Glass U^^J Book 5x / V ^^^' "^ U' u U A DISCOURSE On the tei^rible, irresistible yet sublime logic of eyents as stifjgested by the assas^inatiocf of President Lincoln, and the attempted avssassination of Secretary Seward ; delivered in the UnivL-rsalist Church, Ripon, Wis., Sunday Evening, April 23d, 1865, By Rev. R. S. SANBORN. RiPON, April 24, 1865. Rev. B. S. Sanborn, Dear Sir: — We. the undersigned, believ- ing that the widest publicity possible, should be ffiven to the sentiments contained in your discourse of Sunday evening last, on the sub- ject of our national mourning, respectfully solicit you to furnish a copy of the same for publication. Trusting that you will cheerfully comply -with this request, we remain Very Respectfully Yours, H. T. Henton, G. W. Bellinger. John S. Horner, Gilbert L.\ne, J. M. DeFrees, Wm. J.\ckson, G. E. BUSHNELL, A. R. Egoleston, B. Pratt, C. F. Dodge, A. E. Stevens, J Irving, And 50 others. ■ Rii-ON, April 27, 1865. To H. T. Henton, John S. Ilorncr, J. M. De- Frees, G. E. Bushnell, and others: Gentlemen: — More out of ^deference to your expressed wish than any special merit which I consider my discourse to contain, 1 consent to its publication. yours for Justice and Truth, R. S. Sanborn. "Siirely , tbo wrath of man shall praise Thee ; tlie rc- Hiauider of wrath slielt Tlioii restrain:' TsALMS 76; 10. I offer no apology for the words which 1 may speak at this hour, other than to say that during a ministry of twenty-four years, I yave never delivered a strictly political ser- mon, for in the most common usage of the term, I have not, at any time of life, been a politi- cian — I have not, ir. a public manner, entered into piolitical discussions, though I have watch- ed closely the great ciirrent events, and thrcp or four tinies voted, when great and important political issues were at stake. And now, but for the occurrence of the terrible tragedy at AVashington, I might have remained a silent sjjectator of strictly political affairs. But to-night let mo tell you, that in times like these, and with an event occurring so heinous in its nature, and with principles and passions at work so wicked as to cause the murder of the nation's chief magistrate, that silenee is sin! for he who has eyes to sec, ears to hear, a tongue to utter, or a soul to feel, and a will to determine, .should employ every faculty of which he is possessed, in giving force and power to denounce, n'ot onlytUe lioniide act or assassination itself, but also to cru.sh the damning wrongs and principles which instiga- ted, planned and executed the foul deed. No such malignant and dastardl;^ act could have been perpetrated, unless a more infamous principle were found: lying back of it as tlie procuring cause. Years of the festering gan- grene of injustice and national sinning, cul- minated in tha.b malignant and deep dyed crime! It was the bolt of the red lightnings accumulating in the moral and political at- mosphere of years of wrong; and as it fell, its crashing and crushing force was to rend the black cloud in which it had gatliej-ed, though it smites the national heart with a greater woe, so that from out its agony, the healer and purifyer might come and do for you and me, and this -nation, what had so great a n«ed to be done. God nt'ver permits the wickedness or wrath of man, or men, or nations, to get beyond His control, and He never will. One week ago to-day— while at a distance from home in the country, to attend the fu- neral of a soldier, I first received the in- telligence of the startling fact; and I doubt not that iny experience, at the tihie, was like tliat of yours, and of millions of others, who were aflectcd more deeply, and agitated more powerfully, than ever before. First there came an astonishment! an overwhelming sur- prise ! and our credulity refused an assent to the terrible news, for we could noi believe that so fiendish an act could possibly have taken place ! But as a conviction of the fact A^' increased upon us, surprise gave place to a tlirill of horror! the very blood seemed to cur- dle in our veins! a feeling of suffocation nnd oppression, like anijihtmiire, pressed us down! then Cfinie a soul sickening and deathly faint- ness, and for a luomeut our hearts seemed still in their throbbings! a tempest had burst upon us from out a clear sky of rejoicing — when peace had just begun to smile as sunlight at the dawning of day! 0, what a stroke of mingled, startling, thrilling, intense feelings and emotions! Never before, in my experi- ence, did I feel the weight of so great and terrible a grief; never came there such a blinding and staggering of faith in our common humanity. And did you and I, and thousands of others, not ask ourselves, can it be that this land of ours contains such a demon as the assassin? Can it be that the light of the nine- teenth century shines