Book , T^4fi s E li M o isr IN C0MMEM0R4.TI0:.' OT THE VIUTUES OF ABRAHAM LINCOLI^, UJELIVEBED IN THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, MEADVII.LE, TA., JU,NE 1, lyG.'), BY KEY. J. Y. REYIn^OLDS, I). D. meadvillp:, PA.: k. lyle white, printed, 18G5. S E R M O TSr rs" COMMEMOKiTlON OF THE VIRTUES Or .ABRAHAM LINCOL^^ DELIVERED IN / / THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAX CHURCH, MEADVTLLE, VA., JUNE 1, If^fi.i, BY RE:Y. J. V. HEYInKILDS, d. d. 1 1 MEADVILLE, TA.: R. LYLE WHITE, FRINTER, ] 8 1; 5 . Er45n OORRESPONBEI^CE. .Mkai>\ n.LK, Juno 'i, 18(;5. Hkv. Dr. Keynolds: Dear Sir: — Will j^oii be kind enougli tu fuiiiisli a c<.|iy nl' your ilis course, delivered on the Istinst., illustrative of the cliaracter and virtues of the late President Lincoln? It was so appropriate lo the man, and the occasion of its deliver\', as to make it desirable it sliould pass into print for public i>erusal and future reference. When the stormy events through whicii tins country has JK-en passinj; for the last four years, come to be re-written by some future historian, tile character of those wlio were most prominent in their control and di- rection, will be exhibited more or less approvingly, accordinsi; as the opin- ions of those who were co-temporaries with them and alike interested in the results, shall have been formed and left of rec(jrd, concerninfj them ; and, perhaps, no truer source of correct information can or will be found by the honest historian than that whicli will emanate from the christian ministry. To aid in this respect it is l)elieved your discourse, the deliv- ery of which was listened to with the deepest interest, will materially contribute ; and it is for this purpose that a copy is requested. Yours very truly, DAVID DKHK'KSON, ;, H. 'p.'RICHxMOND, D. V. DEKICKSON, G. B. DELAMATER, Wm. 1:)AVIS, Jk. wm. thorp. .J Mka1j\ ii.LE, June 14th, IHti.'). To THE Hon. I). Derickson, H. H. Ric'h.moxd, G. B. Dei.a.m.\ti;r, Esqrs., AND OTHERS : Gentleiiieii, — I will be thankfid if I may, in the least measure, aid in the imiiortant object of which you speak in 3'ours of the ,')th inst., request- ing that I will submit for publication the discourse delivered l)v me, on the 1st inst., on the character and virtues of our late belox'ed and I'evered President, Abraha.m Lincoln. Yielding to j'our judgment that the publication of said discourse may be of some service, in the way named, it is herewith placed at your dis- posal. Very truly yours, JOHN V, REYNOLDS. SERMON. •• Be slill, ;iii(I know tli.-il I ;ini(io!. A little more than four years ao-o, or on the Jltli day of February, 1861, a man of plain, unassninino- manners, com- paratively little known outside a limited circle of ac(inHiiit- auce.s, left [u< home in the ca[)ital city of a Western State to go to Washington, our National Capitol, to take the oath, and assume the duties of President of the United States — to which office he had been elected on the 2nl Tuesday of the previous November, in conformity with the terms cf the National Con- stitution. To many of his own countrymen even, it is prob- able the name of Abraham Lincoln was unknown until he win* bare it was presented to the American people as a candidate for the high office to which he was subsequently elected. Cir- cumstances, however, had brought him into the favorable notice of not a few men of good judgment and discernment. His nomination was, without doubt, a surprise to most per- sons even of the political party to which he belonged, and ot dissatisfaction to a large number. The early history of Abraham Likcoi.n is too well known to make it necessary we shoubl narrate it here. All know he was born to poverty, spent his youth in laboring with his own hands, by honest industry procuring means of sup[)ort and of ae([iiiring an education which he himself said was "defective." lie was emphatically what we call a "self made man.'' By persevering diligence, S[)otless integrity, combined with Btrong 6 native common sense, almost intuitive insight into human na- ture, remarkable kindness, generosity, and tenderness of heart, and unvarying good humor, he arose, or was raised up by Providence, to the places in the notice and esteem of his ac- . quaintances, an i of trust and public responsibility, which he successively occupied, unto the last he held — the highest at- tainable by an American citizen — than which there is none higher or more honorable in this world. But he started forth on that 11th day of February as yet un- tried in any very exalted or difficult position, to take that liighest of all, by circumstances made far more difficult than any one of his predecessors in it had found it. That much was already clear. It was yet, by reason of events soon to come to pass, to become so fearfully, appallingly difficult and peril- ous, that had a revelation of them been made beforehand, thore is no man who would not have slnniuk from it. As it was, he startel forth deeply impressed with a sense of the vast weight of responsibility he was about lo assume. He saw that dang- ers threatened the country which he loved with all the devo- tion of his patriotic heart, and for the preservation of which in all its integrity, he was ready to sacrifice life itself, if need be, and was fully prepared, when regularly invested with the authority, to exert all the powers and resources the constitution, and laws of the National Congress should put in his hands. Heavy, dark, angry clouds had already arisen on the southern horizon, and were spreading abroad, and rolling their dense masses upward, with frightful velocity, and the red lightnings were seen flashing wTathfully forth from them, and the distant muttered sound of the thunder was heard : the earth was felt to tremble and shake thereat. Already treason was making its scornful hour's an 1 arrogant threats, speaking derisively of Northern strength and courage, casting contempt on Northern civilization, education, industries, and societj^ and insulting the mitional flag, by reproaches, though not yet by actual vio- lence. State after State had declared itself independent of the Union, and others were preparing to do likewise. In the national Congress perjured traitors were pouring forth their insane ravings against the national government, and seeking to terrify the loyal States and people with their loud and pom- pous denunciations of vengeanoo ; while throughout the South everywhere preparations were making for war. Stations for recruiting companies and regiments were numerously estab- lished ; camps of instruction anl discipline formed ; all other business, and thoughts of all else, put away, and the one topic become all-absorbing. Arms of every description were being collected, ammunition prepared, U. S. forts and vessels seized. Nor were the hints, and more or less open threats, of the assas- sination of the President elect, before he should, by inaugur- ation, become President in fact, few nor moderate. Such is a leebly stated outline of the condition of the coun- try when Abrauam Lincoln quietly stepped from the door of his home — into which he was never more