Five short years before he began his term as President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln was invited to serve as an attorney for the John Manny Co. in a case that came to be called “The Reaper Trial.”  The trial was set for a court in Chicago and the lead attorney, George Harding, wanted an Illinois lawyer to be a part of his team and Lincoln was selected. It paid well.

 

Shortly after the agreement was made, the trial was moved to Cincinnati and Mr. Harding was able to secure the services of the man he had preferred all along, Edwin Stanton. (History buffs will remember the names.) Nobody told Lincoln.

 

Lincoln arrived in Cincinnati and found the hotel in which his team was staying.

Years later, Harding could still recall the shock of his first sight of the “tall, rawly boned, ungainly back woodsman, with coarse, ill-fitting clothing, his trousers hardly reaching his ankles, holding in his hands a blue cotton umbrella with a ball on the end of the handle.”  Lincoln introduced himself and proposed, “Let’s go up as a gang.”  At this point, Stanton drew Harding aside and whispered, “Why did you bring that d­­­­_______d long armed Ape here…he does not know any thing and can do you no good.”  With that Stanton and Harding turned from Lincoln and continued to court on their own.

 

In the days that followed, Stanton “managed to make it plain to Lincoln” that he was expected to remove himself from the case. Lincoln did withdraw….

(Doris Kearns Goodwin, Team of Rivals, page 174)

 

Just for the moment, imagine that you are Abraham Lincoln. You have been invited to participate in a case that you did not solicit. You have prepared a brief. You have traveled from Springfield, Illinois to Cincinnati to do the work. And when you arrive, before your brief has been read, before a conversation has been had, with only your appearance as a guide, Stanton and Harding turn their backs on you and refuse to walk to the courtroom with you. And within days, you are forced to withdraw knowing that neither person has read one word of your brief or asked one single question about your opinion of the case. And to make it all the more insulting, Stanton has called you a “long armed Ape.”

 

How are you doing now, Abe? What words come to mind?

 

• How about angry? You have been insulted and belittled and pushed aside. Angry!
• How about frustrated? You have done the work and you are the best lawyer on the Illinois circuit. And now, you don’t get a single chance to prove yourself. Frustrated!
• How about bitter? Bitter takes time to mature but it can start here. You should have had a chance and that chance was stolen and you may never get another quite like it. Bitter!
• Disappointed: Your hopes were high. This was a chance to prove your mettle on the national scene and that has been taken from you. Disappointed.
• How about the word cheated? Once the contract had been signed, this opportunity was rightfully yours and nobody had the right to steal it from you. You have been cheated.
• And wounded, you have been emotionally, spiritually, and maybe even financially wounded.

 

It is possible that Lincoln experienced every one of those feelings. Now, Mr. Lincoln, how are you going to relate to Mr. Stanton, the Harvard educated lawyer who just knocked you out of a job and opportunity? If nothing else, you will relate as little as possible. You may rehearse the events time after time after time and create a genuine hatred for the man – that sometimes happens. Are you looking for a chance to get even, revenge can be sweet for a time?

 

Even though he withdrew from the case, Lincoln stayed in Cincinnati and watched the case unfold. And he discovered in Stanton a powerful intellect, and enormous talent. And, he stored away the memory.

 

It is now six years later and Abraham Lincoln is President of the United States. The Civil War is raging and the Secretary of War is not up to the task. Lincoln needs a new Secretary of War. He is aware that Stanton has moved to Washington and has a strong personal and political alliance to the Secretary of the Treasury, Chase, who wants Lincoln’s job. Lincoln clearly remembers Cincinnati. He remembers the snub and he remembers Stanton’s ability.

 

Lincoln chose to offer Stanton “the most powerful civilian post” that the President could give to any person at that time. He made Edwin Stanton the Secretary of War.

 

Doris Kearns Godwin writes this:

Lincoln’s choice of Stanton would reveal … a singular ability to transcend personal vendetta, humiliation, or bitterness.  As for Stanton, despite his initial contempt for the “long armed Ape,” he would not only accept the offer but come to respect and love Lincoln more than any person outside of his immediate family.”  (Page 175)

 

Now, what words come to mind when you consider Lincoln’s “singular ability to transcend personal vendetta, humiliation and bitterness”? 

 

• Forgiving: Did Lincoln, in some profound way, forgive Stanton for his very bad behavior? Forgiving.
• How about Humble?  It requires a humble man to set aside the blow to his pride that Stanton inflicted  on Lincoln. There is a profound kind of humility here.
• Strength: Only the very strong can afford to be forgiving and humble. Lincoln had no doubt that he would be able to work with the arrogant Mr. Stanton.
• Generous: Lincoln rewarded Stanton with the very high honor of very high office. It was an act of moral and emotional generosity.
• Insightful: Lincoln had taken the measure of Mr. Stanton, his abilities and talents and he knew what would be required of a Secretary of War during the Civil War. It was a remarkable insightful act.

 

And if you add the words, the virtues together, if you add forgiving, and humble, and strength, and generous and insightful, all of that together is a part of WISDOM. Lincoln had a remarkable wisdom, much of which is rooted in his personal reading of the pages of Holy Scripture.   He was wise.

 

• Wisdom may be the hardest virtue to describe but I’ll try anyway. Wisdom is:
• Separating the good from the best
• Separating pleasure from joy
• Separating that which is necessary from that which is desirable
• Separating that which is important from that which is most important

 

• Wisdom is pursuing that which yields what Jesus called, “the Abundant Life.”
• Wisdom knows that which creates joy and peace and hope and love and recognizes that which generates only the counterfeits. 

 

So where do we find wisdom? Oprah? Rush? Hilary? Do we find it in a “self-help” book? Somebody said that even a broken clock is right twice a day and you may find bits of wisdom in a thousand places.

 

The Christian claim is that God’s wisdom for humanity has been distilled and embodied in Jesus Christ. Paul wrote that “Christ is the wisdom of God.” And the Gospel of John begins by referring to Jesus as “The Word.” “In the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God.” (John 1:1) 

 

The Greek word is logos and from that word, we take the English word Logic. We could say it this way, Jesus is God’s way of thinking among human beings!  Jesus is the way that God designed human beings to live with one another. He is God’s wisdom.

 

And when we learn to live in the way of Jesus, we find ourselves doing those things that create joy and peace and hope and love.

 

Do you remember the words that we used to describe Lincoln’s behavior towards Stanton? 

·        Forgiveness

·        Humility

·        Strength

·        Generosity

·        Insight

Each of those virtues find their deepest roots in Jesus Christ. I invite you to learn from him and to follow him and to grow wise in him.