"One word concerning this discussion about Mr. Lincoln's religious views. It is important in this: 1. It settles a historic fact. 2. It makes it possible to write a true history of a man free from the fear of fire and stake. 3. It assures the reading public that the life of Mr. Lincoln will be truly written. 4. It will be a warning forever to all untrue men, that the life they have lived will be held up to view. 5. It should convince the Christian pulpit and press that it is impossible in this day and generation, at least in America, to daub up sin, and make a hero out of a fool, a knave, or a villain, which Mr. Lincoln was not. Some true spirit will drag the fraud and lie out to the light of day. 6. Its tendency will be to arrest and put a stop to romantic biographies. And now let it be written in history, and on Mr. Lincoln's tomb: 'He died an unbeliever.'" In January, 1883, Mr. Herndon contributed an article on "Lincoln's Religion" to the _Liberal Age_, of Milwaukee. From this article the following extracts are taken and submitted: "In 1837, Mr. Lincoln moved to the city of Springfield, and there came across many people of his own belief. They called themselves at that time Freethinkers. Some of these men were highly educated and polished gentlemen. Mr. Lincoln read in this city Hume, Gibbon, and other Liberal books. He was in this city from 1837 to 1861, an Infidel--Freethinker--Liberal--Free Religionist--of the radical type." "In his philosophy, he was a realist, as opposed to an idealist; he was a sensationalist, as opposed to an intuitionalist; and was a materialist as opposed to a spiritualist." "Some good men and women say that Mr. Lincoln was a Christian, because he was a moral man. They say that he was a _rational_ Christian, because he loved morality. Do not other people, who are not Christians, love morality? Morality is not _the_ test of Christianity, by any means. If it is the test, then all moral men, Atheists, Agnostics, Infidels, Mohammedans, Buddhists, Mormons, and the rest, are Christians. A _rational_ Christian is an anomaly, an impossibility; because when reason is left free, it demands proofs--it relies on experience, observation, logic, nature, laws. Why not call Mr. Lincoln a rational Buddhist, a rational Mohammedan, a rational Confucian, a rational Mormon, for all these, if true to their faith, love morality."