Riding With The President-Elect

On the facebook page Church of Christ Bulletins and Articles I came across a post by Ronny Milliner who shared an interesting piece of history, posed an intriguing question, and offered a thoughtful challenge.

It’s one of our shorter facebook Friday posts. I hope you find it as fascinating as I did.

The attached drawing was on the cover of the March 16, 1861 issue of Harper’s Weekly. It shows President James Buchanon and President-elect Abraham Lincoln riding in a carriage together on the way to the Capitol for Lincoln to be sworn in as the new President.

If you look closely, you will notice two other men in the carriage with these two national leaders. One of them was a member of the church. Edward D. Baker was a close friend of Lincoln. Lincoln actually named his second son Edward after his lawyer friend from Illinois.

Edward had been born in London in 1811. He traveled with his parents to the United States in 1816, settling in Philadelphia. In 1826 the family moved to Belleville, Illinois after a brief stop in New Harmony, Indiana in 1825. Edward grew up to be a lawyer and married Mary Ann Foss in 1831. It was about this time that he became a member of the church of Christ. Edgar D. Jones, in his book Lincoln and the Preachers, related that Edward’s law partner, Josephus Hewett, “organized the Christian Church in Springfield in 1832” (Jones, 1948). Edward Baker preached part-time for the church.

I wonder what Edward Baker and Abraham Lincoln talked about while riding to the Capitol that day. If you had the opportunity to speak with the President-elect, on his journey to become the President of the United States, what would you discuss?

Would you remind him of the godly principles that God has in mind for a nation? You could read Proverbs 14:34 to him, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.” Would you discuss Psalm 9:17 with him? David proclaimed, “The wicked will return to Sheol, Even all the nations who forget God.”

Perhaps you would remind him that he would be a tool in the hand of God as you travel in the “Beast” toward the Nation’s Meetinghouse. Daniel had to remind Nebuchadnezzar of this fact. He told him, “…the Most High is the powerful ruler over the kingdom of mankind And gives it to whom He wishes And sets up over it the lowliest of men” (Daniel 4:17, 25).

One thing that would need to be discussed is his personal, spiritual state before God. Most President-elects know John 3:16 and the need to believe in Jesus, but have they? You might also remind him that all have sinned (Romans 3:23), and that he needs to repent of his sins (Act 3:19). Being immersed in Christ, he can “arise to newness of life” (Romans 6:3-4)

The odds are that none of us will ever get to ride with a president-elect on his way to be sworn in. Yet, we still can remind him of his position before God. His address is: The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500.