to enter — to start forth on his journey to Washington. In his simple parting address appear that serious earnestness, that freedom from the least semblance of boasting, that recognition of his depen- dence on God, that absence of expression of ill will or malice towards his personal enemies, and the enemies of his country, that show how largely he appreciated the solemnity of his situation. His closing remarks were an appeal — not lightly nor unmeaningly made — that his friends and neighbors, to whom he was bidding good bye, would remember hi n in their prayers. Abraham Lincoln believed in God, and believed in the power of prayer to God, and earnestly desirel the prayers of all good men in his behalf to the God who giveth wisdom to them who ask. And he was not ashamed to sa}' to them, " Pray for me." Nor ever afterward was he ashamed to ask the prayers of christian people in his behalf. And it is prob- able — we might perhaps say with truth, it is certain — that never before were prayers so many, so constant, so fervent, offered for any President of the United States as were offered for President Lincoln. And we have no right either to as- sume that the least earnest, acceptable, and effectual, were those offered continually, and in simple faith, by that long oppressed people — the slaves in the Southern States — who had some way learned to look on and to him as their deliverer, raised up of God to be so. So he went forth with malice towards none, with charity for all, and God his trust. As he said at a later period, " I shall do nothing in malice; what I deal with is too vast for malic- ious dealings." The eyes of the nation were upon him during his progress to the Capitol, a pi ogress as unostentatious, so far as depended on him, as circumstances would admit. Yet it could not be otherwise than that large numbers of persons would assemble to see and greet him at the stations at which he temporarily rested — and not only to see and greet, but also to hear his voice. Asa matter of course he frequently address- ed his fellow citizens on such occasions. His addresses always brief, manifestel the same simple, unostentatious, humble and kind spirit. One will search them in vain to discover a par- ticle of boasting, or a word of uncharitableness or bitterness. They are utterly free from what is usual on like occasions — attempts at oratorical display and extravagant [)rofessi(>ns. By many tliey were ridiculed, and he sneered at, on this account. Perhaps not a few of his friends were at the time dissatisfied and rather mortified. But the more discerning and reflecting were gratified and eiicouraged. Those brief addresses will be read and admired for their spirit of self forgetfulness, of kind- ness, ol patriotism, and for the words, simple, plain, butintel- ligilde and forcible, of wisdom and good sense, when elabo- rate, eloquent, ostentatious, boastful orations, made in like cir- cumstances will be quite forgotten. They contained the char- acteristics that rendered all his subserogre8S, and every word he spake was considered and weighed. The latter part of his journey— -that from our own State C^ap'tol — was made in haste, and witli a measure of conceal- ment ; for it had transpired that already treason, in the inter- est of the barbarous slave power, had plotted his assassination before he should reacli the seat of government, with a view itself to seize the reins of Government by violent usurpation, and administer it exclusively for its own eivds. The alter- native, in case this should fail, was permanent dissolution. The danger to his person was for the time escaped, and Abra- ham Lincoln arrived in Washington. His journey to that city was safely made, for God had a great work for him to do, and until that work should be dene nobody could harm him. God had him in his own keeping. Only so can we account for it that he passed unharmed through all perils while his liie Avas valuable and necessary for the preservation of the country, and when his death could l)e of advantage to the enemies of liifi country, to flill when his fall could not help, but might seriously harm those enemies, and could no longer imperil the cause of the nation. In the rage of their disappointment at his escape, his enemies — we call them so. though the enmity at that time was not so much against him, personally, as against the cause he represented — gnashed their teeth. They affected to ridicule his fears, taunting him with cowardice, in which they were joined by many beside, who no doubt really believed, as many yet do, or till very lately at any rate, pro. fessed to believe, there was no conspiracy against his life 10 Those who knew there was, aud who had the best reason to know — complicity in it — found it to their own interest to deny that any such existed. But Mr. Lincoln and his friends acted on certain information, and by his reluctant consent to adopt the prudent advice of his friends, the strong human probability is that his life was^ saved for the time, and for years. We shudder to think, or try to imagine, what would now be the condition of the country had the plot then iormed met with success. A little more than lour years after that progress of Abra- ham Lincoln from his Western home to Washington, where he was twice inaugurated President of the United States, he having been elected to a second term of that high office, the first who had been since Andrew Jackson — his mortal remains were started ibrth to be returned to the cit}^ of his former res- idence, by the same route, substantially, he had taken to go to Washington. This starting forth, and the return progress, were made amid the tears of the bereaved nation. During those four years the nation had learned to know, and admire, and respect, and love him. His great worth and merits had become manifested and appreciated. Never before had man, whether private or titled, king or emperor, such a funeral pag- eant — cities, towns, and country poured forth their populations to do honor to the illustrious martyred dead. The Capitols of five States, besides a number of cities, in turn received, and paid magnificent and munificent funeral rites to his remains. Tlie highways along which the mournful procession passed were lined all the way with sorrowing people. Thousands of soldiers — many of whom had been disabled in the service of their country — were among, and foremost among,^those who sought to look on the placid face of the sleeper, for whom, while he yet lived, they had tender afiection, and the sight of that face drew from their eyes the big drops which their own many griefs and sufferings had never been sufficient to cuise to flow. High and low, rich and poor, ol)scure and great, alike, with one accord, hastened to pay their tribute of sorrow- 11 irisj respect. Women and little children laid on his coffin their offerings of wreathed fresh flowers — touching and beautiful testimonials to the virtues of the departed, whose gentleness and amiability of heart always attracted the weak, the innocent and the helpless. Then among the mourners, and none more sincere, nor with greater cause than they, are a