"Lincoln's task was a terrible one. When he took the oath of office his soul was bent on securing harmony among all the people of the North, and so he chose for his Cabinet officers his opponents for the Presidential candidacy in order and as a means of creating a united North. He let all parties, professions, and callings have their way where their wishes did not cut across his own. He was apparently pliant and supple. He ruled men when men thought they were ruling him. He often said to me that the Christian religion was a dangerous element to deal with when aroused. He saw in the Kansas affairs--in the whole history of slavery, in fact--its rigor and encroachments, that Christianity was aroused. It must be controled, and that in the right direction. Hence he bent to it, fed it, and kept it within bounds, well knowing that it would crush his administration to atoms unless appeased. His oft and oft invocations of God, his conversations with Christians, his apparent respect for Christianity, etc., were all means to an end. And yet sometimes he showed that he hated its nasal whines." "A gentleman of veracity in Washington told me this story and vouched for its truthfulness: 'A tall saddle-faced man,' said he, 'came to Washington to pray with Lincoln, having declared this to be his intention at the hotel About 10 o'clock A.M. the bloodless man, dressed in black with white cravat, went to the White House, sent in his card, and was admitted. Lincoln glanced at the man and knew his motives in an instant. He said to him angrily: "What, have you, too, come to torment me with your prayers?" The man was squelched--said, "No, Mr. Lincoln"--lied out and out. Lincoln spoiled those prayers.'" "Mr. Lincoln was thought to be understood by the mob. But what a delusion! He was one of the most reticent men that ever lived. All of us--Stuart, Speed, Logan, Matheny, myself, and others, had to guess at much of the man. He was a mystery to the world--a sphinx to most men. One peculiarity of Mr. Lincoln was his irritability when anyone tried to peep into his own mind's laboratory. Considering all this, what can be thought of the stories about what he is said to have confided to strangers in regard to his religion?" "Not one of Lincoln's old acquaintances in this city ever heard of his conversion to Christianity by Dr. Smith or anyone else. It was never suggested nor thought of here until after his death." "I never saw him read a second of time in Dr. Smith's book on Infidelity. He threw it down upon our table--spit upon it as it were--and never opened it to my knowledge." "My opinion is, from what I have heard and know, that these men--Gurley and Simpson--refused to be a party to a fraud on the public touching Lincoln's religion. I think that they understood each other the day that the remains of Lincoln were put to rest."