Class Book IIST MEMOM-A-M. DISCOURSE h: ON THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, HtMtxA of the %bM $ tatcs DELIVERED Df THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, of St. Louis, April 23, 1865, BY REV. SAMUEL J. NICCOLLS. PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. ST. LOUIS = SHEEMAN SPENCER, PRINTER. NO. 28 MARKET STREET. 1865. I2ST MEMOIRIA-M- DISCOUESE ON THE ASSASSINATION OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, f tttfbnt *f the 3lteftetf £iato> DELIVERED IN THE SECOND PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, of St. Louis, April 23d, 1865, REV. SAMUEL J. NICCOLLS. PUBLISHED BY BEQUEST. ST. LOUISA SHERMAN SPENCER, PRINTER. NO. 28 MARKET STREET. 1865. DISCOURSE. And it was so that ,11 that saw it said, There was no such deed done nor seen from the day^t IrSudren oflsrael came up out of the land of Egypt unto tins day: confer of it, take advice, and speak your minds. -Judges xix. 30. The narrative from which this passage is taken, is one of those fearful stories of crime and just retribution which the Spirit of God has recorded in His Word— for man's warning and instruction. A traveling Israelite passing through the land of Benjamin, was gross- ly insulted by some citizens of Gibeah, and his wife made the victim of a beastly outrage. The man, in accordance with an eastern custom divided her dead body, and sent a part to each tribe in Israel, to tell, as no tongue could tell it, the story of his wrong. This foul outrage and murder had no parallel in Jewish history, and the report of it sent a thrill of horror through the hearts of the people, and awoke universal indignation. Gathering them- selves together as one man, they demanded of the tribe of Benjamin the persons of the murderers, that they might put them to death, and thus purge Israel of this wickedness. But Benjamin refused, and so defending and sympathizing with the murderers, became Implicated in their guilt. Thus this crime, though actually com- mitted by a few, became one of national interest, and was followed by the most momentous consequences. The passage recording its dreadful character might now, with a few verbal alterations, be transcribed in American history. Lately there has come to us the report of a deed so dark and damning in its character, that one might well be excused for thinking it too horrible to be true. It fell upon us in the midst of our joy, like a clap of thunder from a serene and sunlit sky. We were as one staggered by a sudden blow, and went to our homes that woeful day, struck dumb with horror and amazement. And well might it be so, for when Abraham Lincoln fell bleeding from that vale apon, a deed was committed, which for infamy and ands without a parallel in our history. Not in the re- o modern times but in the bloody annals of barbarous days, when I ; ' ; " ;; "assy's knife were the favorite instruments of tyrants and traitors, must wo look to find a crime which does not seem like a virtue, when compared with this unnatural murder. We are humiliated when we hear the dreadful story repeated; for mingled with sorrow for the dead, and indignation against the'per- ; etrators of the act, there is a sense of shame oppressing every true heart, thai such a deed should stain our country's history. We feel as some proud father, when he learns that a vile adulterer has robbed him of his honor, by blackening with crime the escutcheon of his family's purity, handed down to him unsullied through a long line of noble ancestors. If the tears of a bereaved nation, if the blood of the wretched murderer, and the fears of his guilty accom- plices in treason, could purge from our history this dark sin, it were soon done. But it admits of no atonement, no palliation, it is one of these great crimes, that stop the pleading of mercy] and cry wilh the voice of martyred blood for vengeance. "AIM hat have heard of it have said, There was no such deed done '""' Beon from ,1 "' day that our fathers came to this land from among the nation, until this day: consider of it, take advice, and speak your minds." When theehildren of Israel heard of the crime committed in their midst, they gathered themselves onto the Lord in Mjzpeh, and went into His bouse to inquire concerning the sin, ami how they mighl pin away evil from the nation. Surely (hen, brethren anil countrymen, it is b,,t proper conformity to a wise example for ... to come in',, the Banctuary of the Lord, ami consider, as in His ; ' •■""' through the teaching of Eie word, bow we may pur ourselves of the evil thai bas dishonored our land ami thrown r P roach : V"" ,l '" name of a christian people. Xav more, for the pulpil to keep ailenoe while the hand of violence was committing crimes in our laud who recital freezes the blood, would bea Ba d : "" 1 criminal dereliction in duty. It wo, .hi be to pro-,, false to ""' command of Him who bids us •• Pen der to Cesar the thi "'•' ll :,IV ' rell as "to God the things thai are God's," unci to proclaim the preaching of the gospel such a sublimated thing, that while ministers talk of heaven and justification by faith, traitors and parricides, calling themselves christians, may practice unrebuked in our midst, such deeds as make humanity blush for shame. But God forbid that I should so learn Christ, or so preach Him among you. The same command that bids every minister <*o and preach the gospel of God's atoning love, also charges him to "touch men to observe all things whatsoever" Christ has com- manded; and who will say, with His word before him, that Christ has not commanded the practice of those moral, social, and political virtues, the want of which even paganism condemned as a sm ; or that He permits His people to connive at those crimes which, be- fore His coming, the universal sentiment of mankind judged worthy of death to the perpetrators. It might be said that such deeds as this when horror is still fresh to us, need no greater denunciation than their announcement, since they damn themselves m their commission. So one unacquainted with the depravity of the times nfcht think j but what must he say when he learns that there are hundreds, even in our own community, who have openly approved the deed, and that thousands of others, while they have barely conscien e enough to condemn the murderous act, do yet rejoice m he death of him whose loss we mourn-what can he say other than this • that either those who feel thus are in their measure partici- pators in the crime, and guilty of wickedness that makes them most infamous, or that the victim of the assassin, on account of Scr me and misdeeds, deserved his fate. Such are the al erna- tos! which the consideration of that deed of violence, enacted in tho national capital, presses upon us. bconsTderingthom lot me ask, did Abraham Lincoln deserve t0 Was he a tyrant 1 Pardon me, my mourning countrymen that I 'should for a moment apply that title to him who washed to be absolute in nothing, save in the power to forgive. Often it has happened that men usurping the P°™ * r ^ cental pities men as to unfit him for his , rust, and givethe K ood ^ reason to rejoice in his removal? Today, when sorrowing mil- lions are deploring his loss, when a stricken nation is enshrining his ^«y Md J««tenetogivehimthead, due to heroes and thesaviours of their country, and when history has already added bis name to the roll of the noble army of martyrs-who Ls the ementy to become his detractor? Eewasnotoi f those charac te ™>^om revolutions make notorious by casting them up to the *™e>and whose greatness is m0 re fortuitous than merited.- <*od,who is uever al a loss for instruments to do His will and ™ eVer ^ ork8in ^chawayastosetatnaughtthep had given him such training and gifts as qualified him, in a pecu- liar manner, for his great mission in this transitional era of our ^ Bt0 Y; Drawn oat from the midstof the people, he w', ,,d ' ,y V V "" ip ^eir trials and toils to sympathize with them '» heir bloody, and, it is to be hoped, lasl 3 truggle in this land > a S ains1 oppression and aristocratic privilege \- a citi ze Mhe whole course of his private life wa S marked by such sin- nt ^ and fi^lity to principle, as to make his name a proverb of h0r ' Al|,! iM his P ubIi c career the closesl scrutiny of his enemies failed to discover one just accusation against his integrity re was the secret of his greal popularity with the people : and in Uns [ay his firsl qualification for his difficult position The " l "" ,v ""- v ofthe times demanded that a degree of power should be conferred on him, which had been given to no other President- menfe11 Bafe in committing their most precious earthly inh, l *ance into his pure hands. Suspicion of the Chief Magistrate u d have been almosl fatal to us in certain p of the eoun "• S > tru 8S ]e '> l "" 8u °h washisadmii jrity, thai it always ttrraed resentment, even when men were di d with his enial, and with a frankness thai V"" ""'" ^art, there were few who approached him, '' prejudiced againsl him, bu1 went away filled with a< ra- rtheman,and reaped for his sincerity. Eis conscienti ^peculiar lustre to his character, and as carried out in the "' ,1 " ' his nameworthy to be written by 'thatoftheFatherofh C. ntiy. He is