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 A. DISCOURSE 
 
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 ON THE DEATH OF 
 
 PRESIDENT LINCOLN, 
 
 PREACHED IN STILLWATER, N, Y„ 
 
 April 16th, 1865, 
 
 BY REV. WILLIAM M. JOHNSON. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST 
 
 TROY, N . Y . : 
 
 DAILY AND WEEKLY TIMES PRINTING HOUSE, 211 RIVER STREET. 
 
 18G5. 
 
' 5 1 
 
 .s 
 
 
 Stillwater, N. Y., April 22d, 18C5. 
 
 To Rev. Wm. M. Johnson, Pastor of the Presbyterian Church : 
 
 Dear Sir : — The undersigned, participating in the national sorrow that over- 
 whelms all loyal hearts, in view of the awful calamity that has hefallen our 
 Republic in the death (by assassination) of its great and good President, Abraham 
 Lincoln ; and desiring often to recall his shining virtues and his patriotic deeds, 
 his integrity of purpose and great wisdom in promoting the welfare of the country 
 in whose service he has fallen ; — having listened to your discourse on the solemn 
 Sabbath following this sad event, do hereby request the manuscript lor publica- 
 tion, and preservation in a more permanent form. 
 
 Very truly yours, 
 
 Reuben Wescott, E. Widdemer. 
 
 Samuel G. Eddy, C. D. Bull, 
 
 E. K. Woolset, G. V. Lansing, 
 
 Wm. M. Bartlett, Egbert Gardner, 
 
 Jared W. Haigiit, Lyman Tucker, 
 
 Lyman Dwight, , G. N. Benton, 
 
 Peter Sciioonmaker, A. W. Grey, 
 
 Stillwater, N. Y., April 24th, 1865. 
 
 To Reuben Wescott, E. Widdemer, S. G. Eddy, E. K. Woolsey, C. D. Bull, 
 G. V. Lansing, and others: 
 Gentlemen :— I herewith transmit to you the manuscript of which you speak. 
 Yours, in the bonds of Christian patriotism, 
 
 Wm. M. Johnson. 
 
DISCO XT USE 
 
 II Samuel, 1 : 19. " The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places : how 
 are the mighty fallen !" 
 
 " Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow ; 
 A blow, which, while it executes, alarms ; 
 And startles thousands with a single fall." 
 
 All loyal hearts beat sadly and slowly to-day. The nation is 
 draped in mourning. We had not yet grown calm from the 
 excitement of victory and triumph, we were just highly elated 
 with the prospect of peace, when once more darkness covers 
 the earth, and gross darkness the people. The sun has gone 
 down while it was yet day. The toll of the death-bell follows 
 the peal of victory. For " the beauty of Israel is slain upon 
 thy high places : how are the mighty fallen. Tell it not in 
 Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon; lest the daugh- 
 ters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncir- 
 cumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no 
 dew, neither let there be rain, upon you, nor fields of offerings ; 
 for there the shield of the mighty is vilely cast away." The 
 wail of a great people ascends to heaven. And the mournful 
 cadences of the bereaved king of Israel can but feebly express 
 the agony of our hearts. 
 
 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, the merciful Conqueror, the pure Pa- 
 triot, the Idol of the people, the Chief Magistrate of the nation, is 
 dead. And this, too, is greatly aggravated by the fact, that the 
 hand of a vile assassin dealt him the murderous blow, and that 
 one so gentle, so tender of others, should be a martyr through 
 inhuman revenge. Had he died by ordinary disease, in the 
 regular course of God's providence, we could have readily said, 
 " It is the Lord ; let him do what seemeth him ixood." liul 
 
