And having thus chosen our course, without guile and with pure purpose, let us renew our trust in God and go forward without fear and with manly hearts.—First Message to Congress, July 4, 1861. Complete Works, II, 66.
Whereas it is fit and becoming in all people, at all times, to acknowledge and revere the supreme government of God; to bow in humble submission to His chastisements; to confess and deplore their sins and transgressions, in the full conviction that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; and to pray with all fervency and contrition for the pardon of their past offenses, and for a blessing upon their present and prospective action:
And whereas when our own beloved country, once, by the blessing of God, united, prosperous, and happy, is now afflicted with factions and civil war, it is particularly fit for us to recognize the hand of God in this terrible visitation, and in sorrowful remembrance of our own faults and crimes as a nation and as individuals, to humble ourselves before Him and to pray for His mercy.—National Fast Day Proclamation, August 12, 1861. Complete Works, II, 73.
In the midst of unprecedented political troubles we have cause of great gratitude to God for unusual health and most abundant harvest.... The struggle of today is not altogether for today—it is for a vast future also. With a reliance on Providence all the more firm and earnest, let us proceed to the great task which events have devolved upon us.—Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1861. Complete Works, II, 93 and 106.
Whereas it has seemed to me probable that the unsuccessful application made for the commutation of his sentence may have prevented the said Nathaniel Gordon from making the necessary preparation for the awful change which awaits him: Now therefore be it known that I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, have granted and do hereby grant unto him, the said Nathaniel Gordon, a respite of the above recited sentence, until Friday, the 21st of February, A.D. 1862.... In granting this respite it becomes my painful duty to admonish the prisoner that, relinquishing all expectation of pardon by human authority, he refer himself alone to the mercy of the common God and Father of all men.—Proclamation of Respite for a Convicted Slave Trader, February 4, 1862. Complete Works, II, 121-22.
Being a humble instrument in the hands of our Heavenly Father, as I am, and as we all are, to work out His great purposes, I have desired that all my works and acts may be according to His will; and that it might be so, I have sought His aid.—Reply to Mrs. Gurney and Deputation from Society of Friends, September [28?], 1862. Complete Works, II, 243.
In full view of my great responsibility to my God and to my country, I earnestly beg the attention of Congress and the people to the subject.—Message to Congress recommending Emancipation with Compensation to Owners, March 6, 1862. Complete Works, II, 130.
It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces.... It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at their next weekly assemblages ... they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Father for these inestimable blessings; that they then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war; and that they reverently invoke the Divine guidance to our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in restoration of peace, harmony, and unity.—Special Thanksgiving Proclamation, April 10, 1862. Complete Works, II, 143.
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.—A Meditation on the Divine Will in the handwriting of Mr. Lincoln, formulated about September 30, 1862, and not written for the eye of men but apparently in the effort to define the moral aspects of the subject and to clarify his own spiritual outlook.—Complete Works, II, 243-44.
Whereas 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 transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proved by all history, that those nations only are blest whose God is the Lord; And inasmuch as we know that by His Divine law nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?—Fast Day Proclamation, March 30, 1863. Complete Works, II, 319.