"THE CHRISTIAN STATESMAN." 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED AST THE FUNERAL 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOHN HEMPHILL, LL. D 
 
 IN THE 
 
 SECOND rilESBYTEKIAN CIIUItCH, 
 
 Richmond, Va.Jan. 7th, 1862. 
 
 13Y 11EV. MOSES J 
 
THE CHRISTIAN STATESMAN. 
 
 A DISCOURSE 
 
 DELIVERED .A.T THE FUXERAL 
 
 OF 
 
 HON. JOHN HEMPHILL, LL. D 
 
 TN THE 
 
 SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, 
 
 Richmond, Va , Jan. 7th, 1862. 
 
 BY REV. MOSES D. HOGE, D. D, 
 
 RICHMOND: 
 
 ENQUIRER BOOK AND JOB 
 
 TYLKR, WISH. AI.LBQUE iSD I 
 
 186,2. 
 

THE FLOWERS COUloIIQif 
 
 HALL OF PROVISIONAL CONGRESS, 
 JANUARY 8th, 1862. 
 
 Rev. Moses D. Hoge: 
 
 Dear Sir: 
 
 The undersigned, believing that the publication of your sermon, 
 delivered on the occasion of the funeral of Hon. JOHN HEMPHILL, 
 would accomplish good results, ask a copy of the same, for that 
 purpose. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 J. A. ORR, 
 
 J. A. P. CAMPBELL, 
 
 THOS. S BOCOCK, 
 
 LOUIS S. WIGFALL, 
 
 S. F. HALL, 
 
 S. H. FORD, 
 
 A. W. VENABLE, 
 
 WM. H. MACFARLAND, 
 
 A. R. BOTELER, 
 
 W. C. RIVES, 
 
 A. H. BRADFORD, 
 
 W. BROOKE, 
 
 A. 11. GARLAND, 
 
 T. L. BURNETT, 
 
 H. F. THOMASSON, 
 
 R. M. T. HU 
 
 JOHN B. CLARK, 
 JNO. J. THOMAS, 
 THOS. B. MONROE, 
 R. JOHNSON, 
 ROGER A. PRTOR, 
 J. L. M. CURRY, 
 W. S. OLDHAM, 
 W. B. OCHILTREE, 
 T. N. WAUL, 
 T. W. FREEMAN, 
 THOS. A. HARRIS, 
 C. W. BELL, 
 A. H. CONNOR, 
 G. G. VEST, 
 ALEX. H. STEPHENS, 
 NTER. 
 
 GENTLEMEN: 
 
 The source from which the invitation comes, as well as the reason 
 for which the publication of my discourse is requested, indn«" 
 Vne to place the manuscript at your disposal. 
 Very respectfully, yours, 
 
 MOSES D. HOGE, 
 Richmond 
 Hoif. J. A. Or.n, J. A, P. Caupbbll. ini i n 
 
Mark xv : 43. 
 • ; AN HONORABLE COUNSELLOR. 
 
 To every reflecting man who considers what it 
 involves, and who remembers what lies beyond it, 
 death is a solemn and impressive event. 
 
 We cannot look upon a familiar face whose sad 
 and sealed eye returns no answering recognition, 
 whose pallid cheek no longer flushes with the hues 
 of thought and passion, and whose features have 
 become fixed in that strange and deep repose which 
 the faces of the dead assume, without being awed 
 and solemnized by the spectacle. 
 
 When w r e see the almost unattended hearse con- 
 vejung the remains even of a stranger to the grave, 
 we are saddened for the moment, at least, by the 
 thought that the tidings of that decease will carry 
 mourning into some distant household, as yet all 
 unconscious of its bereavement. 
 
 If it is only a little child which is borne to its 
 short and narrow bed, we do not forget that if that 
 death did not make a w r ide circle of mourners, it ne- 
 vertheless transfixed one heart, and filled one bosom 
 with such anguish as bereaved mothers only know. 
 