great, because he was true, for no matter how extraordinary a life may appear, let us suspect the actor's sincerity, and it loses all merit in our eyes. We have, to-day, reason to thank God that in these dark times, when the perjury and dishonesty of our public men had weakened confidence in our government, and brought us to the verge of ruin, He placed the helm of public affairs in the hands of an honest and just man. Among his moral qualities, not the least prominent was his faith in God. Like all true servants of the Most High, he was conscious of the greatness of his responsibility, and his touching request to his friends and neighbors, at the time of his departure for the scene of his future work and martyrdom, shows where he was looking for help. Prayer and meditation of the Divine word were not occasional, but constant duties with him ; and it was from his trust in God that he derived his consolation and fortitude in his darkest hours. Well do I remember his appearance, as, with quivering lip and tearful eye, in that very room where his body lay in woeful state, he told a company of clergymen who came to express their prayerful sympathy, how he valued the prayers of christians, and that when everything was dark around him, his only refuge had been the " mercy seat." Belying implicitly on God's wisdom and goodness, and believing that he was laboring in the holy cause of liberty and just govern- ment, "he looked danger in the face with a smile, and endured the incessant toils of his high place, with a serenity that was almost superhuman." Nor was there wanting in him that quality, which, going hand in hand with justice and truth, makes the ruler godlike-sweet mercy, < < mightiest in the mighty ; it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown.' ' His generous heart could harbor no resentment, and cherish no sentiments of revenge. It pleased him better to pardon than to punish, and to overcome his and the country's enemies by trans- forming them into friends. Alas ! that so gentle a heart must be driven from earth by the hand of murder. His intellectual quali- ties, though not of the highest order of genius, were such as, beyond all question, gave him a peculiar capacity for the duties oi his office, guick in hi, perception*, and of a keen logical mind, Ida good sense, conjoined with his sterling integrity, served him better m extremity than diplomacy. His knowledge of human nature was profound, and it was from men and their actions more than from any theory of law or ethics, that he drew his argument* and illustrations of policy. I do not forget, while commending his vir- tues, that he had enemies who bitterly denounced him, for his Uf e was no exception to the great law that those who stand for right- eousness and truth, must "suffer persecution", and be reviled falsely. Strange would it have been, in a war with Slavery, if the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, and the great represen- tative of Freedom, had been treated otherwise. It has been charged [ftinst him, as the most culpable of his faults, that he was light and frivolous at times. It is not a little remarkable that the same aecusation was made against two illustrious characters in history, to who,,., in many respects, the hue President bore a marked re' semblance. It is said of Cromwell, the lather of English liberty, that his intercourse with his fn.-n.is was full of cordiality. 11.. has been reproached with a loudness for buffoonery; "hut we must <•< ooUect/ J says hie biographer, « that such a characteristic trait is often found in the mosl christian and truly serious nun." The same charge was brought against William, Prince of Orange, whom <>"• Hollanders love to call -the father of his country;" a man wh,r '■■• '•'■^'•"'^ fidelity, pur., patriotism, singular magoanimity, and tragie death by the pistol of an assassin in the I • of bis country's deliverance, afford the nearest parallel in history, to the onaracterand fete of our lamented Chief Magistrate. And, in an- swer to the same charge, may wenol aayofthe latter martyr, what the historian haswritten ofthe former? « I„ the darkest hour oi his country's trial, he often affected a serenity he was far from feeling, so thai his apparent gayety,a1 momentous epochs, was even censured bj dullards, who could uol comprehend its philosophy aor applaud the flippancy of William the silent." Such are some of the characteristics of the man who, until a few daj ' .11 the seal of Washington, the honored head of a ,m -'". v ••'•I" 1, ' ;; "- H, m rfect,bul groat and • I i„ face '" h,< ,m l' rr! ' ' V(l - looking al I