joined that Washington Society which aimed at a reformation in the use
of alcohol. His address was delivered at the request of the society.
It contained this passage, very illuminating in its light upon the
generosity, the real humility of the speaker, but scarcely tactful,
considering the religious susceptibility of the hour: "If they (the
Christians) believe as they profess, that Omnipotence condescended to
take on himself the form of sinful man, and as such die an ignominious
death, surely they will not refuse submission to the infinitely lesser
condescension for the temporal and perhaps eternal salvation of a large,
erring and unfortunate class of their fellow creatures! Nor is the
condescension very great. In my judgment such of us as have never fallen
victims have been spared more from the absence of appetite than from any
mental or moral superiority over those who have. Indeed, I believe, if
we take habitual drunkards as a class, their heads and their hearts will
bear an advantageous comparison with those of any other class."(12) How
like that remark attributed to another great genius, one whom Lincoln
in some respects resembled, the founder of Methodism, when he said of a
passing drunkard: "There goes John Wesley, except for the Grace of God."
But the frontier zealots of the 'forties were not of the Wesley type.
The stories of Lincoln's skeptical interests, the insinuations which
were promptly read into this temperance address, the fact that he was
not a church-member, all these were seized upon by a good but very
narrow man, a devoted, illiterate evangelist, Peter Cartwright.

In 1846, this religious issue became a political issue. The Whigs
nominated Lincoln for Congress. It was another instance of personal
politics. The local Whig leaders had made some sort of private
agreement, the details of which appear to be lost, but according to
which Lincoln now became the inevitable candidate.(13) He was nominated
without opposition. The Democrats nominated Cartwright.