On February 16, 2009, Dr. Rietveld spoke at Colorado Christian University on the faith of Abraham Lincoln. It was one of the best talks I have ever heard. His thesis was that the faith in God by Abraham Lincoln was a long growth process involving seeking, with valleys and peaks over time, which then culminated in a commitment to Christ. In my four and a half special years at CCU, that night was one highlight, because as a person who has long considered Lincoln a hero, I had an interest in the Christian faith of Abraham Lincoln. And here Dr. Rietveld gave a talk on the subject as if he and Lincoln had been friends for many years. Because of Dr. Rietveld’s talk, I started researching with a passion.
The entire talk captivated me, yet the grand pinnacle of Dr. Rietveld’s talk was the fact he had held in his hands a letter from Abraham Lincoln to a pastor, and I did not catch who that pastor was, where Lincoln gave a statement of Christian conversion similar to the one in Isaac E. Carey’s sermon. Wow.
After his talk, I had the privilege to talk with Dr. Rietveld, though it was a rushed conversation since there were several other people who wanted to talk with him. I asked him where he had read the conversion testimony letter by Lincoln, and he said it had been in an archive maintained by New York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington D.C., the church where Lincoln worshiped at the time of his death. Though I did not find it there, as I will go on to explain, my search quickly led to finding the unexpected sermon in the Freeport Weekly Journal of 1864!
Regarding the letter Dr. Rietveld spoke of, after correspondence and conversations with some historians and archivists affiliated with the church, including Wilson Golden, Dan Stokes, and Dr. Elaine Foster, I learned none of the three were aware of the letter even existing, let alone being aware it was in the archives of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. I add that Dr. Elaine Foster was extremely kind, and she emailed the text of some key Lincoln letters. And though getting the unique opportunity to visit New York Avenue Presbyterian Church for one day after flying to D.C. from Denver in the summer of 2009, there was a death in a family of one of the historians which obviously made it necessary to cancel our meeting. And I ended up not getting to even search through any archived material. My day planned far in advance to view the archived material at that church came up empty, which was disappointing. Yet it was not a total loss, since I did get an extensive private tour of Lincoln’s church which I am thankful for, and I got to sit in his pew which is preserved there. That was super cool.
I have continued to do some research regarding that letter, to no avail. I still have hopes that as more and more information is scanned and made available on the Internet, that this primary source will be found and made available for public viewing.
I note that for a long time in the 20th century, the main reference for the conversion testimony was the clear statement published by Osborn H. Oldroyd in 1882.[1] Considering that he mentioned an Illinois clergyman, his source was probably Isaac Carey, though he did not get the quote completely correct, nor the source. And a book by William Jackson Johnson (whose name on the cover is Johnstone, which is an incorrect spelling of his actual name), in 1913, was also often cited.[2] But Johnson's source is actually Mr. Oldroyd's book, and nothing more. This book was proudly shown to me when I was given a tour of New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. We can be thankful for Osborn Oldroyd's recording of the testimony, because before the Internet, published books were far more effective preservers of history for the masses than periodicals, which have always been a challenge for library storage and retrieval. The digital age has changed that.
I close by saying I totally believe Dr. Ron Rietveld, thus I am convinced the letter exists irregardless of the fact I have yet to see it for myself. I will always be grateful to Dr. Rietveld for his talk at Colorado Christian University. It was a blessing!
[Edited on 2/22/19]
Hunter Irvine
Image is Public Domain from The Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles [3]
[1] Osborn H. Oldroyd, ed., The
Lincoln Memorial: Album-Immortelles (New York: G.W. Carleton and Co.
Publishers, 1882), 366.
