It is my opinion that Lincoln did not believe in endless punishment, and also that he did not accept the supernatural birth of Christ. The evidence on which these opinions rest has already been indicated. But I do not regard him as a Universalist or a Unitarian. The basis of his religious belief was Calvinism of the most rigid sort. It could accept some incidental features of other systems, but at heart it was Calvinistic. I have talked with Rev. Jasper Douthit, of Shelbyville, concerning Unitarianism in central Illinois. He quotes Jenkin Lloyd Jones as saying of his Shelbyville church, that "Unitarianism attempted to locate in the Capitol City of Illinois, but struck the dome of the State House, glanced off, and stuck in the mud at Shelbyville." In some sense the movement of Mr. Douthit is the present survival of the attempt before the Civil War to domesticate Unitarianism in Springfield and vicinity. I have clipped from the _Christian Register_ a communication which, without pretending to technical knowledge of the organific principle of the several sects, goes near to the heart of this question: "To the editor of the Christian Register:-- "_Apropos_ of 'Lincoln Day,' may I ask for _definite information_ as to Mr. Lincoln's religious belief? The author of that little pamphlet, 'What do Unitarians Believe?' implies that he is to be numbered among Unitarians, and quotes from the author of _Six Months at the White House_ to prove his assertion. Now I don't know _who_ the _author_ of _Six Months at the White House is_, and care less. His testimony is 'second hand' viewed in any light you please. He may have been a Unitarian himself, though I hardly think he would have used the word 'Saviour,' in speaking of Mr. Lincoln's words, unless Lincoln himself had used it. At any rate, the only _direct_ testimony bearing on Mr. Lincoln's religious views is found in _his own writings_, and I want to quote from his Fast Day proclamation of March 30, 1863, as throwing some light on the subject. "He says: 'Whereas, it is the duty of nations, as well as of men, to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures, and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord. "'And, insomuch as we know that by His Divine laws, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of Civil War, which now desolates the land, may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity.