3 9002 06126

Russell, Peter
Our great national reproach, and The
counsel of Ahithophel turned into foolishness,
Philadelphia, 1865.

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
STUART W. JACKSON
Yale 1898

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I TWO SERMONS

PREACHED Tn

St. JAMES' CHURCH, ECKLEY, PENNA.,
By Rev. PETER RUSSELL, Rector.

;e first on the occasion of the funeral SOLEMNITIES (
OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. ¦ f

I

( THE SBCOND ON THE LATE FAST t)A"f, (JUNE Ist.)^^ ^

f

i  — 
i , PUBLISHED BT REQUEST OP MEMBERS OP THE OON&RE&iTION,

PHILADELPHIA: .
KITSrO & BAIRD, PRINT^^S, 607 SANSOM STREET.
18 65.  "^a

' OUR GREAT MTIOML REPROACH
ASS
C(je Copsd of S|i%]pljcl Cunub into Jfoolisljness.

TWO SERMONS

PKEACHED IM

St. JAMES' CHURCH, ECKLEY, PENNA.,-
By Rev. PETER RUSSELL, Rector.

THE FIEST ON THE OCCASION OF THE FUNERAL SOLEMNITIES
OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

THE SECOND ON THE LATE FAST DAT, (JUNE 1st.)

PUBLISHED BT REQUEST OF MEMBERS OF THE OON&RE&ATION.

PHILADELPHIA:
KING & BAIRD, PRINTERS, 607 SANSOM STREET.
1865.

Z \

OUR GREAT MTIOML REPROACH.

SEEM ON.

LAMENTATIONS OF JEREMIAH, v. 1
Remember, 0 Lord, what ia come upou us Consider and behold our reproach.
The season of Easter is a season of joy and gladness,
the season when we commemorate the triumph of our Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, over death and the grave. But
this Easter season has been one of sorrow and gloom : joy's
bright sun seems to have set in night. A heavy woe has
befallen us : a calamity, such as no great nation has suffered
for two hundred years, has come upon us.
Our Chief Magistrate has fallen. Not in leading our
armies against the enemies of the nation ; not upon a dying
bed, with his strength wasting away by some lingering dis
ease : for then we could have borne it : but he is stricken
down by the murderous villany of man. We are reminded
of the lamentation of David over one who fell in a similar
manner : " Died Abner as a fool dieth. Thy hands were
not bound, nor thy feet put in fetters. As a man falleth
before wicked men, so fellest thou. And all the people
wept again for him." Thus we wept as soon as we heard
of it, and we are inclined to weep again as often as we make
mention of it.
We were all astounded at the first announcement of this
melancholy fact. We were slow to believe that such a crime
had really been committed. We read the account over and
over again. We desired to see other papers. But all told
the same horrible tale. Then we caught at the faint hope
which remained, that the wound might not prove fatal.
But this lasted only a little while ; for as soon as we leaimed

the nature of the injury, we saw that without a miracle he
could not survive. Yea, we were forced to admit that he
was already dead, though we had not as yet seen the ofBicial
announcement. Has it come to this ? wee xclaimed. Where are we ? In
what land ? Crimes there had been enough committed al
ready, we had thought. Crimes against humanity, crimes
against the civilization of the age in which we live, crimes
against Christianity, crimes against heaven and earth —
against God and man ; but to all this must be added, the
assassination of the head of the nation, its worthy and hon
ored Chief Magistrate. It was as if the father of every
family and household had been murdered. The mourning
in the land is like to that of old, in that country wherein
there was not a house in which there was not one dead.
True, in this instance, there has not been a beloved member
of every household stricken down, but our sorrow and grief
are almost as deep as if every household mourned its head
or first-born. Such a crime as this was never committed in
our country before. Yea, I may say it was a crime which
was never committed in the New World.
Whether the parties immediately concerned in it were
the agents of an extensive conspiracy, I know not. This
will doubtless be disclosed and brought to the light of day
in due season. Whether many or few are implicated, it is
a pity for them that they did not remember the old threat :
" Be sure your sin will find you out." It is a sin which
cannot be always concealed. The authors, the aiders and
abettors of such deeds are often discovered in the most
unlikely and mysterious of ways. It would almost seem
that while they are plotting and guarding against discov
ery, using all possible caution and secrecy, that Divine
Providence was overruling and directing the minutest cir
cumstances so as to prepare the way for unraveling the
deepest-laid schemes of villany. This has oftentimes been
effected by means which, as Dr. South says, were almost as
much above nature as the crimes contemplated, or actually

