the one or the other class is mistaken in that belief, and perhaps in some respects both.  I hope it will not be irreverent for me to say that, if it is probable that God would reveal His will to others, on a point so connected with my duty, it might be supposed He would reveal it directly to me.  What good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do especially as we are now situated?  I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative like the Pope’s Bull against the comet.  Do not misunderstand me, because I have mentioned these objections.  They indicate the difficulties that have thus far prevented my acting in some such way as you desire.  I have not decided against a proclamation of liberty to the slaves, but hold the matter under advisement.  And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more than any other.  Whatever shall appear to be God’s will, I will do.”  The language of this speech, especially when the touch is humorous, seems that of a strained and slightly irritated man, but the solemnity blended in it showed Lincoln’s true mind.

In this month, September, 1862, he composed for his own reading alone a sad and inconclusive fragment of meditation which was found after his death.  “The will of God prevails,” he wrote.  “In great contests each party claims to act in accordance with the will of God.  Both may be and one must be wrong.  God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time.  In the present civil war it is quite possible that God’s purpose is something different from the purpose of either party, and yet the human instrumentalities, working just as they do, are of the best adaptation to effect His purpose.  I am almost ready to say that this is probably true, that God wills this contest, and wills that it shall not end yet.  By His mere great power on the minds of the contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest.  Yet the contest began, and, having begun, He could give the final victory to either side any day.  Yet the contest proceeds.”  For Lincoln’s own part it seemed his plain duty to do what in the circumstances he thought safest for the Union, and yet he was almost of a mind with the deputation which had preached to him, that he must be doing God’s will in taking a great step towards emancipation.  The solution, that the great step must be taken at the first opportune moment, was doubtless clear enough in principle, but it must always remain arguable whether any particular moment was opportune.  He told soon afterwards how his mind was finally made up.