The difficulty with “The Way” is that it is not always agreeable. “The Way” is not always filled with light. Sometimes, “The Way” is dark…like banished from Eden dark…Garden of Gethsemane dark. I’ve previously referenced Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill, the two British Prime Ministers who had opposing views on the approach to Nazi Germany. Imagine both of them using the phrase “This is the Way” when describing their political pre-war approach. Chamberlain’s Way – popular for promoting peace; Churchill’s Way – unpopular warmongering. Which of them achieved peace? 

 

On that point, a similarly interpretive statement is “Blessed are the peacemakers.” If I were to ask “Of the 45 historical U.S. presidents, which would you consider the greatest maker of peace?” I don’t think it would be out of the question that many, if not most, would say Abraham Lincoln. The answer makes sense. The 13th amendment to the Constitution liberated hundreds of thousands of American slaves not to mention the millions upon millions of their future generations. Both quantitatively and qualitatively, the peace he made for his countrymen will likely never be matched. Yet the same could be said for the destruction he presided over. 

According to battlefield.org (https://www.battlefields.org/learn/articles/civil-war-casualties) 620,000 American lives were lost fighting for their respective sides during the Civil War. The closest numerical American war deaths to that are 405,000 (WWII) and 116,000 (WWI.) However, the death rates per capita are far more telling. The following represents the number of Americans dead per 100,000 people of these three wars per Paul Waldman of the American Prospect (https://prospect.org/power/american-war-dead-numbers/):

WWI: 126 dead per 100,000

WWII: 307 dead per 100,000

Civil War: 1,965 dead per 100,000 

 

Given those numbers, President Lincoln, in his time, was not considered the maker of peace we know in our day. Many people, both south and north, even some of his own Republican party, considered his unwillingness to halt the bloodshed through compromise as unforgivable hubris. In several cases, the Civil War and its violence would have stopped much earlier had it not been for Abraham Lincoln and his absolute commitment to absolute abolition. 

So, can we count President Lincoln blessed as a peacemaker? If you, an executive leader, deny terms of compromise to end nationwide slaughter on account of a personal conviction can you still be blessed by God. Can we be enlightened by darkness?

Lincoln thought so:

“Whatever shall appear to be God’s will, I will do!”

Abraham Lincoln 

From Gordon Leidner, Lincoln on God and Country (Shippensberg, PA: White Manes Books, 2000), 18.

“We hoped for a happy termination of this terrible war long before this; but God knows best, and has ruled otherwise. We shall yet acknowledge His wisdom and our own error therein. Meanwhile we must work earnestly in the best light He gives us, trusting that so working still conduces to the great end He ordains. Surely He intends some great good to follow this mighty convulsion, which no mortal could make, and no mortal could stay.”

• Abraham Lincoln speaking to a friend, Lincoln Hypothesis by Timothy Ballard, pg 122-123

The Almighty has his own purposes…If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences 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 offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope–fervently do we pray–that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man’s two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said “the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether”

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on 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.

• Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address

Clearly, Lincoln was a man who looked for God’s guidance in his approach to war and slavery.   Likewise, those critical of Abraham Lincoln’s immovable war stance, in many cases, were good God-fearing people righteously hoping to end mass bloodshed. The desire for peace NOW was an “enlightened by lightness” appropriate “This is the Way” type of mind frame. So what in Lincoln’s character pushed him to choose the  much harder, much bloodier path?

I believe, like many a mythological hero, that Abraham Lincoln had a superpower. And true to the mythological pattern of power obtainment, his gift was born out of great personal suffering. This knowledge of suffering, combined with a near-pathological love of reading enabled Lincoln to see “things as they are” not just outside of himself, but outside of time. His was a Divinely gifted knowledge that the pain or pleasure chosen in the NOW is fleeting. That the genuine treasure of the NOW exists in its potential to enhance the souls of all mankind today AND tomorrow. And though we all have some ability to delay gratification, Abraham Lincoln’s willingness to sacrifice and darken today for the light of tomorrow was near Godly in magnitude. Having said that, I will explain the theory of HOW the mortal Lincoln could obtain such a power. 

In first-world societies of the 21st century, we are naive to the commonality of untimely death. Medical discoveries of the past 120 years have blinded us to the reality of every generation and people prior to the 20th century who knew unexpected death as a norm.   