committed, were against nature; and which verifies the
declaration of the Psalmist : " Verily, there is a God that
judgest in the earth."
In the words of the late Daniel Webster : " Such secrets
can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God has neither
nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, and say it
is safe. Not to speak of that Eye which gleams through all
disguises and beholds all things as the splendors of noon,
such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection, even by
men. A thousand eyes turn at once to explore every man,
every circumstance connected with the time and place ; a
thousand ears catch every whisper; a thousand excited
minds dwell intently on the scene, shedding all their light,
and ready to kindle the slightest circumstance into a blaze
of discovery. Meanwhile, the guilty soul cannot keep its
own secret. It is false to itself, or rather it feels an irre
sistible impulse to be true to itself. It labors under its
guilty possession, and knows not what to do with it. The
human heart was not made for the residence of such an in
habitant. It finds itself preyed upon by a torment which
it dares not acknowledge to God or man. A vulture is prey
ing upon it, and it can ask no sympathy from heaven or
earth. The secret which he possesses soon comes to possess
him ; and, like the evil spirits of which we read, it over
comes him, and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels
it beating at his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding
disclosure. He thinks the whole universe sees it in his
face, beholds it in his eyes, and almost hears it working in
his thoughts. It becomes his master. It betrays his dis
cretion. It breaks down his courage. It conquers his
prudence. When suspicions from without begin to embar
rass him, and the net of circumstances to entangle him, the
fatal secret struggles with still greater violence to burst
forth. It must be confessed. It will be confessed.
And then, again, there is no land under the sun to which
such criminals can flee and take refuge. All good and

8
true men in all lands will be filled with dismay when they
hear of the crime which has been committed in our day
and our land. We have, indeed, heard of a person here and
there who has had the hardihood to applaud and defend it ;
but such instances are happily rare. And it is well for the
credit of our country, and our age, and our common hu
manity, that they are rare. For any man who approves of
this deed partakes of the guilt of the crime itself, and, in
the sight of God, and upon a moral account, he is a mur
derer and an assassin. I would not desire to live in the
same community in which such a man resides. I would
not willingly permit such a man to come under my roof.
I would not sleep in the same house with him. I would
be afraid of him. , I would not trust my life in his hands,
for he has the heart of a murderer ; aud I never could tell
when, or under what circumstances he might be instigated
and pushed on by the Devil to commit actual murder.
The crime is so great, so immense, that until I have the
evidence before me, I will never af&rm or believe that
many persons in any section of our country could have
had any knowledge that such a deed was seriously con
templated. I hope it will be generally, if not universally,
denounced in the whole South. We know that some have
spoken; that twenty -two thousand prisoners at Point Look
out have denounced it. God forbid that any considerable
number of our Southern people should assume the guilt
of this crime and make it their own, by applauding it,
approving of it, and boldly proclaiming that it is just what
they desired and counselled. Alas for them if generals
and governors, and congressmen, and legislators, and pa
pers, and public meetings should justify it ! If this be so,
1 tremble for what may follow. It is an awful thing to
rouse the anger of a great and mighty nation into fury —
a nation which has at its command and in its service an
army of seven hundred thousand men, perfect in disci
pline, courage, and skill in warfare, commanded by ofB-
cers who have their superiors in no country. Also a navy

of six hundred ships, armed with artillery the most de
structive ever used on this earth. It is an awful thing, I
say, to goad on the anger of such a nation until it becomes
ungovernable fury.
The people of the Southern section of our country have
made large claims for the superiority of their civilization
and Christianity over that of the North. These claims
are now on trial before the world. To quote t\e language
of Dr. Dix, " We wait to hear what they will say. They
must speak; and the whole world will listen to every
word which they utter. The judgment is set and the books
are opened. Christian civilization waits attentively to hear
them speak. There is but one thing for them to do if
they would stand in this audit : to denounce the act — to
join in the common cry against the outrage done to God,
to man, to Christ, to the age — to disclaim its responsibility •
— ^to shrink back from that bloody act, to say, we, too, are
men — Christianized men — we abhor as much as you can
a deed like this — charge it not on us — ^think not of us as
though we would excuse or defend a crime fit only for a
barbarous zone, and from which, with the enlightened
world, and as acceptors of the principles of Christianity,
we equally with yourselves revolt in disgust and horror.
It is with indescribable anxiety many are now waiting
for the response of the Southern people to this atrocious
murder, which has been committed in their name. We
will not think the worst until all hope is gone. We will
hope against hope ; but if it must be so, then, indeed, will
it seem as if hope was at an end ; as if all that has been
said were just ; as if the charges hitherto had not been
rash ; and, so far as that community is regarded, impartial
lips must be silent henceforth." This last and most he-
nious of their crimes, which is the filling up of the mea
sure of their iniquity, will prove to the world that they
have committed, or are capable of committing, all those
lesser crimes which have been charged to their account;
and what is to follow God only knows.

