In Springfield, where he lived, Lincoln's rejection of Christianity was known to every person and while he was very popular and greatly beloved by all who were not dominated by their religious prejudices, the bigots always opposed him. During the presidential campaign of 1860 his friends made a canvass of the voters of Springfield for the purpose of ascertaining how they were going to vote for president. The list was given to Lincoln. With Hon. Newton Bateman, state superintendent of public instruction, he went over it carefully, his principal desire being to know how the clergy were going to vote. When they had finished Lincoln said: "Here are twenty-three ministers, of different denominations, and all of them are against me but three; and here are a great many prominent' members of the churches, a very great majority of whom are against me."--_Holland's Life of Lincoln, p. 236._ Why, it may be asked, was Lincoln's Infidelity not used against him everywhere in this campaign? Because the managers of both parties knew that Douglas, also, was a disbeliever in Christianity. An agitation of this question would have weakened the chances of both northern candidates while it would have strengthened the chances of Breckinridge, the southern candidate. Lincoln did not believe in prayer. All the stories about his praying, without a single exception, are pure inventions. Let me cite an example. After Lincoln's death the _Western Christian Advocate_ published the following story, a companion piece to Washington's prayer at Valley Forge: "On the day of the receipt of the capitulation of Lee, as we learn from a friend intimate with the late President Lincoln, the cabinet meeting was held an hour earlier than usual. Neither the President nor any member was able, for a time, to give utterance to his feelings. At the suggestion of Mr. Lincoln all dropped on their knees, and offered in silence and in tears their humble and heartfelt acknowledgment to the Almighty for the triumph he had granted to the national cause." In reply to an inquiry respecting the authenticity of this story Hugh McCulloch, Lincoln's last secretary of the treasury, wrote as follows: "The description of what occurred at the Executive Mansion, when the intelligence was received of the surrender of the Confederate forces, which you quote from the _Western Christian Advocate_, is not only absolutely groundless, but absurd. After I became Secretary of the Treasury I was present at every Cabinet meeting, and I never saw Mr. Lincoln or any of his ministers upon his knees or in tears." Our works of art are mostly mythological. And this is true of Christian art, as it is true of Christian theology. The Washington myth is now preserved in bronze, and the Lincoln myth will some day find expression on canvas.