The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1870-05-03

tef %! That place iinrail and htH
were gcrr frllud.v HiI ! think was
la sscpiie al lhal hme Lincoln, ops
1ay after tie book vas finshej, read i
#to So 1911 h good friend
HID lHtd Is persuade him not q
|mako1t pubHc not 30 publish Is HiH
az tbat umo saw in Iaucoin RISING
.man, and wished him sneoess Lin.
|cln refused Is destroy il said il should
be published. HHl swore Il should
never see the lgh, Of day lie bad an
leye 10 Lincoln popularity his pres
onl aud future success, aud believing
Ithal, II the book aero published, il
would kll Lincoln forever, be snatcht1
IL from Lincolns hand when Bio was
mot expecting il, and rau it into au old
fashioned ten.plnte, heated as hot as a
furnace; aud SO Liucolns book went
I up t0 the clouds in smoke tits con-
tossed by alI who heard parts OF it, that
Iit was at once able and eloquent; aud
hf / may judge Of il from Lineoln's sub
sequent cas- and opinions, often ex-
pressed TO me and 10 Others IN my prel-
enec, it was able, strong, plain and fair
+ His argument was grounded on the in
formal mistakes of the O.d and New
Testameuts, and on reason, and on the
Experiences and observations of men
/ The criticisms from internal defects
were sharp, strong and manly
( Mr.. Lincoln moved to this city in
/ 1887, and here be became acquainted
with various men Of his own way Of
thinking At that time they called
/ themselves free thinkers o. free think
ing men, remember all these dis
4 unctly, for ] was with them, heard them
aud was one Of them. Mr. Lincoln here
/ found other works--Hume, Gibbon,
and others and drank taem in. He
made no secret Of his views, no con
cealment Of bis religion. He boldly
ayowed himself an infdel, and Of hay-
/ ing said that Jesus Christ was an illeg-
Ultimate child He never donied his
opinions,uor finched from his religious
views; lie was true man, aud yet it
may betruthfully said that in 1889 his
religion was low indeed. In his mo-
ments of gloom he would doubt, if he
did not sometimes deny God He
made me once erase the name Of God
from n speech ! 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
lS47 or 1913. In that contest he was
accused Of being an infdel, if not an
atheists he never denied the charge
would not" would 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 de-
my it. From what / knew of Mr.. Lin
coin, and from what | have heard and
verify believe, | can say first that he
did not believe IN special creation, 81
his idea being that all creation was an
evolution under law; secondly, he did
not believe that the Bible was Il reyela-
ton from God, as the Christian world
contends; thirdly, he did not believe
III miracles, MS understood by the
Christian world; fourthly, he believed
in universal inspiration and miracles
under law; filthy, he did not believe
that Jesus was the Christ, the Son OF
God, as the Christian world contends
sixthly, he believed that all things, both
matter and mind were governed BY
laws, universal, absolute, and eternal.
All his speeches and remarks in Wash
ington conclusively prove this Law
was to Lincoln everything and special
lnterferences shams and delusions.
know whereof | speak ! used to lend
him Theodore Parker's works; / loan
ed him Emerson, sometimes, and other
writer's, aud he would sometimes read
and sometimes would not | suppose
nay, know
4 When Mr.. Lincoln left this city for
4 Washington, knew ho had undergone
no change in his religious opinions and
views. He held many Of the Christian
ideas in adherence, and among them
was this one, namely, that God would
forgive sinner for violation Of His
4 laws Lincoln maintained that God
could not forgive; that punishment
, would follow the sin; that Christianity
was wrong in teaching forgiveness; 4
that it tended to make man sin in the
J hope that God would forgive, and sc
forth. Lincoln cOntendcd that the
minister should teach that God has ar
! fixed punishment to sin, and that nc
J repentance could bribc him to remit il
Iu one sense Of the word Alr. Lincoln
was Uniyersaiist; but be was The.
ist us We now understand that word
be vas SO fully, freely, anequiyocally
j boldly, and openly when asked for his
, views Mr. Lincoln, was supposed, by
] many people ia this city, to be an Ath.
, eist, and some still believe it, can
J put that supp0sitiou at rest forever
hold letter of Nh Lincoln ia ml
hand addressed to his stcp-brother
j John ID johnson, and dated the l2tL
! day Of January, 1851 He had heard
= from johnson that lis father Thomas
} Lincoln, was sick, aud that no hopes o
his recovery were entertained. Mr
] Lincoln wrote back to Mr johnson
! these words,
/ " sincerely hope that father ma,
yetrecoyor bis health; but, at all events
! tell him 70 remember to call upon anC
confde in One great and good aut
maciiul Maker, who viii not turn awa'
. from him ia any eNtremite He nf,t1g