10
But so awful a calamity which has befallen us, must
have serious and solemn lessons for us, which, if we are wise,
we will attend to .and learn. Our business is not to rouse
the passions of men and to excite their indignation, for we
know only too well, that men have been fearfully excited
already. Their anger, sorrow, and horror have been al
most unbearable, and a word might lash them into uncon
trolable rage or phrenzied madness. When we remember
what men are, what mighty passions slumber in every one's
breast, it is wonderful that more acts of violence have not
been'heard of. Forbearance so great under such provoca
tion is almost unparalleled. We are amazed at it our
selves, and it must be a marvel to the world, and can only
have come from God who controls the wills and affections
of unruly men.
To improve this sad national affliction, let us view it in
the light of Scripture, and not contemplate it as if God
had forsaken the earth and vacated his throne. We must
not forget that " The Lord God omnipotent reigneth." Let
us look to him for guidance and protection, and if we do ¦
so, then the burthen of our prayer will be that of the
weeping prophet, lamenting over the woes of Jerusalem :
"Eemember, 0 Lord, what is come upon us. Consider
and behold our reproach." Oh, who will describe our re
proach? We are bowed down with shame and grief.
But is there not a cause for such reproach? Ah, yes!
only too much, and it becomes us to bow in submission
to God's will and say with the Psalmist, " I was dumb and
opened not my mouth because Thou didst it." We have
lost sight of God. We have idolized the human instru
ment. We have put our confidence in man, in our rulers,
our generals, our armies, rather than in God. And this
is a species of dishonor which God has ever resented.
There is no doctrine more frequently and more plainly
delivered in the Bible than that all things are overruled
and governed by a wise Providence ; and that those events,
in the accomplishment of which the abilities of men emi-

11
nent for prudence, and courage, and other endowments
which deservedly gain public admiration, are employed,
must not yet be regarded as having been brought about
without the concurrence of a still superior wisdom and
power. This is a truth which we have largely forgotten. We
have lost sight of the fact, that as God is the Bestower of
every good and perfect gift, so He is, in an especial man
ner, of all public and national blessings. It is necessary
that we have a firm persuasion of this truth would we
rightly value the mercy received. The temporal blessings
, which God bestows may be invaluable ; the dangers and
perils we escape may be fearful ; but we always regard
them as more precious when we look upon God as the
Bestower of the good and the Deliverer from the evil.
And certainly no thought can be more comfortable, than
that God, who is the Preserver of men, careth for us ; that
the Lord of- all things delighteth to do us good ; for that
which adds the greatest price to any national mercy is, that
* it bears the signature of Heaven, and is sent as a sure
token of the Divine favor.
And as this reflection will afford us a proper sense of the
valuableness of the blessings bestowed or the deliverances
vouchsafed to us, so also, will it e:!ccite in our minds a due
respect and veneration for those worthy patriots whom God
is pleased to select as the ministers of His Providence in
conveying his blessings to the sons of men. The fame of
such men may be great and wide spread. They may bs of
high rank and dignity, of great ability and moral worth
and strong in the affections of the people. Yet these
honors are of little worth in comparison with the greater
glory which redounds to such from their being as it were
the special agents of God through whom He dispenses His
blessings to a people and nation. Great things are said of
Naaman in the holy story, that he was "captain of the
hosts of the king of Syria," that he was a "great man with
his master an honorable," but the finishing stroke of his

12
character is this that, " by him the Lord had given deliver
ance unto Syria."
Chief among such worthy and honored Patriots was our
late beloved Chief Magistrate, who, in greatness and good
ness, in wisdom and integrity, must ever rank next to
Washington. Another lesson we may learn ; and that is repentance.
God afflicted our nation, sorely afflicted it, but we repented
not. Men, alas, seemed to grow more worldly every day ;
and that which made it the worse was that they were thus
impenitent when God's sore judgments were in the land,
and pressing upon us.
I must confess that I have experienced for many months
continual sorrow of heart, as I thought df the insensibility
of so many of our people. They failed utterly to realize
the solemnity of the times in which we live. Never did
anything so discourage me in the whole twenty years of my
ministry. Extravagance, absorption in busiAess, indul
gence in worldly amusements and fashionable follies, might
well be described as unparalleled in the history of the country; -
and when we reflected that all this was taking place in time
of civil war, dreadful civil war, in which hundreds of thou
sands had fallen, and for all we knew as many more might
fall, it seemed unnatural, almost inhuman. For had we no
sympathy with this untold amount of suffering ? As I
thought of all of this, I could not exult in the success of
our armies as most did. I had fearful forebodings of some
coming woe, which would make all feel. In what form the
woe might come I knew not, it did not appear likely that
it would be in the form of foreign intervention ; the time for
that had passed. The downfall of the rebellion seemed
certain. I thought it might be that financial crisis which it
was predicted was near at hand, and which would affect
the profits, the business and means of living of every man,
and make all feel. But the woe has come in another form
different from anything which occurred to my mind ; and
we have felt it deeply. The national heart has been filled

