The President's Death— Its Import. A S PREACHED IN THE Mm petsititifi cnuRCii, immi m\m, J^IPIRIX. IS, 1865; On the Day of President Lincoln's Funeral, BV THE PASTOB, HEA . D^V^'IEL UICE. EI^s' ^ Kkv. DAXIEL RICi Dk.vr Sir— The uii sermon upon the dot meet the general wishV if not ant;itfoni:;tic to T/ ^ ., "^-J ^ '"*' LaFayktt):. April I'.!, iS<\~. :bi..'^^ .• i'SKaT^rtn'^N CuS'rch : 'ho tills iiiT.riViig li!!;l thb pleasurt- of listening to your if our l)elo\ed PresiiMnt, Abraham Lincoln, believing it would if the (.ominunity to j^\ e the same published, respectfully request, i/^shes.iforn ((ii^of the same for the purpose indicated. VeT yiw t» . » ?o ^ir<. AVI1) srEX("i;K. i;EO]{(iE E. cr.MINtl. TllnMAS WAin\"ICK. •iiili.X T.r.EEK?:. WILLIA.M E. LIDLOW. La1'aykt-4j:, A]iri! Iv, Imo. (tKNTLK.Mi:.\ : lleeeive my thank.s for your generous api'reciation of my mornins sermon, f'Ccasioned by the sad and sudden death of our honored Chief Masi.-^trate.' It was neees- .-•arily prepared uith jrreat haste after reeeiving the telegraphic dispatch fixing the time for the funeral services. 'With this explanation T cheerfully accede to your rcjuest. and here- with furnish you a copy. ■\Vith much esteem, truly yours, DAMEL HIOE. To Mc.-srs. (!ko. 15. ^Vli.l,1 VMS. I»vvii> •■^i-kntki:. Owo. E. I'cmim, and others. LApAYKTrK. April 111, L'^tij. To Kkv. DAXIEL KK'E, Pastor oi' thk ."^kionp Pi:KsiiYTi:itiAN Ciuroi, LaFaykttk, Inpiaxa: Dkar Sir— The undersigned respectfully rey of my sermrin occasioned by the death of the President' I had previously received a similar n()te from a number of young gentlemen, and have placed the same at their di>!Mis;il. If it shall •uliscrve in but the least degree the cause of Christian patriotism, the result, I know, will be eipially gratifying to us all. Yours, respectfully, I'AMEL RICE. Messrs. Uos«ki.i., C. Smith, W. A. Phtteii anil others. k^^'^^' "Ss And the king lamentoil (iver Altnor, anil said. Died Abncr as a foul dietli. David sware saying, .--o do (Itid to me, and more also, it I taste breail or aught else until the sun be down. And the king said unto his servants. Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen to-day in Israel '.' 2 Samuel iii ; '■V.'i, .'15, 2S. With wliat measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. jMatt. vii ; 2. And Ailonibc/ek said, I'hree seore and ten kings, liaving tlieir thumbs and their great toes eut oB', gathered tlieir meat under my table ; as i have done, so (Jod hath reiiuited me. Judges i ; 7. And Samuel said. As thy sword hath made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women. 1 Samuel xv ; MM. W'o ti) him that siioileth, anil thou Avast not sixiiled, and dealest treaclierousb- and they dealt not treai-herously with thee ! When thou shalt cease to spoil, tlmu shall be siiuilcd ; and when thou slialt make an end to deal treacherously, they shall deal treacherously with thee. Is. -xx.xiii : 1. He disapiiointeth the devices of the crafty, so th.at their hands can not perform their enteriirise. lie taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel 'of the froward is carried headlong. J(d) v; 12, IM. And remter unto our ncighliors seven fold into their liosom the rei)roaeli wherewith they reproached tliee, Lord. Ps. Ixxix ; 12. liehold it it is written: lietore me; I will not keep silence, but will recompense, even recomi)ense into their bosom. Is. Ixv : (i. Rejoice, ye nations, with his people, for ho will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance unto his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land and his per)ple. Deut. .xx.xii ; 4."). What a moral wealtli in the Bilile! How many passau'os adapted to every possible exigency of national or individual experience! What a sermon for the hour, or volume of sermons, ratluir, in the inspired utterances I have thus read consecutively. To-day a nation gathers round the coftin of her Chief lluler; and the nations of Christendom will Ijow their flags at half mast, as the_y receive the message of his untimely death. To-day a million door-bells are hung with crape; and all the towns and cities and puljlic buildings of a great people are draped in mourning. The very engines — the nation's iierj^ steeds — move on their solemn errands, with their taees veiled in black, xind they all speak the language, " Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this daj- in Israel?" 