President Lincoln's high estimate of the character and worth of Colonel Jaquess was forcefully expressed at the time of his assignment by the President to one of the most important and peculiarly difficult and successful missions of the war, the Jaquess-Gilmore Embassy of Peace, of which an extended account appears elsewhere in this work and should be read in connection with the subjoined statement by Colonel Jaquess respecting an interview between Mr. Lincoln and himself in Springfield, Illinois.

COLONEL JAQUESS' STATEMENT

was made at a reunion of the 73rd Regiment of the Illinois Infantry, held September 28-29, 1897, in Springfield, and is as follows:

"The mention of Mr. Lincoln's name recalls to my mind an occurrence that perhaps I ought to mention. Very soon after my second year's work as a minister in the Illinois Conference I was sent to Springfield.

"One beautiful Sunday morning in May, I was standing in the front door of the parsonage when a little boy came up to me and said: 'Mr. Lincoln sent me around to see if you was going to preach today.' Now, I had met Mr. Lincoln, but I never thought any more of 'Abe' Lincoln than I did of any one else. I said to the boy: 'You go back and tell Mr. Lincoln that if he will come to church he will see whether I am going to preach or not.' The little fellow stood working his fingers and finally said: 'Mr. Lincoln told me he would give me a quarter if I would find out whether you are going to preach.' I did not want to rob the little fellow of his income, so I told him to tell Mr. Lincoln that I was going to try to preach.

"The church was filled that morning. It was a good-sized church, but on that day all the seats were filled. I had chosen for my text the words, 'Ye must be born again,' and during the course of my sermon I laid particular stress on the word 'must.' Mr. Lincoln came into the church after the services

had commenced, and there being no vacant seats, chairs were put in the altar in front of the pulpit, and Mr. Lincoln and Governor French and wife sat in the altar during the entire services, Mr. Lincoln on my left and Governor French on my right, and I noticed that Mr. Lincoln appeared to be deeply interested in the sermon. A few days after that Sunday Mr. Lincoln called on me and informed me that he had been greatly impressed with my remarks on Sunday and that he had come to talk with me further on the matter. I invited him in, and my wife and I talked and prayed with him for hours. Now, I have seen many persons converted; I have seen hundreds brought to Christ, and if ever a person was converted, Abraham Lincoln was converted that night in my house."

There is every reason for giving this remarkable story unquestioning credence. That it was voluntarily related by Colonel Jaquess at the time and upon the occasion designated is beyond question. It is recorded here just as given by him in the printed proceedings of a reunion of Colonel Jaquess' regiment. It is also certain that the Colonel was absolutely incapable of fabricating such a story. Furthermore, the incident explains the apparently mysterious eagerness with which President Lincoln welcomed, considered and favored the seemingly preposterous mission proposed by Colonel Jaquess in 1863. Such an incident as is mentioned in this Jaquess statement could not have failed to cause Mr. Lincoln to hold the minister with whom he had such an interview in high esteem and to cherish for him the confidence and love which he manifested toward him. It is well known that Mr. Lincoln approved of, and enjoyed a sermon aflame with fervid enthusiasm. He was greatly interested in and deeply moved by the preaching of Rev. Peter Aked whose burning eloquence was not unlike that of Dr. Jaquess. Hence, the diligence with

1 Minutes of the proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Reunion Survivors 73rd Regiment, Illinois Infantry Volunteers, p. 30. The Christian Advocate, November 11th, 1909.

which Mr. Lincoln sought to be assured that Dr. Jaquess would preach on that Sabbath morning in May, 1849, and his profound interest in the sermon to which he listened.

The prolonged silence of those who knew of this event in Mr. Lincoln's life is quite understandable and does not justify any doubt of the story itself. It was like Mr. Lincoln to make no mention of this event to any person; and it was just like Dr. Jaquess to regard the affair as confidential, and to leave the question of publicity at the time wholly with Mr. Lincoln. Some preachers would have proclaimed the event from the housetop, but Mr. Lincoln never would have sought such an interview with a minister of that caliber and character.

It was with reference to this same subject of the new birth that Nicodemus had his memorable private interview “at night" with the Master, and we have no information that either Jesus or Nicodemus ever gave the affair any publicity, until after the lapse of half a century the story was told in the Gospel by John.

