Qass E4-57 Book__ .? 2.7 Abraham X*incoln, The Value to the Nation of his Exalted Rev. Mr. Carey's Fast Day Sermon, preached June 1, 1 865, in the First Pres- byterian Church of Freeport, 111. ^*»- * *j * He being dead, yet speaketh. — Heb. 11 : 4. To him that soweth righteouf>iitss shall be a sure reward. Prov. 11: IS. One of the most striking spectacles in all history has recently transpired in our land — the spectacle of a great nation in mourning for its murdered chief. The mourning was not simply formal, but sin- cere and deep. It was not confined to the great cities, where many thousands could gather to witness the imposing obsequies and look upon the remains of the deceased President, but extending throughout the land, and manifesting itself in a very marked way at all the villages and stations through which the funeral cortege passed in its long course to the place of burial ; pfople of every place along the route, gathering at the stations, in great numbers and by means of bonfires, the tolling of bells, the singing of dirges, the scattering of flowers in the Funeral Car, and other appropriate acts, expressing their love and reverence for the departed good man and Savior of his country, and their deep sor- row in view of his untimely death. No other man ever had so grand and magnifi- cent a funeral. No other man was ever so sincerely mourned >by such great multi- tudes. And, doubtless, the deep and gen- eral sonow expresses the people's sense of the surpassing excellence and greatness of him who has fal'en. Had he been a bad man and a tyrant, as he was accused of being, there would have been only a for- mal, heartless mourning. Had he been an oppressor with b s bands full of blood, and the enemy instead of the friend of human- ity, he would have died unhonored and unwept. It is because he was a good man, the poor man's friend, the worthy repre- sentative of the cause of universal liberty, the living embodiment and illustration of the great doctrines of humanity, and of the greatness and glory of free institutions, the benefactor of his race, that we feel such sorrow in view of his death. We have the sense that, while there are, among our rulers and statesmen, some perhaps of as great intellect, and some of greater learn- ing and eloquence, there are very few of such sincerity, honesty, purity, integrity, few so perfectly worthy of trust, few of such surpassing excellence of character. It may be, however, that some, even now, are hardly willing to award pre-emi- nent moral worth to the departed Presi- dent. But to say nothing of the testimo- ny of others, that of Rev. Dr. Gurley, his pastor in Washington, ought, it seems to me, to be regarded as decisive on this point. His eulogy pronounced in Wash- ington at the time of the funeral, and in the presence of men who had been associ- ated with Mr. Lincoln, as Congressmen, members of the Cabinet and army officers, for more than four years, is specially valu- able for its clear and emphatic testimony to the moral and religious character of Mr. Lincoln. "Beyond a question," says Dr. Gurley, "always and everywhere he aimed and endeavored to be right and do right. His integrity was all-pervading, all-control- ling, and incorruptible. * * * He saw his duty as Chief Magistrate of a great and imperiled nation, and leaned on the arm of him who giveth power to the weak and increaseth strength. * * * I speak what I know, and testify what I have of- ten heard him say when I affirm that that guidance and mercy were the prop on which he humbly and habitually leaned and that they were the best hope he had for himself and for his country. * * God raised him up for a great and glorious mission, furnished him for his work and guided him in his accomplishment. Nor was it merely by strength of mind, honee- ty of heart, and purity and pertinacity of purpose that he furnished him. In ad- dition to these things, he gave him a calm and abiding confidence in the overuling Providence of God and the ultimate tri- umph of truth and righteousness. Through the power and blessing of God, this confi- dence strengthened in him in all his hours of anxiety and toil, and inspired him with calm and cheerful hope, when others were inclined to despondency and gloom. Never shall I forget the emph ,! sis and deep emo- tions with which he Said to a company of clergyman and others who called to pay him their respects, in the darkest hour of our civil conflict : 'My hope of success in this great and terrible conflict rests on .that immutable foundation, the justice and goodness of God ; and when events are threatening and prospects very dark, I still hope that in some way which man cannot see, all will be well in the end, be- cause our cause is just, and God is on our side.' Such was his sublime and holy faith, and it was anchor to his soul both sure and steadfast." After speaking of his simplicity, integrity, industry, patience, persistent and self-sac- rificing devotedness to all the duties of his eminent position, benevolence, enlarged philanthropy, and inflexible purpose that the war should work the overthrow of slavery, Dr. Gurley proceeds : '"But more sublime than any or all these, more holy and influential, more beautiful and strong and sustaining, was his abiding confidence in God, and the final triumph of truth and righteousness through Him and for His sake. This was his noblest virtue, his grandest principle, the