Heroes, Heroines, and History: COST OF PERSERVERANCE (Part III)

By Catherine Ulrich Brakefield

Born dirt poor, in a one-room cabin in the primitive backwoods of Kentucky, with little formal education, his business enterprises often failing, his love life often wanting, and his political career in shambles, Abraham Lincoln persevered toward his God-ordained destiny.

He never apologized for his humble beginnings and once told a person, “I am not ashamed to confess that twenty-five years ago I was a hired laborer, mauling rails, at work on a flat-boat – just what might happen to any poor man’s son. “

But now, Abe had hit a brick wall. He spent hours contemplating his life choices during the weary weeks in the saddle riding the circuit, serving the remote towns and villages.

On one depressing day, which happened to be a Sunday, he decided to listen to Reverand James F. Jacques preach about the new birth. Moved by what he heard, Lincoln sought Jacques a few days later. They spent hours talking, and then they prayed together.

Jacques later said, "I have seen hundreds brought to Christ, and if ever a person was converted, Abraham Lincoln was converted that night in my house. "

Lincoln read his Bible in earnest now. He was ready to toss politics out with his new conversion. He humbly had said, “Though I now sink out of view, and shall be forgotten, I believe I have made some marks which will tell for the cause of civil liberty long after I am gone.”

But his wife felt God was calling him to help their countrymen. She encouraged him not to give up, and so he ran for president in 1860—and won!

The South threatened secession, the abolitionists wanted the slaves' freedom. Lincoln diligently read and studied his Bible. His daily readings encouraged Lincoln to remain hopeful. After all, there were Christians in the South as well as the North. God loved all equally. His Divine Providence would conquer Satan’s deviousness. All would work out right for his countrymen, northerners, and southerners alike.

I display these thoughts in the passages I quote in Swept into Destiny on Lincoln’s inauguration address to the public. “I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”

Lincoln made it clear, he would do God’s bidding and keep these United States united, “In your hands, my dissatisfied fellow countrymen, and not in mine, is the momentous issue of civil war. The government will not assail you. You can have no conflict without being yourselves the aggressors. You have no oath registered in Heaven to destroy the government, while I shall have the most solemn oath to ‘preserve, protect, and defend it.”

Lincoln, with his son, Willie, beside him, looked out at the crowd compassionately, yet with a heavy heart. “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic cords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.”

The South remained determined to succeed. They started to print their own money in March of 1861. They fired upon Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, at 4:30 a.m. The battle clouds of war swirled like a hurricane above Washington, D.C. The Founding Fathers had hoped these United States of America would be a City set upon a Hill and emulate to the world that a nation under God, of the people, by the people and for the people could prosper and endure—but that idea was now a dream gone awry. On July 13, 1861, Congress passed an Act authorizing President Lincoln to declare a state of insurrection. And the bloody Civil War began that would separate brothers from fathers, sons from mothers, and young men from their true loves.

Two years later, Tad and Willie fell ill with typhoid fever. Tad recovered, but Willie died. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth. God has called him home,” Lincoln moaned. Willie was only eleven years old. William (Willie) Wallace Lincoln died on February 20, 1862. Sorrow trodden on the footsteps of Lincoln. Still, through the hardships of losing two sons (he had lost Eddie when he died of consumption at the young age of three years old, in 1850, and sadly, unknown to Abe at the time, he would lose Tad when he turned eighteen years old) Lincoln's faith remained unwavering. The Lincoln family continued to attend the Presbyterian Church on New York Avenue in Washington, DC.

With the Civil War in full fury, the hours of Lincoln's day were too fleeting to fulfill everyone's needs. Acquiring an interview with him was extremely difficult. One gentleman arrived fifteen minutes early for his 5:00 a.m. appointment. Waiting outside of Lincoln's office, he heard muttering, and he asked the secretary who it could be. Is someone in there with the president?

"No, he (President Lincoln) is reading the Bible and praying."

"Is that his habit so early in the morning?"

"Yes, sir, he spends each morning from four to five reading the Scriptures and praying."

Throughout President Lincoln's remaining years, he sought guidance from the Bible and often quoted Mark 3:25: "'A house divided against itself cannot stand,' and I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free."

God’s Word, the Bible, was Lincoln’s constant companion. He never shied from asking for help from his fellow Christians. Twice, Lincoln called for a day of humility, asking God's direction by fasting and prayer, in 1861, and again in 1863.

On his knees, he pleaded his case before the Almighty God. His concern was that it was God's judgment on the United States due to exploiting the slaves. He called for prayer, for "malice towards none and charity to all."

That ‘charity’ was needed more than ever when Lincoln was called to the bloodied fields of Gettysburg.

Don’t miss next month’s spine-chilling conclusion.

DESTINY’S WHIRLWIND (book 2 of the Destiny Series) A deathbed promise, a dashing Rough Rider, the parable of the Sower, take on unimaginable consequences. A disgruntled in-law and a vindictive lawyer place the McConnell clan in the clutches of life’s tangled web of deception and greed. As Collina fights to keep her promise, the words of Esther 8:6 ring in her thoughts. “How can I endure to see the evil that will come to my people?”

Destiny’s Whirlwind by Catherine Brakefield is a beautiful inspirational love story that will reel you in and win your heart…The story is beautifully written and filled with triumph and heartbreak. I couldn’t put it down…” LS

Catherine is the award-winning author of Wilted Dandelions, Swept into Destiny, Destiny’s Whirlwind, Destiny of Heart, Waltz with Destiny and Love's Final Sunrise. She has written two pictorial history books, The Lapeer Area and Eastern Lapeer, and short stories for Guideposts Books, CrossRiver Media Group, Revell Books, Bethany House Publishers. Catherine and her husband of fifty-three years live on a ranch in Michigan and have two adult children, five grandchildren, four Arabian horses, three dogs, two cats, one bunny, and six chickens. See CatherineUlrichBrakefield.com for more information.

References:

https://presidentlincoln.illinois.gov/lincoln-quotes/?sort=1a&pg=44&sz=10&q=

https://lightmagazine.ca/abraham-lincolns-freeing-encounter-with-christ/

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/march-20/republican-party-founded

https://www.history.com/articles/abrham-lincoln-family