now, though we would still recognize God's permissive decree 
 in this " sum of all villainies," the blow to us is awfully severe, 
 and ordinary consolation affords but little relief. It is a solemn 
 hour, and it is a solemn service to reflect upon the sad event. 
 We feel that " the Republic has lost its truest friend, its great 
 protector, its trusted savior." Next to the Almighty Arm, we 
 have placed confidence in him. The voice of calumny has never 
 dared to question his love for his country. He loved her with 
 the instinctive and unreserved devotion of a child for its mother. 
 Possessed of a giant manhood, and the sagacity of astute states- 
 manship, and with abundant opportunity to exercise both, he 
 has left this record, he has done what he could. Great was the 
 task which he was called to perform. He was taken quite un- 
 expectedly from his quiet home near the Father of Waters, he 
 was placed in a new position, he was met by every form of 
 perplexity and embarrassment ; hut his brave heart avoided no 
 responsibility, lie paled at no opposition, he stumbled at no 
 obstacle. In March, J SGI, he took a solemn oath to sustain the 
 constitution and the laws, and nobly did he keep his vow, till 
 the hand of the assassin deprived him of his life. We have 
 believed from the first that he was raised up, and schooled, and 
 endowed by Providence, to meet the emergency of the times. 
 Again and again has it appeared that God was with him. Again 
 and again, when hope was almost gone, have we turned to him, 
 as an instrument in the hands of the King of Kings, to save us 
 from utter destruction. From this sacred desk the prayer has 
 often gone up, that God would keep him in the hollow of His 
 hand, would shield him from all danger, and keep his mind linn 
 and his heart pure. Those prayers have been all answered by a 
 covenant-keeping God till now — //// now He seems to turn away 
 His tare from us in ihis greal national bereavement. "Verily, 
 thou art a God thai hides! thy self, O God of Israel, the Saviour." 
 
 Abraham Lincoln was a man of the people, from the people, 
 and among the people. We never could have loved a titled 
 aristocrat, ;i man who boasted of his blood, as vve have loved 
 
 him. All In- antecedents, all In- speeches, all bis public acts, 
 
indeed his whole course from boyhood up to the day of his death, 
 placed him in sympathy with the people. Let us glance briefly 
 at his life. 
 
 He was born in Hardin county, Kentucky, (which is now in- 
 cluded in Larue county) Feb. 12th, 1S09, and was therefore at 
 his death fifty-six years of age. The name is English, and his 
 ancestors were co-laborers with William Penn, in settling the 
 State of Pennsylvania. They belonged to the Society of 
 Friends. Emigration was then as rife as now. The new coun- 
 try offered so many inducements to settlers, that only a few 
 remained in their first location. Branches of the Lincoln family 
 removed to Virginia, to Kentucky, to Indiana, and finally to 
 Illinois. The grandfather of our lamented President fell a victim 
 to the savage ferocity of the Indians in one of the new settle- 
 ments. His father and mother were both born in Virginia, but 
 in 1816 removed with their family to the then distant West. 
 Like most of the pioneers in the new country, they engaged in 
 agricultural pursuits, and here our Chieftain grew up to man- 
 hood. There were then no advantages for education in the 
 West, as now, and he only obtained snatches of learning, 
 amounting in the aggregate to less than a year, and with such 
 helps as our young people would hardly think worthy of men- 
 tion. His own account of his mental training was substantially 
 as follows: It is true, I never went to school much. But 
 I remember how, when a mere child, I used to get irritated 
 when anybody talked to me in a way I could not understand. I 
 don't think I ever got angry at anything else in my life. I can 
 remember going to my little bed-room, after hearing the neigh- 
 bors talk of an evening with my father, and spending no small 
 part of the night walking up and down, and trying to make out 
 what was the exact meaning of some of their, to me, dark 
 sayings. I could not sleep, though I often tried to, when I got 
 on such a hunt after an idea, until I had caught it. This was a 
 kind of passion with me, and it has stuck by me. Years after, 
 when I commenced the study of law, I constantly came upon 
 the word demonstrate. I soon became satisfied that I did not 
 
understand its meaning. I said to myself, " What do I do when 
 I demonstrate more than when I reason or prose ?" I threw down 
 my law books, left my situation in Springfield, went home to 
 my father's house, and staid there till I could give any proposi- 
 tion in the six books of Euclid at sight. Then I returned to 
 my law books, satisfied that I knew the meaning of demonstrate. 
 And that is the extent of my education. 
 