vast multitude from whose bodies and souls the fetters of a long, hard, pa- tiently borne bondage have been broken — the ojipressed Afri- cans. Some would forbid them to come — but such prohibition — a deep shame to those making it — was indignantly and properly removed. It was appropriate that these, above all, should appear in the great funeral train, for he was, under God, their deliverer. The more immediately acting officials on the great, imposing, melancholy occasion^the watchers, pall- bearers, etc., were Governor s of States, Generals and Ad- mirals. Across a wide belt of country from North to South, and stretching westward from the Atlantic to the Pacific, bells tolled, vallies to mountain-tops lifting up the solemn peal, and mountain-tops sending it onward, in muffled sound»to vallies beyond. The grand procession marched to the deep toned music of minute-guns from hundreds of forts and from cities and villages from Maine to Oregon, the accompaniment of dirges by bands and choirs from every district. Truly never before did man receive such funeral honors, nor ever before was man followed to the grave by so many sincere mourners, nor ever before over any tomb were so many tears of real sor- row shed. Nor was all this a mere formal ceremony. No mere device of man could have procured such a demonstration for frivol- ous effect, for empty parade, or for illegitimate, selfish, or political ends. It was the honest, spontaneous out-pouring of a nation's grief, which nothing but a sense of great loss, ac- companied with hearty admiration, respect and love for the deceased, could have procured. Nor had it any element of idolatry, as vaguely hinted by a few who stand aloof and look coldly, or angrily, upon such an overwhelmingly astounding 12 tribute of reverence aud ati'ection to one they had for yeart5 labored to bring to contempt, and even to the grave where he lies, by caricature, abuse and falsehood. It was not idolatry. The honors paid were to a man, to hwnan worth and human greatness — to a man who had filled the loftiest human station in a time of unprecedented peril and difficulty and temptation, with complete success, and without contracting a blot upon his character of pure integrity, and simple honesty and unaffected charity. lie fell, wrapped in a robe of unsullied virtue, on which no stain had fastened during four years of such provo- cations as few, if any, had ever been called to endure. And the extraordinary honors paid his memory were to the man of extraordinary private and public worth. Amid all these was a most remarkable general acknowledgement of the one only Lord God omnipotent who reigneth, and whatever Divine worship was paid, was paid to Him who had given Abraham Lincoln to this nation and to the world, and who had again taken him away. His gift was acknowledged with thanks, and His taking it away with submission to His wise, though mysterious will. The honors paid were due, and could not have been withheld consistently with a just appreciation of the great merits and services of the departed, nor without leaving a brand of injustice and dishonor upon the nation. To the nation itself, for its own credit, they were due, no less than to Mr. Lincoln, while their withholding would not have done hhn harm, but would have done itself disgrace, and his mem- ory a cruel wrong. The return progress of Aueaham Lincoln, or rather of his mortal remains, ended near the spot whence he started forth, at his tomb, near his former home while living. How widely different the public estimate of him now, and then ! well set forth by the difference of honors paid on the two occasions. Then, his best and most appreciating fiiends perhaps felt some mis- givings, though little did they, or he, know, or imagine, the thousandth part of the difficulties that would arise. Now, all true men, all loyal men, all patriots, thank God for His gift of 13 Abkaiiam J>,inc!Oln, and see and confess that. He it was who having kept him from his infancy and prepared him in com- parative obscnrity, brought him forward at the proper, the ap- pointed time, put others aside who were better known, and seemed to have suj)erior claims, and gave him to be, instrii- mentally, the Saviour of the nation, and the emancipator of four millions of people from bondage, nmi the preserver of peace with other nations. Scarcely had the remains of Abraham Lincoln been iu the tomb, and the vast procession of mourners separated and gone to their homes, before wehear the cry of sorrow and of mourn- ing from beyond the Atlantic. Our nearer neighbors had mingled their sympathies with our affliction while vre were in its first bitter experience ; and very gratifying they were, and a powerful healing balm to painful wounds which some ot them had inflicted, and which they long continued to irritate. But soon we are astonished, and gratified in proportion, at the unexpected and wonderfully unanimous out-pouring of lamen- tation throughout Europe. The Parlimeut of England, her prime minister and noblemen, vie with the untitled, the mer- cliants and landlords and manufacturers, and they with custom- ers and tenants and laborers, to declare and make known to us their sorrow at what they regard, indeed, a common calam- ity. France — Emperor and peoplc'-hasten likewise to express themselves. The Italian chambers drai)e their hall in mourn- ing at the news. The German States, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden and Denmark, join in the general tribute of sad re- spect. And Russia — always our steadfast friend — is not be- hind the other nations in uttering words that tell of genuine grief of heart. There was never anything like it before. Never before for any man of whatsoever station was there such great lamenta- tion,such wide-spread and profound regret,extending through all classes of societ3^,from kings and emperors down through thesev- eral strata in monarchical countries, to the lower orders. Never before did any man have bestowed on his memorv sttch marks 14 of profound respect, as Abraham Lincoln, the simple hearted, the unassuming, the plain, untitled, man of the people. It is evident he belonged to the world — we cannot claim him as ours alone. Four years ago — or nearly five now — when his name was presented before the American people as a candidate for the Presidential chair, all in Europe inquired — some in sur- prise, some in derision, some from curiosity, echoing the in- quiries made by many of our own people — who is Abkaham Lincoln ? Now they send over to us the assurance that their tears mingle with ours in common sorrow for the loss of one of the few truly great men whom the ages produce ; and they tell us that in this common sorrow they have found that he was theirs as well as ours ; too great to belong to one people, he belongs to all the world.