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THE DEATH OF PKESIDENT LIHCOLH.

A MEMORIAL DISCOURSE,

IIELIVER-ED IN THE

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ON SUNDAY, APRIL 16tli, 1865,

BY THE PASTOR,

Rev. JAMES COOPER.

PHILADELPHIA:
JAS. B. RODGERS, PRINTER, 62 AND 54 NORTH SIXTH STREET.
1865.

THE DEATH OF PEESIDEHT LINCOLN.

A MEMORIAL DISCOURSE,

DELIVERED IN THE

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ON SUNDAY, APRIL 16th, 1865,

BY TH E PASTOR,

Rev. JAMES COOPER.

PHILADELPHIA:
JAS. B. RODGERS, PRINTER, 62 AND 64 NORTH SIXTH STREET.
1865.

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Philadelphu, April 19th, 1865.
Ret. James Cooper;
Hespected Sir — Having listened with great satisfaction to your discourse, on last Sabbath
morning, the 16th inst., on the assassination of our lamented President, Abraham Lincoln
you would confer a great favor by loaning us the manuscript for publication.
Respectfully your friends, JOHN P. LEVT,
HBNRT H. ENGLISH,
SAMUEL APPLETON,
J. H. JOHNSON,
WM. P. De SANNO,
WM. RITSSELL,

J. A. GENDBLL,
J. C. PATNTER,
0. C. ROBERTS,
W. ELWOOD ROWAN,
EDWARD H. PUGH,
S. T. ALTEMUS.

Phuabelphia, April 24th, 1866.
To JOHN P. LEVT, HENRT H. ENGLISH, and others.
Gentlemen — Tour note of the 19th inst., in which you speak so kindly of the discourse
delivered on the Sabbath morning preceding, has been received.
I cheerfully submit the manuscript, aa you desire, for publication.
With affectionate esteem.
Tours very truly, JAMES COOPER.

A MEMORIAL DISCOURSE.

2 Samuel i. 19 — "The beauty of Israel is alain upon thy high places:
how are the mighty fallen!"
The history of the civil war which for four years
has convulsed this land has been remarkable for the
frequent and sudden alternations of feeling in the
public mind. From deep despondency to highest
exultation, from an all-pervading gloom to an all-en
veloping brightness of pubhc sentiment; from dark
ness to light and from Hght to darkness, from the sor
row of defeat to the joy of victory, and from the joy
of victory to the sorrow of defeat, the transitions have
been rapid and abrupt.
The profound gloom and misgiving of the people
during the never to be forgotten months which pre
ceded the bombardment and fall of Fort Sumter, were
suddenly dispelled by that attempt of frenzied men to
dishonor the sjrmbol of American nationality, and the
spectacle was presented to the world of twenty mil
lions of people aroused to the highest degree of enthu-

6 THE DEATH OF
siasm, and impelled by the spirit of a sublime pa
triotism to heroic deeds for its vindication.
From a state of self-reliant and boastful security we
were plunged at once into an abyss of horror and of
grief by the disastrous results of the first great conflict
which raged almost in sight of the nation's capitol.
No less sudden was the recovery from the disappoint
ment of defeat to a more intelligent, and firmer reso
lution to make still greater sacrifices for the Republic.
The rapidity with which events have changed, is
singularly illustrated by the diverse eflects which have
been produced in the minds of foreigners. Separated
from us by the great sea, they have been removed
from the excitements and confusions in which we have
daily lived, and they have viewed the events trans
piring here in the aggregate, and not as we have, in
many and contradictory particulars. The tidings of
one week, which have given grief to our friends and
joy to our enemies abroad, have been followed in the
succeeding week by other tidings, which have given
joy to friends and grief to enemies.
The ebb and flow of the tides which have laved
foreign shores, have been scarcely more regular in
their movements than the ebb and flow — the fall and
rise of pubhc feehng in foreign lands consequent upon
the almost periodical changes of events with us.
But remarkable as the alternation of events — of
good and evil— fluctuating as the feehngs of the peo-