upon so dark and guilty a soul? Or has the world rolled back into the dark ages — back into the old barbarisms — back, far back of the christian age? It seemed next to impossible that such a deed, so mali- cious in all its bearings, so heinous in its connections, surroundings and details, could take place at the nation's capital, in this land of common schools and boasted christian civil- ization. What an hour of bitter national ex- perience! How solemn the moments, as tho" the hand on the dial of time had commenced to move backwards! But it was a pang and a throe of national deliverance! Days, months and years were compressed into the hour; and as the horrid facts burned like hot iron into the very depths of our consciousness, there next came to our experience a corresponding burning indignation: a most righteous deter- mination, swelling and surging like ocean billows in a storm — too great and vast to be allied to, or partake of the spirit or leeling of revenge, but a nobler, stronger, clearer, more intense — a twenty million power of the national soul at white heat! swearing in its just and righteous sense of justice, that the foul wrong and insult shall be expiated in wiping out the detestiible spirit and principles which begat the deed, and that a national regeneration shall sweep away every vestage of slavery's curse! Then the sacred oath was registered by millions of souls all over the land, that by God's help and their vigilant endeavor, the assassination shall have a trumpet tongue to execrate itself, and blast as with lightning flame, the black treason, and wicked cause ■which planned and executed the infernal plot. Never have the American people been stirred clear down iuU) the vast depth of their thought, disgust and abhorrence of wrong, as by this assassination, wliich did not aim its murderous weapons simply upon Abraham Lincoln and the Secretary of State, but which was meant to be the assassination of human rights; a murder of free government, and an intimida- tion and menace to all future occupants of the phairs of state, that they must bow to the be- bestfl of the slave tyranny or die! Now we ask, in thunder tones of inquiry, has it come to this, that henceforth, rn our government, the assassin's dagger is to rule or luin? Shall dark conspirators, with mur- rier in their hearts, and murder reeking from their hands, be the power behind the nation's life, ready to take that life when the votes of the people and the national legislation will not go at their bidding? No, never! and millions of men say to-night, no, never! And so it is that we have not felt till now,. irhat traitors arc and n-hai treason isf Now we know and feel that we have plunged to the- bottom of the seething, boiling cauldron of rebellion, and seen its dregs muddy with cor- rupted sonls ripened for darkest and most infamous deeds. Now we probe the foul dis- ease of slavery to the core; now we compre- hend the spirit of fiendishness which it engen- ders — wo see its boasted honor, chivalry and bravery, culminated in cowardice too craven for tongue to utter, too low. vile and venom- ous for words to namef There is no feature of courage in such deeds as th«' assassin com- mits. There may be a nerve to strike, but a loathsome coward is the murderer; the most execrable of all the wretches which the earth contains. The duellist may have th.e semb- lance of bravery — the villain who robs you in the light of day, or says to you beforehand, "prepare to defend yourself, for you or 1 must die," may have a spark of manliness — the venomous rattlesnake which gives wrning before it strikes with its tooth of poison, is more brave, more generous, and more entitled to be above the list of the meanest things and creatures, than that consummation of all cow- ardice and meanness combined, the assassin, who gives his victim no warning, but murders more stealthily than the thief steals. Did secession employ the emblem of a venomous snake to illustrate the warfare which it would wage? that was an outrage on the poisonous reptile — a clear slander of his nature; for there is no creature which crawls or creeps on the earth, so vile and cowardly as the assassin, who strikes his dagger in the hour least sus- pected, and without warning to the victim of his rage. But Booth and his co-workers in murder are not all the cowards in this coward- ly work; each and all of the abettors, all of the originators, all the vile miscreants who countenanced or planned the scheme, are more cowardly and loathsome than he who done the deed, I have been told that there are persons in our midst who rejoice over and approve the act. This I cannot believe; 1 have not heard any such expression from any tongue, and I cannot think that anywhere in our midst such a specimen of depravity is to be found. (A voice in the audience — "I do.") Well, I do not; but