13
with grief such as it never felt before. Will we repent
now ? Will we realize the awful truth that God has a con
troversy with us ? Most certainly we have all need to utter
the prayer of the text — " Eemember, 0 Lord, what is come
upon us. Consider and behold our reproach."
We should also at this time try hard to yield up our
selves to the control of a mild, gentle and forbearing tem
per; we should strive to have the same mind which our
Saviour possessed when he prayed, " Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do." We must not indulge
in feelings of personal revenge. A great crime has indeed
been committed — a crime which every right-minded man
feels almost as much as if his own father had been basely
assassinated. The provocation to anger and revenge is
fearful, but we must moderate it. Heavy as is the woe
which has come upon us, it is one which we richly deserve,
and this ought to mitigate our resentment, calm our pas
sions and aid us in keeping them within the bounds of
reason. We are to consider that whatever we suffer is
appointed of God, that whatever be the wickedness of men,
we can suffer nothing from their wickedness except what
God for wise reasons sees fit that we should suffer. This
being so, it must follow that we are more concerned with
God than man. Man may indeed be the rod used in
scourging us; it is yet God who strikes, and a due rever
ence for God and His judgments will make us take the
less notice of men, the mere instruments of our shame and
reproach. This view of the case will leave us little cause
to be angry with men except their own wickedness. We
may be angry with their malice, their ill-will, but we must
submit to what has come upon us as the will of our God.
This ought to moderate our passions as it leaves so little of
self in our anger. The more we attribute our reproach to
God and the less to man, the more free will our souls be
from any feeling of mere personal revenge ; and we will re
member who has said "Vengeance is mine : I will repay,
saith the Lord."

14
I will present one thought more. On every side are the
emblems of sorrow, of woe and mourning in our churches,
in our houses, on our persons. It is well that it is so. Thus
it should be. It is right and becoming to weep for the
dead, especially when the dead is the head of a mighty
people, a great and good man who was rapidly drawing
to himself the hearts of all classes of our people, and se
curing the confidence of foreign governments. All this is
well, all this is becoming.
But how many of us have great need to weep for our
selves and our children, for both we and they, it may be,
are yet in rebellion against our God and Saviour. Yes,
" there are many, very many whose hearts beat for their
country's cause and welfare who are dead to the patriotism
of a better country, — that is an heavenly. Those who boast
and it may be, truly and honorably boast, that they love
and appreciate our Constitution and free Institutions, may
yet have no feeling or understanding for the magnificent
polity of heaven. Alas, we worship the shadow of power,
and have no adoration for the substance. We pour out a
world of feeling — treasures of rich and noble emotion — upon
the instruments of authority, the mere subordinates of God,
and we have no loyalty for Him who moves the whole
machinery, and from whom all power is derived, whether
it be in the physical universe of matter and motion, or in
the world of Governments, Principalities, Powers and
Laws."

%\t €mmtl of S^it^op^el iunub into Jfoolisljncss

2 SAMUEL, xvii. 14.

The Lord had appointed to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to tbe intent that the
Lord might bring evil upon Absalom.

My hearers are doubtless well acquainted with that
period of Jewish history to which the text refers. There
was a rebellion in those days against the lawful govern
ment, and a daring attempt made to overthrow it, just as
there has been in our time a rebellion against the consti
tuted authorities of the land, and gigantic efforts put forth
to overturn the government under which we live.
That was a wicked rebellion, most unnatural, because it
was a misguided son making war upon a fond and over-
indulgent father, whom he had resolved to dethrone. No
less monstrous and unnatural is our rebellion ; because it
is a war waged against the noblest and most forbearing
government upon which the sun has ever shone ; a gov
ernment, too, which has freely and lavishly bestowed its
honors and its offices upon the leaders ; it has nourished
and brought up children, and they have rebelled against it.
That rebellion had on its side and in its interest the
wisest and most sagacious of human counsellors, the most
profound statesman and shrewdest politician of the time.
" For the counsel of Ahithophel, which he counselled in
those days, was as if a man had inquired of the oracle of
God; so was all the counsel of Ahithophel, both with
David and Absalom."
So, also, has the rebellion in our day and in our own
land been planned and matured by the wisest and most
sagacious counsellors which this, or any other land, has

