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 PRESIDENT LINCOLN; 
 
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 FIGURE IN HISTORY:! 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED IN THE 
 
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 ^iwt §ff«ilgt*iiaii iliiirt, 
 
 PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY, 
 
 JUNE 1st, 1865. 
 
 By JAMES M. MACDONALD, D. D. 
 
 NEW YORK: f^ 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER & CO., 124 GRAND STREET, k^^ 
 
 U^l 1865. (e2/J 
 
 rcAf^ 
 
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PRESIDENT LINCOLN; 
 
 FIGURE IN HISTORY: 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 CEI.IVEKED IN THE 
 
 fti'.st f r-i^slgti'«iaii iluiMli, 
 
 PRTXCETON, XEW JERSEY 
 
 JUNE 1ST, 18G5. 
 
 By JAMES M. MACDONALD, D. D. 
 
 N E W Y R K : 
 ClIAllLES SCRIBNER & CO., 124 GRAND STREET. 
 
 18G5. 
 
t_^ 
 
 u 
 
 Princeton, July lOlli, 18G5. 
 Ret. J. M. Macdoxald, D.D.: 
 
 Dear Sii; — Manv of those avIio liad tlie pleasure of listening to vonr 
 admirable discourse delivered in the church on the day of humiliation, 
 June 1st, feel desirous of having the same published. The undersigned, 
 therefore, beg leave to request that you will be so kind as to furnish 
 tliem with a copy thereof for that purpose. 
 Very truly, yours, 
 
 P. IIENDPJCKSOl^, 
 E. OLDEX, 
 I. BAKER, 
 JAMES STEBBIXS, 
 JOSEPH B. WRIGHT, 
 S. ALEX. IIAMILTOX, 
 LEAYITT nOWE. 
 
 Peincetox, July Uth, 1865. 
 
 To Messrs. P. Ilendrickson, E. Olden, Isaac Baker. Joseph B. Wright, 
 S. Alex. Hamilton, Leavitt Howe, and the Rev. James Stebbius : 
 
 The discourse to which your note of the 10th inst. refers amounts to 
 little more than the mere outline of a subject — or rather one aspect of 
 the only subject pertinent to tlie day — which, with suitable skill and 
 leisure, might have been made ra(ire worthy of the occasion. 
 
 Such as it is, however, T place it at your disposal for the purpose 
 n:imed. 
 
 Availing myself of this opportunity of returning you my thanks for 
 many acts of personal kindness, 
 
 I remain, gen?,li^men, truly yours, 
 
 J. M. MACDOXALD. 
 
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OV AMERICA. 
 
 A PROCLAMATION. 
 
 Wlicreas, By my direction, the acting Secretary of State, in a notice 
 to the public on the 17th of Ajjril, rciinested the various religious deno- 
 minations to assemble on the 19th of April, on the occasion of the obse- 
 quies of Abraham Lincoln, late President of the United States, and to 
 observe the same with appropriate ceremonies; and, whereas, our coun- 
 try has become one great house of mourninjr, where the head of the 
 family has been taken away ; and believing that a special jieriod slunild 
 be assigned for again humbling ourselves before Almighty God, in order 
 that the bereavement may be sanctified to "the nation ; now, therefore, 
 in order to mitigate that grief on earth which can only be assuaged by 
 communion with the Father in heaven, and in compliance with the Avishes 
 of senators and representatives in Congress, communicated to me by 
 a resolution adopted at the National Capital, I, AXDKEW JOHNSON, 
 President of the United States, do hereby appoint Thursday, the twenty- 
 fifth day of May next, to bo observed, wherever in the United States 
 the flag of the country may bo respected, as a day of humiliation and 
 mourning, and I recommend my fellow-citizens then to assemble in their 
 respective places of worship, there to unite in solemn service to Al- 
 mighty God, in memory of the good man who has been removed, so 
 that all shall be occupied at the same time in contemplation of his vir- 
 tues and sorrow for his sudden and vidlent end. 
 
 In virtue whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal 
 of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 Done at the city of Washington the 25th day of April, in the year of 
 our Lord 1805, and of the independence of the United States of America 
 the 89th. 
 
 ANDKEW JOHNSON 
 By the President. 
 
 "W. IIuNTEK, Acting Secretary of State. 
 