I say if there are any who rejoice over the deed, and in the spirit of its malignity exult, then such vile creatures are less than human, and are even more craven, more cowardly and mean than Booth himself, and I have no language adequate to express 3 their meahuess, or the punishment which they deseive. I tell you that the people unil the nation are at a M'hite heat of righteous indi;^- nation against this dastardly act whicli has lacerated millions of souls, as well as the na- tional feelings, and now it is time for all trait- ors to beware! and take full warning, for the day of reckoning is come, and the great, tor- tured and bleeding heart, of the people will no longer bear the insult heretofore borne. The great conspiracy against, justice, liberty and free government has become too hideous and loathsome to be longer endured — it has emit- ted too much of its pestilent breath of vileness for men of any .pretensions to decency or ■manhood, to be fOflnd, or known to have sym- pathy with it. The rebellion "has now no masks to screen its hideous feat,ures — all pretenses for the revolt are gone by the board, and it is appa- rent and patent to all men, that, nothing but a deep seated hatred of free government, free institutions and just laws, and a satanic and Djal'ignant pride of caste — a despising of hon- est labor and laborers, and a determination on the part of the leaders of the rebellion, to set up a despotism more contemptable than any which the world has seen; and if need be, to employ the most diabolical and unhallowed Tmeans to accomplish their ends. All this the assassination makes more certain than ever; and that the loading rebels are too deep-dyed in infamy to retain, any longer, one spafk of eympathy from the civilised world. Was tliere begisniog to be felt some senti- ment of commisse^-at on for the baffled and beaten legions of the Confederate army? was there begi^ining to be inaugurated a move- ment of leniency towards even the leaders in tlieir great crime of treason ? Let me tell you that they have dashed the proft'ered chal- ice to the ground — that they have assassineted and murdered the common feelings of com- misseration which the victorious might feel for the vanquished, by this las*, act of crowning brutality and cowardice. They have mur- dered their benefactor and well wisher, and smote with inhuman vengeance the benevo- lence which would have mitigated their just deserts, and saved to them something of the privileges which they had forfeited forever. The deed is done, which seals with irresista- ble fiat the doom of slavery — and you and I know how accursed and accursing is its power! I have never been known as an abolitionist according to its most radical sense; but now, I tell you my iiearers, that I am, in every sense, ^ill through and through; and that my seatiments and feelings are those of thousands who, up to the moment of this assassination, might have been only inditt'erently so, or j somewhat inclined to think that shivery should , be let alone. The most cursing power ofl slavery has been its crushing force on the poor whites of the South, whom it has cheated of education — of genero.l intelligence; whom | it has robbed of even the chance of rising into the condition and privileges of progress- ive manhooil — whom it has made the subserv^ ienl, cringing, ignorant, tools for villains to mould and handle as they have in this war— and whose condition has ever been below that of the slaves themselves. yes, it has cursed the slave holders too I It has made them the wicked outragers of all that is sacred and humane; it has sucked out their humanity, till they could starve, insult, and murder their prisoners without one feeling of pity or remorse. It has vanquished all honor — and seared, as with poisonous simoon breath, the common sense, common honesty, and respect for decency, on the part of those who have been the slave owners and man sellers for years. And it may be that such a withering crime against God and man, had need to be burned out as with fire ! and that only through the pangs of this terrible hour of national calamity and grief, can the nation be born into a new and higher life. Now not only the blacks shall be free, but a greater eman- cipation than Lincoln proclaimed shall take place ! the white race of the South shall be set free! They, too, except the leaders in this rebellion reserved to be punished, shall find a deliverance greater than that of the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage— though through the red and more crimson sea of blood lies their pathway to the promised land. I for one, my hearers, have no feelings of revenge to-night— I pity as God's angels may pity, the great masses of the poor white people of the South, and I might not go for the hanging of .lefferson Davis, and his colleagues in crime, if