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 7
pie have been during the past four years, none bear
any comparison in suddenness and fearfulness, and in
the revulsion of feehng experienced, with what has
transpired during the past few hours.
"When the sun, which all the day long had poured
forth its wealth of hght and glory over the land, and
bathed with its fiery flood the starry banner waving
in every breeze, went down on Friday night, its last
lingering beams rested upon a joyous people. All
hearts were filled with gladness, and every tongue was
vocal with praise. The morning dawned — the nation
was in tears, and draping itself in the habiliments of
mourning. Suddenly, as if the sun at noon-day were
echpsed, a horror of great darkness fell upon us. The
idol of our hearts — the strong stafi" of our confiding
trust — the Patriot — ^the Statesman of tried worth —
our honored Chief Magistrate was no more.
The glory of American Israel is slain upon our
high places : how is the mighty fallen !
From whatever point of view we contemplate this
event — ^whether we regard the joyous and congratu
latory scenes from the midst of which he was violently
removed, or regard the time and the manner of his
death — it is a most afflictive dispensation. That in
the hour of signal triumph to our arms — on the very
day, when, with commemorative services, the na
tional colors were again unfurled over the same his
toric place where four years before they had been

8 THE DEATH OF
lowered — that at the close of the first great stage of
the national struggle — at a time when the future was
bright with signs of final and complete success, and
presaged the retum of peace and prosperity, that at
such a time the President should die, is profoundly
mysterious. A mournful calamity, it would have
proved, if wasted by disease, or from fearful injuries,
his noble heart had ceased to beat, and his manly
form had sunk to rest amid the tears of a stricken fa
mily, and of a bereaved nation, but that he should die
by an assassin's hand, by a felon's hate, is overwhelm
ingly appalhng. We are transfixed with horror.
For the first time in the annals of our country, the
awful crime has been committed of the assassination
of our highest ruler. Other lands have witnessed
such crimes. Ancient and modern history afford
many instances — but the pages of American history
have never been darkened, until now, with the record
of so black a crime.
It is difiicult to find in the past a parallel to this
atrocious deed. One instance, having some resem
blance to the present, we discover in the closing quar
ter of the sixteenth century. On the 10th of July,
1584, Wilham the Silent, Chief Magistrate of the
United Netherlands, perished by the pistol of an as
sassin. The territory over which his authority was
acknowledged was small contrasted with that over
which the authority of President Lincoln was recog-

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 9
nized — it was not larger, in fact, than the States of
Delaware and Maryland combined, and contained a
population of only one million and a half of people;
ahd yet, in the momentous interests, both political
and religious, which were at stake in the war then
raging, in the important stage of his country's strug
gle, at which William the Silent was murdered, and
especially in the traits of character of the Washing
ton of the sixteenth century, as he has been called,
there is much that would afibrd instructive comparison.
But time will not allow, and the occasion does not re
quire that the resemblances should be traced.
I am not qualified to give my hearers an elaborate
dehneation of the great statesman whose death we de
plore. It is no easy task to portray with just discri
mination his character. Abraham Lincoln was, in
many respects, a remarkable man. Of humble birth,
subjected to privations, and accustomed to severe toil
from early youth, yet by the inherent force of his
character, and by faithful improvement of meagre ad
vantages, he rose by degrees to the high place of honor
and of influence which he so ably filled at the time of
his death.
His life adds another to the many examples, con
firming the adage that great men are born in adver
sity. He was eminently a man of the people. His sym
pathies were enlisted always on their behalf; their

10 ' THE DEATH OF
elevation, their success, and their happiness were
greatly desired by him, and in his own character and
life he iUustrated the essential dignity of man apart
from the circumstances of birth or of wealth, inde
pendently of all conventional distinctions.
Self-educated, his mind was disciplined by severe
study, and was enriched in no small degree with ge
neral as well as professional literature. He was dis
tinguished for sound common sense, and for" the practi
cal cast of his mind. In his' writings and his addresses
he was plain, direct and simple; there was no attempt
at eloquence, and no striving after an immediate
efiect, but his language was always clear and vigorous.
His illustrations, not unfrequently derived from the
most humble and familiar sources, were selected, not
to adorn, but to give point to his speech, and because
of their fitness to make his meaning clear to the great
mass of men.
He was a large-hearted man, of tender, kind and
affectionate spirit; the warmest impulses of his heart
were toward the humble and the neglected — toward
the obscure and the helpless. The sick and wounded
soldiers — the widows and the fatherless, made such
by the ravages of war — and the poor freedmen found
in him a compassionate friend. The range of his sym
pathies was almost boundless, for the unintelligent as
well as the intelligent creation shared in their exercise.
If ever there was a man to whom the sentiment of

