So eager is the church for proofs of Lincoln's piety that the most incredible anonymous story in support of this claim is readily accepted and published by the religious press as authentic history. By this means the masses have gradually come to regard Lincoln as a devout Christian. It is evident that Mr. Rice had these fabulous tales in mind when he wrote the following: "Story after story and trait after trait, as varying in value as in authenticity, has been added to the Lincolniana, until at last the name of the great war President has come to be a biographic lodestone, attracting without distinction or discrimination both the true and the false." ROBERT C. ADAMS. The noted author, Capt. Robert C. Adams, of Montreal, Can., says: "It is significant that in political revolution it is the Freethinker who is usually the leader. Franklin, Paine, Jefferson, Washington, were the chief founders of the American Republic, and _Lincoln presided at its second birth_ Mazzini and Garibaldi are the heroes of United Italy; Rousseau, Voltaire, and Victor Hugo have been the chief inspirers of Democratic France "(_New Ideal_). THEODORE STANTON In the _Westminster Review_ for September, 1891, Mr. Stanton had an article discussing the moral character and religious belief of Abraham Lincoln. Of his religious belief, he says: "If Lincoln had lived and died an obscure Springfield lawyer and politician he would unquestionably have been classed by his neighbors among Freethinkers. But, as is customary with the church, whether Roman Catholic or Protestant, when Lincoln became one of the great of the world an attempt was made to claim him. In trying to arrive at a correct comprehension of Lincoln's theology this fact should be borne in mind in sifting the testimony. "Another very important warping influence which should not be lost sight of was Lincoln's early ambition for political preferment. Now, the shrewd American politician with an elastic conscience joins some church, and is always seen on Sunday in the front pews. But the shrewd politician who has not an elastic conscience--and this was Lincoln's case--simply keeps mum on his religious views, or, when he must touch on the subject, deals only in platitudes." After citing the testimony of many of Lincoln's friends, Mr. Stanton concludes: "A man about whose theology such things can be said is of course far removed from orthodoxy. It may even be questioned whether he is a Theist, whether he is a Deist. That he is a Freethinker is evident; that he is an Agnostic is probable." GEO. M. CRIE.