Glass E45 7 S Book ,N B? .^^^..,^^..,...^r.,..^^,^^. A SEKMON UPON T II li 4 S S A S S I \ A T I !V PRESIDENT ABHAHAM mVOU At Washington, April the 14, A. D 1865; PREAdlED AT ( \RTHA(ii:, ILLINOIS, On M<«|iu><.«lsiy. A|Mil llir 191! . A. I>. tnii5. BY REV. H. H. NORTHtiOP, CAWril Aal states ! And their efforts were not in rain. For two years, blow after blow told with crashing effect against the veryj vitals of the rebellion. Great and permanent results attended the efforts of our armies. The sounds of strife grew more remote. The heart of the nation beat high. Savannah fell, and Charleston, and then Petersburg, and then Kichmond ; and then all that was left of that great army which baffled Pope and Burnside and Hooker,surrendered to the national authorites. And now went up the mighty shout of joy in which all men joined. War, terrible and demora- lizing at the best, seemed about to pass away like some fearful incubus. The clouds broke, and the star of our country .shining in majestic radiance, the morning star, seemed to herald the risiag sun of a righteous and honorable peace. Clemency was suceeding to bitter antagonism, and every- where was there hope in the heart, "We sLall soon greet oui our husbands and fathers and sons and brothers who shall come home to ua ; we will weep over the dead, but we will rejoice over the living, aud a laud perserved as we hope forever." Go back in memory but a very few days and isk yourselves how ijou felt, when the electric wire flashed the tidings that the end of strife was rapidly approaching 1 All over the north what a blaze of joy I What exultaiion ! What happi- ness ! What tear? of thanksgiving ! What sob- bing utterances of praise to God. On Fridav, April 14th, the sun in all his radiant coarse looked down on no land more triunlphant than this. The roar of the canuon, fired not as i, sodiid of war, but as a harbinger of peace, was heard among the remote pine forests of Maine. It r3verberated among the granite cliffs and crags of New Hanlp- shire and Vermont. The beautiful hills and val- lies of New York and Pennsylvania, echoed its deep music. And the smiling west, broad, luxurri- ant and free as the winds that sweep over them, took up the sound. And thus from post to post, over plains and mouatains to the eternal Pacific, went the tumultuous thunders which betokened the joy of a brave people, full of mercy and kind- ness, and willing to forgive and forget under the banners of a common union, freed from all future occasion for bloodshed. Oh, day of glory and gentleness ! why didst thou not linger yet a little longer over this gore-stained land ; over those sad hearts,over those desolate homes, day of consolation and enthusiasm and hope. Had we not suffered enough ? Were we not scourged enough ? Had not enough of the people's choicest blood watered as freely as heaven's rains the harvest fields of the grim reaper Death ? Were there too few broken hearts, too few few vacant places, too few green graves, too few homes where the voices of the gallant and true, should be heard no more forever ? Truly doth the scripture declare, "boast not thy- self of to-morrow, for thou knowest not what a dayr may bring forth." On Friday, April 14> 1865, the nation felt as men feel who have come from the gloom of a desparing darkness to a beautiful light that tinged earth and air and sky with the radiant colors of hope. I believe partizan feeling was laid aside as unworthy of the hour and desecrating to the day. Men had differed as to questions of policy, but through all the seeming bitterness occasioned by antagonism of opinion^ beat after all, strong and true, the pulse of a de- cided patriotism. The land was theirs. They were fellow citizens. All seemed working for the best; and for once, Abraham Lincoln was recognized as the honest and sincere patriot, who was striving earnestly for what he considered the( true wel are of the republic. Never in all that long, terrible straggle which he had endured did he seem more worthy of grati- tude and respect. The voice of obliquy was hush- ed, and with warm affection there were millions who were saying, "As Washington loved his country, so this man loves it." His course was plainly marked, — his policy known. Men could conjecture from the past as to the future and many felt, "In wrath he will remember mercy." Every one who loved his country was glad that peace, sweet and benevolent and kind was to suceed to war. And so, the banners were flung to the coy spring breezes, the cities put on a gala dress, the swell of rejoicing, martial music filled the air, as the notes of the birds in leafy forests. Cannons roared, bells were rung, there was laughing and greetings and unusal hilarity and joy such as had not been known before in this lancl. When night came the festives yet continued, "rhe streets of towns, villages, capitols, commercial centers were a blaze of light, and "Peace, peace!" seemed to be in every breeze that gave coolness to the eve- ning. Such, my friends, was that joyful 14th of of April, 18 65. There were other glorious events which clustered about the day. Just four years be- fore that