"'First, that the Bible was not God's revelation;
"'Secondly, that Jesus was not the Son of God.'"
(Lincoln's work was never published.)
"You insist on knowing something which you know I possess, and got as a secret, and that is, about Lincoln's little book on Infidelity. Mr. Lincoln did tell me that he did write a little book on Infidelity"—Col. James H. Matheny, Lincoln's political manager in Illinois.
James Ford Rhodes, LL.D.: "When Lincoln entered upon political life he became reticent regarding his religious opinions, for at the age of twenty-five, influenced by Thomas Paine,... he had written an extended essay against Christianity."
Hon. W. H. Herndon (law partner of Lincoln): "Paine became a part of Mr. Lincoln from 1834 to the end of his life."
"It was my good fortune to have had for some years an intimate acquaintance with Lincoln's partner for twenty-two years. Mr. Herndon was a man of academic education, and possessed a number of books that in that day would be considered a good library, and he told me that the books of his which fairly fascinated Lincoln were Volney's 'Ruins' and the works of Thomas Paine, especially the latter, of which he had memorized many pages."—Col. E. A. Stevens.
Hon. James Tuttle: "He [Lincoln] was one of the most ardent admirers of Thomas Paine I ever met. He was continually quoting from the 'Age of Reason.'"
It has been claimed that Lincoln changed his religious opinions after he became President. In a letter, written May 27, 1865, Col. John G. Nicolay, his private secretary, says: "Mr. Lincoln did not, to my knowledge, in any way, change his religious ideas, opinions, or beliefs, from the time he left Springfield till the day of his death."
Hon. Leonard Swett, who placed Lincoln in nomination for the Presidency, in answer to an inquiry from a friend, wrote as follows: "You ask me if Lincoln changed his religion towards the close of his life. I think not."