6 
 
 When the humblest and obscurest citizen dies, we 
 remember that a breach has been made in one home 
 which perhaps cannot be repaired, and that wounds 
 have been inflicted on a few loving hearts which 
 may bleed as long as those hearts shall beat. And 
 yet in these cases society is but slightly affected by 
 the event ; only a little ripple has been made on the 
 surface ; the waves quickly close over it, and all is 
 smooth and placid as before. But when we meet to 
 pay the last sad rites of respect and friendship to 
 one who had long attracted the public eye, and ear, 
 and heart; whose name and fame had become a por- 
 tion of his country's inheritance, and whose useful 
 life had been a blessing to his generation, then it is 
 no longer merely a personal loss, or a family be- 
 reavement — but private grief swells into public la- 
 mentation, and in each individual heart a chord is 
 struck responsive to a nation's woe. 
 
 In discharging the mournful office assigned to me 
 to-day, it is not my province again to awaken those 
 tender regrets which the recital of the personal vir- 
 tues and public services of your late associate must 
 ever excite. This grateful duty has already been 
 ^rfo^uied by those who were fully qualified for its 
 discharge by long acquaintance and intimate asso- 
 ciation. These tributes to the memory of the de- 
 parted — now forming a part of his published history 
 — have been becomingly paid by those who fully 
 appreciated the noble qualities of mind and heart 
 which made his acquaintances friends ; and which 
 
now, that he no longer lives to exhibit them, con- 
 vert friends into mourners. It was an instructive 
 and an impressive hour when, on yesterday, one 
 after another arose in the hall beside his vacant 
 chair, to give expression to those emotions of admi- 
 ration and affection which were due to one whose in- 
 tegrity and honor, whose generosity and kindness, 
 in all the private relations of life, won for him 
 esteem and love as a man ; while his eminent 
 services on the judicial bench, in the tented field, 
 and in the chamber of National Council, command- 
 ed the homage which a grateful country delights to 
 pay to the patriot soldier and sage. 
 
 The loss of such a man is always a calamity to be 
 deplored — but occurring, as it does, at an era so 
 eventful, at a crisis so solemn and momentous in the 
 history of our Confederacy, Ave feel it all the more 
 profoundly. 
 
 Now the shadow of a great care rests upon our 
 land. The new year did not commence with its 
 wonted gladness. Its first day was not joyous as 
 such days have ordinarily been. The sun in our 
 natural Heaven shone with clear and brilliant beam, 
 but it could not delight the eye, nor cheer the heart, 
 as of old, because our political firmament was dark- 
 ened by a cloud such as we had hoped would never 
 rise above our horizon. 
 
 And though we do not forget in whose name we 
 have set up our banners — though the bow of promise 
 spans the very cloud which overshadows us — though 
 
we look through, its rending folds and discern the 
 coming years of independence, prosperity and peace 
 which shall eventually awaken the joy and gratitude 
 of happy millions, yet we know the storm has not 
 yet spent its fury ; we know that the conflict for 
 liberty and right may be protracted ; and we know, 
 too, that, at a time like this., our cause and country 
 need all the men of a certain stamp and mould it 
 can summon to its service ; — men of clear compre- 
 hension, far-reaching wisdom, inflexible adherence 
 to right, unshrinking courage, unselfish patriotism, 
 unfaltering trust in God. 
 
 The exigency of the times through which we are 
 passing, and the very Providence which has sum- 
 moned us together this morning, invite us to a most 
 interesting and practical inquiry. What should be 
 the characteristics of the men to whom has been en- 
 trusted the high and solemn duty of shaping the 
 future history of this Confederacy ? — What should 
 be the principles and the conduct of those to whom, 
 under God, we are looking for the vindication of our 
 rights and the achievement of our independence, 
 that as a distinct and separate people we may attain 
 to that measure of prosperity and glory which we 
 so fondly anticipate ? 
 
 No portraiture is more worthy of contemplation, if 
 it can but be truthfully drawn, than that of the 
 upright, patriot statesman ; and I invite your atten- 
 tion now to the delineation of such a character. 
 
 As the first requisite to the highest and most sym- 
 
metrical development of all that is noblest in the char- 
 acter of one in public life, 1 would mention earnest, 
 heartfelt piety. 
 
