Another of Lincoln's earliest and best friends was Joshua F. Speed. When he was licensed as a lawyer and entered upon his professional career at Springfield without a client and without a dollar, Speed assisted him to get a start. W. H. Herndon was clerking for Speed at the time, and for more than a year Lincoln, Herndon and Speed roomed together. Referring to the religious views held by Lincoln at that time, Mr. Speed, in a lecture, says: "I have often been asked what were Mr. Lincoln's religious opinions. When I knew him, in early life, he was a skeptic. He had tried hard to be a believer, but his reason could not grasp and solve the great problem of redemption as taught." This is the testimony of an orthodox Christian, and a church-member. Mr. Speed, during the years that he was acquainted with Lincoln, was not a member of any church; but late in life he united with the Methodist church. As "the wish is father to the thought," Mr. Speed professed to believe that Lincoln before his death modified, to some extent, the radical views of his early manhood. GREEN CARUTHERS. Soon after Lincoln removed to Springfield, he became acquainted with Mr. Green Caruthers and remained on intimate terms with him during all the subsequent years of his life. Mr. Caruthers was a quiet, unobtrusive old gentleman, universally respected by those who knew him. The substance of his testimony is as follows: "Lincoln, Bledsoe, the metaphysician, and myself, boarded at the Globe hotel in this city. Bledsoe tended toward Christianity, if he was not a Christian. Lincoln was always throwing out his Infidelity to Bledsoe, ridiculing Christianity, and especially the divinity of Christ." JOHN DECAMP. Another of Lincoln's most intimate Springfield friends was John Decamp. Mr. Decamp was interviewed by Mr. Herndon regarding Lincoln's religious views in July, 1887. His statement was brief, but to the point. He says: "Lincoln was an Infidel." MR. LYNAN. In 1880, at Bismarck Grove, Kan., the writer of this delivered a lecture entitled, "Four American Infidels," a portion of which was devoted to a presentation of Lincoln's religious views. In its report of the lecture, the Lawrence _Standard_, edited by Hon. E. G. Ross, formerly United States Senator from Kansas, and more recently Governor of New Mexico, said: "In regard to Abraham Lincoln being an Infidel, the evidence adduced was overwhelming, and was confirmed by a gentleman present, Mr. Lynan, who had known him intimately for thirty years. Mr. Lynan declared that none but personal acquaintance could enable one to realize the nobility and purity of Lincoln's character, but that he was beyond doubt or question a thorough disbeliever in the Christian scheme of salvation to the end of his life" (Lawrence Standard, Sept. 4, 1880). JAMES B. SPAULDING.