day of the Saviour's death, was made this year a holiday in the land, as it was chosen for the restoration of the nation's banner to the walls from which this banner had been lowered in shame four years ago. But now, on this high holiday of the Church and of the land, we keep our Fast. The whole loyal nation is in mourning. The bells which rang out at the opening of the last week, in every village and hamlet, from the farthest East to the farthest West, their festal peal, at the close of the week tolled their most mournful refrain for the beauty of the land, slain upon its high places. It is a funeral service that invites us, more melancholy than any that has ever called us together; and, with bowed heads, and hearts refusing to be comforted, we wait in our places of prayer, asking only help from the Lord, - asking only that the Father above will show us the light of his countenance.

What to say now, - how from this chaos of emotions, this mingling of wrath and fear, of sadness and doubt, of trembling anxiety and stern determination, of incredulous surprise and mournful conviction, this sense of the omnipotence of the alldisposing God, who so strangely baffles our designs, and enforces the folly and vanity of our mortal hopes, - how from this chaos to draw so soon any wise or sober thought, who shall know? Is it possible, is it decent, to make a homily to-day out of this awful catastrophe? Shall we venture to insult this great grief by our cold moralizing, or to put it aside by any auguries of the future? Shall we forecast results, and arrange plans, and cry in frivolous haste, "The king is dead: long live the king!" as

we turn from the ruler that was to the ruler that is? Or shall we forget all composure of soul, and summon up the spirit of rage, and cry, "Vengeance, destruction, and death!" for the deed of blood that has been done? Shall the pulpit become this day the instigator of violence, to rouse the bewildered souls of the people to fury? Not so shall it be here. But we will wait humbly

upon the Lord, and only ask that he will enable us to bear this burden.

A great crime has been committed in our land, a bloodier deed than the nation ever knew, though the land has in these last years in more than metaphor been deluged with blood. It is a crime against the nation, and for it there will be a fearful recompense. God grant that the forebodings of those who see in this the beginning of a reign of terror may not be realized; that the new ruler may have firmness to check all outbreaks, and to enforce the laws even against popular fury! We need not suppress our horror at the crime. We need not disguise our sense of the great danger which it brings upon the land, even in this time when the triumph of our arms seems assured. It may inspirit the leaders of the rebellion, and breathe life into the dying embers. It may encourage the fallen traitors to lift their heads, and make one more struggle for their desperate cause. It may reverse the order so successfully brought in, and restore the iniquities which seemed to be ruined and dead. We may conjure up a hundred evils which shall come from this crime. Yet it is better to look upon the other side of the picture, and see what we have to depend upon, where we stand, even with this terror around us. Our brave armies are still in the field, strong, resolute, hopeful; not to be frightened by any deed of an assassin; ready to follow their leaders, as ready now as ever, against foul treason. We have generals in command, who have been proved competent, wise, faithful, loyal, and who will surely see to it that the Republic shall suffer no detriment. Of the new ruler, whatever may be his defects in habit and his lack in culture, no one can doubt the ability or the patriotism. Unless he shall surround himself with bad advisers, he cannot readily err; he cannot immediately alter the course of things. The nation has force enough, union enough, will enough, to protect itself against any new outbreaks of trea

son.

The murder of the ruler comes too late to destroy the Government, too late to create anarchy and confusion, too late to restore the broken power of slavery, too late to give traitors success and credit. There is no rival Government that can be set up against this Government. The assassin has killed but one man: he has not slain the nation. If he had done his work in those years when the traitors were encamped close to the gates of the capital, or when their armies, flushed with victory, had invaded our Northern soil, or even when the rival ruler had his cabinet and his court, his army and navy, it might have brought disaster fearful to contemplate. But now it comes too late. It is a crime useless against the life of the nation, though it may be hideous in the passions it shall engender.