Born in 2020 U.S. Average Life Expectancy – Near 79 years 

Born in 1850 U.S. Average Life Expectancy – Less than 40 years

https://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US39-01.html

Similar to anyone living in rural United States territory during the early to mid 19th century, Lincoln was familiar with the death of many close to him. Here is a “who and when” list of some significant figures that tragically passed away from Lincoln’s life. 

February 12, 1809 – Abraham Lincoln is born

1812 (Abe age – 1) –  A brother, Thomas, is born but lives only three days.

October 5, 1818 (Abe age – 9) – Lincoln’s mother, Nancy Hanks Lincoln, dies of “milk sickness.”

January 20, 1828 (Abe age – 18) – Lincoln’s sister, Sarah Lincoln Grigsby, dies while giving birth.

August 25, 1835 (Abe age – 26) – Ann Rutledge, who is thought by some to be Lincoln’s first love, dies at age 22, probably from typhus.

February 1, 1850 (Abe age – 40) Edward Lincoln, Abe and Mary’s second child, dies a month before his fourth birthday, of what was thought to be diphtheria but which may have been tuberculosis. On December 21 of the same year, Mary gave birth to another son, William “Willie” Wallace Lincoln.

April 12, 1861 (Abe age – 52) – Confederate artillery opens fire on Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Start of the Civil War.

February 20, 1862 (Abe age – 53) – William “Willie” Lincoln dies at age 11 of typhus. Mary Todd Lincoln is devastated and, some say, never fully recovers.

https://www.historynet.com/abraham-lincoln-timeline

Again, Lincoln’s familiarity with death was not uncommon for a person living during the 1800’s. However, grief affects people differently. For one prone to it, the death of a loved one can trigger an individual to extreme sadness that extends into something more chronic and severe than an average grieving. Abraham Lincoln was prone to this emotional pathology.

In his book Lincoln’s Melancholy: How Depression Challenged a President and Fueled His Greatness, Joshua Wolf Shenk notes that Lincoln had his first mental breakdown in association with the death of Ann Rutledge (1835.) His law partner, William Herndon, noted that Lincoln “neither ate nor slept and his mind wandered from its throne” around the time of Ann’s sickness and death. Some of his acquaintances noted that Lincoln had even talked of suicide after Ann’s passing.

It wasn’t until seven years had passed that Abe would commit to marriage with Mary Todd. This after a previous serious relationship with Miss Todd two years prior which had ended with Abe calling off their engagement and experiencing another nervous breakdown. On the day Abe did commit to marrying Miss Todd (Nov. 4, 1842) he is said to have responded to an inquiry as to where he was going when he unexpectedly left the house:

“To hell, I suppose…” 

Those are not the words of an eternal optimist.

The point here is that Lincoln’s demeanor was not one that interpreted life on the rosy side of the spectrum. His quick wit and his vast knowledge were often filtered through dark assessments. He was not the upbeat American personality we value today…though, he would likely qualify as a first-rate comedian. 

That being said, President Lincoln’s words are FILLED with HOPE. Here is a God-trusting man who understood that life was hard…and that it was hard BY INTENT. 

So what prepares a person to find HOPE in unprecedented bloodshed, even if it is for a good cause…?

The answer – an enduring faith that is experienced in suffering and death for reasons NOT UNDERSTOOD EASILY…IF AT ALL.       

Now, look back at the death timeline and re-evaluate. Take note of when the beloved Willie Lincoln was born, and even more importantly, when he died. 

I do not want to rob you, as the reader, of discovering yourself the difference between the actions of President Lincoln before Willie’s death…and after. But here is a good reference:

https://www.loc.gov/collections/abraham-lincoln-papers/articles-and-essays/abraham-lincoln-and-emancipation/timeline/#

What I do want to highlight is that Lincoln’s hope in God is founded on the idea that GOD IS ALWAYS PURPOSEFUL. For a man, brilliant and emotional as was Lincoln, to believe in God as firmly he does AFTER the tortuous timing of the death of his beloved son, I must conclude that Lincoln not only believed God sacrificed Willie with purpose but that Lincoln divined that Godly purpose himself…and, at the price of godlike emotional pain, ACCEPTED IT (as would a volunteer.)

