Mrs. Eddy Mentioned Them February 12, 1955 Issue

Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865

[Mentioned in Poems, p. 26]

Lincoln was unaware of his destiny as emancipator of a race and defender of the Union when he said, "Boys, by the Eternal God, if ever I get a chance to hit that thing [slavery], I'll hit it hard." There seemed little likelihood that such a chance would come to this man of 22 who, with two others, brought a flatboat to New Orleans and who there first saw slaves in chains. On his return to Illinois, however, he continued his self-education. After clerking in a store and serving briefly in an Indian war, he was appointed postmaster and later surveyor. Finally he entered politics and was admitted to the bar.

For 8 years he served in the Illinois Legislature. During this time proslavery resolutions were passed with which Lincoln did not agree. To him slavery was wrong, and he with one other man signed a protest against slavery and the resolutions. In 1847 Lincoln represented Illinois in Congress. Significantly he introduced a bill to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia and to compensate the masters whose slaves were to be freed. Because of great opposition from the slave states, the bill never came to a vote. In 1858 the Republican Party of Illinois chose Lincoln as their candidate for United States Senator. In his acceptance speech Lincoln prophesied: " 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.' I believe this Government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free." Lincoln lost the senatorship, but his debates with Douglas, his opponent, made him known throughout the nation.

In 1860 he was invited to speak in New York. It was his first speech in the eastern states, and all the notables were there, William C. Bryant introducing him. Lincoln's mastery of his subject, his logic, moral purpose, and great kindliness captivated his audience. They perhaps discerned what he once expressed, "I have never had a feeling, politically, that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence." His concluding words, "Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it," mark the beginning of his spiritual influence over the nation. The same year he was nominated for President. That he glimpsed his own mission is attested by these words: "If He has a place and work for me—and I think He has —I believe I am ready. I am nothing, but truth is everything. I know I am right because I know that liberty is right, for Christ teaches it."

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