Herndon, William Henry (1818-1891) to Mr. Noyes

Chint[illegible] Hill P.D. Sangamon Co
Ills Jany 15th 1874
Mr Noyes:
Your letter requesting one of my lectures on Mr Lincoln's religion was duly received & to-day I send you one. You say you desire to know all possible things of the good and great dead. I have just now a few moments to spare and I do not know how better to [share] them than to tell you what Mr Lincoln really was and what he was not. Mr Lincoln was a kind tender & sympathetic man - feeling duty in the presence of suffering - pain - worry or oppression in any shape: he was the very Essence and substance of truth - was of unbounded veracity - had unlimited integrity, always telling the Exact truth and always doing the honest thing at all times and under all circumstances. He was just to men: he loved the right - the good & true with all his soul: I was with Mr Lincoln for about twenty five years and I can truthfully say - I never knew him to do a wrong thing - never knew him to do a [2] mean thing - never knew him to do any little dirty trick. He was always noble. In his nature he felt nobly and acted nobly. I never knew so true a man - so good a one - so just a one - so uncorrupted and so uncorruptable a one. He was a Patriot and loved his Country well and died for it. Mr Lincoln Expressed his great feeling in his thoughts and his great thoughts in his feelings: he lived in his thoughts and thought in his feelings. By these his soul was Elevated and purified for his work. His work was the highest & grandest Religion - noble duty nobly done Mr Lincoln was cool & calm under the most trying circumstances: he had unbounded charity for all men. In religion Mr Lincoln was a th[illegible] somewhat after the order of The Parker
Mr Lincoln was not a speculative minded man - was like Washington severely practical: he never ran in advance of his age and yet alwazs directing the ideas & feelings of new to timely practical ends - to something that would end in good. Mr Lincoln never shaped his verosity - integrity - outrages or virtues to circumstances: he furhinces [sic] and formed concerns [3] circumstances so far as he could to virtue - verosity [sic] and to integrity. He scorned meanness everywhere and at all times and was bold and manly in his denunciation of wrong however or by whomsoever done: he was not a foxy tricky man: he was a statesman high above all tricks. How such a man as Lincoln could walk up to the highest point of human grandeur From such a low origin, God only knows. But so it was ordained from the beginning, and so it is. Mr Lincoln was a man of great fidelity to what he believed was right - was true to friends - never deserting them till they deserted virtue - verosity [sic] & integrity. Mr Lincoln could be and was trusted by the People with almost omnipotent power and he never abused it nor shook the People's faith in him. He was true to his trust - true to his Country and true to the rights of man. What a noble man & what a noble life he lived! Washington was Americas creator - Lincoln was its Saviour. Mr Lincoln now stands up against the deep blue sky the grandest figures of the ages.
I have now stated to you Mr Lincoln's leading characteristics and if you like him better for them I am well satisfied [4] with what I have [told] you. I have weighed every word & sentence and can truly say - they are true to Lincoln and Lincoln true to them. Mr Lincoln was not a very social man and was rather unhappy in his domestic relations. He was not spontaneous in his feeling - was, as some said rather cold: he was rather reflective - not all However settle him all in all he was as near a perfect man as God generally makes
Yours Truly
WH Herndon

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