1862 / Washington, DC

God Wills It

Tags:: Abraham Lincoln,; Civil War,; will of God

The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God. Both may be, and one must be, wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party—and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect his purpose. I am almost ready to say that this is probably true, that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet. By his mere great power on the minds of the now contestants, he could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun, he could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.

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Published In

Religion

About the Author

Abraham Lincoln, “Meditation on the Divine Will.” Composed during the second year of the Civil War—only weeks before the battle of Antietam claimed more than 23,000 American lives—the fragment was preserved by one of the president’s White House secretaries, who said it was “not written to be seen of men.”

A religious war is like killing someone over who has the better imaginary friend.