Second Inaugural Address

[Mark MacKenzie]

"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.'

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?"

This is a quote from the 2nd inaugural address. I'm struggling to understand it.

[Craig Hipkins]

Mark,

I believe that he is attempting to tell people that it is now time to move on from a way of life that had become imbedded in a culture. He is merely using God as the instrument of justification. In other words, change is coming. God may have had a reason for it in the past, but now that time has past and a renaissance of sorts has come.
This is my interpretation. I hope I have not confused you as I have confused myself!

Craig

[Mark MacKenzie]

It is confusing. I am surprised Lincoln would be confusing at that time. Maybe it is just archaic language.

[Gene C]

It is confusing, mostly because of the language of the time, plus he is talking like a lawyer. This is how I understand what Lincoln says

If slavery is an offense to man and God, if God wills that slavery end now, and as a result the Civil War occurs (with all its terrible consequences) don't stop believing in all the good attributes we ascribe to God.

Don't blame God for the war, maybe God willed for slavery to end now, but the war is a consequence of man's actions. The consequences were going to have to be dealt with sooner or later. This doesn't mean that God is not good, he is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Unrelated - In a country that had seen so much death, there was more of an emphasis and a concern placed on "life after death", than there seems to be today.
Without a good and loving God, "life after death" can not exist.

[Mark MacKenzie]

Yes, I think that is what he gets at, Gene. There must have been great crisis in churches all across the country, north and south, coping with the horror of the war. He is talking like a lawyer, presenting the case not to abandon faith. But do you think he might be asking if, or presenting the idea that, God is on one side or the other? With this style, too, he seems to distance himself from the believers, which maybe is the lawyer technique.

Yes, Craig, he seems to be justifying without dodging the responsibility and certainly in the next sentence "with malice towards none" he is introducing his reconstruction philosophy. Maybe he is trying to tie the policy to God as well.

Heady stuff. Someone once told me that when a writer writes he writes slowly with great thought and a reader owes the same. I like to read Lincoln's writings slowly just as he urged someone to read the Gettysburg Address. I haven't gotten to the point of reading to myself aloud but I might.

[Rob Wick]

Mark,

Have you read Lincoln's Greatest Speech by Ronald C. White? While my personal opinion is that the Gettysburg Address was his greatest speech, White does a very good job in parsing the speech for what Lincoln thought and what he was trying to say. I highly recommend it.

Best
Rob

[wsanto]

(11-27-2012 11:10 PM)Mark MacKenzie Wrote:  "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.'

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?"

This is a quote from the 2nd inaugural address. I'm struggling to understand it.

I believe he is saying that our God is a just God (as we believe him to be). The civil war is God's justice for the sin of slavery. We have now paid a huge price for that sin and we must accept a country without the scourge of slavery as God's ultimate Will.