 I am aware, and will freely admit that some of 
 the men in our own, and in other lands, who have 
 cheerfully submitted to the greatest sacrifices, and 
 who have rendered the most splendid services to 
 their country, have been men destitute of this quality. 
 Notwithstanding the sweeping and undiscriminating 
 assertions of some divines with regard to human depra- 
 vity — a doctrine clearly revealed in the Scriptures, 
 but often sadly misrepresented by those who fail to 
 make the distinction between such traits of character 
 as may be exhibited by the natural man, and those 
 which are the fruits of the Holy Spirit — there is 
 such a thing as human virtue. There are men who 
 make no pretension to vital godliness, who love and 
 speak the truth, who scorn a base and ignoble action ; 
 who are faithful in the discharge of their obligations to 
 their fellow men, active in their philanthropy, self- 
 sacrificing in their efforts to promote the public good. 
 There was such a thing as patriotism, integrity and 
 honor among the citizens of the ancient Republics, 
 long before Christianity began to diffuse its benign in- 
 fluences over the earth. There are classic and even 
 Pagan names which stand forth prominent and lumin- 
 ous on the historic page, commanding the admira- 
 tion of all generations. There are men now in the 
 world, and in our own land, whose names are never 
 mentioned without respect and veneration — some of 
 
10 
 
 them because of their wisdom and integrity as 
 statesmen, others for their bravery as soldiers, and 
 others for their labors in the cause of philanthropy; 
 and yet, all the reverential love with which they are 
 regarded was earned by such virtues as belong to 
 human nature alone. 
 
 Yet, after all, " a Christian is the highest style of 
 man." Piety towards God is the surest incentive to 
 the full discharge of all duties toward man — the truest 
 and most unfailing inspiration of honor — the strong- 
 est safeguard of personal integrity — the most power- 
 ful prompter to the pursuit and exhibition of whatso- 
 ever things are just, and pure, and lovely, and of good 
 report. The man who ever lives as under the " Great 
 Task-Master's Eye," who believes and remembers that 
 God is now the witness of his conduct, and will be his 
 final Judge, and who, in all his acts, both private and 
 official, has " respect to the recompense of reward," 
 is the man who, of all others, will be most fearless 
 in meeting every responsibility and most faithful in 
 discharging every trust. The public servant who is 
 loyal to his God will be true to his country. That 
 there can be no divorce between the political and 
 moral life of a nation, which will not ultimately 
 bring disaster and ruin, need not be debated in this 
 day and place. But that morality is but one great 
 department of Religion, is equally obvious. To say 
 that piety has nothing to do with politics, and that 
 the two have no relation to each other, is to assert 
 that there is nothing in the making of laws, or in 
 
11 
 
 the administration of government which involves 
 questions of right and wrong. Xo sane man will 
 attempt to maintain such an ethical absurdity. If 
 the permanence of a popular government depends on 
 the intelligence and virtue of the people, it also de- 
 pends on the virtuous intelligence of those who ad- 
 minister that government as the representatives of 
 the people. And that religion and morality furnish, 
 not only a basis, but " the indispensable basis " of 
 whatever is great, and pure and permanent in na- 
 tional glory, is the declaration of one whom we all 
 revere as the highest uninspired authority which can 
 be quoted on this continent. 
 
 Human government is the ordinance of God, 
 however its form may be shaped by the hand of 
 man, and Revelation alone unfolds the principles, 
 the observance of which secures individual happiness, 
 social order, and national prosperity. If ever a 
 Commonwealth becomes permanently free, prosper- 
 ous and great, it must be through the influence of 
 that Celestial Power which ennobles all that it per- 
 vades, and gives immortality to all that it animates 
 
 In thus making Christianity the vitalizing force 
 of a nation, we are doing something very different 
 from advocating a union between Church and State. 
 In our own country the separation between the two 
 is complete. God grant that it may be perpetual. 
 The Church never exhibits herself in an aspect more 
 unseemly than when, abandoning her spiritual 
 vocation, she is seen decking herself with the in- 
 