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
 A PKOCLAMATION. 
 
 Whereas, By my proclamation of the 25th inst., Tliursda}', the 25th 
 (lay of next month, was recommended as a day for special humiliation 
 and prayer in consequence of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, 
 late President of tlie United States; but, whereas, my attention has 
 been called to the fact that the day aforesaid is sacred to large numbers 
 of Christians as one of rejoicing for the ascension of the Saviour, now, 
 therefore, be it known that I, ANDREW JOHNSON, President of the 
 United States, do hereby suggest that tiie religious services recommend- 
 ed as aforesaid should be postponed imtil Thursday, the first day of June 
 next. 
 
 In testimony whereof I liave hereunto siit my hand and caused the 
 seal of the United States to be affixed. 
 
 Done at the city of Washington, this 29th day of April, iu the year of 
 our Lord 1865, and of the independence of the United States of America 
 the eighty-ninth. 
 
 ANDREW JOUNSON. 
 By the President, 
 
 W. IIuNTEE, Acting Secretary of State. 
 
DISCOURSE 
 
 In the Proclamation of the President, this has been 
 appointed to be observed as "a day of hiiuiiliation and 
 rcourning." 
 
 The death of the highest ruler, under any circumstances, 
 is an affliction to the entire people. He stands in the same 
 relation to all. This is as true in elective and rejjresenta- 
 tive, as in hereditary governments. Indeed, it may be more 
 eminently true in a system like ours, than in one where the 
 highest office descends by inheritance. The Chief Magis- 
 trate with us is one of the people, taken from among the 
 people, and raised to his high place by' their suifrages, ac- 
 cording to the provisions of a Constitution of their own 
 adoption, or having their free assent. It matters not that a 
 citizen may not have been old enough to join in the suf- 
 frage, or that he was out of the country, at the time the 
 choice was made, nor even that he felt it to be his duty to sup- 
 port an opposing candidate ; his relation as one of the sub- 
 jects of government, owing honor, obedience and subjec- 
 tion to the chief executive officer, is precisely the same. No 
 higher obligation rests upon others than upon him. There 
 
is to him, for the tirao bsing, no other living man in whom 
 centres the supreme authority ; who, charged with main- 
 taining the Constitution and Laws, represents the sovereignty 
 of the nation. An indignity to him, from any foreign or 
 hostile power, is felt by every man as an insult to the nation 
 over which he bears rule. No section or party, at such a 
 time, will assume that they have an exclusive right, or in- 
 terest, in resenting it, or vindicating the nation's offended 
 dignity. When the hand of violence is raised against the 
 ruler, every man will feel the blow as aimed against himself ; 
 and when that blow falls, the concussion will be felt through 
 the whole frame-work of civil society. A blow directed 
 against the head is against a vital part, and may prostrate 
 the body, and destroy its life ; so that which prostrates a 
 ruler, who, in his own person represents the supreme author- 
 ity, every citizen feels endangers that government which is 
 over him, for the protection of his property, person, and re- 
 putation. It makes the whole land reel and tremble. It 
 shakes every man's house. 
 
 It is well said in the Proclamation appointing this day, 
 " Our country has become one great house of mourning, 
 where the head of the family has been taken away." It is 
 under this touching figure of a household, gathered at the 
 tomb of its deceased head, that the nation is invited to as- 
 semble, to give some becoming expression of its sorrow. 
 The members of such a household may belong to different 
 persuasions in religion, to different circles in social, and 
 different parties in civil life ; they may even have conflict- 
 ing interests, which have issued in serious contests ; but 
 they all stand in the same relation to him who is no more, 
 