18
produced. At the head of it, and arranging it, were men
skilled in the politics of their country ; men who had ex
ercised a controlling influence over the government, both
in its foreign and domestic policy. Long had they been
preparing for the "inevitable conflict." Deep, far-reaching
and all-comprehensive were their plans. They had ample
time and opportunities allowed them to have all things in
perfect readiness when the period for the great struggle
should come. I imagine, if all were known of this rebel
lion, of its origin, the means used for bringing it to ripe
ness, how much was thought of it, how much was done,
how much was guarded against, the efforts put forth to gain
friends and sympathy abroad, also to foment discord and
dissension at home, — I imagine, if all this were known, the
world would by common consent pronounce it the " Master
piece of Human Wisdom."
'In Absalom's rebellion, special arts were used to detach
the masses of the people from his father David. The arch
rebel "rose early and stood beside the way of the gate," to
show his concern for the public good and tender his assist
ance to those who came to the King for justice. Of each
he made conciliatory inquiries, assured them their cause
was good, lamented there was no one to administer impar
tial justice, and concluded with convenient modesty by
saying that " if he were Judge in Israel, every man who
had a suit or cause might come unto him and be sure of re
ceiving justice." Thus, by flattering speeches and profuse
promises, "did Absalom steal the hearts of the men of
Israel." And how similar to these arts were those which
the rebel leaders used in order to " fire the Southern heart 1"
How large were the promises which they made of a mighty
Southern Confederacy to embrace all Mexico and the West
Indies ! And what false charges, too, were made against
the government, and the people of the North ! But in all
this, there was nothing " new under the sun ;" they were
but imitating the example and using the tools of that

19
demagogue who, in the olden time, attempted to dethrone
his own father.
In the rebellion of Absalom, the heart of David sank
within him when he learned that his old friend, his old
trusted counsellor, had turned against him. And in the
Slave-mongers' rebellion, what grave fears were aroused
in our minds when, at the commencement, we heard now
of one, and then of another of our former statesmen — offi
cers of our army, and of our navy, many of whom the
nation had trusted, honored and even educated, but now as
very ingrates turned against it. We asked in deep splici-
tude, Where will this defection end ? Who will maintain
their integrity amid so many that are faithless ? Sad were
our misgivings as we thought of the influence and wisdom
of the statesmen, and the warlike skill and science which
would be arrayed against us in the mighty contest which
seemed to be so near at hand.
Our feelings and fears were much the same as David's,
upon hearing that his old familiar friend, whom he had
trusted, and with whom he had so often taken counsel
about the affairs of the nation, had abandoned him and
gone over to the side of his unnatural son. And as our
circumstances, feelings and fears bear so strong a resem
blance to his, so was the burden of our prayers to Almighty
God, in substance the same, which he offered in that ex
tremity. His prayer was, that the counsel which Ahitho
phel gave Absalom might be turned unto foolishness ; and
that prayer was heard, for "The Lord had appointed to
defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that
the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom." The counsel
of this able statesman is not called good because of its
being in accordance with what was just and right, but be
cause it was well adapted to gain the end desired ; and if it
had been followed, the rebellion must have been successful.
But God, who governs the unruly wills and affections of
sinful men, inclined Absalom to follow other counsel, which
led to his downfall and ruin.

20
Our own war has now ended ; the government has main
tained its power ; the last rebel array has surrendered. As
we look back upon the four eventful years just closed,
we see clearly that had all things turned out as the leaders
expected, success would either by this time have crowned
their efforts to establish a slave empire, or else the war
would still be raging, and might continue to rage for
years. Let us then notice some of the things upon which
they relied for success in this contest.
And first, they calculated largely upon foreign interven
tion. Perhaps, when the secret history of the rebellion
shall be known, it will then be seen that the governments
of several of the leading nations of Europe had an under
standing upon this matter. They desired to see the nation
divided, and they held out the hope that at the proper
time the independence of the rebellious States should be
acknowledged. We do know that at the commencement
of the rebellion the leaders calculated largely upon receiv
ing the aid of this coveted intervention. They had con
vinced themselves that this would become absolutely neces
sary in order to obtain a supply of cotton. They boasted
that Cotton was a King to whose dominion all must yield.
But mark how their counsels were turned to foolishness.
They did not obtain the aid of the desired intervention.
And why ? Certainly not from any unwillingness on the
part of some of the leading governments of Europe. They
showed they had the inclination to meddle in our affairs
by their undue haste in conceding the rights of belligerents
to the rebels.
There were several things which prevented this. First,
It was an unpopular thing to admit into the family of
nations a confederacy of Slave mongers. However willing
many of the ruling classes might have been to have done a
thing so monstrous — a thing most abominable in the eyes
of the great masses of the common people — it was not
deemed safe to inflict such an outrage upon their feelings
and principles.

