The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1870-05-06

Lincoln refused to destroy lt-sald 1T
should be published. Hill sworc it
should never see the light of day. He
had an eye to Loncoln's popnlarity-his
present and future success and believ-
ing that. if the book was published, it
would kill Lincoln forever, he snatched
it from Lincolns hand, when Lincoln
was not expecting it, and ran it into an
old fashioned template stove, heated as
hot as a furnace; and so Lincoln's book
went up to the clouds in smoke. 1t is
confessed by all who heard parts of it,
that it was at once able and eloquent
and if | may judge of it from Lincoln's
subsequent ideas and opinions, often ex-
pressed to me and to others in my pres
ence, it was able, strong, plain and fair.
His argument was grounded on the in
terna mistakes of the Old and New Tes
taments. and on reason, and on the eX-
periences and observations of men. The
criticisms from Internal defects were
sharp, strong, and manly
Mr.. Lincoln moved to this city in
1887, and here he became acquainted
with various men of his own way of
thinking. At that time they called
themselves free thinkers or free Thinking
men | remember all these things dis
tinctly, for was with them, heard them,
and was one Of them. Mr.. Lincoln
here found other works Hume, Glib
bon, and others-and drank them in.
He made no secret of his views, no con-
ccalmcnt of his religion. He boldly
avowed himself an inidel. When Mr..
Lincoln was a candidate for our LcgiS-
lature he was accused of being and inf
del, and OF having said that Jesus Christ
was AN illegitimatc child. He never
denied his opinions, nor finched from
his religious views; he was a true man,
and it may be truthftIIy said that in
1857 his religion was low indeed. In
his moments of gloom he would doubt.
Vhe did not sometimes deny, God. He
made me once erase the name of God
from a speech which | was about to
make in 1854, and he did this in the city
of Washington to one of his friends |
cannot now name the man nor The place
he occupied in Washington; it will be
known some time. have the evidence,
and intend to keep it.
Mr.. Lincoln ran for Congress against
the Rev. Peter Cartwright, in the year
1917 or 1913. Inthat contest he was
accused of being an iniidcl, if not an
atheist; he never denied the charge
would not ap0ud die first ~ in the
first place because he knew it could and
would be proved on him; and in the
second place he was too true to his own
convictions, to his own soul, to deny it.
From what | kno,c Of Mr.. Lincoln, and
from what | have heard and verify be-
lieve, can say first, that he did not
believe in a special creation, his idea be-
ing that all creation was an evolution
under law; second, he did not believe
that the Bible was special revelation
from God, as the Christian world con-
tend thirdly, be did not believe in mir
acles, as understood by the Christian
world fourthIy, he bciicccd in universal
inspiration and miracles Muder lar;
filthy, he did not believe that Jesus was
the Christ, the Son Of God, as the Chris
tian world contends; sixthly, he bcLiered
uat all things, both matter and mind,
gVerc gou0med by laacs, universal, abso-
lutte and eternal Ali his speeches and
remarks in Washington conciusiveiy
prove this. Law was to Lincoln eveyy-
Ming-and special interferences, shams
and decisions. | know whereof speak.
| used to loan him Theodore Parkcr's
works | loaned him Emerson some
times, and other writers, and he would
sometimes read and sometimes would
not, as | suppose-nay, know.
When Mr.. Lincoln left this city for
Washington, | know he had undergone
no change in his religious opinions and
views. lie held many of the Christian
ideas in adherence, and among them
there was this one, namely, that Goo
would forgive the sinner for the viola
ton of the laws. Lincoln maintained
that God could not forgive; that pun
ishment has to follow the sin; tnat
Christianity was wrong in teaching for
giveness; that it tended to make man
sin in the hope that God would excuse,
and so forth. Lincoln contended that
the minister should teach that God has
affixed punishment to sin and that no
repentance could bride him to remit it.
In one sense of the word Mr.. Lincoln |
was a Universalist, and in another sense
he was Unitarian but he was a ThciSt,
as we now understand that word +; he
was so fully, freely, unequivocally, bold
ly and openly, when asked for his views.
Mr.. Lincoln was supposed, by many
people in this city, to be an Atheist, and
some still believe it. can put that
supposition at rest forever. l hold
letter Of Mr.. LincOln's in my hand, ad-
dressed to his step brother, John D.
johnson, and dated the 18th day of jan
uary, 1851. He had heard from john
son that his father, Thomas Lincoln,