12 
 
 signia of temporal power, and assuming the func- 
 tions of civil government. And the State never 
 places its liberties in greater jeopardy than when it 
 commits them to the keeping of ecclesiastical rulers, 
 and invites the Church to become its ally in the ad- 
 ministration of government. But while it is well 
 that the ecclesiastical and the temporal power are 
 separated in our country, it does not war with the 
 principle to assert that individual piety should char- 
 acterize our rulers and public men. Were every 
 man in this Confederacy, who holds a post of au- 
 thority and influence, to become a devout believer^ 
 so far from leading to such a result as a re-union 
 between Church and State, it would be the very 
 thing to prevent it. It is only sincere and enlight- 
 ened piety that can maintain the separation ; for it 
 is not until the Church becomes corrupt, and the 
 State enervated, that the one invites the other into 
 an unnatural alliance which confuses the functions 
 of each, and brings ultimate disaster upon both. 
 Well would it have been for the Church, if ambitious 
 prelates had never intermeddled with civil affairs, 
 and equally well would it have been for the country 
 if its public men had not so often ignored the 
 teachings of inspiration, and given confirmation to 
 the popular belief, that piety was the exception and 
 not the rule among rulers. The Bible — emphati- 
 cally the Word — the utterance of Divine Wisdom — 
 should be the manual of the public man, the text book 
 of the statesman, for this reason, among others, that 
 
13 
 
 he who receives the Scriptures as a revelation from 
 God, avails himself of the only infallible standard 
 of truth — of the only absolutely reliable source of 
 information with regard to the very subjects which 
 most concern him. 
 
 Political economists may cite what names they 
 please, but, after all, Moses was the greatest Legis- 
 lator the world ever saw ; and in the Hebrew Com- 
 monwealth — the purest and most perfect government 
 ever instituted upon earth — we find the type and 
 germ of almost everything that is good in our own 
 domestic and civil institutions. Not only is that in- 
 stitution which is most inseparably interwoven with 
 our Southern industrial and social life fully recog- 
 nized and authorized there ; but we find in the Con- 
 stitution of the Hebrew Commonwealth the origin 
 of what is most valuable in our own. In the words 
 of a commentator on the Divine legation of Moses, 
 " even the Declaration of American Independence, 
 that terrible handwriting on the wall of despotism, 
 is but an echo of the deep thunders of Mount Sinai." 
 The Commandments there announced — those ten im- 
 mortal lines which comprise.all human duties — lie at 
 the basis of the jurisprudence of all modern civilized 
 nations. 
 
 Again : an intimate acquaintance with the history 
 of the great Empires and Commonwealths of past 
 ages, and the causes of their decline and fall, is an es- 
 sential part of the education of a true statesman. 
 He cannot fully comprehend the science of govern- 
 
14 
 
 merit who does not comprehend the philosophic 
 teachings of history. But it is only from the stand- 
 point of the believer in Divine Revelation that the 
 world's history can be properly understood, and its 
 true significance appreciated. It is only there that 
 a Divine as well as a human element in the affairs 
 of man may be discerned — it is only there that 
 the hand and mind of Jehovah can be seen at work 
 in the rise and fall of Dynasties and Kingdoms, as 
 well as the hand and mind of man. It is only from 
 that post of observation that the Almighty, Himself, 
 can be descried walking in the magnificent procession 
 of events which compose the world's annals, and 
 which make human history a drama whose actors 
 come and go, and whose scenes shift at the bidding 
 of an inaudible, yet omnipotent voice ; and upon 
 which, when touched by an unseen, yet resistless 
 hand, the curtain shall fall, never more to rise. 
 
 But, more particularly, the man in public life not 
 only needs the teachings of Revelation, but the re- 
 straining and conservative power of religion, be- 
 cause of the peculiar temptations of his position. 
 
 It needs no experience, and not much of observa- 
 tion to discover that there is much in public life to 
 deaden the finer sentiments, and to develope some of 
 the worst passions of our nature. In the seething 
 cauldron of political strife, what unhallowed ambi- 
 tions, what bitter rivalries, what implacable animosi- 
 ties, what cunning intrigues, what astounding 
 treacheries, what shameful betrayals of confidence, 
 
15 
 
 what displays of intense selfishness, are often wit- 
 nessed. The most upright statesman finds it hard 
 to spend year after year in the arena of political 
 life without some wear and tear of conscience, with- 
 out the acquisition of some of the mental and moral 
 obliquities which so often characterize veterans 
 trained in this school. 
 