they will lay down their arms and surrender on unconditional terms; but if it be necessary to crush out the hydra-headed monster of secession, slavery and wrong, then let them all hang till they are dead ! and all the people ssiy^ Amen ! I tell you for one, I have declared that my speech, my reason, my intluence, shall be used and go forth against any and every sysiem of wrong and oppression, and that my life shall be a life of endeavor to crush out and put down whatever conspires against the rights and privileges of my race, whether they be white or black, rich or poor, or in whatever country they may have been boi'n. I have no doubt but a like resolve has come to millions of souls within the week that is past — a seven days, multiplied by seventy in intensity of experience and determination for the just and the right. Never has liberty and equal human rights loomed up so gloriously as in this hour— as in this time of our nation's mourning and grief. Athwart the dark cloud-storm arches the "bow of promis-?," betokening that the deluge of injustice shall no more drown the consciences of the ruled and the rulers of this land; but that the whole Continent of Ameri- ca shall emerge from out the deep, turbid waters of all slavery, monarchy, and aristo- cratic rule; and that a glorious democracy, purified, washed and made clean as the x'obcs of the saints in the apoc;ilyptic vision, shiill be the force, the law, and the air of jrovcni- ment for all coniinj^ time ! This is the irre- sistible anil sublime logic of the events now transpiring; and which conies to us a glorious baptism of new faith, for Thou, God, art making and shall make, "the wrath of man to praise Thee, and the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain.'' I am not one of those wlio divorce the Deity from the affairs of men — God is sometimes in the whirlwind directing the storm. The right hand of His power grasps all terrible events, and with them smites the power of evil — He disappoints the wickedness of the wicked, and takes them in their own snare. And so it is that the murderer cannot go where his murder shall not find him out ! No place or people shall afford him asylum or safe retreat; and if he shall escape the V'gilance or vengeance of men, yet justice will espy and find him: and not only he who done the deed, but those who planned and conspired shall get their flill deserts; their own wrath shall come upon them to the uttermost, and with swift and terrible recoil ! This is the terrible ,l,ogic of the event — while the sublime and irresistible conclusion also comes, that to the eye of God and angels there might have been seen the need' of all this grief and sorrow, as a storm of purification, which shall remove the films from the jaundiced vision of so many hitherto morally or mentally blind. Had there already, been offered the sacrifice of half a million of precious lives — has nearly every house and home in our land become a slirine of grief and mourning for those who have starved in prisons, died in hospitals, or fallen in battle? Even these may not have brought the people far enough along to measure, with truest perception, the great cause for which they were contending. Even these had not lifted the veil and clearly revealed all the dark workings and plottings of the great curse; and so there was permit- ted another offering of the nation's noblest representative man, to establish and glorify the nation's central principle and truth of self government, ihe pcoplt ruling and ruled bi/ the people, which is to-day, and shall be right onward apd ever, the vital current of our national life. There shall go out from this crowning act of treason, an irresistible force against trea- son, smiting it; for all along the line of the ages such has been tli-e conflict between right and wrong, the true and the false, tljat each martyr's tjiood has helped to consecrate the good cause for which they, have died, while recoiling wickedness has smote itself by the stroke of death which it would inflict on w^l^at it opposed. No grand forward march has been taken, but what has received the bap- tising blood of the heroes of the furemost ranks! Any hoary sin and wrong dies hard, and prows more sjiitcful and venomous in the last throes of its struggle with death. Did the crucifycrs of Christ suppose that they could crucify Christ'.s truth ? Doubtless they thought thus. So have all the persecutors of right and righteousness malignantly dreamed. But lo! their dreams have vanife'hed — God's truth, and all the principles born of it, never die ! — each martyr consecrates them anew, while a thousand bands of evil which have crucified and opposed have been broken forever. When will the men who oppose the just, the true, and the right, learn the great lessons which history reads to them from her voluminous records? Could not the