secret alike of his strength, his patience and his success. And this, it seems to me, after being near him steadily and with him of- ten for more than four years, is the princi- ple by which he, being dead, yet speaketh. Yes, by his steady, enduring confidence in God, and in the complete ultimate success of the cause of humanity, which is the cause of God, more than in any other way, does he now speak to us and the na- tion he loved and served so well. By this he speaks to his successor in office, and he charges him to have faith in God. By this he speaks to his Cabinet and to all who oc- cupy positions of responsiblity and au- thority, and he charges them all to have faith in God. Oh, mny the voice of this testimony sink down into our hearts to-day and into the heart of the nation. * * He is dead, but the memory of his virtues, of his wise and patriotic counsels, of the la- bors of his ca'm and steadfast faith in God, lives, is precious, and will be a pow- er for good in the country, quite down to the end of time." How very clear and emphatic this tes- timony, by a competent witness, asserting Mr. Lincoln to have been not only a man of great moral excellence, but a gedly man, and making faith in God, which cul- minated at last, we know, in the bumble reception of Christ and a Christian char- acter, the central principle by which he was guided in his work as a ruler and guided to so gloiious a result. I have quoted this testimony at length, because it is weighty and conclusive, and because it affords a fitting introduction to the sub- ject of our present meditations, namely, the value to us as a nation, of a character so noble and exalted. Regarding this character as the living, abiding principle of a manly, noble career — a priuciple ap- pearing at first as active and germinant, and steadily reaching on through the la- bors and conflicts of years towards a great result, then, at last, in the elevation and crowning work of Mr. Lincoln, blooming forth in a form of such uncommon symme- try and beauty as irrisistibly to attract our love and admiration, it;possesscs a priceless value and a power for good which we are not likely to overestimate. The good man indeed, has departed, but his character re- mains an active, beneficent force in our history, and among the richest of our pos- sessions. Its value may be seen'as follows: 1. It bears with its whole weight on the side of the truth that the highest suc- cess is attainable in the way of righteous- ness ; that a man of integrity ail-pervad- ing, all-controlling and incorruptible, can, even in a worldly point of view, achieve the grandest of successes. The great lesson of the life-work of some men called great is that the necessary ccst of success is moral debasement; but the noble career of Mr. Lincoln teaches the opposite lesson. Too many accept it as a principle of worldly wisdom, that, to be successful, a man must nm>der his conscience and sac- rifice his manhood ; but Mr. Lincoln af- fords us an example of a man who rever- enced conscience, who beyond a question always aimed and eudeavored to be right and do right, who would not sacri- fice principle for the sake of success, but who was, nevertheless, nobly successful. On ihe line of strict adherence to duty and principle, he early determined to fight out the battle of life; and how memorable his victory showing what a truly, earnest, he- roic soul can do, with few external helps, and against many and great hindrances. How striking an illustration of liberty and the glory of our free institutions, in the fact that the boatman and rail-splitter, not- withstanding the disadvantages of his humble condition, rose to so high a posi- tion and accomplished so great a work ! But let us not speak of the hard lot of his early years as if it implies a natural inferiority, or as if a man born in povetrty and lowliness can not be born noble and great. For my part I am so thorough- ly a democrat that I cannot admit for a moment that Mr. Lincoln with his great and lefty soul, was a man of low origin. He would be no more to me though he had been able to boast a royal ancestry. His parentage was just as high and noble as though he had been born in a palace in- stead of a cabin. I do not doubt that his father in all his poverty, and obscurity, was a noble man. And I believe t' at the mother of Abraham Lincoln, plain, hard working woman that she was, with hands stiff and bony from toil, was just as noble and queenly as though she hod been delicately educated and nurtured, so as to answer perfectly to the description of a lady by the inspired Moses — "The tender and delicate woman which would noj ad- venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and tender- ness." And that in his youth he was a la- borer and lived in a log cabin, what was there in this at all remarkable? That men should rise irotn the farm and the cabin to high positions is certainly not the excep- tion but the ruie, in this glorious country of ours, and is so very common as not to be specially remarkable. If you call it rising for a man to be in his mature years in a condition in which his labor is that of the head, after having been in early years in a condition in which his labor was that of the hands, then the country is full of men who have risen, and who would not think it at all degrading to return to the hard manual labor by which in early life they were taught