The wisest thing Lincoln ever said

“The time has come,” Abraham Lincoln assured his advisers, “when these sentiments should be uttered; and if it is decreed that I should go down because of this speech, then let me go down linked to the truth—let me die in the advocacy of what is just and right.” Lincoln was preparing for the most controversial speech of his life. It was 1858. His future as a presidential candidate was on the line. All of his advisers pleaded for him to nix the speech. But he was determined to go ahead with it, even if it meant ruin politically.

In the late 1850s, political debate raged in the United States over the question of slavery in new states. Lincoln’s lifelong political rival, Stephen Douglas, had successfully lobbied for Congress to allow the people of each state to decide for themselves if they wanted slavery or not. Lincoln felt slavery should be kept in the South, hoping that, if contained, it would eventually die there.

In 1857, the Dred Scott decision struck a further blow to Lincoln and those in favor of abolishing slavery. Dred Scott was a slave who sought freedom through the courts because he at one time lived in a free state. The court denied his request on grounds that as a slave, he was his owner’s property, not a citizen of the United States.

This is what led up to Lincoln’s famous “House Divided” speech, given at the Republican State Convention in Springfield, Illinois. Lincoln’s speech publicly established his position on the slavery issue and instantly set him apart as the foremost authority on abolitionism.

“In my opinion, [slavery] will not cease until a crisis shall have been reached, and passed,” Lincoln said. “A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved—I do not expect the house to fall—but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.”

Lincoln’s provocative metaphor, of course, can be found in three of the Gospel accounts of Jesus Christ’s life. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation,” Jesus said, “and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand” (Matthew 12:25).

Every kingdom, every nation, every city, every family that is divided against itself will eventually be brought to desolation. Jesus Christ taught that, as did Lincoln. And so does history. It’s an important lesson that most choose to ignore. Lincoln’s advisers certainly wanted him to overlook it.

In 1859, while dining with friends, he said, “Well gentlemen, you may think that speech was a mistake, but I never have believed it was, and you will see the day when you will consider it was the wisest thing I ever said.”