21
It so happened that just when the rebellion commenced,
there was an oversupply of cotton and goods manufac
tured from that staple in England ; sufficient indeed to
supply the markets of the world for several years. There
was, consequently, no very urgent reason for immediate
interference. A total suspension of the cotton trade was
just what was most desirable, and if we may rely upon
statements in the papers, those who were engaged in the
trade and manufacture of cotton realized profits to the
enormous amount of five hundred millions of dollars.
The crops were very light in England and France for
the first two years of the war, and bread enough to sustain
and feed the teeming millions of those countries could only
be obtained -from this. These were little unforeseen things
which had much to do in turning into foolishness the
counsels of the rebel Ahithophels ; and thus two years of
precious time were gained ; and in the meantime our
armies were organized and brought under good discipline.
The Monitor, too, had appeared on the scene of action ; the
New Ironsides had been completed ; some hundreds of
ships of war were in commission, and what might have
been done at an earlier period with comparative safety,
would have been very perilous now. And besides this, the
certainty that every sea and ocean would swarm with
privateers, had a wholesome effect in causing the peace to
be kept.
Second, They counted largely upon a divided North and
a united South. A sad delusion 1 They learned their error
when they heard of the mighty uprising of the Northern
people upon the firing on Fort Sumter. That was a most
sublime spectacle. There was then a meaning and emphasis
in old phrases which had been often before used, and that
without much sense or reason, such as " the people rising
in the majesty of their strength," that "the country was
redeemed — disenthralled." This was seen to be true now.
Corrupt politicians were silent and dared not open their
mouths. They sank beneath the flood of popular indigna-

22
tion, which overwhelmed all in its course. We trusted
that they had gone under to rise no more. But after the
violence of the flood began to abate, they were seen to
reappear upon the surface, and tried again to distract the
country, and in this course they persisted until the fall of
1864, when all hope of aid from that quarter vanished
finally and forever ; in the meanwhile the South was be
coming more and more hopelessly divided — united it never
had been.
Third. They rushed into rebellion, taking it for granted
that the North had neither the inclination nor the skill to
engage in war — that they were of a sordid spirit; that they
would sacrifice everything — honor, manhood, religion and
the Government, as soon as their business, their profits and
their trade were endangered. They have had ample time
to learn into what a dreadful error' they were permitted to
fall. Never did nation meet the demands made upon it
more cheerfully, whether in men or money ; and the close
of the war has left the Government in possession of an
army of six or seven hundred thousand men of unsurpassed
valor and discipline. The contest, instead of exhausting
the resources of the country, has only fully developed them,
and showed to ourselves and the world the real power of
the country.
Fourth. They further expected to have allies in pestilence
and in stormy winds and tempest, but in this they have
been disappointed; as our Southern country has been visited
with no plague except the plague of war, these four years;
and that has fallen upon it in the most fearfully destructive
manner. Nor have storms come to their rescue in destroy
ing our navy.
Fifth. They boasted, too, that slavery was an element
of strength. But this also has been turned against them.
Many thousands of slaves left their masters, and to their
dismay they soon saw them returning with arms in their
hands, well disciplined and brave soldiers.
Sixth. And if all else failed it appears that the honored

23
head of the nation was to be murdered, together with all
who, according to law, could succeed to his office. The
President, unhappily, was killed, but the nation still lives,
and is as strong, if not stronger, than ever, standing in the
very first rank of the great powers of the earth. The office
rendered vacant was instantly filled by a brave and deter
mined man, who bids fair to be no unworthy successor of
Abraham Lincoln.
Thus, in every way have the counsels of the rebellion
been turned into foolishness, and our prayers have been
answered; and, no doubt, it was the purpose of God to
defeat the counsels of the Ahithophels of the rebellion to
the intent that the Lord might bring evil upon the inhuman
system of American slavery, and all the abominations to
which it has given rise. And evil has been brought upon it.
An attempt was made to erect a new nation, the corner
stone of which should be human slavery. The attempt has
signally failed, and the system of slavery itself is swept
away ; the leaders are either fugitives and vagabonds on
the face of the earth, or are under arrest. Those proud,
ambitious, and arrogant men have been brought low.
They have, in one respect, changed places with their
own slaves, who, when escaping from their cruel bondage,
were hunted down even with bloodhounds, and for them
there was no safety either in Slave or Free St^te — not until
they reached some friendly foreign soil were they secure.
And now, there is no refuge for those who demanded and
called for the enforcement of a fugitive-slave law. They,
too, are trying to hide and conceal themselves from the
just vengeance of the Government, against which they have
rebelled. Now, if never before, are they in a condition to
sympathize with the poor black man as he fled from a hard
task master ; as he tried to escape from the lash of the re
morseless slave driver. As we contemplate the reversed
position of the parties, we ask, " What hath God wrought?"
"This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes."
He is blind who does not see the hand of God in all this.