1 feel sure I shall perform a grateful service for you all, if J seek to sketch — though in the ver,y briefest and most imperfect manner as so brief a time since yester-morning's dispatch would only permit — a few of those traits of character that made him great, and those heart evcellenees that have called forth spon- taneous grief, at his sad and sudden death, from the heart of a whole people; a grief bounded by no party lines, and no shade or color of the "human face divine." After this, as led liy the Scripture readings of my text, I shall seek to add a word of instruction and consolation on the import of this death. In glancing at the leading excellences of his charactei", I speak not as a partizan, Init as a christian minister, as an American citizen, as a common mourner with you all, while we stand by the grave of him chosen by the nation to be the nation's Head. Of the incidents of his early life I have neither time nor need to make men- tion. The}' are already familiar to j-ou all. I shall only glance at some of those characteristics of the man that have been strikinglj^ developed by his public career; that we shall love to recall in his memorj', and tell our children That, thej' adorned the life of the last Chief Magistrate of this great Repiil)lic ; and then hold them up, for their imitation, as having in so great a degree ren- dered him_ worthy of the high position he fdled in the most eritieal period of the nation's history. And first of all I place his patriotism. No one can read his brief addresses, when lirst elected President, delivered on his way from Springfield to AVash- ington — at Toledo, at Indianapolis, at Cincinnati, at Columbus, at Steubenville, at Pittsburg, at Cleveland, at Buffalo, at Albany, at Poughkeepsie, at New York, at Philadelphia— and not sec this gushing forth in all his utterances, welling up from his very heart. How earnestly he labored to convince the South that he .should be no sectional President, and thus if possible to prevent the threatening war. This is is the beautiful close of his first inaugural : " In your hainl;?, iny dii^.^atLsiicd fullow-coiintrynien, anattlc-tield and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." This is the heart shot dead with a Intllct irom hearts so responding to such words as these. What an answer to such gentle heart-utterances was a cold leaden Ijullct ! Truly did the President say in his last inaugural, in his inimit- able idiosyncrasy of statement: "Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war, rather than let the nation perish, and so the war came." When anxiously weighing the question, whether to issue an emancipation proclama- tion, he declared, "If I knew it would contribute to the salvation of the Union, I would issue it. If I knew it would hinder the salvation of the Union, I would withhold it." It was the Union, the salvation of the whole country that was " first, last and midst " in all his thoughts as the nation's Ruler. And second. His patriotism was characterized hj a generous candor and freedom from party spirit. T\\q. discussion between him and his rival candi- date, Stephen A. Douglas, in Illinois, stands at the head of all our political canvasses, in courtesy, as well as in intellectual acumen and close logic. In his speech at Cincinnati, he said to tliose differing from him in politics, " We mean to remember that you are as good as we ; that there is no difference between us other than the diU'erence of circumstances. We mean to recognize and Ijear in mind always, that you have as good hearts in your Ijosoms as other people, or as we claim to have, and to treat you accordingly." In accordance with this statement he has appointed his leading Generals, and many of his most important civic olHcers, irom those, by their associations, connected with a different political party from his own, only asking, are they capable? arc they loyal to the Union? Ami tlu-se are among his warmest friends and his sincerest mourners to-day. Third. I place his loec of li.bcrtij. Said he in his speech in Philadelphia, in Independence Hall, "I have never' had a feeling, politically, that did lu^t spring from the sentiments embodied in ihe I)(>rl:iration of Jiulcpendencc'. I have pondered over the trials that were eiulured l)y the officers aiul soldicr.s of the army who achieved that independence. I have often inquired of myself what grca't principle or idea it was that kept tliis confederacy so long together. It was that sentinuuit in the Declaration of Independence