Abraham Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address

I have been enjoying, for a second time, Ken Burns' amazing documentary series, "The Civil War." While watching one of the final episodes today, Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address was read. I was once again moved deeply, and reminded of why this great and unassuming leader is among my fondest heroes.

His very re-election a great triumph against all odds, and the very war itself nearing end in great triumph for the forces of the Union under his command, he addresses the American people in a spirit of utter humility and with great compassion toward the defeated enemies of the United States. Even though he has great faith that he is in the right, he still leaves room for the fact that none truly can say they know the actual will of God. Oh, for this kind of theological/ideological humility to find its way in all of us today!

Only under such firm, yet humble, direct, yet compassionate, confronting, yet loving, guidance can such a battle for the soul of a nation as Mr. Lincoln waged be won.

Yet still today, we are waging the same battle that Mr. Lincoln hoped had been won once and for all. We still battle against oppression, and the tyranny of the powerful majority, on behalf of the marginalized and weaker minorities, when an equal voice for the minority, the powerless, is the very reason that a democratic republic exists.

I mourn deeply for the loss of the great political party of freedom and equality for all, the party that fought and died for the survival of the ideal of a nation "conceived in LIBERTY, and dedicated to the proposition that ALL men (humankind) are created equal," the party of Abraham Lincoln, known as Republicans.

Just month's before this address, Mr. Lincoln addressed the crowd gathered to dedicate the Soldier's National Cemetery after the battle at Gettysburg, PA, and spoke these great words reminding us of what we as Americans claim to live and die for:

"...that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion. . . that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. . . and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from the earth. "

Following is a substantial portion of the inaugural address. I have entered the Biblical passages from which his address was drawn.

“Both (Unionists/Confederates) read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces (Gn. 3:19); but let us judge not that we be not judged (Mt. 7:1). The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. ‘Woe unto the world because of offenses! for it must needs be that offenses come; but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh!’ (Mt. 18:7) If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope - fervently do we pray - that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago (referring to Hebrew prophets), so still it must be said ‘the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.’ (Ps. 19:9) With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan - to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations.”