some of the most weighty and most valued lessons. In aristocratic and despotic countries, such a change of conditions is indeed very remarkable, but, thank God, it is not so in ours. This, then, is not the peculiar distinc- tion of Mr. Lincoln, that he rose from a humble to a high position ; nor that he was a self-taught, self-made man — for there are many such men in our country; nor that he was a man of penetrating, fore seeing, comprehensive intellect, and ene of the most effective, persuasive speakers which the country has produced, affording a very striking exemplification of that principle of the rhetoricians, worthy of all acceptation that "eloquence is a virtue." Mr. Lincoln was, above all things, distin- guished among politicians, statesmen, also among those of his own profession, as a man of unbending uprightness and incor- ruptible integrity — a man of character. Without the learning and polish of Everett, without the massiveness of Webster, with- out the impassioned eloquence of Clay, yet, to say nothing of his deeper insight and far- ther reach of sagacity, in the grandeur of his manhood and character, how greatly he surpasses those men. Perfect truthfulness was the basis of his character, and this, it seems to me, was the principle of his intellectual develop- ment. It was manifested, at the outset of his course, in his setting himself to the study of Geometry, to learn the difference between proof and demonstration, and never leaving the study till he could dem- onstrate any proposition ofEuclid at sight. It was shown also in his seeking the ut- most precision in the expression of his ♦.houghts, and in his patient, persevering, self-discipline, till his intellect cultivated from the center had become as true as was his heart, and an obedient and flexible in- strument of his will, and till he was hard- ly equalled in the force and transparent clearness with which he would state a point, and in the power of making the complex and obscure, simple and plain to the commonest minds. The same trait was manifested in his seeking to master a subject by going to the bottom of it or penetrating to its innermost principle, so that he could give the Jjist of it in a sin- gle clear, condensed statement. He was honest and truthful, and for thit reason succeeded in attaining a thorough, men- tal culture. And I confess, I am unable to understand why some in the contem- •ii of such a man — a man of the read- ing, experience and thought of thirty years in the legal profession, never can for- get his eaily disadvantages, nor cease to speak of him as a man of inferior attain- ment; when it is perfectly evident that he was an educated man in the true and highest sense, having a mind deeply and centrally cultivated; and that in practical knowledge of men and things, and in breadth and power of thought, he towered immeasurably above multitudes of men who are educated, not in the sense of be- ing grasping, powerful thinkers at all, but only in the sense of having a wide knowl- edge of books, together with, perhaps, some facility in the construction of smooth and sounding sentences. This truthfulness, as it lay at the basis of his education and culture, also lay at the basjs of his success in his profession. And, eertainly, he is evermore to be regarded one of the bright- est ornaments, of that profession. — And he was one of its brightest ornament? specially because he carried his consciousness, uprightness, integrity, into his legal practice. According to al' the testimony, he never descended to be a mere pettifogger. He never would take up a bad case for the sake of profit. He always, on principle, took the side which he believed to be right, and could not be induced, for any consideration, knowingly to advocate an unjust cause. Hence in his long legal practice, he earned the enviable reputation of being an honest man. And for that reason, and not simply, perhaps not chiefly, because of his learning, logic ? and persuasiveness as an advocate, he was successful, gaining his cases ; because it was taken for granted by juries that Abra- ham Lincoln, being a man of character, could not but be on the right side. And what was it that commended him for the Presidency ? Doubtless, not his mere ability as a debater, as shown in his memo rable contest with Douglas, but, with the masses of the people, his character, above all things else. He was believed to be not only able but trustworthy. "Honest" was the magic word by which he distanc- ed all competitors and gained the piize. At all events it is true that without any compromise of principle, without imitating the common run of politicians in practic- ing mean and unworthy arts for the sake of office, his honesty and integrity were at last worthily rewarded by his election to the highest office in the gift of the people. Who then can overestimate the value of the lesson thus taught to the aspiring young men of the country — the lesson that char- acter and success are not inconsistent with each other — that moral debasement is not nessary to success in life or to the attain ment of office and honor ? The nation honored rectitude in the person of Abra- ham Lincoln ; and thus, having sown the seed of righteousness, he received the re- ward of righteousness. If he had not bien an inflexibly upright man. he doubtlees never would have been President of the United States. 