In what may have been the most difficult moment of his presidency (he recently lost his son and his generals made no progress), Lincoln wrote what we now know as the Meditation on the Divine Will. In it he says: The will of God prevails. In great contests each party claims to act according to the will of God. Both can be, and one must be wrong. God cannot be for and against the same thing at the same time. ... I'm almost ready to say that this is probably true - that God wants this contest, and wants it not to end yet - By his simple silent power, in the minds of the present contestants, he could have saved or destroyed the Union without a human contention – Yet the contention began – And once begun He could have given final victory to both sides any day – Yet the contention