* His best friends cannot but feel a gratified surprise at this general tribute of high admiration, while those who devoted their energies to calumniate, carica- ture, and ridicule him, denying him ordinary intellect, and charging him with want of humanity, and could see nothing but deformity, physical, mental and moral, must stand over- whelmed with confusion and shame at what is to them a with- ering rebuke. It has been becoming more and more evident that in the judgment of history a place will be assigned Abraham Lincoln by the side of George Washington. He will, apparently, grow in greatness as he recedes farther and deeper into the past from those who look upon him — only the happiness of the truly great. We did not know how valuable a gift of God to us he was, till God took him, nor yet do we know, nor can it »Siiice that sentence was written we have had the gratification of hear- ing the sentiment in it expressed by a gentleman — a Frencli Protestant cler- gyman — who was in France when the news of the assassination reached tliat country. He said the lamentation and feeling of loss — as if each one had met a personal calamity — ^>wr^ universal, so that he was astonished to see how strongly Mr. Lincoln liad laid hold of the affections of even a people who spake a dilferent language^ He said a lady remarked to him, " It seems to me as thongh Mr. Lincoln belonged to us, to me, to every- body !" A most noble tribute which only the truly great can secure. 15 be known to this generation, nor until there shall have been time for the things of the present to reveal their fruits in uses tQ come. It has always been the fate of the really great of the world not to be known to their own age. We have heard it stated on what we regard as good authority that two or three years ago, a foreign gentleman connected with a foreign em- bassy to this country, was in Washington, standing, and in conversation, with several Americans. While so engaged, President Lincoln approached in a carriage. The foreign gentle- man took off his hat and remained witli it off in respectful at- titude, until the President had jussed — he alone having shown that mark of respect. On reference being made to it, he ex- pressed himself in terms of warm admiration of the character and ability of Mr. Lincoln, and said, " Gentlemen, President Lincoln is a great man, and you Americans do not know it, nor what a prize you have in him — ^}'ou do not appreciate your President." It was more than a year since we first heard this anecdote, therefore it was not made up after the death of the President. Whether literally true or not it contains a truth. We have spoken of two events separated from each other by an interval i»f a little more than four years, viz: The progress of Abraham Lincoln from Springfield, Illinois ; and the return of his mortal remains from Washington to Springfield. Of the stupendous events of those four years it is not our pur])Ose to speak, unless in a very general way. You all know them — have carefully noted them as they occurred, and your emo- tional nature has been stirred to its lowest depths as they l)assed befoie your eyes. But no man can yet adequately comprehend them, much less their ultimate results. We are too nearthem, to judge of their magnitude. Our nearness docs not put us in danger of overestimating, but of under-estimating their importance. As one standing at the immediate foot of a vast mountain pile can form no just conception of its height, or circumferafuce, or proportions, or size relative to other moun. tains, but must move from it to a distance, farther and farther until the just distance is reached, and as at every stage of the 16 increase of the distance, some new feature of beauty, or grand- eur, or sublimity, or magnificence of proportions, is revealed, until the whole bulk stands forth in awful majesty — its broad base resting on everlasting rock, its towering ice-clad height piercing the clouds in which it is lost from human view, but beyond which he knows it rises into eternal sunshine — so with the events of those four years Their history cannot be writ- ten in this, nor, perhaps, the next generation — which will be occupied with collecting the material. But it may be remarked that the necessity of removing to a distance from the mountain to gain a correct impression of its magnitude and proportions as a whole, involves a sacrifice, a loss, in regard to a multitude of details of points of interest and beauty, which can be seen only by one standing more cr less near to them, accoiding to their several dimensions, or the disposition of light and shade. Deep seams, romantic caverns, dark ravines through which living streams from numerous springs make their way by smooth currents broken by water- falls, castellated rocks, etc., disappear as separate things, as distance increases, all mingling to make up one grand effect. So of the events of the four years. We have intimate, deeply impressive knowledge of many things, painful, unspeakably sad, as well as many of a different character, which cannot be transmitted to the future. The future cannot know of the rapid alternation of hopes and fears, of despondency succeeding ex- hilaration as defeats followed victories ; of the domestic sor- rows and agonies all over the lanl ; and cannot know, or will not be made to believe — for which they will hardly be worthy to be blamed, for we ourselves admitted belief very slowly and some yet stoutly withhold it — the vindictive, fiendish, cruelties practiced under the direction of the fierce passions begotten of the unhumanizing system of slavery ; the starva- tion of prisoners, and their exposure to every species of con- temi)t and violence and torture; the cold-blooded massacre of surrendered garrisons; the chase and hunt by blood hounds of escaped prisouerSwUnion Southern refugees ; the lives of pri- ir vation led in caves, and swamps, and muuntains, by lojal men in the South ; and deaths by murder of thousands of them ; the violence done even to the l)odies of the slain — showing a depth of hating power and malignity, below that to which the savage has descended. On the other hand the future can never know the sacrifices, the generous devotion, the wondrous liberality, which have been made and ])racticed under the influence of christian patriotism ; the bountiful oilerings poured fortli in streams never-failing; the personal labors, in evey conceivable way and direction, of the women of the country ; the inven- tions of the best genius, th'3 appliances of the highest skill of the land ; the organized hosts of the Christian and Sanitary Commissions — all to minister to the sick and wounded soldiers in hospitals and 0:1 battle-fields, and to their destitute families. Nor will it be ready to credit the .fierce anger with which the loyal pulpit, and loyal ministers, were assailed, and attempted to be terrified into silence, by many who did not call themselves traitors, because they denounced treason as a sin, and declared it a christian duty to stand by the Government, and prayed for its rulers, and for its success, when the interests of humanity and justice in all the world, were at stake, and only to be saved from defeat by its triumph. During the four years which separated the two events of whicli we spake, the country passed through a most fearful crisis, brought on it l.)y a rebellion of unparalelled magnitude — the rebellion itself the ofispring of