nctcr in the trans- forming light of death, which so strangely turns the blemishes into shadows, and thus brings out more perfectly the beauties of the life picture, it is difficult to see what we could alter without also affecting the perfection of his work for this people. Called to pre- side over the destinies of the nation in the most stormy and event- ful period of its life, he stood faithfully and conscientiously at his post, and at last saw his policy not only endorsed by the people in his re-election, but vindicated by success. Like Moses of old, he had led the people through the wilderness of trial, and already saw with glad eyes the green hill tops and smiling valleys of the land of peace and rest. AYith thoughts of mercy, and intent on peace, he was preparing to lead us to its full fruition, when suddenly, like the breath of frost to the blossoms of spring, there came these tidings to pall our hopes and turn universal joy into mourning — he is dying. Did we not all see the dreadful sight, — the bed of death with its stilled grief, the'noblo form motionless, save that its breast heaved to the laboring breath — grave senators with faces bathed in tears — sobs that come from the adjoining room — the noiseless attendants — the anxious surgeons watching the tremor of the waning pulse ? And soon, like a knell heard throughout the wide land, went the message, he is dead. Yes, dead ! my countrymen. Foully murdered by the hand of treason ! " Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail among the children of men." Oh ! day of horror and awful judgment ! when, in an in- stant, the bright sky of our joy is hung with clouds of woe. From border to border and sea to sea, the land mourns. It is as if a corpse lay in every homestead. Business is suspended. Grief makes every true heart throb heavily. Men grasp each other by the hand, made brothers in sorrow, and heart speaks its sympathy to heart in expressive silence, or through falling tears. Such was the man, and such his throne in the hearts of the people, whom murder and treason, " Two yoke devils sworn to eithcr's purpose," singled out among others as the first victim for the assassin's blow. Good, noble, faithful in the trust committed to his hands, and standing at the hour of his death like a minister of mercy pleading for the pardon of the guilty, did he deserve to die:'' "No, verily! JO ' lie halli borna Ilia fucultiuti *r such deeds arc to the passions of men, like Die breath of the tempest to the waves of the sea. They arouse the awful slumbering sent justice in (he heart. They turn the milk of human kindness into gall ; and for once forgetting that God is merciful, we rejoice that lie is JU8t. But let us consider this deed calmly, and speak our minds, not under the impulse of vindictive passion, but as Christians and pa- triots, in view of Our duty to God and our country. An event like this, though brought about by the hand of violence, and covering us perpet rators with eternal infamy, did not come by chance. < rod reigns, and the counsels of the wicked are ever made subservu nt to !lis greal and glorious designs. lie, whose power none can re- sist, and whose wisdom it is impiety to question, has permitted this calamity to fall upon us. It would he rash to Bay that we fully understand its teachings, while as yet, the design is only partially unfolded. God's judgments are " a great deep," and lie alone adequately interprets them in the progress of history. But still, though dark, they are always light enough to guide u-> in nt duty. So \i\< word teaches -" Hear ye the rod and who bat Ii appointed it." First of all and naturally, this dark deed calls our attention to iiilty perpetrators, and the treason which for four years has b< on deluging the land in blood. As yet, the full extent of the conspiracy has not been divulged. We onlj know, that a others, th< '■■■ ivas one, born in sin and trained in the •• cl ' of vice," a depra * ed actor, a mock king and patriot ot entative of Lheempty, vaporing, strutting "chivalry" and spurious patrioti m, that gave itself a willing Bcrvant to do the dark behosts of Slavery thai Ihcre wai our pro-eminent in guill, II whose hands are red with the blood of the martyred dead, and whose brow has on it the mark of Cain. He flies ; but the earth is not wide enough to hide the wretched fugitive, and mankind will not sleep while he lives. But his punishment will not still the voice of blood that cries from the ground. Let none mistake the bearing of this crime, or attempt to disconnect it from its proper origin. Men are, indeed, depraved ; but such crimes and