not outside of His eternal laws, and are not unprovided for in His benign plan of the universe. No sooner is crime committed than it touches some secret spring in these infinite, all-embracing laws, which the wicked men who plotted it had no thought of, and which sets in motion moral forces that are freighted with sure retribution for them and sure overthrow of the evil principle and passion out of which their wickedness came. Or where we cannot see the operation of this benignant law, we can at least bow in silent trust, as we do before the infinite Providence to-day, with hands upon our lips reverently hushing all questions, all doubts, satisfied that the grand centre around which all these finite spheres of life revolve is Infinite Love, which is therefore amply able to cancel all their errors, to redeem all infamies,—satisfied that whatever else may go down, the Heart of the universe cannot fail;

"And so, by faith correcting sight,

We bow before His will, and trust

Howe'er they seem, He doeth all things right.”

To-day the nation buries its president. And such a president! than whom we have had none better, none more honored and beloved since our first. If Washington was the father of our country, Lincoln was its savior. And in many respects he came nearer to the heart of the people than did even Washington. A gentle, kind, lovable man, who, in all the bitterness of this civil war, with all its political and personal strifes, has never said a harsh thing of any of his enemies North or South, and who never did a cruel thing in all his life. His faith in human nature and

in the good intentions of even his worst foes, and his tenderness in judging others' conduct and motives, were almost pathetic in their simplicity. Perhaps he had not severity and roughness enough for the stern work that the time demands. And yet, as we look back from his grave upon this trait of his character, so christian in its type of mercy, so constant always in all his words and deeds, so forever characterizing him in all history as our good president, we can hardly wish that he had been otherwise. His few public faults, which were relative only to the times in which he had to act, all lay on the side of great virtues, and at any other time would have been great virtues. An honest, conscientious, unselfish, philanthropic man was he; thoroughly incorruptible; devoted with single, uncompromising aim to the good of his country and the interests of humanity; and believing most earnestly in the God-given equal rights and privileges of all men. Not an enthusiast, but wise; reticent of his opinions and public purposes, yet familiar, and unwillingly turning his ear from any comer; exquisitely modest and unassuming, -always Abraham Lincoln still, though president, the man always more than, and above, the president; never in all the events of these years claiming anything for himself, but giving the credit ever to others, and to events, and to the people, whose servant he always called himself, and to God, whose will, without any affectation of piety, he meant religiously to follow. Not a rapid man in coming to an opinion, but coming surely, he never had to take a step backward through having taken a misstep; he never went farther than he saw to be clearly right, but always just as far as he saw, and held to his position, until

с

new light should lead still farther forward, with a heroic persistency;-a man seeking new light, constantly progressive, and meaning to do his whole duty; a man of great sagacity, and knowledge of men, intuitively quick in perceiving the means necessary for any proposed ends, keen in the use of arguments, believing in the application of absolute principles to politics, and possessing large common sense for devising the practical policies necessary for making the application; therefore a true and eminently successful statesman.

And this man, thus gifted, thus devoted, has led the country through four years of unexampled civil war and peril to the final glory of military triumph, and to the very verge of assured peace; and, crowning honor of all, under God he has been the instrument of delivering from bondage a whole race among us that former administrations of the government for long years had helped to oppress,—a race who now gaze wistfully after him as their ascended savior,— while the country advances through this door, which his hands have opened and no man's now can shut, to a new career and to a glorious destiny,-free, united henceforth in institutions and spirit as well as in form, and the hospitable home and helper of universal humanity.

Here, my friends, in these capacities and in these opportunities and deeds, are the elements of a rare greatness as well as goodness'; and history, I believe, will adjudge that Abraham Lincoln was not only our good president, but also one of our few great presidents. Here are elements of deed and character, which, if we will put them together, not essentially different from what they were in his life, will

give us the hero that we have been asking for all through these years of war. The true hero is seldom entirely recognized when present. But it is of such characters as this that a nation's history makes up its most precious jewels.

And this man, thus gifted, thus devoted, thus trusted in, and followed, and beloved, the nation buries to day: buries him-oh, bitter memory!-from the assassin's fatal hand. Henceforth our cause is consecrated by his martyrdom. Bury him? We bury only what was the least and outermost part of him. While the stricken people all through the land, in city and in country, join in these obsequies over his grave, he himself is more vital in the nation than ever before. Already his spilled blood is coursing with quicker pulses in the veins of the country; and treason, conspiracy, and despotism, tremble before this dead president more than they did before him living. He reigns to-day in hearts that People that laughed at him in

never admitted him before. life drop heavy tears on his bier, and wherever there is a heart that had a single spark of loyalty left, it is kindled into a generous, active patriotism now. Lifted up from the earth, he draws all men unto him. Bury him? We enthrone him! He is henceforth our leader more than when he led us in the flesh,—our leader now in the spirit. They have crucified him; the country, humanity, Heaven, glorifies him.

Farewell, departed form! and sweetly rest from the turmoil of war beneath the friendly sods of thy prairie home. Hail, risen and glorified spirit! not lost to earth, though gained to Heaven.

April 19, 1865.

III.

THE CAPACITY AND HISTORICAL POSITION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

The memorial of virtue is immortal: because it is known with God and with men.

When

it is present, men take example at it; and when it is gone, they desire it: it weareth a crown, and triumpheth forever, having gotten the victory, striving for undefiled rewards. Wis. of Sol. iv. 1, 2.

Again we are summoned together to give utterance in some more deliberate manner to our sense of national loss, and to express our reverence for the national leader and the man whom we have lost. Six weeks have passed away since the bloody crime was committed that brought us the bercavement. Yet it needs not that anything of praise or affection that was then said, in the first moment of indignant grief, be now unsaid. Not even the words of eulogistic love and admiration that were pressed burning from a nation's outraged heart, will give Abraham Lincoln so high a place in history, as will the sober pen of the historian, a hundred years from to-day, writing with cool nerve the simple facts of his life. For myself, the farther I get away from the inhuman scene of his death, the farther I go back of all the accidents and concomitants, whether of his death or his life, to the real man that he was, the more do I wonder and