plotters of this rebellion see that a war for the wrong woiild be a crushing power for the wrong ? Had they not all along felt the crumbling forces of the earthquake which was shaking down the walls of that institution founded on the chattelism of human, bodies and souls? Did tliey not see in the unparalleled and darkest of ail conspiracies to assassinate the President and his Cabinet, (for they an- nounced weeks agqi.hat the world would soon be startled by a new mode of wai'fare, and be astonished at what would soon take place,) that their malignity would be their weakness, and that their own venom would be their own poison ? No, they did not see. Fiendish malignity is always blind. It has no eyes of piophetic seeing: it always o'erleaps itself. Wrong has no cool, calm head of reasoning; but it has the headlong rush to ruin ! Hell rages; but God reigns ! Right is patient, trusting, believing, and has a vital curi^ent of immortality; and though in its conflicts with evil, it seems sometimes to be vanquished, when lo ! a hand moves througli the smoke and carnage of battle, and there it is seen, radiant as an angel of God, unconquered' and unharmed. Ever since the rebellion fired the first gun on Samter, it has been pulling down its own house on its own head — it^^■, cruelty to its own people has helped to doif-^its starving of Union pris- oners has helped to do it — it? fiendish acts and wanton outrages conspicuous in every depart- ment of its operations, have been its suicidal mad thrusts at its own vitals; and never have these facts, the terrible and irresistible logic of events, been more fully demonstrated than in this crowning act of ferocity, wherein a giant tyrauviy rcaclies ^ut its withering hand for one more stab at liberty bofore it expires. Ancjr now, Oh ye plotters ! ye blind seliciner.'< ! yo darlisouled liatcrs of ju:^tice ; 'secret conclaves of treason ; ye seal your own doom, 'hud get for yourselves and the cause you represent, not only the c.xecrati<:^n of all noble minds and gciodmeu the wide world over, but in comins; time, the niitions and people yet unborn shall read jour liistory and detest you, while what you Lave warred aguiusl, and tried tuMOvortiirow, shall iivo, more gloriously bright and strong us wave, chases wave, duvvi,i to the last one that shall break on the shoreij (pf .tii!:e 1 ,. Had the slave power in the South been con- tent to have remained in a jjcucel'ul atcitnde a little longer, then ndght the jiqjiod of its life been correi-poudii)gly coutinueil; but now it difcs by its own roucl plirenzy— dicshy its own suici dill liand. What a singular' l))indiiess was that, when the slave tyranny rebellecl'for tyranny, and struck the first blow, against liberty, as the aggressive force. Theie js no parallel to this in the history of the worlcl,, or even approximate ip the annals of all [^iasf time. Had. llie slaves risen in rebellion against their musters, and the Tpasters used their force in putting such rebell- ion down, then might there have been sonio- thing of respect and symi)atliy, even for the slave powei, in it's war ofsclt defense against rebellion. Or.ha'd the pour, white population rebelled _ against the aristocracy which held them, and ever lias, in a mental, moral and social degredatioi^, below the blaclis, even then this' aristocracy, acting in self defense, luiglit natura.ly enough have i'ought such rebellion with a large chauco.for succcas; and jjossibiy the sympathies of a large riumber of even good men, might have remained on the side of law- ful and, constituted authority. Or if the free North had commenced the war Upon the South, and souglit by force of arms to exterminate slavery or divide the Union, then, too, might the slave power and tbe slave fetates, acting on the dcfcDiiive. had some ju'st'ce on their side, and possibly might have conquered or held their own. B.ut how absolutely the reverse of all tliese conditions and circumstances stand the case. The slaves have UQt rebelled agujnst their mas- ters— the poor whites have not rebelled';' iigaiiist the aristocracy— the South has not trie tl, to save the Union against the efforts of the Korth to break it up ; buf slavery has rebelled against Freedom, and wrong, ,unprov(.ikcd, struck Ja blow for wrong, ;uid dared the right, and in- sulted it ; and ^aid to all the world, we hate freedom, we hate, even an alliance with it, we will not live under the samp flag— evcu its de- mocracy whicii we' have'niade a pretense of aid- ing and respecting, we now abiise. In God and reason's name, who shall wonder that auch an unparalleled warfare of, nn righteousness aargres- sively fiahting for itsoit', against the most just and righteous cause, could liave the le:ist possi- bility of success? 