conspir- acies as Ibis can no more come forth to blast society, without some antecedent evil sentiment in which they originated, and by which they were fostered, than the pestilential vapors which hang over the valleys, and bring down heaven's fiery bolt upon the pure mountain tops, can rise up without corruption and decay on the plain beneath. It logically belongs to the work of rebellion and treason j and when history makes its dreadful arraignments of those who engaged and sympathized in 'the attempted destruction of the freest and best government on the face of the earth, last, but not least among their crimes, will be written, as in letters of blood, the assassination of the noble, just, faithful, and merciful President of the Republic. Some may attempt to deny the responsi- bility ; but he who cast the spark into the magazine, and those who encouraged him in the deed, are all, in their measure, responsi- ble for the explosion. It is idle to deny the fact that multitudes of the more ignorant and thoughtless among those who desired the success of rebellion, rejoice in this murder; while the more thoughtful deplored it, because it was rash and untimely. Is it not also a fact, that could this dark deed bring back to life the djdng rebellion, the mourning of many would be turned into great joy ? Is not this crime, beyond all question, alike in its origin and purpose to the deeds and wishes of armed traitors in our land ? That which gives it pre-eminence in enormity above any ordinary murder, is the fact that it was done to the person of the Chief Magistrate as such ; and that the hellish plot of which it was a part, embraced the destruction of the chief men of the nation, that the nation itself might be destroyed. It was an attempt at the assassination of the national life. It was mad and foolish; but not more so than the attack on Fort Sumter and not more wicked, so far as the'purpose was concerned. If you deem the causeless and 12 criminal rebellion of the South justifiable, then, while you condemn the murderer, you must justify the death of the Presidenl ; for to him, as the representative of : ! le, you must attribute the greal wrong of crushing the power of Slavery. But, in view of ation, his pure patriotism, and th< Beal of approval which God in His providence has placed upon I preserve the lil anity of our country, who is so losl and blinded by sin ae to accept the alternative '.' This, it seems to me, is the first greal lesson to be learned from i his sad and mysterious i rent, a le 9on of warning and a call to repentance for those who have been engaged, either by deed or desire, in aiding the work of rebellion. When Ave wish to teach men the awful nature of sin again si the government of God, we lead them to the cross of Christ, thai they may see its consequen- ces in Eis vicarious sufferings j and in accordance with the same principle, may not the bleeding form of the greal martyr for the cause of civil liberty and order, teach thousands who have been led away into mad rebellion, the true nature and results of their crime ? Such, 1 believe, is its design, and such will be its effect. Men can now judge this greal conspiracy against human rights and just government, by its fruits. God has, in the permission of this deed of murder, written thelasl sentence in Eis lesson to traitors. Ife has completed the picture warning them of guilt, and now he in ilt in abandoning it. Let, then, I who have been led astray into this gigantic wrong, purge themselves of it ; and if, even al this eleventh hour, those who . or oppose us in our efforts to maintain the holy cause lorn and law, shon in and confess it, none should be more ready to applaud their course and receive them joy, than ; Ihristians, over who-. h< angels in heaven rejoiced. But if there is in arning and a call for repentance to b and i countrymen, who have Labored bo earnestly to i their own ruin, th< 'e Is also something for the loyal and true, who been faithful to their country in the hour of peril. It calls ived d< to thai greal cause for which Abraham Lin- coln .. ' pare no effort, and give ourselves do until the f< il spirit thu ira Is banished from our land back to the depth of il hell, [t calls upon every man to consider how, asi 1 from hi - ordinary dul L< a as a citizen, he may besl com- plete his country, and secure the perm: triumph of liberty and justice. Thi- last flow of rebellion has 15 given un measured strength to the nation, for no true patriot can look upon the lifeless form of the great martyr for liberty, without feeling his heart beat with a stronger, purer, and more enduring