Most of what I've wanted to say about Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, I've already said. But, it seems appropriate to close with a few points:
1. Just because war is the consequence of human sin doesn't mean that nations are always wrong in pursuing war. That seems to be a subtext of Lincoln's address.
As we've noted, he accepted blame for the Civil War for the South, the North, and himself. The ultimate cause, "somehow" was the sin of slavery. But, in considering the possibility that the war may continue, Lincoln was unflinching. Once the first cannonballs hit Fort Sumter in 1861, the Union had little choice but to fight back. Had the North simply allowed the South to leave the Union, carrying with it its "peculiar institution," the whole country would have failed in the pursuit of the promise of its birth, the promise based on the belief that all are created equal.
On the Fourth of July this year, a local radio station replayed comments I made years ago which were used as part of another station's musical and narrative accompaniment with Cincinnati's Independence Day fireworks. I recalled the veterans of World War 2 I had known. "Not one of them wanted to go to war," I remembered. "But each did what they had to do."
As I've discussed here, governments became necessary when humanity fell into sin. Sin means that not all members of the human race are willing to live in peace with their neighbors. That means that good behavior must sometimes be coerced. That was what Lincoln said needed to happen once the Civil War began. It's difficult to argue with him.
2. Lincoln seems to say that God is a God of both grace and justice. (This is what the Bible tells us as well.) We like the former attribute and, so long as we think God is on our sides, we like the latter as well.
But, Lincoln seems to assert, while God will remember that human beings are dust and therefore be charitable to the repentant, God nonetheless saw both the North and the South as being complicit in the war. Nations and individuals may be forgiven their sins, yet still have to deal with the consequences of them.
I hope that readers have found this series helpful.
6 comments:
Mark -
Thank you for a fine, though unfinished product. Thank you for a genuine labor of love. I sense your admiration of the man Lincoln.
Do you, like me, have trouble saying with some that Lincoln was not an authentic believer?
BTW, I wanted more meat in your closing section, perhaps you can pack some beef in for the published version?
Blessings,
HE ALONE IS WORTHY
John:
Thank you for taking the time to read through the entire series.
It does end in something of a whimper, although I'd said much of what I might have said in a summary already.
Frankly, I've had ambivalent feelings about Lincoln through the years. As a boy, I idolized him. Later, I questioned why he simply couldn't have let the South go away, why he deemed the Union eternally inviolable. (Of course, I was overlooking the fact that "the insurgents," as the rebel South was called by many in the North, had attacked the Union at Fort Sumter.) In recent years, my thinking about Lincoln has undergone another shift, giving me a more sympathetic perspective.
In many ways, the Civil War finished the business of the Revolution, actually created a 'United' States of America and finally dealing with slavery.
Clearly, Lincoln came to a real belief in Christ before his death. I tried to trace something of its development in the series.
Thanks again, John.
Blessings in Christ,
Mark
Any chance you're going to publish this in a single pdf I could share with my church?
2/12/07
Well done, friend. I wonder if Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of Team of Rivals, has considered your sourced analyses? She contends, if I'm construing properly, that Lincoln lost his faith.
Also, I have heard--but, cannot source--that Lincoln was influenced by the Scottish preacher/novelist, George MacDonald, whose writings reflect the character traits that Lincoln lived out [as noted by his contemporaries in Goodwin's book].
If Lincoln was aware of MacDonald--his contemporary--he could have easily come back to a faith in Jesus Christ seeing a path to the Father illuminated by a one of the "cloud of witnesses."
Your brother,
Paul
Thanks for the brilliant exegesis. I appreciate many of your insights, especially that both North and South were to blame for and had to suffer the consequences of the war. I was inspired to revisit Lincoln's Gettysburg Address and his Second Inaugural by a recent trip to the University of Virginia and the Manassas Battlefield. I had just finished looking at a large plaque commemorating the UVA students killed in the Civil War reflecting what a terrible loss it was when I came upon a 2nd plaque filled with just as many names. Truly the flower of Southern youth was destroyed in the war.
I was also struck by recent comments by an Iraqi leader about the civil war there. He said America had its civil war and maybe Iraq has to suffer through one too. Maybe they do.
Thank you. I wanted to say that I think Lincoln believed and suggested directly and indirectly in his speech a level of submission to God that accepts consequences as part of God's higher wisdom--whatever, whenever or to whatever magnitude such consequences may be. However, I don't believe Lincoln suggested that the bearing of consequences is or must be un-aided. Christ said,to take His yoke upon us ; For His burden is Light and His yoke is easy. I believe this applies to the burden of the consequence of sin. This too can be made 'light'. But, only if we first accept it as part of God's trustworthy plan. That is what Lincoln examplified by accepting the consequence due to "those by whom offenses come". Acceptance first. Then, the burden can be made light.
Sue Wright
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