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 11
Wordsworth would apply, and from whose lips the
words of the poet would most naturally fall, that man
was Abraham Lincoln: —
" Thanks to the human heart,
Thanks to its tenderness, its joys and fears,
To me the meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears."
His moral convictions were deep and powerful — he
earnestly sought to discern what was right, and was
firm and unyielding in what he beheved to be his
duty. Honesty, uprightness, and singleness of pur
pose were pre-eminent elements of his character.
Armed with these, he was able to meet, and to baffie
the intrigue, subtle policy, and cunning diplomacy of
the arch traitor, through whose wicked counsels and
determined will the rebelhon has so long resisted the
armies ofthe Repubhc.
The existence in him of a rehgious spirit, the exer
cise of a calm rehgious trust in the most critical pe
riods of the war, and a devout recognition of God in
the results which have been secured; these traits of
his character, and their frequent expression, which
have been so well known to us, have, at length, been
recognized by eminent writers abroad.
The London Spectator, in an article on President
Lincoln, referring to Macaulay's celebrated comparison
of Washington to John Hampden, says : " If that high
eulogium was fully earned, as it was, by the first great

12 THE DEATH OF
President of the United States, we doubt if it has not
been as well earned by the Illinois peasant proprietor
and village lawyer, whom, by some divine inspiration
or providence, the Republican caucus of 1860 substi
tuted for their nominee for the President's chair." It
adds, speaking of his Inaugural of the 4th of March,
that it contains " a grasp of principle, a dignity of man
ner, and a solemnity of purpose, which would have
been unworthy of neither Hampden nor of Cromwell,
while his gentleness and generosity of feeling toward
his foes was almost greater than we should expect
from either of them,"
Suffer me in this connection to refresh your memo
ries with the concluding paragraphs of his second In
augural. How solemn do the words appear now, that
their author is no more !
" Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that
this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away.
Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth
piled by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years
of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop
of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another
drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand
years ago, so still it must be said, that 'the judgments
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'
"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with
firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right,
let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 13
up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have
borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans;
to do aU which may achieve and cherish a just and a
lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
I have no desire to indulge hi indiscriminate eulogy
of President Lincoln. That he had faults I do not
deny, but some of those traits of his character which
were deemed to be, and were proclaimed to be faults,
were not really such.
His jocoseness — his readiness to draw from a seem
ingly inexhaustible fund of anecdote — were not evi
dences of indifference to the solemn interests of the
country, but were often the necessary rebound of his
elastic spirit long overborne by the cares and respon
sibihties of his oflSce. The very same peculiarity dis
tinguished the illustrious soldier and statesman to
whom I have already referred. Of Abraham Lincoln
this may be justly said — "He was a man, take him
for all in aU, we shall not look upon his like again."
From this brief review of his character, from this
imperfect tribute to his worth, I turn to consider some
of the thoughts which our national bereavement sug
gests. I. God, in his infinite mercy, seems to have prepared
us in an especial manner to bear this terrible stroke
of affliction. I call to your remembrance a remark
which was made from this place on last Sunday night.
Referring to the outbursts of jubilant emotions which