 Moreover, men in public life, cut off, as they fre- 
 quently are, from the hallowing and virtuous re- 
 straints of home, are tempted to the formation of 
 habits which expose them to new perils. Under 
 these circumstances they sometimes exhibit a new 
 phase of character, never suspected in the immediate 
 circle of family and friends. The man of strict and 
 unquestionable morality there — when severed from 
 those restraints, which were to him as guardian 
 angels — thrown among those who laugh at domestic 
 ties, surrounded by the enticements of a more 
 vicious society, solicited by the attraction of games 
 of chance and games of skill, by convivial pleasures, 
 and places of questionable amusement and of un- 
 questionably bad resort — it sometimes happens that 
 under influences like these, the citizen so correct 
 and exemplary in his native county, becomes a 
 man of pleasure and a profligate in the capital. 
 
 But not merely for his own sake, but because of 
 his influence on the community at large, is it desira- 
 ble that the politician should be a man of piety. 
 
 If he is a man of loose principles and practice, his 
 influence upon his entire circle of friends and con- 
 
1G 
 
 stituents is most pernicious. The legacy of blight 
 and corruption which some representatives have left 
 behind them in their districts may be traced for suc- 
 cessive generations. 
 
 The conversation of such men on the Court- 
 green, the speeches delivered by them on the hust- 
 ings, have done more to debauch and demoralize the 
 public mind, and especially to diminish the respect 
 and reverence of the youth of their constituencies 
 for everything venerable and good, than can be 
 estimated. 
 
 Nor is the influence of such men upon the delib- 
 erative bodies to which they belong, and which they 
 too often control, less pernicious and dangerous to 
 the public welfare. 
 
 When men destitute of moral principle fill the 
 highest posts of power and influence, then the best 
 institutions, the wisest laws, the noblest constitutions 
 will be perverted to the worst of purposes. Give 
 bad men the control of Government, and then no 
 checks and balances, '* no bills of right, no paper 
 constitutions," no compromises or guarantees are 
 worth anything. All the forms of the constitution 
 may remain while the spirit of the Constitution 
 is infinitely outraged. The forms of the Roman 
 Republic — (says a late writer), its Senate, its Tri- 
 bunes, and its Consuls — remained for ages after the 
 Government had" passed into the hands of an abso- 
 lute Executive, supported by Praetorian Guards. 
 France had the form of a Republic after the First 
 
17 
 
 Consul became the supreme Dictator. " What was 
 the value of common law, of the trial by jury, of 
 Magna Charta in England, with a George Jeffreys for 
 judge, a James II for king, and such juries as cor- 
 rupt sheriffs brought together?" What was the 
 worth of the British Constitution, when Parliaments 
 were dispensed with, and the High Commission 
 Court and Star Chamber filled the prisons and pillo- 
 ries with victims ? What is the worth of another 
 Constitution while habeas corpus is denied — while 
 freedom of speech and of the press are interdicted — 
 while citizens suspected of disloyalty are thrust into 
 military prisons, and lawfully elected Legislators dis- 
 persed at the point of the bayonet ? 
 
 " When politics becomes a game in which dema- 
 gogues are the players, the people pawns, and the 
 spoils of office are the stakes at hazard" — when 
 men in high places become the violators of law, both 
 human and Divine — when shameful broils and bru- 
 talities are witnessed even in Legislative halls — when 
 wealth becomes a synonym for worth, and high social 
 position an apology for vice — when official station is 
 made the means of extortion, oppression, and the in- 
 strument of avenging private animosities — when the 
 perfidies by which private trust funds are appro- 
 priated and the public treasury is plundered, are un- 
 punished — when the intrigues by which the basest 
 of men are elevated to posts of the highest respon- 
 sibility and authority, are successful — then comes 
 perversion of law, mockery of justice, general de- 
 
18 
 
 moralization, anarchy, dismemberment; and the 
 crash and ruin of the falling edifice will be all the 
 more terrible, because of the ponderous weight of 
 its materials, and the very height from which it 
 fell. 
 