24
It was a singular coincidence that Charleston and Eich
mond, the cities which were guilty above all other cities
within the lines of the rebellion, were first occupied by
negro troops; these soldiers of African descent entered
those proud but fallen cities as conquerors. This was a
result never dreamed of, never discussed in the early
counsels of the rebellion. If anything could have been
more humbling than this, it was the fact that this gigantic
and wicked rebellion should have been put down under
the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and that the work
of reconstruction should devolve upon Andrew Johnson ;
men who rose from the ranks of the people; who bs-
longed to the class upon whom the aristocratic leaders of
the rebellion looked with contempt. How have all the
counsels of their Ahithophels been turned into foolishness?
This is just what might have been expected, when we
consider the wickedness of the rebellion and the enormous
crimes which it has committed. Its first heinous crime
was, that it was an attempt to break up a great and good
government ; to erect upon its ruins a slave empire. Sia
very was to be perpetual, to run on, widening and extend
ing, generation after generation, until it should fill the en
tire land. Who will measure the magnitude of this crime ?
Perhaps the bast description of it is that it is "the sum of
all villanies."
And now, we ask, what crime has not the rebellion com-
mitt jil, or attempted to commit ? or rather, we ask, is there
any crime which it is possible for men to commit, which it
would not have perpetrated rather than fail in its object ?
It would sooner have embroiled the whole civilized world
in war and bloodshed than not to have succeeded. This
amount of evil it did not actually commit, but it made
most persistent attempts, and failed, not for the want of
will, but because it lacked the power to do all the mischief
which it would.
It attempted to bring about a state of anarchy in all the
loyal States; to set county against county, city against

25
city, and class against class. It attempted to burn our
Northern cities ; to make raids across our Canadian bor
der; to commit piracy on the lakes and on the ocean.
Yes, with diabolical malevolence, it even made the attempt
to introduce plague and pestilence into the densely-crowded
population of our Northern cities. The fact has been dis
closed, that garments infected with yellow fever were sent
into our cities for this wicked purpose. Such counsels as
these must have been suggested by Satan himself. These
are some of the things they attempted, but in which they
met with but partial success. But what were the things
in which they succeeded? They succeeded in teaching
men that they might perjure themselves, and yet be hon
orable men, good men, Christian men. They confiscated
hundreds of millions of dollars which they owed to North
ern men, besides robbing the Government of many millions
more. They succeeded in bringing on a war, — a war by sea and
land, — a war which has desolated some of the fairest por
tions of our country, — a war which has carried mourning
into every town and village in the land, — a war in which
hundreds of thousands of lives have been sacrificed, and
thousands of millions of treasure expended. Another of
their crimes was to massacre our prisoners, — a deed of
cruelty which in our day was considered as belonging to
men in a savage and barbarous state ; and to this must be
added the inhuman treatment of our prisoners of war with
even more savage cruelty, slowly murdering them by de
priving them of necessary food, and exposure to rain and
storm, heat and cold. This is a crime which it is hard to
forgive, and what aggravates it beyond measure, is the fact
that Southern Christianity approved of and sanctioned this
barbarism, — sanctioned it certainly by its silence. For as
yet there is no evidence that any body of Christians, in its
ecclesiastical capacity, condemned or protested against it.
In fact, there is as yet no evidence that a single Christian

26
minister of any body of Christian people raised his voice
against it.
This I am afraid will be a great obstacle in the way of
the restoration of Christian communion with our Southem
people. I know not what they will be able to say in their
defence. It looks now as if their very Christianity had
been barbarized, and as if the spirit of the inquisition had
reappeared in a new form in the hearts of those calling
themselves Christians, who live in the midst of and are
surrounded by the baleful influences of slavery. We all
feel glad that our Government did not yield to the pres
sure that was brought to bear upon it to retaliate this great
wrong. All of us felt at times that this ought to be done;
but when we reflected that our Government was great and
powerful, and that cruelty was an evidence of weakness ;
when we remembered that we were a Christian nation,
whose lot was cast in the last half of the nineteenth cen
tury, we generally arrived at the conclusion of an eminent
physician. This physician felt a deep interest in our re
turned prisoners. When he beheld their horrible con
dition, his first impulse was that the Government must re
taliate ; but he yielded to better feelings. He thought if
the worst of the rebel leaders were placed in his power to
punish them as they deserved, he could not have found it
in his heart to have treated them in that barbarous' manner,
much less the common soldiers. He remembered the
words, " Vengeance is mine : I will repay, saith the Lord."
As he looked upon the living skeletons of our poor prison
ers, he saw evidence of the downfall of the rebellion. The
full conviction took fast hold of his mind, that Divine ven
geance must overthrow and destroy a power which could
be guilty of such inhumanity. There were other crimes
the rebellion was guilty of which I pass over, and hasten
to the last and greatest. The measure of its iniquity was
filled up when it murdered the President on Good Friday
evening. It did on that occasion attempt to do more, but
only succeeded in assassinating our President. Alas ! that

