characteristic of his faith—its eminent common sense. The crisis which the country faced in Lincoln's day was far greater than the present national perplexity. To meet that situation Lincoln again and again declared his reliance on the providence of God, in language reminiscent of the Bible. It was not simply that his language was colored by Scripture phrases, but his soul was imbued with the spirit of the ancient prophets of religion. ...

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