The Declaration of Liberty is a promise which continues to be fulfilled by each generation. The first installment was the Revolutionary War. The second installment was the Civil War. In the Revolutionary War this nation was blessed to have a leader who choose to become a Cincinnatus who would walk away from power when it would have been easy to hold it. In the Civil War the nation was blessed in the person of Abraham Lincoln. When I look over the life of Lincoln, I can see a man who found wisdom and learned the value of letting go of pride and the freedom of forgiveness.
Some of his practical wisdom ... "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it." When you look at his cabinet -- read A Team of Rivals -- and you begin to understand that only someone who could choose not to take offense could have worked with that team. Lincoln also said "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." and "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." Those ideas came to fruition in his 2nd Inaugural Address which he close with this amazing paragraph.
With malice toward none, and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 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.
Remember that those were the words of a president who was winning the war - a war in which more Americans died than all of our other wars combined. A war that left deep scars on the nation's soul. What is profound is that Lincoln embraced mercy when vengeance would have been so much more popular. The great tragedy of the 19th century in America was the failure to choose mercy during Reconstruction. The legacy of Reconstruction was an impoverished South, Jim Crow, the KKK and a nation that called a grown man "boy." I often wonder how different the life of the nation would have been if the high calling to mercy and restoration had been embraced by a war weary nation.
The prophet Isaiah wrote "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4). Jesus said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)
Peace is the lesson that the Lord would have us study -- He would have us perfect peace, not conflict. He would have us practice mercy and leave justice to His wisdom. Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel -- it is what we need most desperately to receive, and it is what we most desperately need to give.
Keep the faith.
Richard
Some of his practical wisdom ... "We should be too big to take offense and too noble to give it." When you look at his cabinet -- read A Team of Rivals -- and you begin to understand that only someone who could choose not to take offense could have worked with that team. Lincoln also said "I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice." and "I destroy my enemies when I make them my friends." Those ideas came to fruition in his 2nd Inaugural Address which he close with this amazing paragraph.
With malice toward none, and charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 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.
Remember that those were the words of a president who was winning the war - a war in which more Americans died than all of our other wars combined. A war that left deep scars on the nation's soul. What is profound is that Lincoln embraced mercy when vengeance would have been so much more popular. The great tragedy of the 19th century in America was the failure to choose mercy during Reconstruction. The legacy of Reconstruction was an impoverished South, Jim Crow, the KKK and a nation that called a grown man "boy." I often wonder how different the life of the nation would have been if the high calling to mercy and restoration had been embraced by a war weary nation.
The prophet Isaiah wrote "He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore." (Isaiah 2:4). Jesus said "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing" (Luke 23:34)
Peace is the lesson that the Lord would have us study -- He would have us perfect peace, not conflict. He would have us practice mercy and leave justice to His wisdom. Forgiveness is the heart of the Gospel -- it is what we need most desperately to receive, and it is what we most desperately need to give.
Keep the faith.
Richard
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