Excerpt from Lincoln in Caricature, by Rufus Rockwell Wilson (provided to Welcome Clothing by the Beautiful Leslie Carver)
There was no doubt need to consult oracles during Mr. Lincoln’s first day in office; but we know now that it was his custom, when faced with a difficult problem to take counsel with his conscience, and leave the issue to a higher power. Lucius E. Chittenden, Register of the Treasury during the Civil War, offers in his Recollections impressive testimony to the President’s reliance on that higher power. He writes that opportunity offering in the summer of 1864 he made bold to ask Mr. Lincoln how far and in what measure he believed that the Almighty directed human affairs. The President was silent for a time, and then made answer:
“The Almighty does make use of human agencies. I have had so many evidences of his direction, so many instances when I have been controlled by some other power than my own will that I cannot doubt that this power comes from above. I frequently see my way clear to a decision when I am conscious that I have no sufficient facts upon which to found it. But I cannot recall one instance in which I have followed my own judgment, founded upon such a decision, where the results were unsatisfactory; whereas, in almost every instance where I have yielded to the view of others, I have had occasion to regret it. I am satisfied that when the Almighty wants me to do or not to do a particular thing, he finds a way of letting me know it …
“At first, when we had long spells of bad luck, I used sometimes to lose heart. Now I seem to know that Providence has protected and will protect us against any fatal defeat. All we have to do is trust the Almighty and keep right on obeying his orders and executing his will.”
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