x^ Dc^r M^f special humiliation and prayer in consequence of the assassination of ABRAHAM LINCOLN; 3 SECOND ENGLISH EVANGELICAL nLiTJT.KEi^j^nsr cectji^oh:. H ^A. Pt R I S B TJ H G, I»-A.. I Q i By Rev. E. S. JOHNSTON. M THEO. F. SCHEFFER, PRINTER. 1865. Rev. E. S. Johnston, 3'hc undersigned having hecn more than gratified in the -privilege of listening to the deUverg of your sermon on this darj set apart for the commemoration of the virtues of our late beloved President^ Joerewith request a copy for publication. /Icspectfiillg and truly yours^ * GEO. CARVER IC 11, JACOB REEL, J. B. ZIMMERMAN, A. E. EYSTER, D. A. S. EYSTER, CHAMBERS DUBBS. Harrisburo, Jcne 1, 1865. SERIVEON. "The Most nigh ruleth in the Kingdom of Men." Daniel iv: 25. God is the Sovereign Lord and Governor of all things. He made this world by the word of his power, and he governs it by the hand of his Providence. Everything that occurs around us preaches to us of Providence and Eternity. Every change that takes place shows us how God watches over this world with a care that never slumbers, and how ho rules it with a wisdom that never falters. All that occurs from the fall of a dying sparrow to the crash of an overthrown Emjtire is but as God bids or per- mits. He doth all things according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth. Nothing be- gins, continues or ends without his knowledge, permission or control. He exercises a general and special Providence over all things. He makes the wrath of man to praise him and he restrains the remainder of wrath. He controls the affairs of the world, of nations, of families and of individuals, so that all things are pushed onward and upward. He overrules all things so as to promote his glory, and in and through this, the greatest happiness, the fullest development and the high- est perfection of his creatures. Not that there are not great evils in the world. Not that those by whom these evils come shall go unpunished. Not that the wicked are not freely following their own malig- nant passions, or are in any way prompted to their wicked course by any influence from God. God cannot tempt to evil. "Woe to the world" says Christ, "because of offenses, for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man bv whom the offense cometh." But God over-rules evil for good, both in the moral and political world. He permits the offenses that must needs be, and appoints the time for their continuance, and determines the woe due to those by whom they come, and makes all things work together for good to them that are his. Now if God has planned and created all things, and if the end to be accomplished is, as we are told, his glory and the highest good of his creatures, and if his hand controls all things, then will he so regulate all things as to constitute them a means for the furtherance of that end. If evils are to be removed, he removes them. He seeks to remove them by love; when love fails he removes them by severity. If he needs a leader to bring his chosen people to the land of promise he raises him up ; and then to show to all the world that he is dependent upon no such instrumentality, he buries him by the way. If grief and affliction are indispensable to our sanctification, then, though reluctantly, he hallows us with the strange baptism of fire. If for the sake of right- eousness and truth, suffering and death must be endured then he leads the martyr, "through Gethsemanc and over Calvary down to the tomb and up to the light." To us these things, as they occur, seem mysterious, but God rules. There is a purpose and a Providence in them all. "The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether," "He putteth down one, and setteth up another." The calamity, therefore, which so suddenly and sorely befell us as a Nation, in the murder of our gi'eat and good President, is not voiceless. It was no blind chance that launched that bolt. As in all the calamities that have be- fallen us for the last four years, so in this also, God's hand is unmistakably manifest. He uses this last and most atro- cious act of the rebellion, all of whose acts were atrocious, to spur the Government a step forward in the direction of jus- tice and right; and as a school of experience, to teach the people to sustain the Government while they crush the re- mains of the rebellion with an iron hand, and inflict upon its prime movers the punishment they deserve. Before the supremacy of the laws was established, and the authority of the Government fully sustained; before the honor of the flag and the memory of our butchered soldiers had been vindicated, the Government had arranged to cele- brate its restored supremacy at Sumter, and the people every- where were preparing to celebrate the coming peace. The arrangements both by the Government and the people were to be such as to impress the world with the dignity and hri- portance of the occasion. These celebrations were the happy burden of every heart, and the theme of every tongue ; and we all thought they would never be forgotten. That of the people never came off', and that of the Government at Sumter was forgotten in a day. It was all eclipsed by the terrible catastrophe which deprived the Republic of its chief, and filled every heart with indescribable sorrow, and with the pro- foundest woe. This allliction did not arise from the dust, nor is it dumb. It has a voice, and that voice is one of remon- strance and warning. It tells us not only that every vestige of the rebellion must be removed, but that the Demon Spirit that prompted and sustained it, that strewed our battle-fields with the dead, filled our hospitals with the wounded and dying, and crowded filthy prisons in the South with our brothers and sons — the spirit "that has torn our nation's heart and fallen in murder upon our nation's head," must be driven wholly from the land. We are here, then, beloved, this morning at the call of the Chief Magistrate of the Republic, but not to mourn over the untimely death of our slaughtered President. Never did man walk more heroically to his death than Abraham Lincoln. Apart from the shocking manner of his death and the malig- nant motives which caused it, there is no reason why we should mourn. His work