And what of Abraham Lincoln…? – Sunday, February 12, 1956
There is much said concerning Lincoln—but not too much for so sincerely great a subject. Men do many things for their own comfort and convenience, and for their own survival, and will put forth almost superhuman effort to save themselves—physically—to lengthen out their mortal lives.
With few seeming exceptions, all of us want to live, all of us cling to life. (Men do not generally choose to “lose” their lives—that is, to have their lives cut shorter here. No man’s life is cut shorter hereafter.) And so, the question sometimes comes: What would we do, or should we do, to lengthen out the days of this life? Should we sacrifice all principles to “save” ourselves? Should we betray our country to “save” ourselves? Should we sacrifice our associates to “save” ourselves? These are searching questions—and difficult ones.
They may seem academic to some, but they aren’t always altogether because there are circumstances when men find themselves faced with just such decisions,
And what of Abraham Lincoln? Just this: He was one of the great among a long list of now immortal men, who would likely not have chosen to become a martyr, who would not have chosen to “lose” his life; but neither would he flinch from it; neither would he “save” his mortal life, if “saving” it meant sacrificing a cause, a country, a principle, or a people. And of such stuff are the patriots of the past, of such sterling stuff are the great immortals made. And so, for all time, and eternally, Lincoln stands among the immortals, as having learned and lived this lesson: “For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”1
Now a sidelight on some of his great qualities of character, among them, love, integrity, and humility—and there is no real greatness without any of these: As he visited fallen Richmond but a few days before he died, some whose cause he had served recognized him, and bowed down to him—and some fell at his feet. “This is not right,” he said. “You must kneel to God only and thank him for the liberty you will hereafter enjoy. I am but God’s humble instrument, . . .”2 And this he said to the nation to which he gave his life: “It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgression in humble sorrow . . . and to recognize the sublime truth . . . that ‘those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”3
Thus spoke Abraham Lincoln, who lived and died with this prayer and purpose: “that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom . . . and . . . shall not perish from the earth.”4
1Matthew 16:2 5
2The Day Lincoln Was Shot, by Jim Bishop
3From Proclamation, March 80,1863
4Gettysburg Address
February 12, 1956
Broadcast Number 1,382