 After leaving his father, and before taking up the study of 
 law, he was variously employed — building boats, sailing on the 
 Mississippi, trading, and such like. He was captain of a com- 
 pany of volunteers in the Black Hawk war. He w r as ready for 
 anything, and efficient in everything. Finally he became post- 
 master of a small town, and in the interval of mailing and de- 
 livering letters, but mostly in the night, he commenced to 
 prepare for the legal profession, borrowing his books in the 
 evening and returning them in the morning. From this point he 
 began rapidly to rise. It is good for a man to bear the yoke in 
 his youth. He bore a heavy one, and experienced all the bene- 
 ficial effects. In 1834, '3d, '38 and '40, he was elected to the 
 legislature of Illinois, and first took his seat with that body two 
 years before he had license to practise law. In 1S47, when he 
 was 38 years of age, he became a representative in the National 
 Legislature, and two years after he was the author of a scheme 
 which was to abolish slavery in the district of Columbia. But 
 he only saw his plan consummated after it had been maturing 
 fifteen years, and when he was serving his first term as President 
 of the United Slates. 
 
 Be first attracted the special attention of the entire nation in 
 his memorable contest with the gifted Douglas, during the 
 summer of l s ">^. Day alter day, in the presence of large as- 
 semblies, these Two giants received and parried each other's 
 blows, as only they could do, both displaying eminent ability, 
 and at the same time preserving that dignity in debate which is 
 the mark of noble minds. Some time in the winter of I s -")!), he 
 came to New York, where he spoke before the firsl men of the 
 country, in such a manner that all began to forecast his high 
 
destiny. Subsequently he spoke in many of the New England 
 cities, the people everywhere crowding to hear him as if he were 
 an oracle, and reading his speeches with the greatest eagerness. 
 One little incident which occurred while he was in Connecticut 
 will serve better than anything else I can say, to show what 
 manner of man he was. After speaking one evening to a large 
 audience, and closing his remarks with these noble words : 
 " Gentlemen, it has been said of the world's history, hitherto, 
 that might makes right; it is for us and for our times to reverse 
 the maxim, and to show that right makes might;'''' he was stand- 
 ing the next morning at the railroad depot, waiting for the train 
 to bear him to the next town, when a clergyman came up and 
 was introduced to him. " Ah," said he, "I have seen you be- 
 fore." The minister said he thought not. He replied, " I have 
 seen you ; you were at the meeting last night, and I saw you 
 there." The surprised inquiry then was, " Is it possible that 
 you could observe individuals so closely in such a crowd?" " Oh 
 yes," said he, " that is my way. I generally look around when 
 I am speaking, and I do not forget faces." That was enough to 
 stagger the most credulous. But it showed the mighty intellec- 
 tual power of the man. To speak extemporaneously at all, 
 acceptably, is a great thing. But to speak to thousands of 
 strangers, and at the same time be studying and fixing their 
 faces, is a gift which nature has not often bestowed upon man. 
 In the May following this, he was nominated in Chicago for 
 the Presidency, to succeed James Buchanan ; and though in the 
 election there were three opposing candidates, he was successful. 
 But the hour of his triumph was only the precursor of his peril 
 and his trial. That day, when the news of his election was re- 
 ceived in Charleston, the first ordinance of secession was decreed. 
 And he was hardly seated in the Presidential chair, before the 
 slaveholders' rebellion was fairly inaugurated. Even his first 
 passage to the capital was obstructed, and only the good hand 
 of Providence saved him from assassination then. God spared 
 him for long and toilsome service, and for a harder fate. I say 
 a harder fate, for then we scarcely dared to hope ; but now when 
 
he is taken from us, our whole sky is illuminated with the bright 
 omens of better times, and we were all preparing to thank God 
 for a united, peaceful, and regenerated Republic. 
 