For myself, I believe Willie died so that President Lincoln, seeing God willing to sacrifice the President of the United States’ favorite son during the most dire portion of the North’s war, would then find the courage necessary to sacrifice other willing sons for the worthy cause of, not just retaining the Republic, but the far holier purpose, TOTAL EMANCIPATION. Only one acquainted and comfortable with the purpose of suffering, grief, and death could grasp such a thought. That type of courage is not the way of comfort…that type of courage is the way of God. What would motivate a loving father more than to give meaning to the death of his favorite son. In so doing, all those who sacrificed themselves fighting for absolute abolition would become Lincoln’s sons in similitude. Just as all those who give their lives in service to God become His spiritual sons and daughters.

Lincoln understood that His Way…was through darkness and discomfort.

To end this article, I would like to share, with permission, a post made by one firmly acquainted with pain, suffering, and death. Her wisdom speaks of a way unknowable to those unfamiliar to devastating experiences. Yet, like President Lincoln, her message is filled with hope and purpose even though “Our Way Forward” as she puts it, is through time, darkness and determined effort. 

“The sun will shine again”

One of my favorite quotes described the grief journey like this: “The quickest way for anyone to reach the sun and the light of day is not to run west, chasing the setting sun, but to head east plunging into the darkness until one comes to the sunrise again.”

It’s hard to believe in a few short months it will be three years since Curt passed away. During this time I have taken the plunge through darkness towards the sun. It’s been one foot in front of the other as I’ve learned to live with the pain. I have spent many of my days sitting with questions like: “Will joy ever come again? Are there truly better days ahead? Will this be my reality forever?”

During this time I have been uncovering the answers to these questions by choosing to show up for my unexpected life. I’ve learned that finding our way forward takes time, it takes opening our eyes even when we are unable to see, and it takes grabbing hold of every glimmer of hope as we slowly move towards the light of the sun.

There is real powerful hope that the sun will shine again. 💛

Holly Whitaker – wife of Curt Whitaker (1975 – 2018)

 

     

Addendum 1

Carl Sandburg (poet, Abraham Lincoln biographer, twice Pulitzer Prize winner) published the following poem shortly after several unsuccessful attempts to find a vocation lead him to try life as a vagabond for one year.  

Experience

Carl Sandburg – 1878-1967

This morning I looked at the map of the day

And said to myself, “This is the way! This is the way I will go;

Thus shall I range on the roads of achievement,

The way is so clear—it shall all be a joy on the lines marked out.”

And then as I went came a place that was strange,—

’Twas a place not down on the map!

And I stumbled and fell and lay in the weeds,

And looked on the day with rue.

I am learning a little—never to be sure—

To be positive only with what is past,

And to peer sometimes at the things to come

As a wanderer treading the night

When the mazy stars neither point nor beckon,

And of all the roads, no road is sure.

I see those men with maps and talk

Who tell how to go and where and why;

I hear with my ears the words of their mouths,

As they finger with ease the marks on the maps;

And only as one looks robust, lonely, and querulous,

As if he had gone to a country far

And made for himself a map,

Do I cry to him, “I would see your map!

I would heed that map you have!”

 

Addendum 2

I, personally, appreciate Kevin Wood’s following perception that Lincoln’s second inaugural address was a speech Lincoln CHOSE to make. As one who addresses topics that elicit significant discomfort, I appreciate the COURAGE it takes for a man who CHOOSES to speak of what his audience NEEDS to hear…not what his audience WANTS to hear.

Finally, it was not a speech he had to make; he chose to make it, even knowing that it would be uncomfortable for the people to hear. When long-time New York political boss Thurlow Weed wrote to him afterwards to compliment him on the speech, Lincoln responded:

“I expect [it] to wear as well as – perhaps better than – any thing I have produced; but I believe it is not immediately popular. Men are not flattered by being shown that there has been a difference of purpose between the Almighty and them. To deny it, however, in this case, is to deny that there is a God governing the world. It is a truth which I thought needed to be told; and as whatever of humiliation there is in it, falls most directly on myself, I thought others might afford for me to tell it.”

This was not the speech of a skeptic, nor a deist. Lincoln may have been either or both of those earlier in his life, but he was most certainly not at the end of his life. This was the speech of a man who accepted the Scriptures as truth, and who saw God as very much at work in the events and circumstances of the world and his own life.

• Kevin J. Wood, An Unpopular Truth: Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, May 17, 2015