Plucking the Eagle's Wings

A Nation Divided—The Split Between the North and South

of humble, praying men. The evidence of His grace is that we were able to come together after such devastation. After four years of war, Lincoln said he had no hatred in his heart for the people in the South. He said, "Judge not that ye be not judged. They are just what we would be if in their position." During his second inauguration in March 1865, Lincoln delivered the greatest speech of his life. He stepped forward and kissed a Bible that was opened to the fifth chapter of Isaiah and he began his speech. Carl Schurz wrote, "No ruler had ever spoke words like these to his people. America had never before had a president who had such words in the depths of his heart." Lincoln's closing remarks were: "Fondly do we hope—fervently do we pray—that this scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth is piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said, the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. With malice toward none and with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who should have borne the battle, and for his widow, and for his orphan—to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." No one knew that this humble man would become one of America's greatest presidents. During Lincoln's speech, he quoted Isaiah chapter 5, which includes reference to a new vineyard the same Scripture on which the theme of this book is based. Apparently, Lincoln believed that the prophecy referred to America's Civil War. Two months later, the same speech was repeated at Lincoln's funeral in Springfield, Illinois. The vineyard had survived. More wars were to come and additional presidents would die premature deaths. Those deaths would fall upon presidents elected on a zero year and would be called the "zero cycle."

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