which gave liberty not alone to the people of this country, l)Ut I hope to the world lor all future tiine. Now, my friends, can this country be saved on this basis? If it can, I will consider myself one of tlu; happiest men in the world, if I can help to save it. But if this country can not be saved without giving up that principle, I was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this spot than surrender it." Menu)ral>le words ! He would not surrender it, and for this he was assassinated. On no one measure of his administration was his mind exercised so long and so deeply as the issuing of his emancipation proclamation. The country was greatly divided in opinion with regard to such a policy; and his own mind was imicli in doubt, iuquiring and considering and seeking to come to the right docisiou. And then when lie reached that decision, he closed his prochimation with these memorable words, "And upon this act sincM-ely l)elievcd to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution up(in military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious lavor of Almighty God." As events have transpired, all now concur in the wisdom of that decision. And it will doubtless in all coming generations be considered the crowning act of his whole administration. It will mark another epoch in the history of the l)rogress of universal freedom. Because of this one act his name shall never die. For all freedom's parchmenis shall read In-ighter as the world grows freer. A fourth characteristic of Abraham Lincoln was his Jirmncss. No better illustration can be furnished than his course with reference to his emancipation proclahiation. ])eliberate and cautious and considerate in coming to his decision, he no sooner reached it than he stood immovable as the beetling cliff — against which the ocean waves, for a thousand j'ears, have dashed and broken and been rolled back again. Said he, when friends, manj' in number and high in inilixence, sought to per- suade him to recall the proclamation or modify it, "If the people should, by whatever mode or means, make it my executive duty to re-enslave such persons, another and not I must be their instrument to perform it." He was always the backbone of his cabinet, and the ruling executive of the nation. Though there were men in his cabinet, deemed stronger than he before his election, yet his policj^ has always been his own, since he was first inaugurated, and has carried sway. Fifth. I need but to name his honesty and Jcmclness of heart. The former has l)een tested in so many ways and shone out so transparently, that the Avhole country long since christened him "honest Abo:" and the latter seemed a part of his very nature. With a heart tender as that of woman, gentle as that of childhood, and loving and pitiful like the master's, a Iruer friend never lived. Nor were there in him mightier elements of his jiower than these. ]]ut finally back of all these qualities and above them all, was his firm faith and his frank and manly avowal of his faith in God. In his farewell words to his friends, when he first left home for Washington, he said, " My friends, a duty devolves on me Avhich is perhaps greater than has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded, except for the aid of a divine providence upon which he always relied. I feel that I can not succeed without the same divine aid which sustained him, and in the same almighty Being I place my reliance for support, and I hope 3-011, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that divines assistance without which I can not succeed, but with which success is certain. Again I bid you all an affectionate farewell" From that hour the pi-ayer of the American people followed him, and his faith in prayer grew, and his religious nature received higher development. AVe know incidentally — as we know of George Washing- ton's prayer, in the thicket, in the dark hour of his couutty's perils — that his first morning hour has been held sacred for the closet. We have been told that he himself remarked to a friend, that in the presence of the bloody scenes and agonizing struggles of our mangled and dying soldiers at Gettysburg, he gave his whole heart to Christ as ;l personal Savior, and his country's preserver and Redeemer. In his speech at Buffalo, he said, "For the ability to perform iny work I trust in that Suprem'e Being who has never forsaken this favored land. Without that assistance I should