2. The value of this noble character is seen from the emphasis it gives to the truth that faith and godliness are essential and indispensable as the qualification for duties of the greatest difficulty and respon- sibility. Abraham Lincoln did not need the art and cunning of an experienced and unscrupulous politician, to be fitted for his work and to be successful in doing it. He had what was infinitely better in his char- acter. In his simplicity, guilelessness, hon- esty and faith, he was more than a match for the sharp politicians of the South and their co-adjutors in the North, whoso cor- dially hated and despised him, but who did not anticipate the utter discomfiture and overthrow which they have experienced from their conflict with the man, who was proved to be the man for his work, and a man of power, because he was a God fear- ing man. -^The same thing is illustrated in all the great leaders of the cause of liberty in modern times — in William the Silent, in Gustavus Adolphus, in Cromwell, in Washington, in Garibaldi, as well as in Mr. Lincoln, v In every one of these in- stances, the man was a tower of strength, because of his strength and gradeur of character — because he had the fear of God before his eyes. Every one who has read the history of the long and terrible strug- gle of Holland with Spain and the Inquisi- tion, out of which struggle, in defiance of imperial despotism, rose the Dutch Re- public, has been impressed that the strength of that great man William of Orange, was in his religious character, his sublime confidence in God. So, there nev- er was any great pleader in the cause of lihery, who was not a man of faith in God, and there never will be. The liberty which derives its life from the gospel, and for which we are so greatly indebted to John Calvin, John Knox and the other Reformers, never yet achieved a great vic- tory but by faith, and it never will. If you want to know what Atheism can do for liberty, you have only to look at the French Revolution, with its rivers of blood, its fearful atrocities and its failure. If you want a further illustration of what mere intellect, unsupported by moral conviction and faith in God, can do, you have only to contemplate our own rulers at the time of the outbreak of the rebellion. Certainly they had intellect enough, but alas, they were sadly wanting in conscience, in rev- erence for right and justice, in faith and a sense of responsibility to God; and so a man of conscience and character, a man having the fear of God before his eyes, had to be put at the head of affairs, that the nation might be saved. No doubt we are greatly indebted to the intellect of Mr. Lincoln, to his depth, foresight, shrewdness, knowledge of men, common sense; but I believe, we are far more indebted to his character — his reverence for right, his con- fidence in God, his honesty and integrity. Without his sincere and habitual reliance on God, notwithstanding his intellectual re- sources, he must, according to his own testimony, have faitered and failed in his work. Oppressed every day with anxiety 6 and care, feeling his responsibility as the leader of and great a imperilled nation, feel- ing at times almost overwhelmed in view of unexpected reverses, he declared that he couid live, but must sink down under his burden, utterly crushed, were it not that he could go apart by himself and cast his burden upon God, and thus find relief in prayer. We know that Washington also had a similar experience. Think how ut- terly insufficient mere human strength is for such a trial— utterly unable to pene- trate the dark future ; contending against a power so formidable ; entrusted with in- terest. so great ; and oftentimes confound- ed in view of serious difficulties and com- plications, and unable to pronounce with any certainty as to the right and safe course. In such circumstanees, wh?t is there to depend upon but God ? And how is it possible for a man to exercise forti- tude — to be calm, strong, hopeful, coura- geous— without faith in God? Without the faith that God, with his overwhelming: Providence, is evermore on tbe"side of right and justice— without the firm belief that the cause of humanity, is the cause of God— without the confidence that this cause shall surely triumph in the end, be- cause God is on <** side and purposes that it shall triumph— without this confidence in God and his revealed purposes, I say, how could sny man, amidst all the dark- ness, perplexity and uncertainty of the past four years, have been at all confident of a happy issue of our great and terrible war? As a matter of fact, multitudes of men felt no such confidence, but from the beginning persistently prophesied certain failure and declared success impossible. And many a time, leaving God out of con sideration, in all human view, there seemed to be no ground for any such confidence. And the men who held fast the beginning of their confidence steadfast unto the end, and whose courage, never faltered, are those who, instead of simply balancing the power of the government against the power of th° rebellion, rested by faith in the pnvrer of God, and clearly discerned the Divine purpose in the war. How much, then, we owe to the fact that, in the time of our great trial, when frequently the an^ry storm seemed ready to engulf the ship, and many hearts were failing them for fear, r, ninn of faith and prayer, a man who believed in Clod and therefore in the