was done; his duty fulfilled, and his fame imperishably inscribed on the hearts of his country- men. His name will remain forever associated with the emancipation of the slaves, the reduction of the rebellion, the preservation of civil fiberty, and the vindication of popu- lar Government. He was a thoroughly honest man, and a 6 pure and unselfish patriot. To his extreme modesty, remark- able sobriety and strong integrity which was never impeached, was added kindness of heart, magnanimity of nature, gener- ous love of humanity and faith in God. He was a truly gi-eat and good man. He was equal to every emergency. He never disappointed the nation by falhng below the occa- sion. He never treated an antagonist unfairly. He never misled the people by sophistical arguments or by the distor- tion of facts. How truthful, penitential and christian the last words he uttered in his olhcial capacity — his inaugural of March the 4th, 1865. Since his death these words fall upon the ear like a requiem — sad, sacred, solemn and sweet. That speech will be read with tearful eyes by our children's chil- dren. Cherished by the nation, this pathetic confession of sin, and resolute purpose to labor for its extinction, will be read and admired to the latest generation. It has been truly said that "it lacks no element of ]3erfection; so short that he that runs may read it; so simple that the most childish can understand it; so statesman-like in its enunciation of princi- ples that the rulers of the world can profitably study it; so religious that the most pious hearts can find in it holiest nutriment; so philanthropic that the largest souls may grow larger in its inspiring air; so clement that the hardest heart cannot but melt in its perusal. It is the consummate flower of executive orations. Jeremiah could not wish it more peni- tential; Ezekiel more resolute, or John more affectionate." Let me read to you some of its sentences, beautiful and sol- emn, which are destined to go over the world and down the ages, as an evidence of their author's clear recognition of the Divine will, his deep prostration before God's offended good- ness — his humble confession that the judgments of God are righteous, and of his gentleness and kindness of feeling to- wards his malignant foes. "Fondly do we hope — fervently do we pray — that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass away; yet if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled up by the bond- man's two hui^dred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with tlie lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said : "The jutlir- ments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. "With malice toward none; with charity for all; with fii'm- ness 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 — to do all, that may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations." In this true christian spirit, he was striving "to finish the work we are in," when he was stricken down. The hour that carried with it joy and honor and rest for his weary heart, was almost here. The Union was saved, the rebellion was subdued, the slaves were set free, and the wounds of the nation were beginning to heal, when the wail went through the land proclaiming the sorrowful tidings that he had gone from among us. He died as is most blessed to die. He died in the midst of labor. He died with the armor on. No slow waste consumed his strength. No disease obscured his mind. No fever dried his blood. No pain racked his body. "All at once, in the full vigor of manhood, with his girdle tight about him, he departed, and walks with God." Whatever, therefore, may befall the nation, its late Presi- dent has nothing lost. His work is done, and he stands among the elect. He was ripe for his reward and now he rests from his toil, beyond all sorrow and weariness. He sealed his life with his death, and now his spirit works more mightily in the nation, since his bodily presence is withdrawn. Why then should we mourn? Who would not rather be the dead saint than the living persecutor? Who would not pre- fer to be the true patriot lying cold in the tomb, to being any one of the score of guilty men among the living, who con- ceived and plotted his death and who now rejoice over it? We come then to-day not to shed bitter tears of sorrow over 8 our beloved President, struck down in the dust, in the strength of his years, but to rejoice rather that it was given him to die gloriously amid the consummation of a grand mission nobly performed, and to shed tears for ourselves and our country ! We come, as recommended by the President, to humble ourselves before Almighty God, on account of the wickedness, the utter disregard for justice and right, and the indifference for the welfare of the oppressed, which required such a terri- ble mark of God's displeasure. And if, in answer to the prayers of the people this day, God will remove the sins that have provoked this chastisement, and will give us as a recom- pense for this sacrifice a pure love of right, of impartial free- dom, and of the welflire of all men, then even this calamity shall work for our good. This is a day of special humiliation and prayer, in con- sequence of a special calamity — the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Now, if our humiliation be real and not feigned, we must realize not only that this is a national chastisement, but that it is a chastisement with which wo are personally connected. How far then are we responsible for this crime? What have we done, or what are we doing to prevent a repe- tition of such a sad calamity? These are solemnly practical questions. They come home to us all, and it behooves us all to answer them as in the presence of God. We may wash our hands, and say, "1 am innocent of the blood of this just person." We may look upon the crime as a horrid and dastardly act. We may denounce the villian who could accomphsh the atrocious deed. We may even visit with condign punishment the instigators of the crime; yet if we sympathize with the spirit that moved the murderer, or with the institution that fosters that spirit; if we fail to resist it in every possible way, or if we have harbored feel- ings and uttered words which