military hospital, or listening to the supplication of some poor woman who besought that the forfeited life of an erring son might be spared, - he was ever the kind friend, the sympathetic comforter, the merciful-hearted ruler.

His modesty was a most noticeable trait. An idea of display never entered his mind. He was entirely destitute of what we call "manner." There was no air of authority upon him. He never did any thing for effect, or with a dash. He was never hurried, never heated; never wore the look of anxiety which is so fatal to a nation's tranquillity, when seen upon a ruler's face in a troublous time: he seemed to be cheerful from principle; and cheerful because he had a genuine trust in God,—the High and Mighty Ruler of the Universe.

And this brings us to say a word of Mr. Lincoln's Christian character. The sources from which comes our present conviction of his really genuine religious experience are open before all men. When a man so honest and so wise indicates, declares, plainly as words can say it, that his trust is in God, we have but to believe, and rejoice in believing, that he knows indeed the blessedness of such a hope, ever an anchor to the soul. I think that you who have taken note, even without especial reference to this point, of the late President's addresses and proclamations, will say, that there has been a gradually increasing spirit of piety manifested in those papers, a spirit which culminates in his last Inaugural Address, that strangely solemn word, so unexpected, so almost startling, which breathed a temper truly Christ-like, a trust in God grand in its sublimity of expression.

But God, on whom he placed his hope, fulfilling his own righteous purpose, mysterious though it be, willed that his work on earth should cease. And so this honest man, patriot citizen, wise statesman, kind friend, modest ruler, gentle Christian, this leader of our Israel, — died on the borders of the promised land,

whither he was not allowed to go fully over, though he might see it from a distance. After, through much toil, and having borne the heat and burden of the day, he had labored to bring his country through her perils, he was cut down in the evening of the strife, just as he was looking forward to rest under the vine and fig-tree of lovely peace. A strange life! A death wondrous strange! Think of that humble origin; that remarkable upward course; that four years of dust and smoke and blood, of turmoil, anger's writhing and disaffection's upheaving; that sudden succession of flashing victories won by his generals; the crowning triumph of his simple entrance into the rebel capital, — neither rebel nor capital longer; and then that swift destruction, - the quenching of a precious life in the murkiness and gloom of a horrible crime. Wonderful life! More wonderful death! Who but God can unlock its inscrutable meaning?

It is impossible to think and speak of this visitation of the Almighty hand without going behind it, and looking for its cause. If a thunderbolt had slain him, or if he had fallen by one of the more common strokes which lay so many low, the loss would have been still irreparable, men say; but the blow would not have been so sickening in its effects. Had even a ruffianly hand, guided by an avaricious heart, stricken him, the same degree of horror would not have been aroused. But it is that this act is the final culmination in death of that sin which was brought forth of the lust of gain and power, the sin of human slavery. We needed to have one truth forced upon us,- that the system which has borne the terrible fruits of the past does of itself destroy the moral fibre of humanity, and make any crime easy to him whose passions are influenced from such a source. We needed, I say, to have this truth forced upon us; and it has made slow progress, even in the events of the last four years, till within this week which follows Friday last. We have been slow to be convinced

that slavery in the nation, like habitual drunkenness in the individual, would, as a rule, destroy honor, and make of man a raging beast. We denied, and still denied, that the rules of ordinary warfare were violated; that wounded men were butchered; that captured men were subjected to the terrible torture of a slow starvation, which could end only in idiocy or death. We forced ourselves to doubt these things, till the truth of the awful tale was thrust upon us by concurrent, irrefragable testimony; by the tottering return to us of brothers and friends, ruined by no wound of the battle-field; and by those sun-pictures which cannot lie, and which are so dreadful that we hide them from our wives and daughters in pure mercy. We tried not to believe that a Southern prison had been deliberately mined, and that, in a certain emergency, it was to have been blown into fragments, with all its famine-stricken inmates, till we heard the act defended by Southern men. And yet, with all this accumulation of proof of the rottenness produced by the system, we were not preparedI venture to say-for the dagger and the pistol, for conspiracy and assassination.

God forbid that we, his ministers, standing here in the temple where his mercy dwelleth, serving under the orders of the Prince of Peace, and met together with you to commemorate the burial of one whose every word was kindness, - God forbid that we should seem to say any thing to inflame the passions of men, or to excite desires for a carnal vengeance! Rather would we bring home to the consciences of all men the question, Am I guiltless in this matter? We have temporized too much in our halls of legislation, and in all the marts of trade. We have eaten, and wiped our mouths, and said, "I have done no wickedness." Did we think that the Almighty God would hide his face from sin,— would wink at the wrong-doing, — would prevent as by a miracle the natural outworking of the virulence within? My brethren,

when shall we learn that there is in truth a God of perfect justice? When know that he really governs this world? When be convinced that retribution must follow crime? While Boards of Trade have bridged over awkward gaps in the body politic with resolutions; while men have gone about with trowels and mortar smoothing over the cracks which show the presence of the hidden internal fire, - the volcano has been working still, and all human contrivances have been but as tow before the fierceness of the furnace.

Let us not forget to-day, that we are under the mighty hand of God. Do you not remember how ready we were but a week ago to discard humiliation, and rush into resounding joy, almost forgetful of the Lord, who is the only Giver of all victory? Thoughtful men trembled when wave after wave of triumph rolled in upon us, and we seemed to have moved at a step from out of thick darkness into broadest sunlight. Some of us still feared that bitter trouble was coming; that we had not yet been sufficiently punished: and we asked ourselves, Will the blow take the form of financial disaster? Will perhaps a foreign war crowd upon us? What will it be? For in the atmosphere there is something telling of danger. But we did not think of this. We did not dream that every loyal heart in the land would be pierced with sharpest grief; that even the brightness of the lovely spring would be changed into a light more saddening than an autumn farewell.

God has his purposes, -and all are wise. Let us reverently ask to be taught his will. While mourning over the affliction he has sent upon us, let us thank him from the depths of our overflowing hearts, that he gave us this wise man and truehearted leader - this second Father of his country - so long; that we are permitted to reap what he has sowed; that through him — under God- we see, even in this sad moment, the virtual

end of that rebellion, which, four years ago to-day, shed the first blood of our citizens, the virtual end of the war which was begun by a mob, which has been ended by an assassin.

And now, while one simultaneous sound of wailing goes up from the length and breadth of the land; while through the sweet sunshine, and surrounded with all the fragrance of Nature's opening life, the mortal body of our ruler and friend is carried to the burial, there to rest in the hope of a joyful resurrection, through Jesus Christ our Lord,-let us take for the guidance of our future steps, as private citizens, or members of the great body, - the State, those concluding words of his last message, words which will for ever shine as a halo around the memory of him from whom we now for ever in this life take our leave:

"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 up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow and his orphans; and to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations."