Wise Words from Abraham Lincoln

Last week I was able to take my kids on a spontaneous day to the happiest place on earth...Disneyland.  Now, that alone is a blog entry but I wanted to focus on one moment in the park.  We went to the "Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln" show in the theater on Main Street.  I am not sure if anyone out there has had the experience of seeing the show but it boils down to a life-like Abraham Lincoln standing and addressing the audience.  Read very carefully what he says:


"The world has never had a good definition of the word "liberty". The American people, just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty. But in using the same word, we do not all mean the same thing.
What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not our frowning embattlements, our bristling sea coasts. These are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty, which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some trans-Atlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us in a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio or make a track on the Blue Ridge in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?

"I answer that if it ever reach us, it must spring from amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be the authors and finishers. As a nation of free men, we must live through all times, or die by suicide.

"Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the listing babe that prattles on her lap. Let it be taught in the schools, in the seminaries, and in the colleges. Let it be written in primers, in spelling books and almanacs. Let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls, and enforced in courts of justice. And in short, let it become the political religion of the nation. And let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes, and tongues, and colors, and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly at its altar.

"And let us strive to deserve, as far as mortals may, the continued care of Divine Providence, trusting that, in future national emergencies, He will not fail to provide us the instruments of safety and security.
Neither let us be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, or frightened from it by menaces of the destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. 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."

The speech is actually a compilation of speeches from President Lincoln but I find the accuracy and the timeliness of his words to be chilling.  It is a great reminder from a great man that as a nation we are in constant need of divine providence and that our love of freedom is our saving grace.  We should not be surprised, but we should be gravely concerned whenever and where ever we see these values and principles under attack, especially when we see it from within.  Something to think about...