Pastor of my dreams - Baptist Bible Tribune

so? Lincoln’s answer forms the core of thespeech:The prayers of both could not beanswered; that of neither has beenanswered fully. The Almighty has hisown purposes. “Woe unto the worldbecause of offences! For it must needsbe that offences come; but woe to thatman by whom the offense cometh!” Ifwe shall suppose that American slaveryis one of those offences which, in theprovidence of God, must needs come,but which, having continued throughHis appointed time, He now wills toremove, and that He gives to bothNorth and South, this terrible war, asthe woe due to those by whom theoffense came, shall we discern thereinany departure from those divine attributeswhich the believers in a LivingGod always ascribe to Him?Lincoln speculated that if the war wasthe “woe” due for the terrible offense ofslavery, then this fact was evidence of, notevidence against, the “divine attributeswhich the believers of a Living God alwaysascribe to him.” Lincoln said that while“fondly we do hope — fervently do wepray — that this mighty scourge of warmay speedily pass away” it was more likelythat God’s will required a quid pro quopunishment to pay for the offense,“ untilall of the wealth piled by the bondman’stwo hundred and fifty years of unrequitedtoil shall be sunk, and until every drop ofblood drawn with the lash, shall be paidby another drawn by the sword.” Lincoln,quoting Psalm 19:9, concluded whetherGod willed the war to end immediately orto last longer, the nation should trust thatthe “judgments of the Lord, are true andrighteous altogether.”Lincoln urged the nation to seek God’swill in the ordering of its affairs. Lincoln didnot presuppose that his will was automaticallyGod’s will for the nation, and he hadfound that sometimes, in the course oflife, God’s judgments and his will were notreadily comprehended by men. The SecondInaugural Address marked Lincoln’s finalacceptance that it was part of the Christianexperience to stand for righteousnesseven when God’s will hammered away thecommon supports of our lives. Therefore,Lincoln opens his closing paragraph:With malice toward none, with charityfor all, with firmness in the rightas God gives us to see the right, let usstrive on to finish the work we are in…This urge to strive on with “firmnessin the right as God gives us to see theright” should be seen as more proof of theprocess of crystallization in Lincoln’s mindWhen the President Invites God to the InnaugurationBy Christopher L. BeckJanuary 20, 2005, President GeorgeW. Bush closed his Second InauguralAddress with the benediction, “MayGod bless you, and may He watch overthe United States of America.” Bushhad closed his First Inaugural Addressin a similar way. In that speech, he alsoindirectly quoted from Ecclesiastes 9:11.However, Bush was not the first Americanpresident to invoke God’s name in aninaugural address. These speeches aboundwith references to God, the Bible, andeven Christianity.George Washington’s appealto the AlmightyGeorge Washington, on April 30, 1789,said in his first inaugural address:[I]t would be peculiarly improperto omit in this first official act my ferventsupplications to that Almighty Being whorules over the universe, who presides in thecouncils of nations . . . that His benedictionmay consecrate to the liberties and happinessof the people of the United States a Governmentinstituted by themselves for these essentialpurposes. . . . No people can be bound toacknowledge and adore the Invisible Handwhich conducts the affairs of men more thanthose of the United States.Washington concluded by recognizingGod as the “benign Parent of the HumanRace” who had “been pleased to favor theAmerican people” during the process ofestablishing a new form of government. Healso expressed his desire to see God blessAmerica in the future in areas “on whichthe success of this Government mustdepend.”In fact, seven “religious activities”took place at Washington’s first inaugural,according to House Resolution 888(introduced in Congress in 2007 by U.S.Representative Randy Forbes). These were:(1) the use of the Bible to administer theoath;(2) affirming the religious nature of theoath by the adding the prayer `So helpme God!’ to the oath;(3) inaugural prayers offered by thepresident;(4) religious content in the inauguraladdress;(5) civil leaders calling the people to prayeror acknowledgement of God;(6) inaugural worship services attended enmasse by Congress as an official part ofcongressional activities; and(7) clergy-led inaugural prayers, activitieswhich have been replicated in whole orpart by every subsequent president . . .John Adams on ChristianityFollowing Washington, John Adamsbecame the nation’s second Chief Executive.In his March 7, 1797, address, Adamsdescribed qualifications he brought tothe job, including his “veneration for thereligion of a people who profess and callthemselves Christians, and a fixed resolutionto consider a decent respect forChristianity . . .”14 Baptist Bible Tribune [ February 2009 ]