It was from the Gospel that he had learned his principles of equality, fraternity and liberty, as it was from the Gospel he had learned that sublime, childish simplicity, which, alone, and forever, won the admiration and affection of all those who approached him. I could cite many facts to illustrate this, but I will give only one, not to be too long: It is taken from the memoirs of Mr. Bateman, Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Illinois.
“Mr. Lincoln paused; for long minutes, his features surcharged with emotion. Then, he rose and walked up and down the reception-room, in the effort to retain, or regain his self-possession. Stopping, at last, he said, with a trembling voice, and his cheeks wet with tears:
“‘I know there is a God, and that He hates injustice and slavery. I see the storm coming, and I know that His hand is in it. If He has a place and work for me, and I think He has, I believe I am ready! I am nothing, but truth is everything! I know I am right, because I know that liberty is right; for Christ teaches it, and Christ is God. I have told them that a house divided against itself cannot stand, and that Christ and reason say the same thing, and they will find it so.
“‘Douglas does not care whether slavery is voted up or down. But God cares, and humanity cares, and I care. And with God’s help, I will not fail. I may not see the end, but it will come, and I shall be vindicated; and those men will see that they have not read their Bible right!
“‘Does it not appear strange that men can ignore the moral aspect of this contest. A revelation could not make it plainer to me that slavery, or the Government, must be destroyed. The future would be something awful, as I look at it, but for this ROCK on which I stand (alluding to the Gospel book he still held in his hand). It seems as if God had borne with slavery until the very teachers of religion had come to defend it from the Bible, and to claim for it a divine character and sanction. And now the cup of iniquity is full, and the vials of wrath will be poured out.’”
Mr. Bateman adds: “After this, the conversation was continued for a long time. Everything he said was of a very deep, tender and religious tone, and all was tinged with a touching melancholy. He repeatedly referred to his conviction ‘that the day of wrath was at hand,’ and that he was to be an actor in the struggle which would end in the overthrow of slavery, though he might not live to see the end.
“After further reference to a belief in Divine Providence, and the fact of God, in history, the conversation turned upon prayer. He freely stated his belief in the duty, privilege and efficacy of prayer; and he intimated, in no unmistakable terms, that he had sought, in that way, the divine guidance and favor.”
The effect of this conversation upon the mind of Mr. Bateman, a Christian gentleman, whom Mr. Lincoln profoundly respected, was to convince him that Mr. Lincoln had, in his quiet way, found a path to the Christian stand-point; that he had found God, and rested on the eternal truth of God. As the two men were about to separate, Mr. Bateman remarked:
“I had not supposed that you were accustomed to think so much upon this class of subjects; certainly your friends, generally, are ignorant of the sentiments you have expressed to me.”
He quickly replied: “I know they are, but I think more on these subjects than upon all others, and I have done so for years; and I am willing you should know it.”—The Inner Life of Lincoln, by Carpenter, pages 193-195.