slavery, begun and pros- ecuted in its behalf, and for the purpose of forever establishing it the dominant political power on this continent, and the test of social superiority. It would listen to no reason, would stop for no consequences to liberty and our American institutions, all which it was madly ready to cast down and trample under foot on its way to conquest, and would shudder at no crime nor suffering, however appalling. The country was rocked to its foundations during those four years, by the earthquake march of vast armies ; was desolated by the fiery tempests of fierce battle between hosts of unrivalled courage, determination 18 and numbers ; was swe[)t by whirlwinds of cavalry forces. The storm passei over mountain tops, roared througii the val- leys, rushed across wide plains, leaving ruin in its path. The world looked on amazed, astounded, with growing wonder and increased alarm at beholding such gigantic armies, such tre- mendous power, such marvelous creations of genius and in- dustry, and energy, and firm purpose, spring uj) asitwereoui of the earth. That which has in all former experience requir- ed a score, or a century, of years to bring to full growth, they saw grown in a day ; or like Minerva full armed from the brain of Jupiter, so our armies and navies, fully equipped, spr ng from the brain of America. The nations looke 1 on, ihey saw our agony, they beheld what was at stake ; but they had no word of sympathy nor encouragement. They said — Let the United States perish, and let slavery live ! They predicted our defeat and ruin, helped the rebel enemy with needed sup- plies, and so protracted the war through years. But through all that stupeudso called. Confederacy, and the frequent disasters to our arms. The war could not cease until the ma- lignity and hatred of the lebels towards the North should be- come evident ; a state of feeling that the Northern people were very slowly brought to believe existed, knowing their own freedom from it, and knowing that no ground for it ex- isted, in any treatment the South had received at their hands, which had always been yielding, conciliatory, to the prejudice and damage of the North, and until the connexion of those bitter animosities with, and their dependence upon, slavery should be seen, together with its tendency to barbarize and de- humanize those who clung with attachment to it as a good institution. The war must go on until that institution should 24 be overthrown, and until the slave arristocracy with its dan- gerous grasp of power, its asserted superiority of civilization, its arrogant claims of a sort of Divine right to govern the whole country, its contempt for honest labor, and its hostility to republican institutions, should be thoroughly overthrown. It must go on too, until the pride of the whole nation should be humbled, its sins confessed, its dependence on God acknowl- edged, and His right to reign admitted ; until the people should prostrate themselves before Him in humility, penitence and adoration. Chief of all, or as the central fact in considering the won- derful Providence of Gu:l, we beholl it in the elevation of Abraham Lincoln to the Chief Magistracy ; a man of pru- dence and moderation ; of wisdom and discernment ; of firm- ness mixed with kindness — the heart of the lion joined to that of the lamb ; of honesty above suspicion, and a spirit without guiljil'; of an equanimity and gentleness and charity which nothing could ruffle, or annoy, or disturb ; of freedom from ambition of power, from selfishness, and ostentation ; of sim- plicity of tastes and habits ; of purity of moral character never questioned ; of a wonderful faculty of correctly apprehending the state and changes, and progress, of the popular sentiment and will ; above all, of a firm undeviating, calm trust in God, rendering him always confident of the success, sooner or later, of the cause of the Government. Almost unknown on first entering upon his magisterial duties, in a time of unparalleled confusion and peril, in a great measure untrietl, his friends fearful and trembling, he gained and grew in the confidence, respect, admiration, and affections of the people, with a rapid- ity, and to a degree, perhaps, without another example. This was esi)ecially remarkable during the last year or two of his life, more em[)hatically so during the last few months, when there hal been time to see in their fruits, the wisdom which had devised, and the sound julgraent that had executed, his principal measures. There was a time, indeel, when his best friends doubted, and were dissatisfied. But he was self-reliant 25 — not as self-sufficient, or as obstinate and heeJless of advice. He was not self-sufficient — iu>t wedde 1 to his views further than he was convinced they were riujht. He soui^ht and val- ued advice and counsel, then asked of God, and asked the people to pray fur him ; then ma le up his mind, and hav- ing so done he could not be moved. And the nation this day thanks God that he could not, either by threats, or entreaties, or motives of self-interest. In that sense, the sense of abiding by his conscientious convictions in tiie fear of. and putting his trust in God, he was self-reliant. The result is that while his best friend would not claim for him, what he would far less likel.y have claimed for himself, that he made no mistakes, tlie time came when all unprejudiced persons almitted that his er- rors were few indeed, and that they had not long to wait to find that the chief that they once thought such, were wisely julged and sagaciously timed actions, and to admit that they were wrong and he was right. As to the time of adopting his most important measures, some cliarged him with too great tardi- ness, others with too great haste. Tlie consequences have vin- dicated the soundness of his judgment and his thorough knowl- edge of the state of the po[)uhir mind. So it came to pass at length he attained a place in the confidence and love of tlie vast majority of the people — not alone for his kindness, good intentions, purity of his patriotism, and uprightness of his motives, but also for Ids safe judgment and great jiractical wisdom. Nor "^s this confidence and admiration confined to his own countrymen. The expressions of grief at his death, of respect for his memory, of admiring encomium on his character as a man and statesman, of their more than satisfaction with the fairness and justice and friemlliness of his conduct of foreign affairs, preserving peace abroad, while never sacrificing the honor and interests of his country, but raising it in the esti- mation of all men — such expressions made in evident sincer- ity, strongly put, and accompanied with marks of sorrow at his loss, show us that he had won a place as high, with a 26 rapidity as great, among other nations. It is little short of marvelous. There must have been in his character and talents a cause for this, a reason for a man's springing at once, as it were, out of obscurity to take rank with the foremost of the honored of the world. Some of the traits of character that distinguished President Lincoln we have already had occasion