14 THE DEATH OF
followed the announcement of the storming, by our
gallant men, of the enemy's works [in front of Peters
burg, of the utter rout of the rebels, and the capture
of their boasted impregnable capital; referring to the
extraordinary manifestations of feelings which these
stirring events called forth — the copious tears, the
friendly greetings of strangers, the passionate embrace
of friends, and the glorious songs of praise to Al
mighty God, which ascended from the thronged streets,
from the centres of business and of wealth, and from
the temples of devotion — I suggested that the rehef
afforded by these signal successes, to feelings which
had long been pent up in the breasts of the people,
feehngs which they had not dared to give freest ex
pression to before, would prove to be invigorating,
filling the lungs with moral oxygen of which they had
long been deprived, and imparting moral tone and
health to mind and body, and that we should be pre
pared to bear with greater firmness whatever of dis
appointment or of trial might await us in future. In
this opportunity for fullest joy, God was granting us
release from the intense strain upon our nerves, and
from the severe pressure to which our spirits had been
subjected through years of fearful and bloody war.
Who would have thought that in one short week we
should be prostrated by the stroke of so grievous an
aflhction, and be overwhelmed by the sorrow of so
dire a calamity?

PRESmENT LINCOLN. 15
But can we not discern the evidence of the mercy
of God, in withholding this most bitter cup of grief
until success had awakened joy in our breasts, in
shielding us from this mighty blow until strength had
been imparted to bear it, in not permitting the dense
clouds and darkness to gather around us until we had
realized that the end was not far off", and had caught,
through opening vistas, ghmpses of the glory that was
soon to overspread the land? Had this calamity be
fallen us at any previous stage of the war, it might
have paralyzed, where now it has only stunned us;
it might have crushed, where now it has only shocked
usj; and instead of the agony which now finds relief in
tears, there might have been a tearless agony, such
as consumes the strength with inward fever and often
times ends in despair.
So far as human wisdom merely may judge, if the
murder of "our beloved President had been consum
mated on the eighth of November, or the fourth of
March last, it would have utterly confounded us : uni
versal distrust would have prevailed, and the arm of
authority paralyzed by the shock, treason would have
lifted up its frightful head into the light, and would
have wrought with impunity its horrid deeds of fire
and blood. Our condition as a nation might have
been that which the United Netherlands in similar
circumstances was represented to be — "a dismasted
hulk reeling through the tempest." But God inter-

16 THE DEATH OF
posed his mighty arm, and hath verified, in our na
tional experience, that promise which believers have
found true in their personal experiences — "As thy
days, so shall thy strength be."
II. God teaches us by this solemn providence, the
sacredness of the Chief Magistracy of the Republic.
That civil government is of God, an ordinance of
divine appointment, needs no labored argument to
prove. Whatever of doubt or of misconception, on
this point, may have existed in the minds ofthe people
in former years, the events of the past four years
must have completely removed.
The exigencies of the nation, the perils which have
environed it, and the sacrifices of treasure and of blood
that have been called for, have compelled men to
exanline anew, and to decide the question for them
selves. The desperate assaults of treason against the
unity of the Repubhc, the deadly blows which have
been directed at its foundation principles, and the tre
mendous shock which its institutions have suffered —
these have deepened the conviction, not only that
civil govemment is an ordinance of God, but also that
that form of government which here exists, is in har
mony with the will of God, and is to be upheld and
its authority vindicated at whatever sacrifice of money
or of men. The conviction is thoroughly ingrained
in the minds of the American people, that this Go
vernment, as a sacred legacy bequeathed to them by

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 17
their fathers, and as bearing the signature of the Di
vine approbation, is to be preserved unimpaired in its
integrity, and to be defended to the last extremity.
But are we as intelhgently persuaded that the ad
ministrators of the functions of the Government are
"ministers of God?" — that, in the same sense in which
civil government is an ordinance of God, the "powers
that be" are ordained of God? Do we manifest that
reverence to the magistrate that we do of obedience
to the authority of the laws? Surely, the highest
officer of a free people, the Chief Magistrate of a pow
erful nation, ought to be invested with a dignity and
an honor in the minds of the people. How profoundly
impressed with the sacredness of the office, and of the
person of a great ruler David felt, his relation to Saul,
king of Israel, and his indignation against his sup
posed murderer, plainly disclose. "How wast thou
not afraid to stretch forth thy hand to destroy the
Lord's anointed?" As though the simple knowledge
that he had been set apart to his office by the Lord,
should have guarded Saul from the hand of violence.
The absence of a becoming respect to our highest
officers, has been painfully felt by intelligent observers.
We have made the securing of stations which they
fill the rewards of faithful services to party, and have
selected men without much concern as to thefr capa
city or fitness for high positions. We have recognized
the authority of our rulers, but we have not enter-

