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beware; for the Chief Magistrate and civil officers everywhere do not bear the sword in vain.

2d. Let every man be a loyal man, - loyal to his country and loyal to his God. Let him feel his personal responsibility to man, and also his personal responsibility to God, - his duty to submit to and obey both human and divine governments. Let him "render unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Let him be a true patriot, and also a true Christian. They are not inconsistent. And he who loves God supremely, and his neighbor as himself, will love his country and government also. Wherefore "let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, - not only for wrath, but also for conscience' sake."

3d. If the mighty fall what shall become of the weak? If Princes lie in the dust, and go down to the dark grave, where shall the lowly be found? The lesson taught each of us from these sad reflections is, "Prepare to meet thy God," whenever and however he comes. "Be ye also ready; for, in such an hour

as ye think not, the Son of man cometh."

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DEATH OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN:

A DISCOURSE DELIVERED BEFORE THE “FRIENDS of progress," IN STUART'S HALL, BATTLE CREEK, MICH., APRIL 19, 1865;

BY REV. MOSES HULL.

SUCH

UCH deep and universal mourning as there is to-day, the history of the world has never recorded. Every loyal heart beats heavily; every voice speaks in a subdued tone; every pulpit in the land is draped in deepest mourning. The crape on the door of the house of every loyal American fails to illustrate the grief of the American people. We mourn not only the loss of one who filled the highest office in the power of the American people to bestow, but the greatest man, absolutely the greatest, of the nineteenth century has fallen. Such mental wails, such grief and indignation, as come to us from all portions of the United States and Canada, show the warmth of the attachment of the people for their martyred statesman. No event within our nation's history has excited such deep and heartfelt emotions of

sorrow.

Language fails to exhibit our loss, or depict the true character of him for whom we mourn. An adequate idea of the magnanimity and unselfish patriotism of our lamented President cannot be given, nor can any eulogy place him in a higher position in the hearts of the American people.

The following, from the Chicago "Tribune," so perfectly expresses our feelings, that we cannot resist the temptation to quote it:

"Lincoln has been indeed a mild, loving father of his country; and whether in the future it be possible to produce his equal, most certainly not in the past or in the present has a ruler ever lived who has acted with one-hundredth part of the magnanimity displayed uniformly by our late President. Well may the rebels expect to hear from the lips of Johnson the reply made by Rehoboam to the old men, 'My father did beat you with whips; but I will chastise you with scorpions.' Subsequent events will show that they have jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire. The deed was altogether without excuse, equalled only in enormity by the intent of Satan to pluck the Almighty from his throne.

"Well may the nation weep, — fountains of tears. In Abraham Lincoln, we have lost one whose place can never be filled, either in the Executive chair or in our affections. Who but he could have brought us safely through this fiery trial, landing us on terra firma, yet so gently that we scarcely feel the shock? Our kind father and wise counsellor is gone. Our grief at his loss to ourselves is so great, that we can scarce spare a thought to his bereaved family. We were all his children. All loved and guarded equally by him. In his loss, we mourn a parent. His own family scarce loved him more dearly than the great heart of the American people."

Yes, the greatest and best of men has been taken from us. He has fallen while in the zenith of his glory. Indeed, we only express the opinion we have for years entertained, when we say, that a glory belongs to Lincoln, compared with which, that of all other statesmen fades like the lustre of the stars before the rising sun.

Washington, the Father of this Republic, was no more true, noble, and patriotic, than was Lincoln, its Saviour and Redeemer.

"How are the mighty fallen!" Lincoln is gone. It remains for us to trace his history, that we may realize the extent of our loss. Loss, did I say? I take it back. Lincoln is neither dead nor asleep. He is alive to-day, and as earnestly and patriotically

working for the cause of human freedom as when he was here in the flesh. He has only ceased to preside over a Congress of mortals, to join the band of immortal statesmen. He has entered the heavenly Congress, and works as untiringly in behalf of the stars and stripes, as during the days of his earthly tabernacle.

HIS HISTORY.

I have only time to give a synopsis of his life, which I have condensed from the daily journals.

He was born of poor parents, in La Rue County, Kentucky, in the year 1809. In 1816, when he was eight years old, his father moved to Indiana. He perhaps received in all near one year's educating. In 1830, he removed to Illinois. After a trip to New Orleans, on a flat-boat, he became a clerk in a store at New Salem, Menard (then Sangamon) County. On the breaking-out of the Black-Hawk war, in 1832, he joined a volunteer company, and was elected its captain. He served for three months in the campaign, and on his return was nominated as a Whig candidate for the legislature; but, the county being Democratic, he was defeated, though his own election-district gave him two hundred and seventy-seven votes, with only seven against him. He was afterwards appointed postmaster at New Salem, and then began to study law. During the same time, he practised surveying, although without any instruction beyond what he had obtained by reading a single treatise on that subject. In 1834, he was elected to the legislature, by the highest vote ever cast for any candidate; and was re-elected in 1836, '38, '40. In 1836, he obtained a license to practise law; and in April, 1837, removed to Springfield, and went into partnership with Hon. T. Stuart. He rose rapidly in distinction in his profession, and was especially eminent as an advocate. In 1844, he was presidential elector in favor of Henry Clay, and canvassed the entire State, and the State of

Indiana, in his behalf, addressing large audiences with marked

success.

In 1846, he was elected a Representative to Congress, from the Central District of Illinois. In Congress, he voted for the reception of antislavery memorials and petitions; for the motions of Mr. Giddings for committees to inquire into the constitutionality of slavery in the District of Columbia, and the expediency of abolishing the slave trade in the District, and other like propositions. He voted for the Wilmot Proviso, every time it was presented to the House. In January, 1840, he offered to the House a scheme for abolishing slavery in the District, by compensating the slaveholders from the Treasury of the United States, provided a majority of the people of the District should vote to accept the proposal. He opposed the annexation of Texas, but voted for the Loan Bill to enable the Government to defray the expenses of the Mexican war. Mr. Lincoln was a member of the Whig National Convention of 1848, and urged the re-nomination of General Taylor. In 1849, he was a candidate for the United-States Senate; but the legislature was Democratic, and elected General Shields. After the expiration of his congressional term, Mr. Lincoln applied himself to his profession, until the repeal of the Missouri Compromise called him again into the political arena. He entered with energy into the work which was to decide the choice of a senator in place of General Shields; and it was mainly due to his exertions, that the triumph of the Republican party, and the election of Judge Trumbull to the Senate, was attributed. At the Republican National Convention in 1856, which nominated General Fremont for the Presidency, the Illinois delegation unanimously urged the nomination of Mr. Lincoln for the Vice Presidency. The contest between Mr. Lincoln and Judge Douglas, in 1858, is familiar to all, and need not be recapitulated. It is only necessary to say, that, notwithstanding

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