and fire snmraoncd to bow, forgetting tlicir differences and 
 laying aside their animosities, in common sorrow around his 
 lowly bed. The providence of God has solemnly called the 
 people of this land to lay aside their bickering and party 
 hate. Let this day be sacred to charitable and fraternal 
 feeling, and remind lis that, with all our diversities, we are 
 not so far apart as we are prone to imagine ! We have 
 much to stir and move our tenderest sympathies, and cause 
 us to weep together ; and when men's tears flow and mingle 
 in one common channel, their hearts cannot be far asunder. 
 " There are rare instances," to use the words of an emi- 
 nent British statesman, Mr. D'Israeli, pronounced in Par- 
 liament with reference to Mr. Lincoln's death ; " there 
 are rare instances when the sympathy of a nation approaches 
 to those tenderer feelings, that generally are supposed to be 
 peculiar to the individual, and to form the hapi)y privilege 
 of private life ; and I think tliis is one of them. Under all 
 circumstances, we should have bewailed the catastrophe at 
 Washington ; under all circumstances we should have shud- 
 dered at the means by which it was accomplished. But in 
 the character of the victim, and in the very accessories of his 
 almost latest moments, there is something so homely and so 
 innocent that it takes the subject, as it were, out of the 
 pomp of history, and out of the ceremonial of diplomacy.'"' 
 If this could be said, with any degree of propriety and truth, 
 by a foreigner, with how much greater can it be said, by 
 the people of this land. The duty we are called upon to 
 perform to-day, is indeed taken out of t\xG class of mere cer- 
 monies and parades. The a])peal is directly to our house- 
 hold affections, and to those tender sympathies which are 
 
8 
 
 awakened by the removal of one who stood to us in a near 
 and most important relation. 
 
 The crime which has robbed this nation of its President 
 receives no softening from time. It stands in unrelieved atro- 
 city. In the record that shall be made of it, it will consti- 
 tute one of the darkest stains on the pages of human history. 
 It made all knees tremble, and all faces gather blackness. 
 It caused the nations to stand aghast. A thousand leagues 
 of sea seemed unable to break the connexion, or so much as 
 to weaken the power of that current of electric sympathy 
 that draws and binds human hearts together. It not only 
 caused a fearful shadow to fall around the throne of mon- 
 archs, but the dwellers in the humblest cottages to feel a 
 momentary insecurity, as the imagination conjured up those 
 revolutions, and social convulsions, which have often invaded 
 and laid waste the most peaceful, secluded homes. Whilst 
 we felt called upon to abase ourselves under this new and 
 awful proof which the crime afforded, of the deep depravity 
 of that race to which its i)erpetrator belonged, we also feel 
 called upon, in view of its condemnation, and the horror 
 awakened by it, in men's minds, to recognize those linea- 
 ments of a once purer nature, upon which, by Divine grace, 
 may be re-enstamped the lost image of its God. 
 
 The history of the late head of our nation, is one of the 
 most marvellous on record. Among the prominent figures 
 in the annals of the world, I know of none precisely resem- 
 bling his, or, in some respects, to be compared with it. By 
 the side of those of Ceesar, Charlemagne, Napoleon and 
 Washington, it takes its place, with its own striking pecu- 
 liarities of feature and costume. It can never fail to be 
 
easily identified in that throng, however great it may become, 
 of men whom Providence raises up to control the destiny of 
 nations, as his bodily form, by its lofty height and peculiar- 
 ity of outline, readily pointed him out, in whatever crowds 
 or assemblies he made his appearance. To sketch his 
 career will awaken the ambition of many a writer ; and he 
 who would do it successfully must possess the highest gifts 
 — the charity of the Christian, the mind of the philosopher, 
 the heart of the philanthropist, and the graphic jjcn of the 
 dramatist, "The romance of history " is an exjiression made 
 familiar to us, by book-writers, who have sought to cull from 
 its pages scenes and adventures, which, literally true, are 
 more strange than fiction itself The history of Abraham 
 Lincoln presents just this sort of material, not in single 
 episodes, but in its whole extent from beginning to end. 
 
 At the close of our last war with England, of which so 
 many survivors have a distinct recollection, and in which 
 some took an active part, he was a mere child of some six 
 years of age. He was almost literally a native of the forest, 
 having been born, and spent his early childhood, in Central 
 Kentucky, then a new and sparsely-settled State. Here, 
 although there had been some progress since the first set- 
 tlers, among them his grandfather, had been exposed to the 
 tomahawks of savages, he spent the first years of his child- 
 hood, in the hardy toil peculiar to families on the frontier, 
 in incessant struggles for the plainest subsistence. School- 
 houses and common schools were entirely unknown. Oc- 
 casionally, there were what were styled neighborhood 
 schools, taught for a few months in the year, in the cabin of 
 one of the more prosperous settlers. His father had never 
 