majestic banner, beloved and honored by the opperessed of every land, had been lowered be- fore Buccssful treason. Fort Sumter fell. Our stan- dard went down in the gloom of night, but like a resurrection from the grave again fluttered in the breeze before the earthquake tramp of a million of men. On the 14th, of April 1865, while the whole land was ringing with hossannahs, it was lifted aloft over the same walls. Memorable day ! the bright- est and nltimatelj the saddest in our historj Day of sunlight. Day of shadow ! Day of life ! Night of death ! On Saturday, towards the afternoon, a fearful rumor went speeding throtigh this part of the west. Men heard it with white lips, \*,'ith tearful eyes ; with souls full of stern indignation. Abraham Lincoln president of the United States, the suc- cessful statesmen, the generous, the kindly, the honest, — in the plentitude of his fame and power, when millions were turning towards him with hopes of peace, — was cruely, fouly, premeditatedly assassinated ! The presidental chair was stained with blood. The bullet of a murderer had de- prived the country of its best friend. Who can depict the horror of that event, or the wail that went up from the burdened heart of a great nation! Here and there may have been found men who rejoiced ; but I indignantly deny that any good or honest or Christian mau, — I care not what his political proclivities or his previous condemnation of the polices of the late president, — that any such man could or would or did rejoice. For what, I ask, was there occasion for rejoicing gave on the part of souless and heartless wretches lost to every sense of humanity and decency- Was it a cause of rejoicing that an immortal soul without one moment's preparation, was hurled as by lightning into the presence of its God ? Was it a cause for rejoicing that fair prospects of swift-returning^ peace, based upon equity and clemency, should give place to bitterer wrath and more stern deteimination, and harder demands ? That the armies should become desperate and in- furiated by the killing of the man they loved ; that confidence should give place to distrust and bitter revenge overpower sentiments of forgiveness and love ? I have heard many expressions of utter horror and loathing at this cruel murder from men of the two parties of our land. I h^ve not as yet, 1 hope I never shall be tempted, by hearing from the lips of an American a word of rejocing. My soul swells with grief as I picture to myself that awful event. I see night, beatitiful, and starlit, close over the opulent east. I see the angels of mercy rejoicing that soon war shall close, that soon the soldier shall return to his home, and the sounds of strife be heard no more. I go to the presidental mansion and I gaze upon the weary-hearted and careworn statesman, rejoic- ing that day is about to dawn. Kindliness fills his heart ; the gospel commands, "Let all wrath and malice and evil speaking with bitterncfs be laid aside " governs his resolutions towards the south. That honest heart loves them, yearns to them, a» mistaken brothers. There is peace upon him, — the peace of conscious rectitude. He feels he has deserved well of the nation, for he has labored honestly for the nation. The people are clamor- ous to see him on that day of exultant rejoicing ; and fatigued, yet desirous of gratifying them, he starts with wife and friends for that fatal theatre. Alas that he went. Would that some Providence, — some preminition, — had stood in h's path. But he wect; he takes his seat. The assassin steals to the door, glides in to see that his victim is pres- ent, gazes upon the kindly face of the president . almost hears the beating of his heart, gazes at the prisident's wife, and then hides himself in darkness. An hour passes, the last of conscious life to the president in this world. And then the rapid en- trance, the sudden presentation of the pistol at that venerable head, the explosion, a cry and the murdereragain dissappears in darkness. Thepresi- dent's head droops, his eyes close in sudden in- sensibility, his wife bends over him, horror and consternation seize the audiance. The dying mag- istrate is borne to an opposite house. The gospel minister, the skilled physician, the astounded cabi- net, gather at his bed. But never again shall word proceed from those stiffning lips. As the sun burst in spring beauty over the national capitol, that heart which had beat so tenderly for a nation's woes and borne the conscious burden of a nation's centring hopes, slowly but surely ceased throb- ing forever. Abraham Lincoln, 16th president of the United States, the patriot and lover of his country as we believe, stood alone and consciously in the presence of his God. The president was assassinated I That is the event which calls for our sorrow this day. The authors, the abettors, I leave them to the judgment of God, of the republic and of posterity. Never has the dagger of the as- sassion benetiteJ a nation. Never has a murder given prosperity or power. God reigns ; "and the nations are but as a drop in the bucket before him." The dagger of Brutus did not prevent the