'Under the irresistible logic of the'se facts, I said when the rebellion first commenced, that God and brave souls would see to it that the right shall triumph ! I saw the doom: of slavery at tjie very start of the war for slavery. I, never hate had a doubt how the con- test would efid, tho'ugh I could not tell when it would end. So no, disaster has shaken mV faith; no momentary triumph of 'the rebellion has ev- er shattered my hopes; and terrible as the scburge of the -War has been in allTts forms and features, both to the iSorth and the SouUi, and more especially so to the latter, I have said, and still say, that the noblest form of national free- dom has been permitted to contend with the worst form of national slavery ; and that by the issue' the question is to be settled for liberty, anil a purely democratic s61f government, against not only the question of slavery atthc South, hut' for free gbvernment and free institutions all O^er the world. It is the great initiatory war fdr'f?eedotn for ''all people— 'a'nd the issue of the c'otitest here, is to be the issue everywhere; and so'itis, that on the other side of the Atlantic Oc6iin, millions are watolilng it with a more breathless anxiety than our.selves ; and mon- archs tremble! and aristocracies viint their rage ! '•nit millions on millions ofsouls'hiive one beat- ing heart, one hope, one holy desire ; and as' true as God lives, the concentrated, and conse- crated prayer of those millions of souls, that our cause, which is their cause, shall succeed, is registered already in the Eternal Decrees— it shall be accomplislicd ! '. |-, I said more than two years, agp, in the second sermon I preached in this city, frohi the text, "The morning cometh and also the night," that dark as was then our national nigtit, and it might grow darker still ; yet, that the morning of its deliverance was as sure as t]ie niglit of it.'* darkness. Well, as it is alway.s ''darkest .just before day," so now we know thut the radiant morning dawns; the assassination of our I'rc.ii- dent is the dark hour before the break of glori- ous morning! Oh what an . hour of darkness! But the gloom is parting its sombre folds. The stone is being rolled away from the sepulchre, — liberty''sresusitation commences from this hour. I see the certainty of. its resurrected and glorified life. 1 know that .justice ahall be vindicated, I feel wbat twenty millions of my countrymen feel in this time of our grief, that we arc being baptized with, the fire of national regencTation • So let the furnace glow, till all the dro^ and alloy are consumed; till the fine gold of our national freedom, which slavery has dimmed, shall have liberty's face like that of an angel, clearly and fully reflected therefrom. Now, you and I feel that not only A-merica, shall rise in the grandeur of a pure democracy— the peo- ple governed and governing themsel,V|Cs— the law makers obeying the laws ; but on this continent, from the Northern Seas to tlie Gulf of Mexico, and clear on to Cape Horn, raonarcliy, aristoc- racy, and every oppressive, dwarfing and en- slaving poM'cr shall die! This is tlie sublime logic of events; rihared iii by the many— it is tlic people ruling, aiid ruled by the people," and as it grows and deepens in harmony with an enlightened public moral sentiment, the people become a luvv unto themselveV* — respect- ing themselves, and dcmai'id that the greatest iroodofthe greatest number, shall nfot infringe Uflon thn absolute rights of the least number. This is the ideal utid genius of oiir government in 'its ireo northern aspects, unallied with the sla\"ie- making aristocracy of the South. In my eul-liest tiajollections, this princi file of democracy had a strong party, and was sensitively jetilous of its rights, and strenuously opposed money monopoly iu every possible shape— High tariff, and gigantic corporations were its mortal foes. Andrew Jackson was its embodiment and ex- ponent, and ideal man. Now, Southern politi- cians, although slaveHMders and aristocrats, saw their chance to wield the sceptre of power if an alliance otfensive and defensive could be fi'rmed with this numerous party at the North, Tariff for manufacturers' interest at the North Was against their interest ; in this they and the democracy were one, .ho that alliance was formed and numerous political battles fought, and vic- tories won by that alliance, cemented a very titrong friendship between them, while the inter- ests of th<) South werfe kept intact. NoW the Northern democracy lost sight of the absolute conditic*ris of the case ; they did not see that while Ihey opposed monopolies at the North, that they were allied to, and in 'every way as- sisting to xire'itc and strengthen both a gigantic monopoly and aristocracy at the South ; and, as long as by their alliance they could make sure of presidential elections, and get control of gov- ernment offices, all other ideas, thoughts, feel Ings or principles were entirely