10 
 
 learned to read, and could barely form the letters, iu the 
 rudest way, composing his signature. His mother was able 
 to read, but not to write ; both parents, however, are said to 
 have been excellent Christian people, members of the Bap- 
 tist Church. Their cabin was without a floor, with one 
 door, and one window, having a few most necessary articles 
 of furniture, made of slabs and split logs, by the same hands 
 that built the house. The only books it contained were a 
 Bible, a Catechism, and a copy of Dilworth's Spelling-book. 
 His mother read the Bible to her family every day, and on 
 the Sabbath, much of the time was spent in this way. 
 While he lived in Kentucky, it is said, he never saw even 
 the exterior of what was properly a church edifice. But he 
 attended a school taught in the neighborhood, for a short 
 time ; and with such further assistance as he received at 
 home, was able to read well at the age of seven. Summing 
 up all the days of his actual attendance on school instruc- 
 tion, it is estimated the amount would hardly exceeed one 
 year. The first book he read, after the Spelling-book, was 
 his mother's Bible. We can easily imagine what an avidity 
 there must have been in the mind of such a child for the 
 narratives and parables of this blessed book, in the seclusion 
 of his wilderness home. Two years later, the death of his 
 mother doubtless served to impress still more deeply on his 
 mind the pious lessons he had received from her lips, and 
 had learned from the book she had loved so well. The 
 second book he read was Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, bor- 
 rowed for him, by his father, at a settlement eighteen miles 
 distant from his home. He read it with eagerness. His 
 next book was Esop's Fables, given to him by a neighbor, 
 
11 
 
 which he perused till he knew almost all of them by heart. 
 His next books were the '* Life of Washington," the " L'fe 
 of Franklin," and " Plutarch's Lives." Notice the hand of 
 Providence, in the kind of books that were put in the way of 
 this boy, whose home was so far from where schools and 
 books abound, wlio was to be raised up to fill so high a place, 
 and perform so great a part in the affairs of men. While 
 his perceptive faculties and muscular energies wxrc being 
 developed, by the frequent employment of the rifle, in the 
 pursuit of the wild game that filled the woods, and in the 
 labors of tlic plantation, it was necessary that his intellec- 
 tual and moral life should have something to feed and jrrow 
 upon ; and how wonderfully were the means provided by 
 that Power that rules the world, whose child and pupil he 
 was ! What college of educators w^ould venture to change 
 one of the books, or so much as vary their order, found in 
 his curriculum. A youthful neighbor and friend, who knew 
 how to make the letters, taught him to write ; but as paper 
 could not well be afforded in sufiScient quantity, he prac- 
 tised the art on slabs and the trunks of trees, with a bit of 
 chalk or charcoal, and with his finger or a pointed stick, 
 in the sand or snow. His first letter w^as w^ ritten for his 
 father, and addressed to a clergyman, an old friend of the 
 family ; and such was its excellence both in penmanship and 
 expression, that he was soon called upon to write a large 
 number of the letters of the settlement. His attention and 
 memory w^ere such at this time that he could repeat nearly 
 all the sermons he heard. Who can estimate tlic im- 
 portant work performed in the education of the com- 
 mon mind by those self-denying men, who are borne on the 
 
12 
 
 tide of emigration into our western wiltls, themselves bear- 
 ing the Gospel of the great Teacher ? 
 
 When he was little more than seven years old, his 
 father, in the spirit of the true frontiersman, removed with 
 his family from Kentucky, where the game was getting 
 scarce, and neighbors were crowding in too closely, to seek 
 a new home in lonelier wilds. The journey was made in 
 true emigrant style, in a wagon, drawn by oxen ; the cow, 
 so necessary to their comfort, driven behind. The Ohio 
 was crossed on a raft. The mother and daughter ride in 
 the wagon with the household effects. The father drives 
 the team, and to the future President of the United States 
 is committed the care of the indispensable cow. But 
 it will not be possible, nor is it necessary to the design 
 I have in view, to pursue these simple annals of a brave 
 and cheerful struggle with a humble lot. Suffice it to add, 
 that at a period so recent as when many who hear me, who 
 are still vigorously pursuing the active duties of life, had 
 entered on those duties, and had already reached stations 
 of influence and usefulness, but little more than thirty 
 years ago, Abraham Lincoln, according to the j)ublic 
 accounts of him to which I have had access, was toiling to 
 subdue the wild lands in what was then the far West, or 
 as a boatman on the Ohio and Mississippi Kivers. Can 
 anything seem more strange than that one, who had been 
 favored with so few advantages for mental culture in early 
 life, and who, after arriving at the years of manhood, was 
 still pursuing a humble calling, should, when scarcely more 
 than fifty years of age, reach one of the highest and most 
 powerful stations it can ever fall to the lot of man to fill ? 
 
