If both North and South stood under divine judgment, then a new attitude was demanded, one of humbly working for the common good. In his peroration, Lincoln called his hearers to steady service: \u201cWith malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.\u201d<\/p>\n
The most important of these tasks was \u201cto bind up the nation\u2019s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.\u201d Lincoln was calling to mind the good Samaritan from the Gospel of Luke, who, finding an injured man, \u201cbound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.\u201d Similarly, his injunction to help the widow and the orphan echoed the Book of James, which taught that \u201cpure religion\u201d consisted at least partly of visiting \u201cthe fatherless and widows in their affliction.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lincoln concluded that this vision could be a global one, as they would \u201cdo all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.\u201d The 16th president thus demonstrated that the best religious reflection in public life could lead to humility, self-criticism, care for fellow citizens, and renewal of civic ties. And that seems like a beneficial reminder from the random coins jangling in our pockets.<\/p>\n