determination to sustain and defend her cause against every foe. True, the living man is gone, — removed when we seemed to need him most; but the power of his life is the rich legacy he has left his country. No ! he is not lost to us. " A truly great man, when heaven vouchsafes so rare a gift, is not a temporary flame, burn- ing brightly for a while, and then giving place to returning dark- ness. It is rather a spark of fervent heat, as well as radiant li^ht, with power to enkindle the common mass of human mind, so that when it goes out in death, no night follows, but it leaves the world all light, all on fire, from the potent contact of its own spirit." The malice of his foes has but placed Abraham Lincoln upon a loftier height of glory, from which no change of time can cast him down; and the nation shall ever hear his voice, above the noise of party strife, calling upon it to make common cause against all treason, and to maintain, with christian charity and fidelity, the rights and liberties of all. May not this sad event, also, teach us a lesson concerning a duty which has been sadly overlooked by many professing Christians ? It is to give proper honor to the persons of our rulers. It is a scriptural injunction ; but many read it as if it had no application to our form of government, and act as if republican liberty gave them the right to heap every dishonoring epithet on those in au- thority. "We have regarded our rulers, not as ministers of law appointed by God, but as the representatives of parties ; and need we wonder, that under such training, treason found many educated to its fearful service. But is it not remarkable, and a proof that God has, in a measure, purified us, that he who was called a " sec- tional" president, should be carried to his grave, mourned for as a father by the whole land ? And must not the horror we have felt at the deed of the murderer, in assaulting his person, sacred to us because the symbol of law, restrain us in the future from " speaking- evil of dignitaries " for vile and partisan purposes '.' Finally, let this national bereavement, like the bereavement that tills a household with mourning when the honored father is removed 16 turn the thoughts of the people to Him, who, in Hisall-wise provi- dence permitted it. We cannot, indeed, perfectly understand His .-work; butitsomuchresemblesall Hie mighty deeds among as during the past four years, thai we are ready to receive il In fche ,,., iu , r thai it will speedily be overruled for our good. Che blood of the martyrs of liberty, like that of the martyrs of the pel has ever strengthened the cause for which it was Bhed; and eve'ry attempt of man to thwart the purposes of God in history, has bn1 has tened their fulfillment. Let, then, the deliverance of the past as well as the darkness and sorrow of the present, lead us to a more humble trust in God, and faith in His purposes. Without such a belief underlying all its institutions, no nation ean be truly great, or continue free and pure. Godlessness will ruin the liber- ties of any land. But to know that the Lord is (iod, to feel our responsibility to Him, to recognize His hand in the march of human affairs,-this is life, life to nations, as well as to individuals. To this end God has been disciplining us, and because of this, we m ay rejoice withahope -full of glory." Ours shall be a land re- ^ed and disenthralled from every sin-a nation humbled, puri- fied andknit together by such memories and glorious hopes a ..J, ,„ Q0 tber people-anation whose Godis the Lord. Let as, in the midsl of present sorrows, rejoice in the assurance of faith in our destiny; for, even now we stand Hke Israel at the banks of the Jordan, ,„, fch e borders of our new inheritance. And when we crossover, wh ,„ 0M bleeding feel press the green sod of the land ol peace, when , standing in its pure light, we shall turn to review these da; of conflicl and doubt and pain, then, I doubt not, this dark present win furni8h one of the brightest proofs of God's living wisdom. Th en we shall know that all our wav, like the exodus oi old, U one abounding m manifestations of the g Iness ana power oi God tli:itlt wa8 the march by which a free people were led up to dominion and prepared to give liberty and law to the wl arth. [n this hope we will fejoice j for in that day, my countrymen, whose dawningwe -navnow ,ee, this glorious banner, no longer draped in mourning, but flung to the breeze, and purified from everyrtam of dishonor, shall be the true emblem of gospel liberty, and he Bymb ol of the freest, stronge t,and mo I Christian oation on the Of the -'arth. ?