Mr. Lincoln's subsequent period of doubt concerning religious matters was strictly normal, and does not to any degree discredit the account of the declaration of his acceptance of Christ during the interview in the Jaquess' home. As elsewhere stated, people of Mr. Lincoln's temperament and mental make-up usually come into a large and satisfying faith by passing through a period of doubt. Therefore, instead of discrediting the Jaquess' story, Mr. Lincoln's later season of doubt confirms the account of that event in his life and bears witness to his surrender to Christ, as stated by Colonel Jaquess, and to the sincerity of subsequent efforts to keep the covenant he made at the time of that surrender. That surrender of his will and heart naturally called for the approval of his reason and led to investigation of Christian evidences which followed, and which was so honest and thorough as to seem to be unsettling; but which, in fact, was the process by which a strongly intellectual nature reached settled and satisfactory convictions.

The claim that Mr. Lincoln was so deeply moved by Dr. Jaquess' sermon on the "New Birth" as to seek from him further light on the subject, and that at the interview in the parsonage he declared his acceptance of Christ as his personal Saviour is not at variance with any of Mr. Lincoln's subsequent declarations. In considering those declarations it should be remembered that Mr. Lincoln was of a secretive nature and respecting religious matters he was peculiarly

RESERVED AND RETICENT.

Mr. Lincoln seemed to regard his personal religious experience as a matter of sacred confidence between himself and the Saviour. He was familiar with the testimony given by professing Christians at "Experience meetings," and always listened to them with interest, but with rare exceptions he refrained from speaking of his own religious experience. While delighting to bear witness to his faith in God and in the Scriptures, and to his trust in Divine Providence, he was exceptionally reserved and reluctant in regard to the work of grace in his own heart. To only a favored few, and upon rare occasions, did he speak of his personal relation to Christ.

So acute and accurate was he in perception, and so sensitive to spiritual atmosphere that it required a delicate and peculiarly responsive nature to cause him to unbosom himself by speaking of the things of the inner life. Referring to this trait in his character Colonel A. K. McClure remarks: "I saw Mr. Lincoln many times during his Presidential term, and, like all of the many others who had intimate relations with him, I enjoyed his confidence only within the limitations of the necessities of the occasion."

To the same effect Colonel McClure says still further: "Mr. Lincoln gave his confidence to no living man without reservation. He trusted many, but he trusted only within. the carefully-studied limitations of their usefulness, and when 2 Lincoln and Men of War Times, p. 4.

he trusted he confided, as a rule, only to the extent necessary to make that trust available." "

This from F. B. Carpenter, the artist: "Doubtless he felt as deeply upon the great questions of the soul and eternity as any other thoughtful man; but the very tenderness and humility of his nature would not permit the exposure of his inmost convictions, except upon the rarest occasions, and to his most intimate friends."*

And this from Dr. J. G. Holland: "It was rare that he exhibited what was religious in him; and he never did this at all, except when he found just the nature and character that were sympathetic with that aspect and element of his character. A great deal of his best, deepest, largest life he kept almost constantly from view, because he would not expose it to the eyes and apprehension of the careless multitude.""

In connection with the account of the "Bateman Interview" Dr. Holland has this to say: "It was one of the peculiarities of Mr. Lincoln to hide these religious experiences from the eyes of the world. In the same State House where this conversation occurred, there were men who imaginedwho really believed, who freely said that Mr. Lincoln had probably revealed himself with less restraint to them than to others, men who thought they knew him as they knew their bosom companions, who had never in their whole lives heard from his lips one word of all these religious convictions and experiences. They did not regard him as a religious man. They had never seen anything but the active lawyer, the keen politician, the jovial, fun-loving companion, in Mr. Lincoln. All this department of his life he had kept carefully hidden from them. Why he should say that he was obliged to appear differently to others does not appear; but the fact is a matter of history that he never exposed his own religious life to those who had no sympathy with it. It is doubtful

3 Lincoln and Men of War Times, p. 65.

4 Six Months in the White House, pp. 185-186. 5 Life of Abraham Lincoln, p. 241.