27
one so great and good should have so fallen ; but perhaps
this was necessary to disclose to the world the true spirit
of the rebellion. Abraham Lincoln had been marked as
a victim from the first; but in the good providence of
God, the hands of his murderers were holden until his
work was done — the rebellion crushed.
He had his work assigned him by God, and was the fit
ting human instrument for the work that was to be done ;
just as much so as Washington was the man for his times.
Of that day, we say, the times needed a Washington, and
a Washington was suited for the times. So the peculiar
emergency created by the slave-holder's rebellion required
just such an one as Abraham Lincoln, and God provided
the man needed. He was fitted for the crisis by the local
ity of his birth, which was in a Border Slave State. He
had, in his early years, a good opportunity of seeing how
heavily the system of slavery pressed upon that class of
whites to which he belonged : the non-slaveholding part of
the people. He was fitted for his position by his early
training. He had to struggle with difficulties and hard
ships. He was a self-made man, possessed of a vigorous
body and a sound understanding. He was fitted for his
position by his honesty, his truthfulness, by the sincerity
of his character. He was also a good man, a conscientious
man, one who feared God. His last inaugural address was
a model of its kind, and differed widely from those of
former years. It was, indeed, said it was not statesman
like. Perhaps not, if judged of by other similar addresses
which hardly come up in their moral tone to that degree of
morality which Heathen Eome had attained. We are sure,
however, that it was just such a document as we might
expect to come from a God-fearing and Christian man.
Abraham Lincoln was a man of the people. He under
stood and spoke the language ofthe people, and knew how
to put a great thought or argument in a few plain and
simple words. Many of his sayings are like proverbs, and
proverbs, we know, are the practical wisdom of men con-

28
densed in a few brief sentences. Never was a man called
to a high office in more perilous times. But he accepted
the trust which Providence had imposed upon him, and
how well he fulfilled it the history of the last four years
show, and will show to all time.
We only knew how much we loved and honored him
when he was basely assassinated. We thought it could
not be. We mourned and wept as never did nation for its
ruler. There are two journeys of Abraham Lincoln which will
be memorable in the history of the country. The first was
when he left his own quiet home in the west, asking the
prayers of his neighbors as he started for the seat of gov
ernment to assume the office which his country had con
ferred upon him. We followed him as he proceeded on
his way in the accounts which appeared in the papers.
We read the brief, but significant speeches which he deliv
ered in towns and cities through which he passed. We
were charmed with their plainness. We desired to know
more of the man's mind whom the people delighted to
honor. We were startled when we heard that he had been
compelled to hasten in disguise, to escape those wicked
men who were prepared to cut him off, even before he
could take the oath of office, or reach the seat of govern
ment. In Washington he spent four eventful years, and who
can tell all he endured, all he suffered — the amount of
e,are and anxiety which pressed upon him with almost
crushing weight in those weary years ! How patient he
was ! how forbearing ! how forgiving ! but withal firm and
immovable as a rock in his efforts to maintain the honor
and integrity of the Government. As his term of office
drew to a close, he was re-elected in order to carry on to
completion the great work which had prospered so well in
his hands.
He enters upon his new term of office and fills it for little
more than a month, during which time the rebellion re-

29
ceived its death-blow. He is permitted to enter the capital
of the Eebel Empire, which had fallen to rise no more. He
is again in Washington, where, with his heart full of kind
ness and good-will to those in arms against the Govern
ment, he is stricken down, and a nation mourns his death.
And now, his unconscious body is borne in its journey
back again to the place from whence he had come. Never
did so many honest and sincere mourners attend a funeral
before. Never was there such a funeral procession, which
extended through States and was protracted for many days
passing through our largest cities.
The people in millions crowded to get a last sad view
of him now silent in death, and then wept again. And
now the funeral is over; his mortal remains repose amidst
his old friends and neighbors, out in the great West. He
seemed to come to an untimely end, but, perhaps, he fell
at the most fitting time for his own fame. Evermore,
hereafter, as we tell our children of our Washington, the
father of his country, we shall speak to them of Abraham
Lincoln, the saviour of his country ; and never will men
cease to denounce his murder as a crime the most enormous
ever committed in this or any other age ; a crime which
has not only filled our hearts with grief and sorrow^ but
has sent a thrill of horror throughout the whole civilized
world. And now our long and bloody war has ended. Soon our
victorious armies will be disbanded and return to their
homes in triumph. It is cause of devout thankfulness
that our cause has succeeded, that the counsels of the rebel
Ahithophels have been turned into foolishness at home and
abroad. We have succeeded, too, with the ruling classes
throughout the world against us. And we know and feel
that the country is, and must be, " one and inseparable."
But great duties now press upon us. Let us rise up and
discharge them, in reliance upon the grace and aid of our
God. Christian men must now labor and toil for the tem
poral and eternal welfare of our beloved country as they

30
never have done before. They must put forth mighty and
unceasing efforts to counteract the great flood of evil which,
in manifold forms, has flowed and is flowing in upon the
land, the sad consequences of the fearful war just ended.
Crippled and maimed soldiers in countless thousands have
been thrown upon us. And who will count the number of
widows and orphans ? And then, too, there are the millions
of freed blacks. And Southern society is largely disor
ganized. Here is a great work for Christians : a work which
in magnitude almost equals, that which was thrown upon the
Church at the downfall ofthe Eoman Empire. Most weighty
and interesting are our duties. Will we be found faithful
to our country and to our God?

YALE