to notice. But a few are deserving of a more particular mention, or of being mentioned by themselves. He was a kind man. His kindness, tenderness, gentleness — kindred affections — were very marked. No person ever ap- proached him without being at once impressed that he pos- sessed them in very large measure. Never was mistake greater, or slander more wanton, than that which charged him with cruelty, insensibility of heart to suffering, and blood-thirsti- ness. Indeed, it was considered by the men of best judgment in the loyal States that his chief error consisted in yielding too readily, and too often, to his kind emotions. The loyal men in the border loyal States complained that from this disposition of his, owing to which disloyal, dangerous men, at heart trai- tors, plotting mischief, were left to indulge, generally, with impunity in their criminal conduct, the real friends of the Government suffered much, and their danger was increased. But said one of them. Dr. R, J. Breckenridge, "While we must find fault with his too great leniency, and suffer from it too, we will love him for it all the more." He was an unambitious man — his only ambition being to serve his country. The contrary has been charged, but never was charge made, more utterly destitute of a single particle of proof. Says the London Times^ — a journal always bitterly hostile to our cause, and while he lived, a reviler of Mr. Lin- coln, and, therefore we quote it, as its testimony must be re- garded as certainly not likely to be prejudiced in his favour — quote it in preference to that from friendly sources .— " Abra- ham Lincoln was as little of a tyrant as any man that ever lived. He could have been a tyrant had he pleased, but he never uttered 27 80 much as an ill-nature 1 speech." Yes, he could have been a tyrant, if his om'u patriotic nature and his conscience would have permitted. For the necessity of the times, the state of the country, required he should have and control, and exercise a tremendous power. Yet such was the confidence in his hon- esty and singleness of purposes, that no one feared for a mo- ment he would abuse it. Not even his enemies, who aliected to believe he was designing and unprincipled, and proclaimed that he purposed to overthrow our liberties, and make himself an absolute King. They did not believe so for a single ins unt. Their course of conduct against their language, showed that they did not. And the great majority, including the whole truly loyal portion of the people, had come, — to quote from the Lon- don Spectator^ — to have " such thorough belief in his honesty and capacity, that, had he five hours after the fall of Richmond, dismissed General Grant from the service without a reason, the people would, while still sore and wondering, have believed that the reason must be adequate." The St. Petershurgh j}^ewssa,yB (and says truly,) paying Mr. Lincoln the very highest style of complimentary justice, in striking contrast with bitter denunciations by not a few of his own countrymen, who falsely accused him ot the directly op- posite, and who ought to hang their heads at this noble and eloquent tribute from a foreign journal. " The observance by the late President, of the strictest legality in a time of fierce and passionate conflict, will serve as his most appropriate monument, his greatest claim to hist(»rical eminence, and to the grateful remembrance of posterity. By nothing has the New World so served the cause of civilization, as by placing at its head, in the midst of a diflicult crisis, the citizen Lincoln, and showing to mankind that the Aphorism handed down to posterity by Home, inter anna silent leges, by no means forms an absolute rule for the political life of nations. Over the tomb of the murdered President, his mourning fellow citizens might inscribe the following epitaph : — "Amid the terrors and tempests of war, he hurled the lightning and thunder against 28 the enemies of his country ; and although wielding unbounded military power, he, as President of a Republic, remained a peaceful citizen ; and in an epoch pregnant with dangers, he laid no violent hand on laws established in a time of peace." We would like to quote a similarly eloquent eulogy from tlie St. Peiei'shur^h Journal^ but must content ourselves with a couple of sentences. " The immovable lirmness of his (Mr. Lincoln's) convictions, and the constancy of his faith in the cause ot the American Union, -nade him always equal to every trial, and brought about the final success which he has just sealed with his blood." " It was neither political passion, nor party spirit, nor hatred, nor vengeance, which had armed the hand of this })atriot with an inflexible energy, but a conviction of duty, a desire to re-establish upon broad, solid and durable bases, union in the bosom of the Great Eepublic." Mr. Lincoln was charitable, without malice, incapable of being provoked to a harsh or vindictive expression, much less action. Xo man was ever more harshly reviled, ridiculed, mis- represented. He was pursued with a relentless malignity, per- haps without parallel. His words were perverted, his motives impugned, even his person caricatured and made the subject of coarse and vulgar jokes. He was represented as an ape, an idiot, a clown. His natural good humour, accompanied with a lively sense of the ludicrous, and a habit he had of il- lustrating by anecdote, was brought against him, and he was called a bufibon. Regardless of consistency, the same who at one time denounced him as little better than an idiot, at an- other, would charge that he was a dangerous intriguer, a cun- ning, deej) designer, a manager at will, for the basest and wickedest purposes, of Counsellers, Statesmen and Generals, and of armies of thinkers and patriots, to be and do all which demand the very highest intellect the world ever produces. — His speeches, messages. State papers were laughed at, and af- fectedly iiiourned over as a disgrace to the country. Yet under this load of obhxpiy, notwithstanding this pitiless storm of bit- ter railing and denunciation, this persecuting, cruel, malignity, 29' Abraham Lincoln was never provoked to utter an uiikiuJ worJ, nor to take vengeance, having full power to do so, nor to show resentment, nor to turn aside from the even tenor of his way, nor to lose his perfect equanimity. That was some- thing to which only true greatness ever attained. lie could truly say at the close of his life, — ''With charity for all, with malice towards none." He often stood between his defamers aiid the deserved punishment he was urged to inflict. lie could not stoo}> nor turn from the great duties and heavy re- sponsibilities of his ofHce, to even cherish in his heart, much less in(hilge indeed, in private animosities. In all his public papers there is not an allusion in auger to any one. Yet he was unalterably firm. As he himself said, and said truly, "• In the end the decision must rest with me." So when once he made up his mini, wdiich he did carefully, after considering the matter in all its bearings, conscientiously and prayerfully, and after arriving at the conviction that