13 
 
 He could hold the plough, was a notable chopper and 
 splitter, and inured to every description of the most hardy 
 toil. It has been said of him, that he could adapt himself 
 to any honest work which circumstances required, and with 
 a cheerfulness and alacrity — a certain practical humour — 
 rarely equalled. He could turn off the hardest labor as a 
 mere pastime ; and his manly presence was as a constant 
 inspiration and a charm to ligliten the burdens of others. 
 He continued to read the few books that came within his 
 reach, with avidity ; and in the v/inter evenings,, read 
 them by the mere light of tlie blazing fire-place, when no 
 better resource was at hand. Tlie first office he was called 
 to fill was that of a captain of volunteers in the Black 
 Hawk War, having been elected to it by the company 
 which he had been efficient in raising. 
 
 But we cannot follow him from step to step, as he en- 
 tered on the most difficult work, under all his disadvan- 
 tages, of preparing himself for one of the learned profes- 
 sions ; nor in his early and almost immediate success in 
 that profession. Although he had risen to great prominence 
 and influence in the West, having represented his district 
 in Congress, still he was scarcely known, so much as by 
 name, to the nation at large, at the time his predecessor in 
 the office of President entered on his duties. The speaker 
 confesses that he has no recollection of ever having heard 
 of him at that time. It was his celebrated debate with 
 the lamented Senator Douglass which first brought him 
 prominently before the public. 
 
 He was elected President of the United States, 
 signally illustrating that sovereignty of Divine Providence, 
 
14 
 
 whicla the Scriptures so distinctly recognize as controlling 
 the appointment of the rulers of the world : " The Most 
 High riileth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whom- 
 soever He will ! " [Dan. 4, 16.] " Promotion cometh 
 neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. 
 But God is judge : He putteth down one, and setteth np 
 another." [Ps. 76, 67.] The land was not without its 
 distinguished and tried men, great orators, great statesmen, 
 acute publicists, learned jurists, wise diplomatists, — ^but no 
 one of these was taken for the chief place at the critical 
 period in its history which was at hand, — to sit at the 
 helm during the storm that was about to strike the ship of 
 state. " There is a principle of movement," says an emi- 
 nent modern historian, " emanating from God himself, in 
 all the changes among nations. God looks upon that wide 
 stage on which the generations of men successively meet 
 and struggle. He is there, it is true, an invisible God ; 
 but if the profaner multitude pass before him without no- 
 ticing him because he is 'a God that hideth himself,' 
 thoughtful spirits, and such as feel their need of the prin- 
 ciple of their being, seek him with the more earnestness, 
 and are not satisfied until they lie i)rostrate at his feet. 
 And their search is richly rewarded. For, from the heights 
 to which they are obliged to climb to meet their God, the 
 world's history, instead of offering, as to the ignorant crowd, 
 a confused chaos, appears a majestic temple, which the 
 invisible hand of God erects, and which rises to His glory 
 above the rock, of humanity."* 
 
 Mr. Lincoln's history, following the a2:)pointment to his 
 
 * Merle D'Aubignc, Pref. to Hist, of Reformation. 
 
15 
 
 high office, is known to every ehilJ, is familiar as house- 
 hold words. And it fully justifies, no less than its earlier 
 and more private portion, the sui generis character I have 
 ventured to ascrihe to it, by which I think it will be dis- 
 tinjruished in the annals of the great rulers of the world. 
 From the time he entered the capital, in so unexpected a 
 manner, his history has been made up of a series of sur- 
 prises and thrilling events, which can occur only in the 
 most momentous periods. Never had an earthly ruler a 
 more difficult task imi)Osed ui)on him. He fully realized 
 it, and felt the awful sublimity of his position, when in his 
 second Annual message to Congress, he used these eloquent 
 words : 
 
 "Fellow Citizens, We cannot escape history. 
 We of this Congress and this Administration will 
 
 BE remembered IN SPITE OF OURSELVES, No PERSONAL 
 significance, OR INSIGNIFICANCE, CAN SPARE ONE OR 
 ANOTHER OF US. TilE FIERY TRIAL THROUGH WHICH WE 
 PASS WILL LIGHT US DOWN IN HONOR OR DISHONOR, TO 
 THE LATEST GENERATION." 
 
