Taking care in the last words of his speech to note the importance of taking care of the soldiers from both sides as well as “his widow and his orphan,” the words of JAMES 1 : 27 must have been on Lincoln’s mind…
Peace
With an encouraging forgiveness in his voice, Lincoln famously and powerfully ends his address: “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 […]
The Judgments of the Lord
Lincoln declares that “if God wills that it [war] continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman’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, […]
Fervent Prayer
In a flash of poetic brilliance, Lincoln expresses his optimism, “Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Lincoln is, in part, paraphrasing encouraging words from the first pastor of the first church in Jerusalem, James, son of Mary and Joseph, Jesus’ half-brother. “…pray one […]
Woe
Lincoln quotes Jesus from MATTHEW 18 : 7, “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” (KJV). The same sentiment can be found in LUKE 17 : 1.