Page:Life and Works of Abraham Lincoln, v1.djvu/232

202 'I am profitably engaged.' 'Well,' said I, 'if you have recovered from your scepticism, I am sorry to say that I have not.' Looking me earnestly in the face, and placing his hand upon my shoulder, he said: ', Speed;

Judge Gillespie of Edwardsville, Ill. (the same who jumped out of the window of the Legislature with Lincoln), says: "I asked him [Lincoln] once what was to be done with the South after the Rebellion was put down. He said some thought their heads ought to come off; 'but,' said he, 'if it was left to me, I could not tell where to draw the line between those whose heads should come off and those whose heads should stay on.' He said that he had been recently reading the history of the rebellion of Absalom, and that he inclined to adopt the views of David. 'When David was fleeing from Jerusalem, Shimei cursed him. After the Rebellion was put down, Shimei craved a pardon. Abishai, David's nephew, the son of Zeruiah, David's sister, said: "This man ought not to be pardoned, because he cursed the Lord's anointed." David said: "What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah, that you should this day be adversaries unto me? Know ye that not a man shall be put to death in Israel." ' "

Mr. Lincoln's early religious views conformed, not to dogmas and creeds, but to the religion of humanity. Of Sabbaths, when his parents would be at church, he would hold a simple religious service at home, and would enforce upon his small auditory the duty of kindness toward all