 Disregard of the principles of immutable justice; 
 contempt of lawful authority ; venality ; luxury ; 
 corruption of morals ; the overthrow of institutions 
 commended by the experience of ages, hallowed by 
 the approval of the w T ise and good, and sanctioned by 
 Divine legislation ; the profligacy of the people, and 
 the reckless tyranny of rulers ; — these have occa- 
 sioned the downfall of the most powerful kingdoms 
 and commonwealths of the world. Such are the in- 
 scriptions which Providence has engraved upon the 
 tombs of dead and buried nations. 
 
 Thus fell ancient Assyria, with her sculptured 
 Capital, and multitudinous armies, when Babylon 
 took up the once resistless sceptre which her ener- 
 vated hand could no longer sway. 
 
 Thus perished queenly Persia, with her diadem of 
 fire, and countless riches, extending her conquests 
 through the Orient, till her armed millions were 
 scattered by the Macedonian, like chaff before the 
 storm. 
 
 Thus fell the fairest land of the Muse, home of 
 Homer, of Pindar and Pericles, worshipping beauty 
 and ostracizing justice, retaining the Pyrrhic dance 
 but disbanding the Pyrrhic phalanx. 
 
 Thus fell majestic Rome, with her mural crown, 
 
19 
 
 and iron legions thundering through the world, — 
 unconquerable, save by her own corruptions. 
 
 And thus fell what was once the noblest Confed- 
 eracy over which the blue Heavens ever bent, on the 
 day when, to preserve all that is dear to liberty and 
 to man, a portion of her sons unfurled a banner em- 
 blazoned with a new Constellation, and laid the 
 foundation of this Confederated empire of Imperial 
 States ! 
 
 Let the sad epitaphs inscribed on the tombs of 
 departed nations admonish us of the causes of their 
 decline and foil ; and when with deep solicitude we 
 ask, how may all the institutions we hold dear be 
 preserved and perpetuated, let us reverently hear the 
 response of the ever-living oracle — " Righteousness 
 exalteth a nation." " Happy is that people whose 
 God is the Lord." 
 
 The character of the public servant who meets 
 with the Divine approval, and the blessing which a 
 nation receives through the instrumentality of up- 
 right rulers, is beautifully represented to us in 
 the poetic imagery of one of the Old Testament 
 writers : " He that ruleth over men must be just, 
 ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the 
 light of the morning when the sun riseth, even as a 
 morning without clouds ; as the tender grass spring- 
 ing out of the earth by clear shining after rain." 
 
 It is an easy and grateful task to present the pro- 
 minent characteristics of such a representative. 
 Pure in private life, his public career will be the 
 
20 
 
 clear and healthful stream flowing naturally from 
 such a fountain. As perfume rises from the violet, 
 as light beams from a star, so will official integrity 
 and virtue be the spontaneous emanation of noble 
 principles cherished in the heart. 
 
 In discharging every public duty however impor- 
 tant, however trivial, he will prefer to maintain " a 
 conscience void of offence" to all the honors and 
 emoluments of office gained at the expense of prin- 
 ciple. Of transparent character, he conceals noth- 
 ing because he has nothing to conceal. While the 
 time-serving demagogue trims between all parties, 
 he takes his position on every question involving 
 principle, deliberately indeed, but openly, and deci- 
 dedly, and is ever ready to defend the faith that is 
 in him. Unlike the popularity hunter, who never 
 asks what is right, but, what is politic, and then 
 shapes his course so as to catch every breeze of pub- 
 lic favor, thus resembling the sail ship which goes 
 tacking through the sea, taking advantage of every 
 prevailing wind, — the upright statesman goes di- 
 rectly to his purpose along the straight line of right, 
 as the steamship darts directly across the sea to the 
 destined haven, leaving a trail behind in which no 
 deflection can be traced. 
 
 While the demagogue serves only a faction, and 
 that too for selfish ends, the upright statesman re- 
 gards himself as the exponent of a party, perhaps, 
 but still more as the exponent of truth and justice — 
 
21 
 
 the representative of his country's interest and 
 honor. 
 
 While the one dares attempt nothing, however in- 
 trinsically noble it may be, which might endanger 
 his popularity, the other, when assailed by obloquy 
 for his espousal of what he believes to be right 
 and true, is not overwhelmed, however fierce the 
 storm, but calmly waits for the verdict of time — the 
 great vindicator. 
 