sure ultimate triumph of the nation, was at the helm, always calm and hopeful and speaking calm and hopeful words for the encouragement of the fearful and des- pairing. Had that man faltered, had he yielded to fear and discouragement, had his faith been overcome, where now would have been the cause of the nation ? /vHad an utterly godless man been President, a man with no reverence for right, and no confidence in God, and no sense of depend- ence on Him, I believe the nation would have gone down, and with it the hope of humanity. But for the time of our trial God gave us a man -whose "grandest prin- ciple" was his faith. And in the darkest hour, our tower of strength, under God, was the sublime character of Abraham Lincoln. Believing in God, believing in the efficacy of prayer, feeling from the first his dependence on God, regarding himself as an instrument in the hands of God for the doing of a great work, believ- ing the affairs of the nation were directed by a will above all human counsels, he takes his stand by the side of all the great leaders in the cause of liberty ; and he was strengthened, guided, enlightened, kept from discouragement, by "the inspir- ation of the Almighty," and thus was rendered hopeful, cheerful, unyielding, when others were inclined to despondency and gloom. Let us acknowledge therefore that our great need in our trial was a man of faith and godliness at the head of the nation, and that the highest qualification of Abraham Lincoln for his work was his noble character. Let us thank God for giving us a true man, a noble example of faith, a God fearing man, among our ru- lers, and for placing hira in power at the time when he was specially needed to show that a nation, well nigh ruined by unbelief and ungodliness, could be saved by faith. I cannot help remarking the great dis- tance between this man, and the godless and corrupt politicians, who so long afflic- ted and disgraced the nation — mere dem- agogues, full of dishonesty and falsehood, unscrupulous deceivers of the people, and thoroughly unworthy of trust. How no ble and ialustrious, in the contrast, appears the upright, honest man, with his pure life, with his spotless reputation, with his enlightened conscience, and reverence for right, with his faith in God — qualifications by which he was fitted for the work that renders his name fragrant unto all ages. 3. The value of this noble character ap- nears from the weight it gives to the truth that the best man is the most popular man, having the strongest hold upon the people and the deepest place in their hearts ; or that known moral worth in a ruler com- mands the love and reverence of the peo- ple. This is a lesson of the highest value to our politicians and statesmen ; and if our lamented President had lived simply Hence the entire conn lence which they re- posed in him. Hence their bitter sorrow in view of his death. Thus it is proved that the people are drawn to the earnest, sincere man who foars God, and works (Jusness, and that they will stand by him to the last. Let our rulers lay to to illustrate and impress it, he would not heart the lesson, thus strikingly and beau tifully illustrated, Let politicians ponder the truth that the demand of the people in a candidate for oifice, is character. Let aspiring men remember that the people are not ignorant and 1 brutish, but, to a great extent, enlightened, moral, discern- ing, and not easily deceived. Let them weigh well the truth that Christianity is and is to be a power in this nation, and that the powerful religious and christian sentiment of the country cannot safely be treated with contempt, but must be respect- ed by those who aspire to be the law-mak- ers and rulers of the nation. Let theui not fail to consider that a known christ- tian character cannot but be respected by all, and that it certainly is in the view of a majority of the people, a commendation for office, rather than otherwise. And let them consider that the great demand of the. hour is politicians and statesmen pen- etrated with reverence for Christianity, and unchangably loyal to it Founder, and taking as their motto the noble words of Andrew Johnson — " Christ first and our country next." The solemn, weighty charge of the martyred President, to all rulers, statesmen and aspiring men is, " Be honest, be faith- have lived in vain. Doubtless the desire of the nation is an honest man, and this desire was fulfilled in Abraham Lincoln He believed in the intelligance and hoi of the people. He believed that the people appreciate uprightness and integrity. He believed that practicing the arts of de- ception and duplicity for the sake of popu- lar favor, is treating the people with con- tempt < srving of contempt from them. lie entertained t>>> such low views of the common intelligence and morality as to think such practices expedient and justifiable. On the contrary, he trust- ed for popular favor to the popular appa- ll of honesty and uprightness ; thus he honored the people, and the people in turn honored him. Never, did a ruler repose a more undoubting, affection- ate confidence in the people ; and never did a people repose a more undoubting, affectionate confidence in a ruler. And it was proved that the masses of the people appreciate manhood in a ruler, and that they will stand unflinchingly by a man who has been shown to be a man of prin- ciple and therefore worthy of trust. Who