he was right, nothing could move him, neither any appeal of friend- ship nor display of hostility. And the most intelligent men have expressed utter astonishment at the thoroughness of his acquaintance with the matter in regard to which he had to de- cide and act, — manifesting a marvellous industry and extent of study. He was a deejily serious man. This assertion would sur- prise shallow observers, or such as have been misled by having seen and known him only through misrepresenting )tedia, and who have been accustomed to hear him called '' old joker," "clown," " buffoon," etc. But no honest, thinking, discern- ing person could fail to see that he was serious even to sadness. No one couLl sit and ([uietly, and at ease and uurestraiued, converse with him familiarly, and look into his mild, gentle eye, without being impressed with the conviction, even though anecdotes had fallen from him, and his countenance had light- ed up at times with playful humor — that his soul was a great deep of seriousness. Through his gentle eyes, one would look and see that behind them, was a vast spirit accustomed to pro- 30 found self-communings, and communings with truth. In fact, his humor, which so offended the very nice sensibilities of some, was as the merest ripple, or as the light froth that rests on the surface of the ocean. And we have often thought it was most kindly Providential that he had it. For it was the pre- servative of both his physical and mental energies from being crushed to death by the tremendously oppressive weight of caies he was compelled to bear. One whose tastes and occupation has made him a close ob- server of countenances, said that Mr. Lincoln •' had the sad- dest countenance he ever saw." We have spoken of his unfailing hopefulness, and of his be- lief in God. We believe he was a true Christian. Pious men, Ministers of Christ, who had good opportunities to judge, among them his own pastor in Washington, were convinced of this. He was a constant and devout student of the scriptures. It is said that on one occasion he was, with a number of other officers, civil and military, on a steamboat going to Fortress Monroe. He was missed from the company, who were mirth- fully enjoying themselves, and was discovered sitting by him- self, in a quiet, retired place, which he had sought out, read- ing the well-worn pocket bible, his constant companion. What a light that beautiful incident sheds on his character. And who would not feel glad that the man, to whom the interests of the country were committed, was such a man ? No one who was not a student of the sacred scriptures, could have issued such a paper as was his last inaugural message. We saw that paper ridiculed, sneered at, after its delivery, as a disgrace to the nation, and his friends appealed to, to say they were ashamed. A mere time-serving person, one of shallow and unoriginal mind, one in the unreflecting habit of making up his opinion — prejudiced too — from the ambitious harangues usual on such occasions, might fail into that blunder. For it was such a pa- per as one does not often see in these days from high places — nor has seen since the days of Cromwell. Its voice is like that of one of the old prophets. There is no self in it, no 31 boasting, no effort at declamation, no appeal to passions. It is full of God. of calm trust in Him, of looking to Ilim, of submission to His will, expressed in scriptural language. The fear that it would disgrace us in the eyes of other nations need not have been felt, and had far better for the reputation for good judgment of those having it, not have been uttered. The British, Standard speaks of it as " the most remarkable thing of the sort ever pro* ounced by any President of the United States, from the first day until now. Its Alpha and its Omega is Almighty God, the God of justice and the Father of mercies, who is working out the purposes of his love. It is invested with a dignity and pathos which lift it high above every thing of the kind, whether in the Old World or the New. The whole thing puts us in mind of the best men of the English Com- monwealth ; there is in fa'.:t much of the old prophet about it." Says the London Economist " He drew up his final inaug- ural in a style which extorted from critics so hostile as the Sat- urday Keviewers a burst of involuntary admiration." His other papers, though in less measure, were like it. We cannot dwell longer on this part of our subject. The future will be more ready than the present, to put it on record that Abraham Lincoln was a great m^n, worthy of the conn- try which gave George Washington to the world, to v\ hom even now foreign writers are fond of comparing him. President Lincoln fell by the hand of the assassin. Who was the assassin? J. Wilkes Booth. Yes, in a little higher sense than the pistol witii which he committed the deed. The real assassin was that same foul, ferocious spirit which sought the assassination of the country, the demon spirit begotten of slavery. The assassination of President Lincoln, and the Providentially deleated design to add thereto the assassination of Vice President Johnson, Secretaries Seward and Stanton, General Grant, Chief Justice Chase, and perhaps others, was but the logical culmination of the acts of treason, rebellion, savage barbarity to prisoners, vindictive massacres, and mur- ders, violation of oaths, robberies, arsons, and attempts to de- 32 stro}' the lives of non-combatants, of women and children, by ])recipitating cars from rail road tracks, and by introducing the plagne of yellow fever, by means of infected clothing into populous cities, &c., to which that spirit prompted. Whether instigated by rebel chiefs or not — and that it was — there is ev- idence enough to satisfy all unprejudiced persons — yet the re bellion is guilty of the murder. It quite consists with buch ferocious proclamations as that outlawing General Butler, ard officers serving under him, and with numerous oiders put o't'.. by official authority, which all will lemember. Yet are not those throughout the North free from guilt who joined in furi- ous denunciations and stirred up liatrcd against President Lin- coln, until it was not uncommon to hear persons influenced by such defamation, express the wish, that he was, as they de- clared he deserved to be, put to death. It was the highest crime against man. Cesides simple mur- der — the chief criminality of which is in that man is " the image of God 'L. ^ was the murder of one who as the ruler is the image of God. And it was treason against the govern- ment over which he ruled by the will of the people ex])ressed in the constitutional manner. It was a not less atrocious mur- der than any of which profane history makes record. It was a murder which carries us back to the dark, very dark, ages, when secret, cowardly assassination was called heroism. It shows that slavery is of darkness, anl wuuM jdunge us back into those midnight ages — if it could ! It was unjustified by any gain that could accrue to the cause in the interests of which it was professedly done. The rebellion could not be served by it — it was substantially, hopelessly crushed. And in Abk^- iiAM Lincoln, its promoters lost their best friend, who on the very day preceding his murder, had, in Cabinet Council, plead- ed for leniency towards them. Says the London Times, "" In all America there was })erhaps not one man who less deserved to be the victim of this revolution than he who has fallen," and says this in allusion to his mo leration and kindness of intentions towards the rebels. 