tended to excite it, before God we are guilty. Let us therefore humble ourselves before the Most High, and confess our guilt in this matter, and strive as God gives us power^ to undo what we have done, by doing 9 all we can to drive the evil spirit, which has wrought discord, woe and death in our nation, entirely from the land. That evil spirit is slavery. It has been the cause of all our four long years of suffering. It is a terrible source of evil. It destroys all human rights. It desecrates all the sanctities of heart and home. It wastes the slave. It des- troys the master. It corrupts the public morals. It is an enemy both to God and man. Trained up under its blight, and actuated by its spirit the leaders in the South brought on this causeless rebellion, broke their oaths and most solemn trusts, and violated the commonest principles of fidelity only to betray and destroy. The massacre of our soldiers at Fort Pillow, the slow torture unto death of the prisoners in the filthy dens of the South, and now the murder of our Chief Magistrate, are but the promptings of the same iniqui- tous spirit. With this spirit of treachery, rebellion, and murder, we as a people have sympathized, and many do so still. Though the spirit of the Bible is manifestly against slavery, and tlie whole christian sentiment of the people was, that it is a great wrong; and though not one of us could bring him- self to assert the righteousness of the system, or believe in its Divine legality, yet, because the national law legalized it, and we loved it on account of the power it controlled; we stood by it and sustained it in opposition to right and to God- When we were told that God had laid down a principle of universal obligation — that "all things whatsoever ye would that men slioidd do unto you, do ye even so to them, for this is the law and the prophets," we stiil clung to our idol, and shewed by our actions, if we did not say it with our words, that we considered this institution more precious than all the rights of men. And we answered those who urged this principle, with the cry, this Union, this Government, this Constitution, are the}^ not more precious than all God's laws and prophets? Thus through all the past we clung to slavery and sympathized with it, sharing its profits and its quilt. At last the time came when it must be removed. God 10 determined to destroy it, and, if we stood in the way of its final overthrow, to smite us with it. We might be willing to die for it, but we could not save it. God's decree had gone forth, and it must perish. All that we could do was to tear it from us, and let it perish, or still cling to it, and per- ish with it. To give it up was a hard struggle ; but thank God the great majority in the North, spurred on b}^ disasters, by defeats, by the unparalleled cruelty of the foe, and finally by the assassination of the President, are not only willing to cast it from them, and let it die; but find in the fact of its death a grand consolation in this day of sadness. On the other hand the South clung to the institution, and they and it have perished together. We have the tes- timony of Governor Aiken of South Carolina, to the terrible retribution that must come upon all who take the sword to assist them in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces. "I asked him," says one ^\■ho met the Governor, not long since, "as to the condition of young men in South Carolina? He said that they were annihilated; he said that in many places in South Carolina there was not a young man between the ages of twenty and fifty. He said that a generation was cut off. I asked him in reference to the wealth of Charleston? He said that Charleston was utterly bankrupted as a city. I asked him if there had not been conveyed away by many to foreign places, treasures against the day of need ? 'No,' said he, 'not by our families ; a few have done so ; a great deal of money has been made and conveyed away by blockade runners, but our old rich famihes are utterly wiped out — they arc gone.' I asked him, 'will Charleston ever be able of her own self to recover her standing?' 'Never, never,' said he, 'she has not the stamina by which to do it.'" In view of these fearful facts, how great the folly, and how extreme the madness of those who sympathize with and wish to perpetuate the institution of slavery. It stands before us in all its naked ugliness, without a shred to cover its deformity; foul in its nature, barbarous in its tendency. 11 maligiiant in its spirit — the cursed of God. And as we view the monster, aiming his murderous blow at the head of the Government, that he may at one fell swoop destroy liberty, justice and right; the sight ougrht to drive from our minds every sympathy, and from our hearts the last lingering pity for the institution, and fire our souls with an invincible de- termination, that both it and all the unholy prejudices it has engendered against a certain class of our fellow-men shall be destroyed forever. The assassination of our late President, is but an illustration of the spirit of the rebellion, and is in keeping with all its other acts. The same reasons, therefore, which demand that the assassin be punished, require that justice be meted out to the instigators of the rebellion. As you look upon this awful tragedy learn to estimate aright the crime of treason, and permit no false magnanimity to lead you to attempt to ward oft' the vengeance which God has plainly indicated shall be poured out upon the leaders of the rebellion. Vengeance belongs to God. To us as a Gov- ernment he has entrusted the execution of his punishments on the guilty. Crime must be punished. It is neither wise nor safe for us to arrest the vengeance which does not belong to us, but to God. And now, beloved, assembled here in memory of the good man who has been removed, let us pledge ourselves to be more faithful to the country for which he died, to hate with a still more intense hatred that slavery which has slain him, and to stand firm in the right, as God gives us to see the right. And then, though he has strangely removed from us our Chief, by the hand of him, raised up by his Provi- dence to take his place, God will lead us safely into the promised land.