will question that the people's conii in Mr. Lincoln as an honest, conscientious ful, be unbendingly upright, be God lear- man was the thing that secured his first ing, fight the battle of life on the line of election to the presidency ? Or if this be | undeviating rectitude, and honor the peo- questionable, who will question that his I pie by taking for granted that thev value second triumphant election expressed the character above price." May the charge reverence and affection of the people for him as a man of incorruptible integrity — a man of character, tried and proved ? And what do we see in the recent great mourn ing of the people but a touching dxhibi- tion of the profound love and reverence with which t'^ey regard character in a ru- ler ? Abraham Lincoln was a man of deep moral convictions ; a man who adhered inflexibly to the right as God gave him to see the right ; a man who was unselfishly devoted to his great work, seeking with sink down into the hearts of those to whom it is addressed. 4. Finally, this exalted character bears with its whole weight to impress the truth that men of principle are, before all others, ro be regarded as eligible to office. A too common sentiment has been, even with the intelligent and honest, that we are not to regard the moral, but only the intellec- tual qualifications of a candidate for office; that a man may be unprincipled, intem- perate, profane, and utterly godless, and all his mind and heart the highest welfare J still possess all the necessary qualifications of the nation ; a man who by a long and of a ruler and statesman. And this utter- searching trial was proved to possess ex- J ly false sentiment it is that came near work- alted meal worth and to be perfectly reli- ing our ruin as a nation. The simple able. Hence his strung and deep hold up- truth is that we we were brought to the on the love and reverence of the people. | verge of destruction by unprincipled and 8 ungodly men of intellect ; and that the instrument of our salvation from the threat- ened ruin was the honest, worthy man, whose noblestquaiification for his work was his excellence of character, and the secret of whose success was his faith in God. Now, if the nation was, on the one hand, nearly ruined by intellect, and on the other, saved by integrity and virtue, what is the inference but that only men of principle and character are eligible to high positions ? Give us for rulers plain men ot the consci- ence, humility, and faith of old John Brown, before the crafty, polished smooth tongued, unscrupulous demagogues, who have no regard for justice or the God of justice, and who seek only their own ag- grandizement. I hold that every man who has no fear of God before his eyes, what- ever his ability, is unworthy of entire con- fidence and trust. Every such man can be bought — only pay him his price. This, I think, is proved clear. enough in our his- tory. It is designing and unprincipled leaders who are chiefly responsible for our national troubles. Undoubtedly the great mass of the people of the Suuth never would have rebelled, had they not been de- ceived and led astray by their corrupt pol- iticians. Think of the fearful mischief wrought by them— 'of the hundreds of thousands of well-meaning men deceived by them, and immolated to their hellish ambition ! Our leaders and statesmen could, as I believe, have settled the ques- tion of slavery without a war, and settled it according to the claims of justice. They could have applied the principles of the gospel to our politics. They could have secured the welfare of the nation in the : peaceful abolition of slavery. And had I they been men of character, with the fear ! of God belore their eyes, they icould have worked these beneficent results, and thus established a claim to our respect and gratitude. But, many of them, instead of seeking to weaken slavery, sought only to strengthen and perpetuate the system. In- stead of being the defenders of human liberty, they were the defenders and cham- pions of human bondage. And instead of securing the peace of the nation, in the way of justice, they took the course by which, eventually, we were plunged into the horrors of a long and terrible civil war; thus showing that, with ail their learning and ability, they were unfit for their high positions, and furnishing a new demonstra- tion of the truth that power can not safelvi be entrusted to ungodly and unprincipled men. Let us thoroughly learn the lesson. Let it be impressed on our hearts, by all the horrors and miseries of our war, by all the blood of patriots shed upon a thous- and battle-fields, by all the sorrow of in- numerable widows and orphans, and by all the worth of righteousness, as illustrat- ed in the noble patriot who was raised up to be the savior of the nition from the ruin brought upon it by able but dishonest and untrustworthy men. In view of what we have suffered from our wicked and stupid idolatry of mere in- tellect, let us henceforth have a regard to character as an indispensible qualification in a ruler, and be governed by the princi- ple that " a ruler mtyt be just, ruling in the fear of the Lord." Such, then, are some. of the lessons of the career of the great and good man and model statesman, our martyred President ; and the theme is far from being exhausted. In such language, pleading eloquently for truth, manliness, integrity, righteousness, faith,