surely fail. With it I cannot fail." In his last inaugural comes out the loyalty of his heart to the supreme throne in these expressive words : " Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet if God will tiiat it con- tinue until all the wealth piled by tlie Iiondman's two hundred and fifty years of toil shall Ije sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid with another drav/n by the sword, as it was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said that the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. "With malice toward none, with cliaritv for all. with firmness in the and for his widow and orXn. "^ do -d "'"l "'T '^''"^ •^''''' '"^^'^ '""-"^ ^'^^ battle, do such a deod. His h, " Vm iJ h f'*? "•"^•'' ."?« to believe amy man could petual and alNsuiS.'ie. t i , h .v H "I "^' '"' '''•^^■='^'<«' t^'*-"'^^' ■^'>^iil '"^ !»« P-r like murder of r^'^ m n^^.;. n h r'^M [r-''^-'"'-'; Over the denlon- Never had he so much w. the n^ n s .^i'' " "'^''^" ff' "^^'•' ^° ^^'^■^l* 'o^I'^.V- nation's confidence as the da^M e Ip,! ) 1, 7*^' *^'^^^ ineud a grateful confidence that the Gcfv'c.-n L I''' '''^' '^''^' '"^ "-^''-^''^^'^'l to a any day since he was first^ c£.en iC^Sc H "^ '''■"'•^'^'" '1'"" '* ''^^^ ^'^^" nation till f],e nation trusted hir^udim..i . '' 1>''«/'."''^'"*'-^^ ■"■'•'>^^'" ^n the was swayed by his i. 1 uenc • tiH h^^^^^ ti'u-sed his heart : till the press rebel Capital; 'till he .1 "eUi yei he !:.f P'^i-fo»a.y taken possession of the Chief; till he could sefo 4-Tnto tllo^. r-'''Vi°^''^' .^'•^'^^"^ Commander-in- anticipate a good old a^r^it i. /undJr 1 i?n '"'^ "*^T"'^ ^ ^•" ''" '•'-''' crow.^ with the laurels ?t^ti^^;;:;rlj:t;i '""' ''' ^^^ "^ ^■■•■'•• "comeuphioher" Wihii i. assass.n meant, he but received the call -ork; wSh IHs Win™ ^Ih^; t'::^^ -th his heail lull of his alloi;!] hun And may we not hope and tr us L l" ' ""''",- ^^'^ ^'' «"nmons found final and enrapturing, "Well done ill ^J'^V'', '^''''^'' ^'^^ ^^^'-^^ter's eulogy, joy of thy Lord." 'vL,, If' .^.''"•'' '^'""^l '"'5l ^^'tl>'"l servant Enter into it joy of thy Lord." f „,,. we ;,ou n WnTf >■ r''^ ''''"'''' ^"t^-" i"'" ^h« that being the nation Chief nshLrif^'" " T? f ^ ^'•''^♦^^"^ '" God, much for the nation while hrive I tl If l' r. ''' ^"^'^^''^ ^° accomplish so of imitation, and so much of cl^f f ti 1 /•'' '7"'-' '" '"'^ example worthy "even as others ^ho l.ave no hope ' ' ^"^""^'^ '" ''^''^^ ^'''^^ "'"""' not But how with reirnnl f/> fl,„ y I , tills death to the U^fou he 'olZX L''''i'''^'^"^^"\'- ^^'^^^^ '« ^he import of dom, to which he gave Is li^ ■ m (t 1"'',' u"^ '^ l^'' ^''^"^'-^ "^ universal free- And again, what s He in n' ' • u }"''\' ^^ ^'^^^ " martyr? he put tbrth' alPi i " . iH t 'and' 1 ifm ' "V'^ '' ''L' "'''f'""' ^° «^-"^''« ^'-'^ buried, so still and deep as to f^nd T "r^ ^^ '° ^""^^^^ to see dead and In his deith ,i;'i t, " "'^'^''"'''■''^■t'"" fiorn? victory. trNl^'g nt''iS^^^,r'"rdf-t-nd the rebellion win a conspiracy, that it «^,shu\Tnoth!',m^ be developed as to the extent of the alive at Fort i 'il low , ha starved I ''.f"'." ^'T' ^hat roasted soldiers Andersonville; that fVoi H,emTo 1. f ? , '^"r ^"'^"'^^•'"- «k«Ietons at robbed theirdead pocdce^ ^ ,)",?, p 7^'' "" ■'^'^^'^ i«'« '^''^ >» ^^ibby Prison ; that, living heart tl.Mt'w ,f l] [ ,' ,^ ''nsop.nngs of their skull-bones. The same assassinators and inyemli 'is w'L in "''''' '''"^ , r''^'^^^ ^^""'« "f ^■'•^^'- to ts horrid hatetulness' a,^:^ i*; f ' ^r^""-'-''^ '^^'- this deed too, with all I'on and repulse to lovali, S 7 j l'"'\T'", '^ ^''^'^ triumph to the rebel- the fool dierh, • did he d ^v/r ntdi "'tfd ^^'^'l"^"'" ^^'"^°'"' '^ '^" "^^'^^ as overmatched, or circnmve ued •' For l'''"""!; '''""'"^'' ^''^'^ <•'"'''« P'^ovidence tragedy that does not reeo n izo i A? i ,^ '*^P'^'^.'^t« '!".y version of this s.d overruling providence \ Pd hold 'n f V " w '" J' T'^'V" ^^^" -'-'-^^P ^'f food's tions of our text, we answer ^^, AK^ '"' T^ ^""T-^l '^^ ^'^^ '^'^'^'^t ^'^'i"« '-^vela- it was said of .Sampson so w's j^'!'^'^''^"!. V'-"'^^?c t^' ^^'«''" ^'^ ■'" vain. But as at his death, were m^e tl an The ^ ■ ""' "^ ' ' ? ■ ^''' ''"^"^ '''""'^ '^« ''^'^^^ catch glimpses of the meani ' of^ 1 ^ l"' '"'''' •" '"' F""" ^^"^ ^'^" ^'••'^«^'^- providences having in diae the ,tl /''''' '"vstenous of the many mysterious this wicked rebellion and o.nnl ".''""' "'P^'"' f"^ ""^^- "-^termination of .'nail be the "jaw-bone of an as" T' k'm ''"''' '"u"'" '^'^"'^^ «^ providence, it at home and abroad tS h. I ./ '"^ '^"" smite that rebellio.v hip and thigh, nations, so loatSa^dh.efnl iT?"