 His first term of administration was probably more difficult 
 than any that our Presidents have passed through. The country 
 did not fully know him yet, but we did know that the greatest 
 prudence and wisdom were necessary to save us from irretrieva- 
 ble ruin. The South was already in arms and prepared for war, 
 while the North was crippled on every side. False men in the 
 government had carefully prepared everything for the success of 
 the rebellion. With empty hands, and an empty treasury, with 
 no navy and no army, with mighty foes arrayed before him, 
 and masked batteries in his rear, our noble President went to 
 work. We prayed that the God of nations would help him, but 
 we looked on trembling lor the result. Now that he has served 
 us so long and so well, and while his body is preparing for the 
 tomb, we look back and marvel to see what God hath wrought 
 through him. 
 
 He called around him an efficient cabinet, the first and ablest 
 of whom, has now, like him, been made the victim of barbaric 
 revenge. The sagacity of Lincoln and the diplomacy of Seward, 
 have been, under God, the salvation of the government. 
 
 The next business after selecting his Cabinet, was to organize 
 an army, and engage in war against an enemy of our own blood. 
 It was his to subdue a rebellious household. His first proclama- 
 tion did not come up to the expectation of loyal hearts. But we 
 hoped he would do better, and he did. Gradually he grasped 
 the whole condition of affairs. If he thought at first that 
 seventy-live thousand men could suppress the rebellion, he 
 thought just as thousands more in the North thought and spoke. 
 lie was never hasty, never precipitate ; but, on the other hand, 
 a calm review of his whole administration plainly shows he was 
 never dilatory, never too hue. 
 
 His first order was to reinforce Sumter, beleaguered by thou- 
 sands of rebels. In that, he was as careful as he was deter- 
 mined. Not one word was said by him, then, or after, to arouse 
 
9 
 
 the least resistance in the Southern heart. The closing words 
 of his first inaugural plainly foreshadowed his future policy. II, 
 said thou, addressing the traitors from the steps of the Capitol : 
 in your hands, my dissatisfied fellow-countrymen, and not in 
 mine is the momentous issue of civil war. You have no oath 
 registered in heaven to destroy the government, while 1 have 
 the most solemn one to preserve, protect and defend it. The 
 mystic chords of memory, stretching f rom every battle-field and 
 patriot grave, to every living heart in this broad land, will swell 
 the chorus of the Union when again touched, as surely they will 
 be, by the better angels of our nature." Solemn and prophetic 
 words! That oath registered in heaven never was violated 
 But he scarcely lived to hear the « chorus ol the Union" which 
 was just beginning to ascend from millions of enraptured hearts 
 Seventy-five thousand men, undisciplined in the art of war 
 were insufficient to quell the most gigantic rebellion the world 
 has ever seen. He soon called for more volunteers, and then for 
 more, till the popular song announced our readiness to furnish 
 all that were necessary. « Father Abraham," it said. Yes that 
 was the spontaneous response, which we soon learned to make 
 to his appeals. He had been trained in the wilderness of the 
 West; he was uncouth in maimers, and unpolished in speech • 
 but before he had been two years our Chief Magistrate we loved' 
 him as a man, we reverenced him as a father. That father, we, 
 the bereaved family, mourn as dead to-day. We drape our 
 sanctuary with the symbols of our grief; and looking up to God 
 we try to say, while tears choke our utterance, -Father in 
 heaven, thy will be doHe." 
 
 Perhaps the hardest task he had to do, was to obtain the 
 proper leaders for the armies. Winfield Scott was Lieutenant- 
 General, but in his dotage. Events soon demonstrated that he 
 had not strength adequate to the occasion. Some of our most 
 gifted military men had proved false to the baud that nourished 
 them, to the government that had munificently endowed them 
 with accomplishments and skill. One man was tried, and then 
 another. Each had his friends, clamorous for his promotion or 
 
10 
 
 retention in office. But the President so skillfully and so kindly 
 treated them all as to lose the respect of none, and to win the 
 love of many. Every one of these generals, including his polit- 
 ical opponents, will mourn the loss to the country, and will 
 applaud the virtues of the man. Ah yes ! the sorrow is univer- 
 sal now. Even many who opposed Mr. Lincoln while living, 
 now seem to he loudest in lamenting his death, and deploring 
 the great national calamity. 
 
