feeling, which during four years of civil war had been repressed, was rising, and about to burst forth in such scenes and shouts of rejoicing, as would have made the "welkin ring." The dove of peace, which had, during those four long years, been confined to the ark, rocked and tossed upon the troubled waters of civil strife, political contentions, and cruel war, had now been released, and, with the olive branch in her mouth, was winging her flight over mountains and valleys, broad savannas and boundless prairies. The good news was flashed with lightning speed over the land and the world. The dark clouds were rolling away, and the sun of the nation's glory was beginning to shine; and the rainbow of peace was distinctly seen spanning a continent, as in days of yore, when, lo! from the receding black clouds of secession, treachery, and slavery, there darted forth a fiendish arm, holding in its hand an assassin's dagger. The whole scene is instantly changed. For a moment, the pulse and heart of the nation cease to beat; but, the next instant, there follows a sigh of anguish and wail of sorrow. Abraham Lincoln, our beloved President, is dead! I do not believe, since the creation of the world, so many hearts, in so short a space of time, ever mourned over the death of a single human being. There is no disputing or gainsaying the fact, Abraham Lincoln had gradually been winning for himself a place in the hearts of the American people, second only to that of Washington, the Father of his country. But will not the people now call him the Saviour of the country, when the life of the nation was threatened?

This most tragic event is not an accident; it is not the work of chance. We do not live in a world ruled over by blind fate. Never before did I realize there was so much force and intensity of meaning in those words of our Saviour, "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered," and even a sparrow "shall not fall on the ground without your Father." I do not think there

event.

ever was a public man who recognized more clearly and fully this doctrine of God's special providence, than did our lamented President. Gathered as we now are in the house of God, on this first sabbath morning after having received the news of his death, how can I more appropriately employ the usual time allotted to a discourse, than by directing your minds to some of those moral and spiritual lessons taught by this most sad and melancholy The telegraphic intelligence which has reached the Islands is quite sufficient to disclose the naked facts, but insufficient to portray the effects upon the country at large. Under these circumstances, perhaps I may be allowed to dwell upon the religious features of Mr. Lincoln's character. He was a public man, and had been called to occupy a most responsible and trying public position. He fully realized this fact, from the very moment that he stepped forth from the sphere of a private American citizen to occupy the highest position within the gift of his countrymen. His brief address, on leaving his home at Springfield, Ill., is inimitably beautiful: "My friends, no one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people, I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born; and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you again. A duty devolves upon me, which is, perhaps, greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same divine aid which sustained him; and, on the same Almighty Being, I place my reliance for support. I hope you, my friends, will pray that I may receive that divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. I bid you all an affectionate farewell."

During the delivery of this short address, the audience was much affected; and, when it closed, there was the hearty response, "We will pray for you." During his progress to Washington, he uttered similar sentiments at Columbus and Steubenville, in Ohio, ever expressing the hope that he should be sustained by the prayers of the American people. In this address, we have the key-note to all his subsequent addresses, letters, proclamations, and public documents. I cannot recall a single one in which he did not fully and frankly recognize God's agency in the management of the affairs of this world. His allusions to an overruling Providence were not in a half-apologistic and semi-infidel style, as if he wished to conciliate the feelings of Christians, while, at the same time, he had no very clear and definite idea of what he was saying or writing. Read his second Inaugural, on the fourth of last March. The staunchest and most orthodox divine could not have given utterance to more evangelical doctrines or religious sentiments. He quotes and comments upon the very words of our divine Saviour, in the eighteenth chapter of Matthew: "Woe unto the world because of offences." Then, too, with what masterly emphasis he quotes the words of the Psalmist David, prefacing, "If God wills that the war continue until all the wealth piled by the bondmen'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, 'The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.'" Noble utterances and sublime language, which will live as long as the English language shall be spoken! Such truthful sayings will go forth from the Chief Magistrate of a great people, to break asunder the fetters of slavery throughout the world. His name through all coming time will be associated with that most important of all his State documents, - his Eman

cipation Proclamation. It may well be compared with the Imperial Ukase of the Emperor Alexander, giving liberty to twenty millions of Russian serfs. From the time and circumstances under which it was issued, it must ever be viewed as marking the transition point from slavery to freedom, in the history of the Republic of America. I cannot stop to dwell upon Mr. Lincoln's efforts and labors in behalf of the slaves and the colored people of America. It was noble and philanthropic; and it doubtless afforded him unfeigned pleasure, during the latter months of his eventful life, to learn, in so many ways, that they appreciated his services. This was apparent when he received a copy of the Holy Bible from the loyal colored people of Baltimore, as a token of respect and gratitude. They hailed him as the "friend of universal freedom." It never will be known in time, how many millions of earnest prayers went up for "Massa Linkum" from the Uncle-Tom cabins scattered all over the Slave States, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. Those sincere but enslaved people took hold of the Arm that sustained the universe. America stands forth to-day disinthralled and saved, not merely by the achievements of our noble soldiers, and the masterly statesmanship of our Cabinet Ministers, Senators, and Representatives, but there was a power behind all these outward manifestations. That power was prayer,—the prayers, too, of the poor. Says the son of Sirach, "A prayer out of a poor man's mouth reacheth to the ears of God, and his judgment cometh speedily."-" He will hear the prayer of the oppressed."—"The prayer of the humble pierceth the clouds; and, till it come nigh, he will not be comforted, and will not depart till the Most High shall behold to judge righteously, and execute judgment." Mr. Lincoln recognized that power of prayer, as I have already shown, when he left his home for the White House at Washington.

How intensely interesting the fact, that, while he was thus

occupied with the great and momentous affairs of thirty millions of people, of whom four or five millions were in open rebellion, and a million more were girded as soldiers, girded as soldiers, — yet, even amidst all these cares, he did not neglect the poor who were his neighbors, as the following incident will show:

A newspaper correspondent from Chicago one day dropped in upon Mr. Lincoln, and found him busy counting greenbacks. "This, sir," said the President, in his cheerful way, "is something out of my usual line; but a President of the United States has a multiplicity of duties not specified in the Constitution, or Acts of Congress. This is one of them. This money belongs to a poor negro, who is porter in one of the Departments (the Treasury), who is at present ill with the small-pox. He is now in the hospital, and could not draw his pay because he could not sign his name. I have been at considerable trouble to overcome the difficulty, and get it for him, and have at length succeeded in cutting red tape, as your newspaper men say. I am now dividing the money, and putting by a portion labelled, in an envelope, with my own hands, according to his wish." Such unostentatious acts of kindness need no comment. Our Saviour said, when upon earth, "And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward." I doubt not that the good man is now reaping his reward in glory for befriending the poor colored porter who could not write his name,sick with the small-pox in the hospital. It is an interesting fact, that the American citizen, at home and abroad, however humble his lot, was not forgotten by him. When it was reported at Washington, through the correspondence of our minister, to Mr. Seward, that a sailor had been ill-treated at the Marquesas Islands, Mr. Lincoln immediately directs, that five hundred dollars in gold be devoted to the purchase of presents, to be distributed