Lincoln's Christianity by Michael Burkhimer

[RJNorton]

An example of a (Lincoln was an atheist) quote I might be hoping you will post (with source) would come from a person such as journalist Noah Brooks (or Cabinet members, Lincoln's secretaries, Francis Carpenter, etc.).

Brooks said he saw President Lincoln almost daily during the latter years of his Presidency. He most likely exaggerated that fact, but he certainly became good friends with the President and was a frequent White House visitor.

On December 10, 1864, Brooks' employer, the Sacramento Union, carried a Lincoln quote Brooks had sent from Washington on November 11, 1864. (In all Brooks sent 258 dispatches to his paper during the time he was in Washington.)

Brooks reported that Lincoln said to him, "I should be the veriest shallow and self-conceited blockhead upon the footstool if, in my discharge of the duties which are put upon me in this place, I should hope to get along without the wisdom which comes from God and not from men."

The Fehenbachers give the quote an "A."