 " Brief, brave anil glorious was his bright career, — 
 His mourners were two hosts, his friends and foes ; 
 For he was Freedom's Champion, — one of those, 
 The few in number, who had not o'erstept 
 The charter to chastise which she bestows 
 On such as wield her weapons : he had kept 
 The whiteness of his soul, and thus men o'er him wept." 
 
 Towards the rebellion, Mr. Lincoln never manifested anything 
 like spite or ill-nature. He accepted it as his commission from 
 God to quell it. This work he set himself deliberately to per- 
 form. But he exhibited no spirit of revenge. He had not the 
 savage atrocity of the tyrant. The assassin who shot him leaped 
 from the box upon the stage, and waving his dagger exclaimed, 
 " Sic semper tyrannis," — So may it always he with tyrants. But 
 that grossly belies him. The inhuman traitor added insult to 
 cruelty. Just the opposite spirit possessed the breast of the 
 murdered man. He was kind and lenient, almost to a fault. 
 His subordinates may have been unjust, but he never w r as. His 
 heart was as tender as a woman's. Thus he united in his char- 
 acter the qualities of true nobility. He was manly, but gentle ; 
 he was brave, but compassionate ; he was strong enough to rule, 
 but pitiful enough to weep. He lacked the finished accomplish- 
 ments of Washington, hut in the positive qualities of his 
 character, he was in no respect inferior to the Father of his 
 Country. Washington blended in himself all the virtues of the 
 old-time heroes; Lincoln reproduced the same virtues in beau- 
 tiful symmetry of character, and made all subservient to the 
 besl interests of his country. 
 
11 
 
 The great moral event of his career was the Proclamation of 
 Emancipation. All parties had begun to desire that the great 
 evil of slavery might be plucked up by the roots. But many 
 feared the time had not yet come. With eagle eye he discerned 
 the auspicious moment, and proclaimed the dawn of universal 
 liberty; throwing, however, the whole responsibility upon the 
 traitors in arms. If they returned to their allegiance, as the 
 cause of absolute justice demanded, he would not interfere with 
 their domestic institutions ; otherwise human bondage was at an 
 end. The die was cast. The rebels, with mad faith in an un- 
 righteous cause, persisted in their chosen course, and a just God 
 visited upon them his holy retribution. Congress soon affixed 
 its sanction to the merciful decree, and the loyal part of the 
 nation to-day, both North and South, rejoices in the triumphs of 
 Liberty. Oh ! America, thou knowest not the debt thou owest 
 to the departed hero. The prisoner goes free ; the clanking of 
 chains will be heard no more in thy land. Freedom is the 
 watchword now, and the Goddess of Liberty, w r ith her mild 
 sceptre, will soon rule the world. But the merciful heart has 
 stopped its beating, and the pitying eye is glazed in death. 
 Ichabod, Ichabod, the glory is departed. But he is not dead. 
 His name, his works, his spirit, still live. Embalmed in the 
 memory of a grateful people, we will write his name high up 
 by the side of Washington, and with subdued thanksgiving re- 
 peat his story to our children's children. Let him sleep on. The 
 peace of death will be to him as tranquil as the peace he has 
 wrought out for the nation. He died in obtaining what we live 
 to enjoy. Let his failures be entombed with his inanimate body, 
 and only his virtues remembered by his bereaved country. 
 " Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth : 
 Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors ; and 
 their works do follow them." 
 
 Our martyred President was a Christian. The following inci- 
 dent is well authenticated: A pious gentleman called at the 
 executive mansion on business. This being transacted, jusi as 
 he was leaving, he turned to Mr. Lincoln and said : " My dear 
 
12 
 
 sir, I wish to ask you one question. When I left home on this 
 mission, my friends charged me to inquire of you, if you loved 
 Jesits." This touched a tender chord. The President's eyes 
 filled with tears, and for a moment lie was silent. Then he said : 
 " When I came to Washington, I was not a Christian. When 
 our little boy was taken from us, I was not a Christian. But 
 when I went to the battle-field of Autietam, and passed among 
 the dead and dying of our brave volunteers, then I became a 
 Christian. Yes, I do lore Jesus." 
 