 We identify him with all the acts of his ministers ; — 
 with all the successes, defeats, delays, victories, and the 
 final triumph o^ his groat captains. Their connexion 
 with the terrible struggle through which the nation has 
 been passing, is what will band their names down to pos- 
 terity ; and their histories will constitute but so many 
 separate passages, or distinct chapters, in his. His mem- 
 ory will be associated with campaigns, battles, sieges, and 
 bombardments, such as the world had never seen, on so 
 
16 
 
 grand a scale, before ; and such as, by the mercy of God, 
 we pray it may never have occasion to see again. 
 
 The scenes of April, thirty days, the history of which 
 surpasses all that mortal pen eve r essayed, close the drama 
 of his life. He appears in the subdued capital of the Con- 
 federacy, the very impersonation of his own words, " With 
 malice towards none, with charity for all ;" and may well 
 congratulate himself that his painful and difficult task is 
 nearly accomplished, the insurrection suppressed ; whilst in 
 the process, slavery, agreeably to the anticipations and 
 predictions of some of the wisest men at the South, when 
 warning their fellow citizens against secession,* has been 
 probably completely extinguished. Again he hastens back 
 to Washington, while his generals are arranging the capitu- 
 lation of the armies they have overcome, revolving the 
 weighty problems involved in the restoration of the seceded 
 States. 
 
 The whole country is bright with illuminations, and the 
 welkin rings with the plaudits of a rejoicing people, wel- 
 coming the return of peace, as the 14th of April dawns. 
 It is already a marked day in the nation's calendar. Pre- 
 cisely four years before, — it being only another of those 
 striking coincidences which have marked the progress of the 
 late "war, — the country was startled with the tidings of the 
 evacuation of Fort Sumter. When all are unsuspecting, 
 himself the most so of all, murder haunts the steps of the 
 
 * Hon. A. H. Stephens, in a speech in the Georgia Convention, 1861, pro- 
 nounced it an " unwise and impolitic act," by which they might lose all and 
 have their last slave wrenched from them, "by stern military rule, or by the 
 vindictive decree of a universal emancipation, which may reasonably be ex- 
 pected to follow." 
 
17 
 
 chief magistrate, and a tragedy such as actor never played 
 in, and the mimic stage never saw before, was enacted. On 
 the anniversary of the day, when four years before, the 
 hearts of the people had been so stirred and drawn together 
 almost as the heart of one man, annihilating for the time 
 party lines and names, by the proclamation of the President 
 for seventy-five thousand men, their hearts are drawn to- 
 gether again as one, by the news of his death by the hand 
 of an assassin. The event is too recent, the impressions 
 too deep, and the emotions of that awful day too strong, 
 to need any comment of mine. Almost petrified, fairly 
 stunned, we fled to God's altars in this house. •••" We recall 
 the solemn and impressive ceremonies, amidst the throng 
 assembled here, on the day devoted to his obsequies.f The 
 funeral pageant, as the dead President was borne to the 
 tomb in his loved Illinois, was observed by millions of the 
 people. And now, again, is the nation assembled, in ac- 
 cordance with the invitation of his successor in office, to 
 express its sense of bereavement, and commemorate the 
 virtues of the illustrious deceased. 
 
 I am fully sensible of my incompetence to estim ite 
 aright such a character as that of Mr. Lincoln ; but will 
 venture, nevertheless, to refer you to a few of what seem to 
 me to have been its more striking traits. 
 
 He appears to have been distinguished for an nnaff.'cted 
 
 * The following iavitation was issued, in printed form, by the Pastor and 
 Session: "In view of the very mournful events at the seat of government 
 the people are invited to assemble for prayer in the First Presbyterian Church, 
 at 4 o'clock this afternoon." A numerous congregation assembled. ' 
 
 f A highly appropriate discourse was delivered by the Rev. Dr. Maclean, 
 at the request of the pastor. The churcli was crowded in every pirt. 
 