This crime will, nevertheless, teach us several things, which have been often enough urged upon us, but which many of our people are slow to learn. It will teach all classes the foolishness of attempting to conciliate traitors by dealing gently with their offences, and meeting them half-way when they have come into our power. Our murdered President, in opposition to the advice of many of his wisest friends, who knew these Southern traitors. and their spirit, who had been their associates, was disposed to treat them kindly, to overlook their crimes, to grant them amnesty, to believe that they might be won back to honor and loyalty. In a few days, probably, his proclamation would have been published, granting such easy terms as would have amazed even these men. It is safe to say, that no document of that kind will soon be issued. It is safe to say, that, for the present at least, there will be no more compromise with traitors; that there will be no favor shown either to rebels in arms, or rebels who have been forced to lay down their arms. The traitors in our hands will be fitly dealt with by justice and the law, even if they find no quicker or sharper penalty. This act of violence, coming just at

the time when the leader of the rebel armies and his companions had been permitted virtually to go free, and even allowed privileges and honors,—the man and the men who have done more to sustain the rebellion than any others, and have upon them an awful weight of guilt and stain of blood,—will go far to settle the question, how to deal with traitors, and what shall be done with them. The sentiment of the army, the sentiment of the nation, will permit no more trifling. This reward for clemency and favor, this answer to kind dealing and pardon, will hush, for the time at least, all talk of amnesty, and will tell the leaders what they have to expect, if they fall into the hands of men who will remember their crime instead of pitying their misfortune.

And this crime will teach the people by a terrible illustration the spirit of slavery, the spirit of that form of social life which is based upon the oppression of men and the disregard of human rights. Four years ago, this crime was meditated, but not accomplished. The spirit of the South then justified it; and the man who had committed it would have been a hero, would have been received and honored, as was the ruffian who struck down our Senator in his seat in the Capitol. Even now, the assassin who has done this deed of blood would be welcomed with triumph, if he could find a place where they dared so to receive him. There can be no doubt that this plan has all along been designed. Think what rewards have been offered in the Southern journals for the zealot who should do this deed! This is the kind of work that suits the base, cunning, cruel, and insolent spirit of slavery. It belongs to the same class with the scourgings and the brandings of women and children; with the wanton murders of the duel; with the sending of emissaries to burn the hotels of great cities, and destroy the lives of thousands of innocent men; with the burning of cities behind them by the rebel leaders, leaving thousands to wretchedness, exposure, and despair. All these

things this great crime, which to-day startles the nation more. than any report of a battle lost or a city burned are the natural, the necessary issue of the institution which blighted the land so long, and ruled with such arrogance and tyranny. Shall we not learn from it to hate more heartily this infamous thing? Shall it not tell us to cast out for ever, root and branch, every vestige of this curse? So long as any tendril remains by which this vine can cling to our national life, so long we may expect such crime as this. Nothing can change the nature of this abomination. It hesitates at no violence, no outrage, no insult to the laws of God and man. Let us, on this new grave of the chief of the nation, with an oath as solemn and as deep as that of the young son of Hamilcar, vow eternal hostility to this source of all evil, in every form and degree; that we will have no rest until it is blotted out; that we will have no heed of any sign, promise, or prayer that it may make! Reluctantly our honest ruler brought himself to the conviction that the existence of human slavery was incompatible with the safety of the land. We see that clearly, now, in the blow which has struck down his life, and made him a martyr. God grant that this deed of blood may write the death. of slavery in letters red as of blood all over the land, — in the purpose of every resolute and patriotic heart, in the conviction and in the determination of all men! We will have no more of that social order which uses assassination, and is built upon violence. We will have no more of that style of life, which whips women, and starves prisoners, and deludes the people to ruin by specious falsehoods. Not alone, "Down with the traitors!" shall be our cry, but "Down with the accursed thing which has brought their treason! down with the thing which has made treason possible in this free Republic!" We see now how perilous is the peace that shall come while any life is left to this enemy of our peace. Let us be fixed in this resolution, that no shape or