ignored ; so you' see that the slave power, the very antipodes of democracy, seduced the noble principle, and the' glorious name, as wicked men sometimes "steal Ihelivery of the Court of Heaven to serve the •devil in,"— and with mosit tenacious ^rtisp has held her naihe, thoUgh the vital spirit haslong since died from out the name. Now thousands of good men cling to the name of democracy, as the word expressive of their ideal, and by the most astonishing of hallucinations think that slavery and deiriocracy are one. Pe-asus 'yokeu to the ox, in the poet's fable, was never so un- oqualed a match ; and why democracy hiis not' done what the noble Tegasus did, by refusing to draw With the ox. can only be accounted for on the ground that this latter Pegasus must have been blind in one eye at least, if not in both, and did not see the name and nature of the •creature tu which he was yoked. But now let ■me tell you that the .scales and fihns of obscura- ted vihion are dropping off— the spell is being 'bi'Okon- the rebellion roveala the creature ; and this dark and damnihg deed of assassination i.s making Pegasus fuel the horns as well as see the Uialigtiaut Ugliness of the efcaturo to wliicli hO has so long been allied. And I tell you that henceforth it shall be clearly seen, and gloriously understood, that a democracy worthy of the name, or embodying a spark of its grand and glorious principles, has no possible atlinity with an aristocracy built and perpetuated on the slavyry of blacks, and the worse than slavery of the masses of the poor whites ; and where tho select few feed and fatten, and grow insolent, and heaven and humanity- defying, on the sweat and toil of the many. Why, one of the boldest blasphemies that tie rebels have uttered durintr the war, has been that of saying that they were "fighting for freedom," "strngling for liberty" — this has been the great lie all along that should have blistered their lips as with a coal of fire! But the lie is dying— they have stabbed it again ; so it shall not deceive any more. And now shall not devKKTuqi become disenthralled from the foul embrace "of its seducer J Shall it not rise and be glorified in a redemption of its name from the disreputable company it has no long kept'.' Two great parties may ever exist in our country as checks and balances on each other, but in reason and humanity's name, may neith- er of them ever be allied to a giant wrong, like that which Is now biting itseTf and x'lying by ita own poison ! Yo\i may think, some of yon, my hearers, that I speak in too plain terms, and that 1 go beyond the proper sphere of my duties on this Sunday evening; but 1 tell you again, ^that it were a sin to be silent in the perils and hopes of this hour; and wJlh Martin Luther, who said that he would go to the Diet, at Worms, "though every tile on the hduse-tops were a devil to oppose"— so now I would speak, and give undisguised and honest expression to my thoughts, if every shingle on this church were a devil bidding me cease. "Th re is a tide in the atTnirs of men, Which, il taken at the flood, Leads on to fortune," So it is with nations; and as this is the flood tide of our national affairs, let us see to it that all of us so speak and act, as that the fortune of the national salvation shall jbe secured, I am not angry — I breathe no spirit of revenge — I harbor no hatred against men, but I feel strong and clear for thei,right— clearer, stvonger and calmer than ever before; and I have regis- tered the determination, as thousands of othera have done the pa st week, that I will live for the right, labor for tho just, and resist the oppres- sive, in all right and honorable ways, so long as I live. The eievatioli of the masses, and the emancipation of the world from all kinds of op- pression, this is mine, this is yours, and my country's mission, which is written and declared in the irresistible and sublime logic of passing events. The peoples' President is murdered ! but the peoples' cause lives, and will live and grow purer and giandcr the longer it lives! Hoar it, tyrants, all over the world; hear it ye who would live on tho toil and sweat of the many; hear it ye short sighted powers of evil; ye cannot assas- sinate a righteous cause 1 You may battle lor the wrung, imd tliousaiiils may illo lu the contest, but all that is pure, and holy , and just, and true, belongs to the eternal and imp^-ishable; these oui..not die! for it is written, '•surely tho wrath of man shall praise Thee; the remainder of wrath shalt Thou restrain." Now I pee the cloud folds of this great national bereavment parting, and eloft, through the bright opening, the ungel of liberty waves her hanm^r and bcckouH the nation onward, and higher, till the nznre blue of GodV sVy. w'itii all the stars shining in beauty, shall bo over one people, vnited, happy a^id free ! -fclVly'13