 When the path of duty becomes the path of dan- 
 ger, he never cringes or cowers, but remains firm 
 and unshaken as the rock in mid-ocean, dashing 
 back into the face of the storm, the invading waves 
 which, in making their assault are shivered into 
 spray. 
 
 While the one gains ephemeral notoriety by the 
 adroit use of temporary expedients, the other uncon- 
 sciously achieves enduring renown by identifying 
 himself with grand progressive ideas, and by his dis- 
 interested devotion to those principles and labors 
 which tend to advance the welfare of mankind. 
 
 While the one spends all his energies in directing 
 the tactics of a party, the other aspires to build up 
 a noble Confederacy, rather than the power of a 
 faction. 
 
 In a word, the upright statesman is elevated above 
 the influence of all that is ignoble, narrow, and sel- 
 fish, because he lets all the ends he aims at, be his 
 God, his Country and Truth. 
 
 Were all our rulers and representatives men of 
 
such mould, not only would corruption and venality 
 shrink away abashed, but the lustre of such exam- 
 ples, conspicuous from afar, would penetrate and 
 permeate with healthful influence, all classes in so- 
 ciety. Virtuous representatives would lead on vir- 
 tuous constituencies in the paths of national pros- 
 perity, and the three great bulwarks of the nation 
 would be intelligence, integrity and the fear of God. 
 
 Such a land, too, would ever be the very home of 
 liberty. Without liberty, all natural exaltation is a 
 cheat and a mockery. All the glory of the nation then 
 reflects no lustre on the people who compose it. It 
 but serves to gild the crown of a despot, and throw a 
 halo around the career of a usurper. But Christi- 
 anity makes men acquainted with their rights, and 
 teaches them how to defend them. It bears aloft a 
 consecrated banner on one side of which is written : 
 " Tribute to whom tribute ; honor to whom honor ; " 
 but on the other side, in characters equally bright 
 and unfading, we read the inspiriting declaration, 
 " Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God;" thus 
 verifying the saying of the eloquent De Tocqueville, 
 that " Religion is the companion of liberty in all its 
 battles, the cradle of its infancy, the Divine source 
 of all its claims." 
 
 Religion ever prefers the bloodless victories of 
 peace ; but when war, the last resort of the mag- 
 nanimous and brave, becomes inevitable ; when the 
 sword must be drawn for the protection of altar and 
 home, then Christianity fires the heart and nerves 
 
23 
 
 the arm of the patriot soldier who wields it. When 
 men can appeal to Heaven, as our fathers of the 
 Revolution did, for the justice of their cause, and 
 invoke the aid of the God of Battles, then will a 
 nation become as illustrious in arms as in the gentle 
 arts of peace. 
 
 It requires time to work out problems so vast, but 
 the end will show that a nation becomes prosperous 
 and happy, respected and powerful, just in propor- 
 tion as its public men and private citizens follow the 
 teachings of that wonderful Book which contains 
 the only perfect system of ethics — a system illimita- 
 ble in application, universal in adaptation, and per- 
 petual in obligation. 
 
 Divine Revelation not only casts its informing 
 light upon the duties incumbent on us here, but it 
 reveals the only objects deserving the supreme re- 
 gard of the heirs of immortality. How poor is 
 earth, with its perishing riches, honors and pleasures, 
 compared with the eternal inheritance of wealth, 
 and dignity and joy which Revelation discloses to 
 the faith and hope of the good. 
 
 To-day the voice of Providence unites with the 
 voice of Inspiration, admonishing us that " all the 
 glory of man is as the flower of the grass." 
 
