The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1868-05-30

In our issue of the 10th instant we
published an article entitled played
Out" from the Mt. Sterling (Ill.) Rec
ord. The writer of the article pro-
mulgates the belief that "honest old
Abe" is now in torment, and he Is 9TH
erwise quite severe on the Late La
mented." A certain Radical paper
quotes the aforesaid article entire and
comments on it,--trying to manufac-
ture political capital out of it, and
condemning US for publishing it.
We have this to say in reply. We
publish a paper to suit ourself. We
don't expect to please Radical editors
and orators. We expect and intend
to hurt their feelings occasionally. If
they don't like the Democrat they
need not read it. We knew Lincoln
much better than most Radicals ever
knew him, and we know what sort of
a man he was. We have q right to
form an opinion rs to where he ~, in
common with Radical editors. They
affect to believe he went straight to
heaven. Perhaps he did-wc do not
decide the question. If n man be-
lieves in universal salvation he of
course believes that old Abe is happy,
or ut least will be in due process of
time. If man is a spirituaIist he be-
licvcs old Abe is either supremacy
happy, or that he is in a sphere CON
ncctcd with n that will ultimately
fill him with ecstatic bliss. Accord
ing t o these beliefs Lincoln has as
good right to be happy as any one
else and most assuredly is, or will
be, if they are true. But how any
believer in the doctrine of o Future
State of Rewards and Punishments,
with all the facts before him, can be
certain that Lincoln is in heaven, we
cannot divine. Lincoln may have
been an ardent patriot he may have
been a great statesman he may have
been free from drunkenness and many
other vices which tarnish the charac-
ter of many other public men and
yet he may not be in heaven. Ac-
cording to the doctrine Of protestant
churches a man must be changed
must be "born again "-rcgcncrated
-justitied--sanctificd by faith in the
Savior of the world, ere he Fan be
happy beyond the grave. What are
the facts relative to Lincoln ON these
points? He never even professed re,
ligion. He never pretended 10 be- re.
ligious. His Springfield PASTOR
Presbyterian clergyman of ability
told Us in 1850 hat he had had re.
pealcd interviews with Mr.. Lincolr
on religious subjects; and that though
he was quite regular in his attendance
At church, and attentive and dcfcrcn
tial while there, yet that he did not
disguise the fact that he was an inf
del. This belief he held at the tim.
of his death. Il is very true that h'
appointed n great many days of "fast
ing and prayer" and that his procla
nations were very piously worded
but all this could be done by any 9th
er infidel and mere Journalist and NOR
alist, without sacrificing a single lots
Of his religious belief. Besides, W.
arc told that ''by their fruits We shall
know them" Lincoln was the prime,
, of blackguards. Here he was with
, out a rival; and n a joker he stood {
head and shoulders above all others
except one man of prominence in Or
egon. There was n time during Lin
/ coins administration that he run the
Government through the spirits. Tn
, der the lead of Robert Dale Owen
~seances were held regularly ut tn,
, White House, and revelations wer,
received, lin a horn1 and wonderful
phantasmagoria were exhibited. Lin
: coin, as is we'll known, received hi
| death-wound in a theatre, on Good
Friday day deemed sacred by
, large portion of the religious world
If he was as pious as u Radica
9 friends would have us believe, why
) was he at that theatre 1t was
habit of his to visit the theatre regu
3 larly-much more so than he attend
ed church. Do his admirers conside
) that promotiye of piety? The trutl
is it is useless to try to prove tina
Lincoln was a saint. If he was-ifh h,
is happy-we are glad of it!