despotism of Augustus, the shot of Gerard did not stifle the republic of Hol- land, the knife of Ravillac did not hinder the up. ward progress of France, the axe of Cromwell did hinder the liberties of England, and the gulletine as it diank the blood of Louis the Martyr, com- menced that reaction which resulted in the im. perial despotism of Bonaparte. And so, my COaNTRTMKN", THE PISTOL OF AN ACTOll SHALL ^fOT TURN BACK THE IRRESISTABLE MARCH OF THESK Unites Staves l I deplore this eveut not selfishly, but, I trust, looking at it from the stand-point of the Christian. There hks been bad blood enough; there has been blood enoagh. The spirit of char- ity and forgiveness was attending upon victory. $ But this awful event, if proved to be the work of the Confederate government, will awaken in this land an indignation and pitiless determination such as this world has never seen. Our armies are triumphant, our cause successful, our rescourcea mighty, our spirit high and strong. It is my prayer that the mind of Christ may fill us, and with Christ-like feelings and desires we may love even in the midst of judgement, I have rejoiced to observe in every paper of this glorious west but one voice. I believe that among those who may differ in regard to minor points there is but one sentiment abhorrence of murder , stern wrath that a life so precious should have been so fouly sacrificed. Let us be Christians even in our wrath. Let us in all things be consistent with the religion of that meek and holy Jesus who cried out upon the cross; "Father forgive them, they know not what they do 1" The departed president is safe in the hands of his weeping countrymen. His memory will be as fragrant as that of any martyr who ever fell in the cause of humanity. I concede to him, imperfections, faults, weak- ness ; for he was a man, and who has them not who is a man? But the present is vindicating the past, even as the future will vindicate the present. I trust in God, — the Christian's God. I cannot see into His providences, I know not why he has permitted this thing, why the land is afflicted with such monsters as his murderer. But as the deepest midnight hour must come before the dawn is pos- sible, 80, perhaps, we must again go down into darkness that we may come forth to brighter light. "The Lord liveth, he reigneth, he ruleth, his voice and his power is among the nations ; blessed be his name!" I have spoken of the event; I shall now refer to a few prominent qualities of the man. first; Abra- hom Lincoln rose from the common people. The old world is essentialy arristocratic and despotic. It honors birth, riches, a splendid ancestral name; and hence, the language of the poet. Goldsmith, is true: 'Slow rises worth by poverty depressed." Feudalism yet lingers in all parts of Europe. That proud and lazy nobility, which hates progress, despises labor, and laughs at science and literature, is no phantasm of the past, but a living presence, in Germany, in Italy, especially in Spain, and even in comparitively democratic England. But this republic has ever been the poor man's friend. Its greatest statesmen and generals have struggled upward. The senators and legislators and heroes of this year, were farmers and store-keepers and obscure school teachers, forty years ago. Clay, Webster, Jackson, the potriotic Douglas, the mar- tyr Lincoln, were all men of the people and worked their way up from the people. I rejoice that here not the bones of the dead an- cester but the power of the living man is respected; that talent and trutb and faithfulness raise abve wealth and rank. Had Abraham Lincoln lived in the old world, his virtues would have been exercised in obscurity. He was an outgrowth of our institutions. He be- came a possibility because the people saw him, un- derstood him, and honored him. Forty years ago he was splitting rails in the then uncultivated forests of Indiana. His father was an humble man. Yet all honors were before him who had brain and will. Hence, he rose, and the very fact of his rising in the midst of the free competition of the west and surrounded by earnest rivals, evin- ces great superiority of intellect. Without money, with a limited education, by the force of intellectu. al and moral qualities, he rose to a high position many years ago. The man begot a confidence in his honesty and wisdom by his acts. It was this impression, embodied in the familiar sobriquet of "Honest Old Abe," which placed him before the astute Sewp.rd and the educated Bates, and ulti- mately brought him to the presidental chair. To say that he possessed the vast grasp of a W eb- ster, or the rapid combinations of a Napoleon, or the eloquence of a Clay, would be a vain eulogy. His career shows his wonderful sagacity, his straight- forward honesty, hisclearand decisive judgement, his breadth of intellect. He was a rock as well as a light. The nation's confidence in him was not only based upon the intellectual, but also on the moral. It needed a rock, firm, strong ! Second. Abraham Lincoln was a sincere man He was always tending to one goal. His legisla- tive and congressional career prove this ! What he