33 For his own host historical fame, he couM not, perhaps, have fallen at a more fit moment. Tie had lived to see the country, under his administration, carried through the mighty struggle, and saved from its long peril. He had lived to see the hopes and pl^rophecies of his country's foes brought to naught. — Though he did not live to hear of it, yet he did live until, by his crder, our flag was again raised to float over Fort Sumter, on the anniversary of the day on which it was compelled, by the ebel foe, to be lowered — on the anniversary of which he, too, by a strange Providence, was stricken down by the same foe. The flag went down before that foe when he was in the fresh pride o^fcis vaunted strength ; the President fell the victim of his reveafce in his expiring frenzy. He died having such al- most unrTunded confidence and aflPection of all lovers of lib- •erty thrn^hont the worll, as few have been so happy as to enjoy. And he died in all his integrity and simplicity un- stained. Had he lived, he might have made many enemies — almost certainly would, in view of the wide diversity of •sectiraents on reconstruction, (fee, and might have failed. His work w^as done, and iiod, who gave him to the nation, took "him away. While the crime of his murder will abide an in- delible foul slain upon the immediately guilty parties, and also to stir up fresh execration against slavjiry, and new determi- Tiation that it shall utterlv perish, yet Providence permitted it. Though lae permitted it. He suffered not the assasiu to escape. He Himself disabled him, gave him his death wound within an instant after he had permitted him to inflict the fatal hurt. And He, too, prevented the carrying out the several measures intended to conceal the criminals, and also hindered the exe- cution of the further intentions of the conspirators, having ref- erence to such a disorganization of the Government as might result in a revolution favorable to the retrieving of the dying cause of the rebellion. It was a singularly mysterious but, we are sure, a wise Pro- vidence. We will not murmur. Even out of this good will come — has already come. 1st, God by it says, " Be still, and I) 34 know that I am God ; 1 will be exalted ainony; the nations, I will be exalted in the earth." lie will have ns put onr trust in Him alone, and not in an arm of flesh. He will have us as- cribe to Him the wisJom, and the power, and the glory. 2nd. Possibly there was danger, and God saw it, and interfered ta prevent it by permitting his assassination, that owing to the remarkable gentleness and kindness of President Lincoln, and his pleadings for leniency, the claims of justice would be sacrificed to those of mercy. Indeed the whole Northern peo- ple were in danger of falling into that error. It was necessary treason should be ma :le detestable ; and that furthermore the undying, implacable, unappeasable hate of the spirit of slavery, which no kindness can touch, no gentleness soften, no gene- rosity affect, should be manifested by a crime even so appall- ing as that of the martyrdom of such a good and great — ^great because good — man as Abkauam Lincoln. The punishment of traitors is not vengeance in the evil sense. It is as truly a necessity of justice as the capital pun- ishment of the murderer. It is a higher crime than murder. Is treason a crime worthy of death ? Then by wliat right can any denounce it as wicked revenge to inflict the penalty ? If it is wrong to punish the traitor, then abolish the law on treason. If the law is right, then it is wickel, factious, dis- loyal to tlie Government, to cry out against its execution, and to denounce the Government for doing its duty, as if it was malicious, revengjful, and bloodthirsty. And if ever treason may be justly punished surely it may bo in the case of those who have conspired causelessly against this Government ; have covered the land with blood, and filled it with sorrow. Their crime is peculiarly heinous. We do not say the Government, or its constitutional authorities, must punish the traitors with death, if convicted, that they should not pardon. We say, let them do as in their judgj^ment they shall deem best for the country and for all concerned. And it must be conceded that they have the best means to make up a just judgment. And let them exercise their sense of duty in the matter, untran\- 35 melleil by threats or complaiuts. Good citizens will thus let them. None will rejoice more heartily Ihari we, to see mercy shown to the full extent, that those in authority — in whose in- tegrity and judgment we have great confidence — may decide, can be shown, without prejudice to righteousness and truth. Finally, we have already seen some good, and mention only, That it would seem as if it alone remained that this deed should be done, to fully justify, not merely the righteousness of our cause in our struggle with the rebellion, but our form of gov- ernment itself, before all nations, and for the encouragement of the friends of liberty everywhere. It was confidently said by the enemies of this form of government, "It cannot en- dure, will fall to pieces." Therefore when the war broke out, they said the time of our end had come — that we could not put down the rebellion except by putting down liberty, and our boasted free institutions too. But seeing they were likely to be disappointed in their first expectations, they took new courage in the hope they boldly declared, that the government could not but go to pieces when the time for another Presiden- tial election should come, and asserted that either it must go to pieces, or Mr. Lincoln must, and probably would, usurp dictatorial authority, prevent an election, and proclaim him- self permanent ruler. The election caused not a jar. Then came the great peril — as friends of other forms of government would consider it, and the like to which would plunge most others at any time, — perhaps any other at such a time — into fresh revolution or anarchy, or let it tall into the hands of a military chieftain, who wouM make himself an emperor. But while the nation was suddenly plunge 1 down from joy and ex- ultation, a great depth into sorrow and mourning, the machin- ery of government moved on without a break or a jolt, and no one thought of danger. We come forth from tlie war, and all its vast and numberless perils, safe ; our g jverument tried and justified, and become the wonder, the fear, and the admiration of the world. For the first, we know our own strength and ClJ^ 36 resources, anil power of endTirauce. But all will be in vain unless we have learned the great truth, and continue in it, — • " The Lord God OmnipoteDt reigneth !" and "In God is our ti-ust," Lb My 13 I I