 This satisfies the religious sentiment of the land. In him irr 
 lose a friend and brother. But though our sorrow is deep to-day, 
 we sorrow not without hope. He has passed from a no hie ser- 
 vice on earth, to the nobler services of heaven. He was taken 
 away from his earthly reward, only to receive a crown that shall 
 never fade away. He was taken from the midst of his useful- 
 ness, and in full vigor, only to be a brighter trophy in heaven. 
 Had he been less our idol, had he been less worthy, had he been 
 less noble, had he been less prepared, God might have spared 
 him to us. Had we been more worthy of him, had we sustained 
 him better, had we been more careful to guard him, perhaps he 
 might have been spared to us. But oh ! no. The appointed 
 time had come, and an inscrutable Providence permitted the 
 assassin to take his life. It is too late now to say that he ought 
 not to have gone out unguarded. It was his way. We all 
 trembled when he went to Richmond. But there he was not 
 harmed. This proves to us his personal bravery on the one 
 hand, and his confidence in his fellow-citizens on the other. He 
 was spared in Richmond, only to return to the Capital to die by 
 the hand of violence. "Shall there he evil in the city, and the 
 Lord hath not done itV" Here we stop, not striving to fathom 
 the depths of Providence. u We are dumb with silence before 
 (iod. We hold our peace, even from good, and our sorrow is 
 stirred." 
 
 In this calamitous event, God speaks to us with an awful 
 voice. .And whal are the lessons of the hour'/ 
 
 The tiisi lesson is this: " Pul nol your inisi in princes, uor 
 
13 
 
 in the son of man, in whom there is no help. His breath goeth 
 forth, he returneth to his earth ; in that very day his thoughts 
 perish." The arm of man is a frail support. Trusting to this, 
 we lean upon a broken reed. " It is better to trust in the Lord 
 than to put confidence m man. It is better to trust in the Lord 
 than to put confidence in princes." "We feel the force of these 
 Scriptures now, more clearly than ever before. Perhaps we 
 were inclined to hero-worship. Perhaps we were inclined to 
 exalt the man above the Almighty Supporter. Never since the 
 days of "Washington, has this nation had so much faith in any 
 one man as in Abraham Lincoln. His friends and foes alike 
 knew that he was honest. And we gave him our implicit trust. 
 But if we have transferred our faith in God to him, now we 
 must receive the Divine rebuke. Here, then, warned in a man- 
 ner we cannot mistake, we fix our resolve. " Some trust in 
 chariots, and some in horses ; but we will remember the name 
 of the Lord our God." 
 
 Once more, in this calamity we are taught, as God has 
 taught us in the past, that he alone decides the destinies of 
 nations. " Promotion cometh neither from the East, nor from 
 the West, nor from the South. But God is the Judge : he put- 
 teth down one and setteth up another." " Be still, and know 
 that I am God." Thou Sovereign of the Universe, teach us in 
 sadness to recognize thy Supreme Authority. Now we commit 
 our way unto God, trusting that he will direct our steps. 
 
 My fellow-citizens, shall we stop a moment before we sepa- 
 rate, to forecast the future '( to ask what next '? The helm of 
 government is already in untried hands. Does the new pilot 
 know the shoals? ."Will he weather the gale? These are the 
 questions that now burden the national* heart. "We turn from 
 the dead President to the living, and ask what is to be. Ah ! 
 there we are at fault again. Let us turn unto God. From our 
 lost hope, already far beyond recall, we turn our eyes heaven- 
 ward, and, thanking God for the departed hero, lor his noble 
 life, for his kind and honest heart, for his manly words, for his 
 Christian faith, and thai we were blessed by his services so long ; 
 
14 
 
 — we also pray to the same Sovereign Ruler, that He will take 
 the new President under His special care, that He will guard 
 his life from danger, that He will keep his heart from corrup- 
 tion, his mind firm, and his arm strong ; and that our national 
 life may yet be spared, peace inaugurated, and we become a 
 people accepted and blessed of God — a peculiar people, zealous 
 of good works. 
 
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