 We are told that when Massillon pronounced one 
 of those wonderful discourses which placed him in 
 the first rank of pulpit orators, he found himself in 
 a church surrounded by the trappings and pageants 
 of a royal funeral. The church was not only hung: 
 
24 
 
 ■with black drapery, but the light of day was ex- 
 cluded, and only a few dim tapers burned on the 
 altar. The beauty and the chivalry of the land 
 were spread out before him. The king sat before 
 him clothed in sack-cloth and sunk in grief. 
 There was silence — a breathless suspense. No 
 sound broke the awful stillness. Massillon arose. His 
 hands were folded on his bosom, his eyes were lifted 
 to Heaven ; utterance seemed impossible ; he stood 
 mute and abstracted. Presently his fixed look was 
 unbent — his eye roved over the scene where every 
 pomp was displayed — where every trophy was ex- 
 hibited. That eye could find no resting place amid 
 all this idle parade and mocking vanity. At length 
 it settled on the bier, on which lay dead royalty, 
 covered with a pall. A sense of the indescribable 
 nothingness of man, at his best estate, overcame 
 him. His eyes once more closed — his very breath 
 seemed suspended, until, in a scarcely audible voice, 
 he startled the deep silence with the words : 
 " There is nothing great but God." 
 
 To-day this church, by a solemn dispensation is 
 converted into a house of mourning, and here in an 
 audience containing those who occupy the highest 
 posts of authority and power in this land, temporal 
 distinctions for the time are forgotten in the presence 
 of the dead, and in the presence of the God who, 
 draws near by this Providence to remind us that, 
 " Man that is born of a woman is of few days and 
 full of trouble. He cometh forth like a flower, and 
 
25 
 
 is cut down; he fleeth, also, as a shadow and con- 
 tinueth not." 
 
 To-day we are warned that " pallid death, who 
 knocks with impartial hand at the cottages of the poor 
 and the palaces of kings," is no respector of per- 
 sons. He enters, with equal freedom, the dwelling 
 i of the humblest citizen, and the gate of the capitol. 
 He casts his bleak shadow through the lowly cham- 
 ber, and through the halls of national legislation. 
 He strips off the rags of the beggar, and the robes 
 of the senator. He sends the poor peasant and the 
 " honorable counsellor," side by side to repose in the 
 silent grave. ■ 
 
 To-day let pride, ambition and vain glory stand 
 rebuked ; let us learn that the unseen is the real ; 
 that the Eternal alone is worthy of our supreme re- 
 gard ; that " There is nothing great but God." 
 
 The suddenness with which this stroke has fallen 
 gives new impressiveness to the solemn summons : 
 "Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think 
 not, the Son of Man cometh." 
 
 God forbid that we should be so immersed with 
 temporal concerns, however important, as to neglect 
 the things which belong to our everlasting peace. 
 God forbid that delay, irrational delay, should 
 
 "Steal year after year, till all are fled, 
 And to the mercies of a moment leave 
 The vast concerns of an eternal scene;" 
 
26 
 
 If by this mournful Providence we are taught the 
 evanescent nature of all earthly good — if we are im- 
 pressed with the conviction that, 
 
 " He builds too low who builds beneath the skies." 
 
 if we are led to the place where alone is shelter for 
 the defenceless and pardon for the guilty ; if through 
 the grace which fortifies the soul against the dread 
 of death, we also gain preparation for the duties of 
 life ; if we arc constrained to come this day and 
 sacrifice all personal and party ends on the altar of 
 patriotism ; if, at this moment, w T hen our country 
 calls so imperatively for the devotion of all who can 
 serve her in the council and in the field, we conse- 
 crate ourselves afresh to our duties, with minds 
 chastened and hearts purified by affliction, then this 
 sad Providence will have accomplished its salutary 
 purpose. 
 
 The heart which so lately throbbed with patriotic 
 fervor is still. The lips which lately moved with 
 prayer for God's blessing on our sacred cause are 
 mute ; but let us kindle with the same fire, let us 
 prolong the prayer that Heaven's best benediction 
 may rest on our Confederacy ; on its Chief Magis- 
 trate, and all associated with him in its government; 
 on all our officers and soldiers in the field ; on 
 all our citizens in their homes ; that God, Himself, 
 presiding over every interest dear to our hearts, our 
 
^t 
 
 country defended by His Almighty Ann, and, en- 
 riched by His gracious Providence, may enjoy a per- 
 petual heritage of prosperity and peace. 
 
 And unto God, Most High, will we ascribe all 
 honor and glory, evermore. Anien, 
 
 -■ 
 
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 pH8.5 
 
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