18 THE DEATH OF
tained towards them that deep regard which their
exalted position and representative character justly
entitled them. We have not thrown around them
any guards of protection, deeming such precautions as
not only unnecessary, but as derogatory to the intel
ligence and virtue of the people, and as a satire upon
the practical workings of a Repubhcan government.
We have been unrestrained in our criticisms of the
opinions and measures of our public men. In the
heat of party strife, we have heaped upon them ob
loquy and reproach. We have not spared the highest
in authority from ridicule and scorn. Our honored
President, now sleeping in death, had his full share
of harsh criticism and unmerited abuse. Within the
past few weeks, there have not been wanting evi
dences of divisions among his supposed friends, and
preparations making to arrest whatever was opposed
to their ideas concerning the policies which should be
pursued in the settlement of the extraordinary diffi
culties of the passing tipae.
It is not sufficiently bome in mind that the office
of Chief Magistrate is one of vast responsibility, and
that he who would administer it wisely, must look at
every aspect of grave questions, the decisions of which
may influence the destinies of the nation for weal or
wo for succeeding generations.
But, as if to recall to our memories a forgotten
truth — as if to impress anew, with indehble lines.

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 19
upon our minds the sacredness, the inviolable dignity
which should be associated with the Chief Magistracy
of the Repubhc, God has summoned us to mourn over
the prostrate form of our honored Chief, slain by a
murderer's hand. If a noble and generous nature —
if private virtues — ^if beneficial pubhc acts could give
security from an assassin's power, then Abraham
Lincoln would have hved to-day. But the worth of
his personal character, his sense of personal safety,
the security which exalted official station is supposed
to impart, were all in vain.
The manner of his death suggests lessons which
should not be unheeded by the nation. Precautionary
measures of some sort must be devised to insure the
personal safety of the Chief Executive of the United
States. In view of the important interests placed in
his hands, and of the disastrous results which might
ensue from the violent removal of the nation's head,
this is demanded. We need to remember, also, the
danger there is in the unrestrained indulgence of a
spirit of criticism in regard to the motives and actions
of our rulers — of weakening the influence of their
pubhc character, and secretly undermining their au
thority. Liberty is not hcense of speech; the proper
exercise of criticism in a free government, does not
include "speaking evil of dignities."
He who has been so unexpectedly called to this
great office, is worthy of confldence and support. His

20 THE DEATH OF
past life, his unswerving loyalty and his self-sacrificing
patriotism are pledges that he will not disappoint the
just expectations of the American people. God grant
him length of days and a prosperous administration.
III. In this deed of crime, the ultimate test has
been applied to the strength and stability of this Go
vernment. Our rejoicings in one respect have been premature.
We have been too hasty in the conclusions we have
drawn from the recent splendid victories of our armies.
We flattered ourselves that the nation was wholly
saved, that the highest test had been apphed to our
form of government. We rested in the conviction
that treason had exhausted its power for evil, that
the Temple of Liberty had survived the assaults of
rebel foes, and that henceforth the principles of self-
government would every where prevail, and free insti
tutions founded upon and sustained by the intelligent
will of the people, would every where arise. We have
not concealed our joy over the failure ofthe predictions
and the disappointment of the hopes of the enemies
of this Government in foreign lands. We have not
failed to improve the opportunity to dwell with com
placency upon this aspect of affairs, and our words of
exultation are being bome across the waters to-day —
"Aha, prophets of evil! Where now are your vatici
nations of ruin? Falsifiers of the spirit, purpose and
power of the people, where now are your confident