? t''^^ I'c i-otting in the face of t^ie caring to go near enolh to U fnU "-ll- ^''''''i "'^ '^^"'^^'^ «^- '""^ «'^'^" l>« ^^"nd s enough to It to bury it from human sight. God hath said to the rebellion, ''As ye mete it shall be measured to you again;" and God's providence looks after the retribution. For God hath said, " X'engeance is minCy I v'ill repay. " He taketh the crafty in his own craftiness." And he knows how to do it. When God's providence has in charge a retribution, man's arm is too puny to help or to hinder, except as it executes. I should love here, did time permit, to begin with the very birth of this rebellion, and trace the path of God's retributive providences from the beginning; and show how awful they have been, and how tenfold more awful they threaten to be in the days immediately to come. I should love to start with that corner- stone of the rebellion, the negro an inferior race and born to be the white man's slave, and show how it flings defiance alike, in the face of the whole Bible historj', of one blood, and one race, and one brotherhood: and in the face (jf the whole Christian Gospel, which teaches both by the word and the example of the Highest of all, that the highest should serve the lowest; the inchest, the neediest; the freest, those fettered with heaviest chains; that he who serves most is greatest of all. And then I should love to ask you to gaze with me on this latest, newest, " most superior" civilization, already starting, like Cain, on its wandering march as a vagabond, branded of heaven in the sight of all the nations, and fearing, lest "whosoever findeth me shall slay me." I should love to read to you its jubilant rejoicings, when the rebellion fired its first gun on Fort Sumter, and its exultant boast of erecting its snaky banner over the dome at Washington, and even over that old cradle of liberty at Faneuil Hall; and ' then ask you to read, as you will almost in our next dispatches, how the hissing rattlesnake lies trampled in the very dust at the foot of the fort, while the hero of Sumter waves aloft again the same old Star-Spangled Banner, come forth to a new resurrection of glory, and standing underneath its rejoicing folds one of the orators of liberty, of world-wide renown, sends forth such burning, leaping words of freedom as shall echo and re-echo through all that Southern realm, till they frighten the very name of slavery from all the caves, and dens even, where the bats flit and the owls hoot, and the marshes where the cormorants seek their Tprey. J shoitld love to walk with you along the streets of Charleston, the pet tiower of the Palmetto State, and ask you to look at the naked stalk, withered and burned, if indeed the very root be not dead and rotten. I would point you to the " Old Dominion," of right roj'^al blood, and right royal bearing, too, ^'primus inter primos ;" noio in her tattered robes; in her pride, in rags; a mendicant by the wayside. I would go with you through the streets of Balti- more, where was shed the first blood of the Massachusetts soldiers, and ask you to gaze on the very strongest hold of loyalty south of Mason and Dixon's line; offering $10,000 bounty for the murderer of that President she four years ago sought to assassinate. I would point you to three million slaves — to found an empire on whose crushed humanity the rebellion sprang into being — now with the musket and the bayonet walking over their dead masters on the battle-fields where they picked cotton under the lash, and keeping guard over their living masters, where they were exposed for sale at the auction block. I would point to the bravado of Southern chivalry against Northern cowardice, and ask you if a pierced bladder was ever seen more empty of its infiating gas ? Nay more. I would tell you how this very rebellion was forced in the very teeth of all its most horrid fears and Ijitterest prejudices, itself to put arms in the hands of its slaves, thus with its own dying agonies bursting asunder the fetters it had staked all to weld. But the subject grows upon me and I can not follow it. What a commentarj'' on God's retributions in accordance with fhe teachings of our text- I must not close, however, without alluding to the import of this death, though we but see the dawning light of its unfolding