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In March 1861, when he delivered his first inaugural address, his speech addressed the national crisis of the southern secession from the Union. Lincoln had hoped to resolve the conflict peacefully without a civil war. During that address, Lincoln stated: ‘Intelligence, patriotism, Christianity, and a firm reliance on Him (God) who has never yet forsaken this favoured land are still competent to adjust in the best way all our present difficulty.’

After the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863, Lincoln issued the first Federally Mandated ‘Thanksgiving Day’ to be kept on the last Thursday in November. Reflecting on the successes of that year he said and I quote: ‘No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.’  Hardly the word of an atheist.

It is not at all surprising that his Gettysburg Address stands as one of the most famous and influential pieces of oratory in American history.  Interestingly, in December of 1863, a new motto was engraved on all U.S coins.  No, the words were not ‘In atheism we trust’ but the very opposite: ‘In God We Trust!’  When a pious minister told Lincoln he ‘hoped the Lord is on our side,’ the President responded, ‘I am not at all concerned about that.... But it is my constant anxiety and prayer that I and this nation should be on the Lord's side.’

When, in 1864, a former slave presented him with the gift of a Bible. Lincoln replied: ‘In regard to this great book, I have but to say, it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Saviour gave to the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man's welfare, here and hereafter, are to be found portrayed in it.’

Also in September 1864, while reflecting on the Civil War and the providence of God, the President wrote a letter to a member of the Society of Friends: ‘The purposes of the Almighty are perfect, and must prevail, though we erring mortals may fail accurately to perceive them in advance. We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise...we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great ends He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.’

Yes, when he was young man Lincoln was a religious sceptic and ridiculed the things of God, just as Davina Owen does, and I also once did - but grace and faith can transform the heart and mind both at the same time. It is our sincere hope and prayer that Davina will also be ‘on the Lord’s side’ and that her personal testimony, like the words engraved on U.S coins, will yet be ‘In God I Trust.’

Donald J Morrison

85 Old Edinburgh Road

Inverness.

Letter:  Lincoln believed in God

3 October 2016

 

Sirs,

In her recent letter, it seems that Davina Owen is somehow persuaded that the American President, Abraham Lincoln was – like herself – an atheist.  She obviously knows very little, if anything, about his life or history.

In many of his speeches it is quite evident that he believed, without any reservation, in an all-powerful God who shaped many of the events taking place in his country – during turbulent times.   He gave God His rightful place and was never slow to acknowledge His hand in providence through all that was happening around him.