President Harold B. Lee, Part One - Abraham Lincoln's Views on Prayer

For Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five or Part Six, you know what to do. Click away!

This morning we're looking at President Harold B. Lee's talk, "A Time of Decision". We're still in the April 1972 General Conference, but soon coming to the end of it.

 

The Quote

"The story, presumably authentic, 

is told that during the Civil War 

when the fortunes of the Union armies, 

under the command of General Grant, 

were going badly, 

some concerned ministers called on President Abraham Lincoln at the White House 

and forcefully urged the dismissal of Grant.

To these men he is alleged to have said: 

“Gentlemen, General Grant has under his command all that we hold dear in this nation. 

Instead of criticism, 

you too should get down on your knees and pray God 

that he would see this nation through to victory.”"

I kinda love that President Lee said 'presumably authentic' and 'alleged to have said'. That feels much more accurate to the situation of these historical quotes, I tell you. Time plays merry telephone tag with what people in the past have often said.

Also, you gotta love a Lincoln quote, anytime. Am I right?

So I went looking for this one - figured it might be from one of his many biographies.  

Apparently, President Lee was on to something here - Abraham Lincoln never said that. 

It's purely an apocryphal quote, passed down through time, developed from his support of General Grant over those who criticized Grant's drinking or his behavior.

 

So whatever did Abraham Lincoln ever say about prayer in general, I wondered?

The best direct quote I could find came from The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln - a formal declaration he made when he called for a National Day of Prayer - 

 

"Now therefore, be it known that I do set apart Thursday the 6th day of August next, 

to be observed as a Day of National Thanksgiving, Praise and Prayer, 

and I invite the people of the United States to assemble on that occasion 

in their customary places of worship, and in forms approved by their own consciences, 

render homage due to the Divine Majesty, 

for the wonderful things He has done in the Nation's behalf, 

and invoke the influence of His Holy Spirit to subdue the anger, 

which has produced, and so long sustained a needless and cruel rebellion, 

to change the hearts of the insurgents, 

to guide the counsels of the Government with wisdom adequate to so great a national emergency, 

and to visit with tender care and consolation

throughout the length and breadth of our land all those who, 

through the vicissitudes of marches, voyages, battles and sieges, 

have been brought to suffer in mind, body, or estate, 

and finally, 

to lead the whole nation, through the paths of repentance and submission to the Divine Will, 

back to the perfect enjoyment of Union and fraternal peace..."