Herndon says: "It is my opinion that no man ever heard Mr. Lincoln pray in the true evangelical sense of that word. His philosophy is against all human prayer as a means of reversing God's decrees." The partnership of Lincoln and Herndon was formed in 1843. It was dissolved by the assassin's bullet in 1865. The love of these men for each other was like the love of Damon and Pythias. To the moral character of his illustrious partner Mr. Herndon pays this tribute: "The benevolence of his impulses., the seriousness of his convictions, and the nobility of his character, are evidences unimpeachable that his soul was ever filled with the exalted purity and the sublime faith of natural religion." Lincoln's religion was the religion of Thomas Paine. "To do good is my religion," said Paine; "When I do good I feel good, and when I do bad I feel bad," said Lincoln. For thirty years the church endeavored to crush Lincoln, but when, in spite of her malignant opposition, he achieved a glorious immortality, this same church, to hide the mediocrity of her devotees, attempts to steal his deathless name. Six Historic Americans: "The Church claims all great men. But the truth is, the great men of all nations have, for the most part, rejected Christianity. Of these six historic Americans--the six greatest men that have lived on this continent [Paine, Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln and Grant]--not one was a Christian. All were unbelievers. "It is popularly supposed that Paine was a very irreligious man, while Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, Lincoln and Grant were very religious. The reverse of this is more nearly true. Paine, although not a Christian, was a deeply religious man; while the others, though practicing the loftiest morals, cared little for religion." ("Six Historic Americans" contains more than five hundred pages of evidence in support of the fact that these six eminent men were all disbelievers in orthodox Christianity, including the testimony of one hundred witnesses, mostly friends and acquaintences, in proof of Lincoln's unbelief.) "The 'Age of Reason' can now be estimated calmly. It was written from the viewpoint of a Quaker who did not believe in revealed religion, but who held that 'all religions are in their nature mild and benign' when not associated with political systems."--_Encyclopedia Britannica._ "All national institutions of churches--whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish--appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind and monopolize power and profit."--_Age of Reason._