honestly thought to be right, he honestly en- deavored to carry out ! His judgement has been questioned, and his prudence. He has been called a tyrant, a joker; never, I believe, insincere ! But this tyrant, this joker, through the gloom of the present, is apotheosized, and every honest Ameri- can heart turns to him with affectionate regret, now that he has passed away, and confesses he was not understood; he wasa moral hero, a true patri- ot, — a martyr. Does any reader of Motley's Dutch Republic forget the cruel suspicions testing upon that good and great Prince of Orange, even while he was sacrificing all that life holds dear for hit fellow-citizens 1 Posterity sees him as he was. ia his bloody grave his country learned to know, to love, and to lament him. If not now, yet ten years from now, when war has ceased, when preju- dice has passed away, in the light of the develop- ment of that time, such, I believe, will be the memory of Abraham Lincoln ! Third. I cannot pass by the kindliness, sim- plicity and cheerfulness of his disposition 1 Those who knew him, loved him ! He was a devoted friend, a kind husband, a loving father I The ' oppressed, the poor, the miserable, awakened his i sympathies, and he become their advocate ! His I heart was a good heart, and his latest acts prove it; Ho was clement and forgiving 1 His simplicity, — I might say his naive unconsciousness of disposition — led him into little acts which sometimes seem- ed to detract from his dignity. His cheerfulness, a tendency to cast off the heavy burden of national anxiety and care which rested upon him , gave rise toahabitofanecdote,telling which, sometimes, and •to some, seemed out of time and out of place. But would, my f riends.that kindly heart could beat again, would those friendly eyes could again light up with love and joy and cheerfulness ! Alas ! all that belongs to his humanity is a thing of the past ! I believe him to have been a patriot, and that his heart beat true to the best interests of his conn- try. It is not my object, from this sacred desk, to discuss his policy or his proclamations. We can say this much for his vindication : he took the helm when we seemed spell-bound and paralyzed, and when there was no power in the national gov- ernment ; a gigantic and desperate rebellion was abroad in vast states of the republic 1 He raised armiss, selected men who raised money; a devoted and enthusiastic people sustained him. When he died , that rebellion, crushed, baffled, despairing, everywhere was surrendering to the national au- thority ! Shall I forget here that he was free from all those degrading habits which have so often cast a stigma npoQ the bright escutcheons of some of our greatest men ! If I am correctly informed, in all his career he exercised an entire control over his appetites, and never indulged in the use of intoxicating beverages. The grog shops of Wash- ington and Springfield, and their dens of pollution were not honored or dishonored by his presence ! Mr. Lincoln was a loving fathej ; and he went to the capitol with three sons, one of them, a bright- eyed, beautiful and promising boy. But the youth drooped, and drooped, and presently that father's heart was wrong with the agony of his death 1 A great change then came over the president's lonl. Heaven, — the unseen world, — opened before hia earth-sick eyes. He caught a glimpse of that better land, where no cannons rumble, or drums beat, or fraud, or cruelty, or oppression is seen ; where "the wicked cease from troubling and the weary are at rest." He had hitherto trusted in morality he had hitherto mingled with the world as of the w)rld. But death brought life! A year passed on, and then come the terrible agony of (Gettysburg. In and out of that green cemetery and among quiet graves fell the pitiless storm of battle. The re- public fought for its existence, and triumphed [ Autumn came, and the eloquence of Everett was heard commemorating that new Thermopylic as a national sepulchre. It was an august scene. Those shattered monuments, those dead heroes, that vast multitude, and clear and ringing above the breezes of the hills the voice of the modern Cicero. Never since that day when Pericles ut- tered his funeral discourse over the Athenian pa- triots, had there been one more solemn, sublime. or impressive. Mr. Lincoln was there. Soon after his return an intimate friend asked him, "are you a professing Christian ? " and our depart- ed president made this reply : "A few months ago I could not have said so ; but now I say, i/es 1 God took away my son, and that moved me deeply, more than I can tell. But a short time since I stood among the dead at Get- tysburg. I saw those martyrs to liberty reposing in their silence, and then and there I gave myself to Christ.'' According to his own confession, Abraham Lincoln was a Christian. We are told by those whotnew, that there was|a peculiar kindliness and gentleness about the pres- ident in the last few months of his life. Perhaps the Christian felt premonitions that he should soon be with Christ ! He must have felt that not quite yet, but before long, his work would be over. Rest