revelations. God does not permit such a death, in such a manner, without working out results that load the perpetration with infamy, and cover the providence with trailing clouds of glory. And first. We know this event shall deepen the whole world's hatred of the rebellion. Some have apologized for it. Even rulers of nations in Christendom have patronized it. Some have fed it and fattened it, and given it gold, and givea it bayonets and leaden bullets, and mammoth guns and iron rams. God 6 Las determined to permit it to develop all its heart. Some have thought it a very passable christian. He has determined to tear off its sheep's clothing and sliijw JKjw it is possessed of seven devils. And this deed of assassination shall Hush its lurid gleams on its naked heart. For who shall wag his tongue to plead for such an assassination, so unprovoked, so deadly, so demoniac? The rebel- lion fired this, hall of that pistol into its own heart, and it seems past all doubt, God meant it should. But second. That ball shall not hurt Abraham Lincoln. The whole nation could have done nothing, with all her resources, that would so much exalt him, or so much promote the loyalty, the unity, and so the success of tne cause dearest his heart, to-wit: the nation's complotest triumph and victory. This death does awaj', for the time being, all party lines. This is a joy to every true patriot to witness. Those who honestly differed from the President in their political views are among the foremost to come and bring their testimonies of sorrow and esteem, as they join the great procession on their way to the grave. Says the New York World, " By no other single achie%'ement could death have caused such a feeling of desolation in every dwelling." Says the New York Herald, "It is no longer in the power of the changing future to take away from Abraham Lincoln, as might have happened had he lived, one of the most §olid, brilliant and stainless reputations of which in the world's annals any record can be found — its only peer existing in the memory of George AYashington." Says the Daj-ton Empire, the organ of Vallandigham, " He has fallen by the most shocking of all crimes, and he who at this moment does not join in the common thrill and shudder, which shock the whole land, is no better than the assassin." . What but God's providence overruling such an event could so bring the indi- vidual nation to one heart of sympathizing loyalty ! to one scorn and hate and loathing of the accursed rebellion. And what takes place at home will occur abroad. Already we hear from Canada. We shall hear from France, from Britain, from Russia and from the civilized world. The nation indeed met a great loss in the d^ath of her honored and beloved Chief Magistrate. But God's providence did not make a mistake; did not misunderstand itself: did not permit this event without securing results grand enough to justify it ; yea more, to glorify it. Nor is this all, in the wa}' of providential retributions. The rebellion has killed Abraham Lincoln: murdered him; assassinated him, in a manner to shock the civilized world by the deed. What have they gained? Who succeeds him? One; that has more sympathy for the rebel leaders? One that will l)e more merciful to traitors ? lie succeeds who said to them among the last words ti-.ey heard in Washington, in the Senate, when their rebellion had already shown the cloven foot, as we are told, pointing specially to Jefferson Davis, who said to them, "If I was President of the United States I would arrest you as trai- tors, I would try you as traitors, and if convicted I would, by the Eternal, hang you as traitors." How wonderful the workings of providence i This same A ndrev/ Johnson iS President. And this rame Jefferson Davis and his associ- ates have all but been arrested. If they escape arrest, it %yill be but by the skin ol' their teeth. Some of them shall c.oubtless come into his hands. And it so, then did they themselves by this very assassination put themselves in his hands. Or, which is a ijetter form of statement, providence was too much forthem. " This Moses, whom they refused, saying who made thee a ruler and a judge: the same did God send to be a ruler." Nor can we yet leave our subject here. Who is this Andrew Johnson ? He is a Southern man. He is a life-long Democrat. He is a man in fullest sympathy with the laboring classes, the majority millions of the South, who have felt the withering blight of the overshadowing tyranny of the slaveholding oligarchy: who are specially interested in the overthrow of this rebellion, and who are beginning to long again for the sight of the good old Hag. Said Johnson, in his great speech before the Convention of the State of Tennessee that abolished .slavery last January, "While you think you have emancipated black men, I tell you that yon have emancipated more white than black men from the insolent domination of the slaveholder. It is the p;reatost work of the age. Awful indeed are the ruins of this terrible rebellion. 