 2 
 
18 
 
 simplicity of character, such as would be naturally developed 
 by that primitive state of society and plain style of life, in 
 which he passed the days of his youth. He was a cliild of 
 nature, receiving his first impressions in sequestered scenes 
 remote from cities and the marts of trade. He was a man 
 of the people, and seems to have found it difficult, in his 
 high station, to surround himself with those conventional 
 forms and rules which are probably essential to every such 
 station ; and could never assume that chilling reserve which 
 some, similarly exalted, seem to think necessary to the pre- 
 servation of dignity. He bore his honors meekly. 
 
 It is evident he possessed, in no small degree, sagacity 
 in practical affairs, and knowledge of human nature. In 
 the university at which he graduated he studied men rather 
 than books. He understood the common mind. He knew 
 what was fitted to move the masses. He weighed well the 
 principles of human action. He understood what power there 
 often is in mere delay, or waiting ; that a measure which 
 would be altogether unsuccessful to-day, may be carried 
 into successful execution to-morrow. This was illustrated 
 asain and again in the course of his administration. But 
 he was called to deal not only with the common mind, but 
 with experienced statesmen and practised politicians. And 
 he so administered affairs in so trying a period of our his- 
 tory, during his first term, that leading and powerful men 
 of his own party, notwithstanding their unmistakable wishes 
 and plans for some different result, found his renomination 
 ;an inevitable and foregone conclusion. 
 
 But it is to the excellence of his private moral character 
 that we refer with the greatest satisfaction, on an occasion 
 
19 
 
 like this. With such vast resources at his command, m) 
 advantage appears to liave been taken of his position for his 
 own emolument, or that of his family."'''' No bribe ever 
 polluted his hands. He leaves, in this regard, as an inheri- 
 tance to his children, and as a lesson to his country (God 
 grant it may not be lost, needed so much as it is, in times 
 like these !) a character of spotless integrity. It has been, 
 said of him, that he was a "man without vices."' Sure we 
 are, that in the purity of his private morals, and in his 
 habits of the strictest temperance, he is a worthy example 
 to be set before the youth, and all the rulers and men of the 
 earth. He appears to have cherished a deep sense of his 
 dependence on Divine Providence. Many of his expressions, 
 in his public utterances, indicate a familiar acquaintance 
 with the Sacred Scriptures, such as could be acquired only, 
 in continuance of the habits to which a pious mother had 
 trained him, by a diligent perusal of them. And his re- 
 peated requests to be remembered in the prayers of Chris- 
 tian people, made, as we believe, not for form's sake, or mere 
 effect, but in the sincerity of a truthful nature, are deeply 
 affecting. 
 
 To this purity of morals and spotless integrity, there 
 seems to hnvQ been joined a most amiahlc disposition and' 
 a singular kindness and goodness of nature. There are no 
 anecdotes told of Mr. Lincoln more honorable than those 
 which relate to his condescension and attention to humble,, 
 friendless people, who had made their way to the doors of 
 
 * Tlie administrator of his estate has informetl the public, that it will not 
 amount to more than $75,000. A considerable portion of this must have been 
 'he fruit of his successful practice of the profession of law. 
 
20 
 
 the White HousCj with some petition for relief, or act of 
 clemency. He seemed never to forget that he was once lone 
 and friendless himself A woman's voice, an infant's wail, 
 would cause that door to fly open, which was so hard of en- 
 trance to mere speculators and office-seekers. And may not 
 Divine Providence have selected him for this very reason, 
 or for this especially, to be the ruler in times which must 
 necessarily bring so many bitter woes and griefs on private 
 families and obscure men and women. He was one who from 
 his natural kindness of disposition could do as much as any 
 other to alleviate the pain and animosity which distinguish 
 times of civil war. It has been said that the commanders of 
 the armies sometimes complained, that when they passed a 
 sentence which they conceived to be not more than just, the 
 President was almost sure to temper its severity. And 
 when the armies were at length victorious, it was this pe- 
 culiar character that would have qualified him "to temper 
 the pride of victory, to assuage the misfortunes which had 
 been felt, and especially to show, w^hich he was well quali- 
 fied to do, that respect for valour on the opposite side, 
 which has been so conspicuously displayed. He had, more- 
 over, an authority (the authority of a man tried and proved) 
 which no one else had, to temper that exasperation which 
 always happens in civil strife." *•'•" 
 