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 21
predictions of national weakness and of defeat? Li
bellers of a free people, struggling for the supremacy
of law, for the triumph of order and liberty, where
now are your assurances of the disintegration and
overthrow of the Republic? Baseless as the fabric
of a vision, they leave no trace behind." In the con
sciousness of our strength, we have proclaimed that
the thrones of Europe would totter to their fall, and
that the privileges of aristocracies would be swept
away by the tempests of wrath of a long-suffering
people, aroused to put forth their invincible power,
and encouraged by the glorious achievements which
we have wrought, and in which we have given proof
of the strength and stabihty of a Republican form of
government. But in the midst of our gratulations — in the hour
of greatest confidence, we have been brought to face,
without the shghtest note of warning, an unthought-
of peril. An event which would lead in other coun
tries to revolutions or to changes of a most radical
character; an event wholly unprecedented in our his
tory, and which, familiar as we have been with daring
crimes during this conflict, we could not have believed
rebels would dare attempt, has occurred, through
which the nation has been deprived of its leader, and
has been exposed to whatever of confusion or of em
barrassment successful conspiracy could work. But,
in this new peril to our Government no signs of weak-

22 THE DEATH OF
ness appear. There is a momentary jar ofthe super
structure; but the machinery moves on with its wonted
regularity and power. The foundations are not moved,
the'pillars are not faUen — the Republic stands. It has
every element of strength, and every provision, under
the blessing of God, for its perpetuity. Let us take fresh
encouragement from the fearful test which has been
apphed, that a glorious future awaits our country, and
th^it the great principles which distinguish this nation
are destined to enjoy a world-wide triumph.
IV. The mystery which shrouds this afflictive dis
pensation, should lead us to repose unreserved trust
in God.
We cannot fully understand the meaning of this
calamity; but we may feel an assurance that God
intends it for the nation's good. His hand has
appeared in all our past history. From the days of
our fathers until now — through all the scenes of the
Revolution — through aU the privations and sacri
fices of that heroic struggle — through all the inter
vening history of the Union down to the outbreak of
the rebeUion, the Lord has been with us, and His
favor has encompassed us as with a shield. He has
not withdrawn His hand from us during the trying
scenes of this present bloody drama, but has often in
terposed in our behalf, and granted dehverance in
times of peril. We may safely trust Him in this dark
hour. He wiU not leave us to perish, after that He

PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 23
has given us so many tokens of good. The principle
for which we have contended so persistently through
seasons of gloom and disaster. He will not suffer to
fail. The sacrifices of treasure and of blood, the blood
of patriot-soldiers and patriot-statesmen so freely of
fered. He will not permit to be wasted. The martyr
blood of our revered Chief Magistrate is not shed in
vain. God will make clear in His own time. His pur
pose in this sorrowful event. Let us not murmur nor
complain; but let us await with calm resignation the
revelations which He shall make of his sovereign will.
God is his own interpreter, and He will make it plain.
Brethren and friends, there is sorrow in the Na
tion's Capital to-day — in the high place of authority —
in the house of the Nation's Chief Ruler there is bit
ter anguish. A family weeps for the loss of a hus
band — a father cruelly slain. But they weep not
alone. The tears of millions fall as rain; for the
- whole land mourns. The lowly and the exalted — the
poor and the rich — the black and the white — the
emancipated and the free bom — the private citizen
and the magistrate — the soldier and the statesman —
the old men and the chUdren weep this day, for all
have lost a friend. Within a narrow coffin lies the
inanimate form of our loved, trusted, and honored
President. We shall see his face and form no more.
Spirit of the departed! we wiU ever cherish the re
membrance of thee. Thy thoughtful brow — thy face

24 THE DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.
illumined with intelligence and love — thy form un-
gamly, but within which lodged a loving, "generous,
patriotic heart. — the life which thou didst give to
thy country — these can never be forgotten. Thy
name will stand enrolled among the names of the il
lustrious of all ages — thy memory will be enshrined
in the affections of a grateful people through all time,
thy virtues forever fragrant, will prove incentives
to "the love of truth — to fidelity to duty, and to con
secration of life to country and to God — to the youth
of all lands.

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
STUART W. JACKSON
Yale 1898