'Oh bloodiest picture in the book of time.' And yet out of all this gloomy scene beams a light to illumine the world in future years." Andrew Johnson is ^7/c man to rally the masses of the South, who are henceforth to be its rulers, and I mistake if we do not yet see God's special providence in his election. And yet once more : Slavery is the great problem of the war. Our whole future turns on the national solution of this problem. For whether we will or not, providence will have this question settled right. Slavery must not only cease in name but in spirit. The slave must bo treated as a man ; as a man before the law having all the rights of a man; and as a man for whom Chiist died, and whom he redeemed with his blood. Since the death of Abraham Lincoln there is no man sustains so hopeful a relation to slavery as Andrew Johnson. He, too, has issued his emancipation proclamation, and beyound a doubt he will maintain it. The most remarkable speech he ever made, was his speech just before his election as Vice President, at the Capital of Tennessee, with the whole yard about the Court-house filled with an immense congregation of those who had Hocked there, having escaped through the President's procla- mation from the prison-house of slavery. It was one of those moments, writes the reporter, when the speaker rising to the greatness ot the occasion seemed inspired, as he said, "Colored men of" Nashville, you have all heard the Presi- dent's proclamation. For certain reasons in the mind of the President it did not extend to you. But standing here upon the steps of the capitol, with the past history of the State to witness, the present condition to guide and its future to encourage me, /, Andrew Johnson, do hereby 2)roclavm freedom— full, broad and unconditional — to every man in Tennessee." Then flags waved, banners floated, drums beat, and, amid the cries and tears and uproar, the crowd shouted, "You are our Moses." "God," continued the speaker, "no doubt has prepared somewhere an instrumentality for the great work he designs to perform in behalf of this outraged people, and in due time your leader will come, your Moses will be revealed toyou." "We want no Moses but you," shouted the crowd. "Well then, humble and unworthj^ as I am, if no better shall be found, I will indeed be your Moses and lead you through the Red Sea of war and bondage to a fairer future of liberty and peace." Again we say wonderful is God's providence! For this same Moses hath God made ruler, that he may be a deliverer. And the whole nation are around him. He sustains a peculiar relationship, shared by no other man in the nation, to the whole South, both the bond and the free. In his inaugural he says, in effect, "Right shall be my motto and my guide — consequences are with God." Having solemnlj^ forsworn the foe that unmanned him on the day of his inauguration, which some believe to have been a cup pur- posely drugged with death, we pray he may have firmness of character enough to maintain that pledge and fight the hydra headed monster of intemperance as he has that of secession and slavery. In a friendty conversation between the President and Mr. Johnson, in regard to his inauguration weakness and disgrace^a conversation which reveals the hearts of both as in a mirror — the President said : " Mr. Johnson, the great heart of the American people is too generous to sacrifice a man for one fault." Mi: Johnson replied : "Mr. Presi- dent, It shall be the last." But time admonishes me, and I reluctantly close. My friends, we mourn to-day bowed down with a deep heart-sorrow. But we bless God that His providence is not dead; that His pillar of cloud and pillar of fire still leads our way ; and that He can make the assassin's dagger, through the life we lose, work out for the nation an exceeding "weight of glory." " May lli.s will not ours bo done. May llis v/ill and ours be one." LB S '12