peaceably in your untimely grave, oh ! martyr and statesman 1 friend as Christ was friend of the poor man and of the heavy laden man ! It was hard to die, just as that for which ho toil- ed, was within his grasp ! Hard to die ice think, but God thought otherwise. It may be his mis- sion was ended, that at the master's biddmg to come up higher 1 Let the Lord's will be accom- plished. And now, my friends, as you know it is unusual for me to refer to any but strictly religious matters in this sacred desk, hear me for one mo- ment. Ourcountry is in thehandsof that God, who, according to the plain teachings of the Bible, is a God of justice and judgment and always on the side of the right. Next to God I love that country • I know men die, nations perish, empires and re- pnb lic8 pass away, but God lives ! It is a part of my creed that for every great epoch there is the man whom God will place th^re and keep there, until He calls him np higher ! Four years ago things were very dark; now setting aside this terrible e vent, they are bright. While we as a nation do our duty, God will take care of us. While we as individuals do onr duty, his right arm, strong, eternal, irresistable, will protect. Moses died, but God raised up Joshua. Joshua died, but after Josh, ua, was Gideon, and Sampson, and David, and Ju- daa Maccabees. As long as the Jews were faithful God was faithful, and gave them leaders. Look at Scotland, that land of natural sterility, d raped in cold mists, and stern as the Highlander who once marched to battle. Faithful to God, obedient to the dictates of a Christian civilization, alive with a beautiful philanthropy, see how God has blessed her and prospered her. Turn to Russia, and what a majestic spectacle 1 Freedom taking the place of oppression, cities im- proving, villages springing up in the very depths of the vast pine forests, a pure religion, quietly but steadily and grandly working its way. Then turn to this magnificent America. What grandeur associates itself with the very first pages of its history ! What a land to develope, a laud of mighty mountains, and of valleys rich with mine- rals, of boundless fertil plains irrigated by kingly rivers. And is this great continent to be forsaken of God, vyhen watered by so much patriot blood ! No, my friends! I do not believe it. God has a splendid future for this people if they are only obedient to the principles of the gospel. Here shall be proved the capacity of men for self gov- ernment ; here kings and lords and the foolish paraphernalia of monarchy and feudalism are to receive the lesson which shall teach them the abili- ty of man to grovv strong and great in obedience to laws he himself originates and he himself maintains. I expect that soon yonder banner of glory and of beauly will wave over a great, free, and prosperous land 1 that soon our armies shall return to their homes, and the stains of war pass away forever from the soil of the republic. [ ex- pect to gaze upon the spectacle of a mighty people, united, firm, compact, full of equity and clemency merciful in triumph, strong even in adversity, obedient to God, purified^and sanctified by suffer, ing, and sending forth a moral impulse which shall make despotism everywhere tremble and disappear! The spirit of our murdered president may, perchance, look down smiling from heaven upon the peace, the union, the progress, upward, onward, which awaits our land. Beat then the muffled drums, 'drape the flags of the republic, let the mournful death-march sigh forth upon our ears ; humanity has vindicated itself, and proves men are mortal ! But before me I see the genius of America, saddened and yet hopeful, and I hear her as she utters forth words of more than Delphic power -. "By the graves of those who have fallen, for a hundred years, in de- fenceof the republic, by the blood that has been shed, and the woe that has been endured, these beautiful states, homes of religion and science and commerce, and all that elevates and sanctifies, these lovely and loving sisters shall live, perreni- al, perpetual and immortal, for God is a God of right ! " Xet us hope in our new president, — time is to develope and try him. And over, as it were, the dead body of our departed chief magistrate, I urge a union of all men who love this blessed and pros- perous land. I urge that partizan distinctions be forgotten, and that bitter invectives be laid aside forever. I urge that men turn, everywhere, to the true interests of the human race, that they ad- vocateand uphold that morality, that govermental equity, that charity, love and justice which finds its true completeness in the life of Jesns, and those divine truths which flow forth from him. Let stern and righteous judgement be visited upon the assassins, let this great people fully vindicate its power and ita majesty and its authority. Let our land be purged and cleansed as God wills, and then, oh ! righteous God, grant that strife and bloodshed and murder may cease among the nations of the earth, and Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done throaghout all races, even as it is done in HeaTen I R R/L, '»