Sermon Details
- Pastor Name: Jonathan Cornell
- Date & Time: November 3, 2013 | 10:00am
In the spring of 1865, with the final gasps of the Civil War at hand, President Abraham Lincoln stood in the mud and the rain of Washington DC to deliver his Second Inaugural Address. Apprehension mingled with hope as the President prepared. At this critical moment in our history, he looked to the pages of Scripture and the words of Jesus, words of healing and hope, of forgiveness and not enmity, overcoming division with a call for reconciliation.
The nation was deeply divided, and so instead of seeking recrimination and judgment, he spoke these words: “With malice toward none, and charity toward all with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work that we are in.” And in not more than a few weeks time, the war would be over, the Union victorious in the cause of freedom, and the Confederacy defeated and demoralized. How would the President unite a nation divided by such a destructive period?
Instead of heaping judgment upon the South for their role in the war that cost more than 600,000 American lives, Lincoln prayed—and encouraged a nation to pray.
Download the entire transcript: Luke 23 33-37 Father Forgive Them