 The close of his career shed a lustre on his character, and 
 seemed almost to transfigure him. Above the smoke and 
 flames of war, to adopt the language of one of our eloquent 
 journalists, "he rose superior to the evil passions of the hour, 
 and stood in Richmond a man less lofty in his gigantic per- 
 
 * Lord J. Russell, in Parliament, May 1. 
 
21 
 
 son, than he was in gifts of soul. The army of the North 
 had surrounded him with all the pom}) and circumstance of 
 the conqueror. Unintoxicated hy power, moderate in the hour 
 of triumph, as he had been firm in the hour of defeat, he 
 stood upon the abandoned earthworks of Richmond with an 
 outstretched hand whicli glowed for every man willing to grasj) 
 it in fraternity, with a genial human heart. No animosities, 
 in that moment of dizzy triumph, blurred his intellect, or 
 arrested his humanity. He rose to the level of a great op- 
 portunity. A tenderness of nature, a simple earnestness of 
 human sympathy, taught him that souls of men can be 
 subdued but by loftiness of soul. The advance of bayonets, 
 and rifles, and artillery, had but brought him within reach 
 of the Southern heart, and he grasped the opportunity in a 
 fashion, that, whether the suggestion of intellect, or the 
 promptings of a grand soul, touched the key-note of true 
 statesmanship." 
 
 May his mantle, and a double portion of his spirit, fall 
 upon his successor ; and the influence of his great example 
 not be lost upon the people over whom he ruled, and who 
 have cause so deeply to deplore his death ! Then it may be 
 said of him as an eminent historian has said of one of the 
 most conspicuous men of antiquity, whom he so closely re- 
 sembled in his fate ; " The conspirators had imagined that 
 twenty poniards would suffice to take Caesar's life. But 
 never was Caesar so truly living, so powerful, so formidable 
 as he was when their blows had pierced the mere case and 
 garment of Caesar, his worn and weary mortal frame." * 
 
 This day has been assigned not merely to mourning, but 
 * Michelet. 
 
22 
 
 to another duty altogether germane to it, to wit : " for again 
 humbling ourselves before Almighty God, in order that 
 the bereavement may be sanctified to the nation." 
 
 Afflictions are sent for our humiliation. They are not to 
 be treated as of no account, or submitted to with stoical apa- 
 thy, or interpreted as only one of the mysterious methods of 
 expressing the Divine loving-kindness. There is no alchemy 
 by which we can transmute chastisements and judgments 
 into smiles of approbation. When the Most High uses the 
 rod of correction, he means that we should feel and cry out 
 under his hand. It becomes us to "consider" in the day of 
 adversity, and " not despise the chastening of the Lord." 
 Our first great duty is deeply to realize that our afflictions 
 come from his hand. It has been one of the most hopeful 
 signs, that the acknowledgment has been so general, not 
 only from all classes of religionists, even errorists, who are 
 so apt to go astray whenever the doctrine of God's sove- 
 reignty is involved, but worldly men also, who so seldom re- 
 cognize his government, that the loss of the President, 
 although it was brought about by an assassin, was neverthe- 
 less in accordance with his providential will, " his most holy, 
 wise, and powerful will preserving and governing all his crea- 
 tures, and all their actions." Then let us meekly and j)a- 
 tiently bow to that will. " Be still and know that he is 
 God ; he will be exalted among the nations, he will be ex- 
 alted in the earth." (Ps. 46, 10.) 
 
 Let us humble ourselves on account of our sins, and 
 honestly inquire what those sins are which are rebuked of 
 Him. may the fiery trial through which we have been 
 passing, "purely purge away all our dross, and take away all 
 
23 
 
 our tin. Ami then will the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the 
 Mighty One of Israel, restore our judges as at the first, and 
 our counsellors as at the beginning : afterward we shall be 
 called The city of righteousness^ The faithful city. Zion 
 shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with 
 righteousness." (Isa. 1, 25 — 27.) 
 

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