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 PERSONAL FORGIVENESS AND PUBLIC JUSTICE. 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PREACHED IN THK 
 
 li^trter S>txttt 'Mxtsh^Uxmn ^§urrl^, 
 
 NEW YORK, APRIL 23, 18«5. 
 
 BY THE PASTOR, 
 
 ROBERT RUSSELL BOOTH, D. D. 
 
 I'lIBLlSIIKII BY RRQlIESr Of THE TOUNG MEN H A8S0CIATI0N OF TBI! CUUKCU. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 
 No. 77 BROADWAY. 
 
 1865. 
 
PERSONAL FORGIVENESS AND PUBLIC JUSTICE. 
 
 A SERMON . 
 
 PBEACHED IN THB 
 
 Mttx S>txut ^nstgtman (Kljitrrlj, 
 
 NEW YORK, APRIL 23, 1865. 
 
 ' BY THE PASTOR, 
 
 ROBERT RUSSELL BOOTH, D. D. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY EEQUEST OF THE YOUNG MEN's ASSOCIATION OF THE CHUECH. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 
 No. 77 BROADWAY. 
 
 1865. 
 
 mmu^mamm: 
 

^ 
 
 SERMON". 
 
 " Deaily beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath : 
 for it is written, Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, suith the Lord."— Romans 
 xii. ]9. 
 
 " Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers ; for there is no power 
 but of God : the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever therefore 
 resistefh the power, resisteth the ordinance of God ; and they that resist 
 shall receive to themselves damnation." — Romans xiii. 1, 2. 
 
 LsT directing your attention to these two distinct 
 sentiments of Holy Writ, a few preliminary state- 
 ments will furtlier tlie end we have in view, and 
 will make their application more apparent. 
 
 In times like these, the public good demands 
 that the light of God's word shall he thrown clearly 
 upon the amazing succession of events which com- 
 mands the attention of men. We listen to the 
 voices of those who stand in places of power ; we 
 read the carefully-prepared editorials of the public 
 journals, and to a large degree our opinions arc 
 moulded by the influences which these organs exert 
 upon us. But whatever may be the tone and direc- 
 tion of these, it is perfectly evident that the pulpit 
 has a duty to discharge in applying the truths of the 
 Bible to the great events of the hour, and if this is 
 
not faithfully done, then tlie pulpit is false to its 
 trust. 
 
 We may not, indeed, claim for it the right — as, 
 with but few exceptions, its ministers have not the 
 inclination — to interfere in mere questions of policy ; 
 but whenever public affaii's stand in the area of 
 those sublime and eternal moral principles which 
 God has affirmed, then the duty is plain — the 
 truth must be uttered as it has pleased God to re- 
 veal it. This is the more imperative in a country 
 like ours ; under a form of government which rivets 
 responsibility directly upon the people, and which 
 reflects the integrity of their sentiments directly in 
 the mirror of the public administration. 
 
 Tnie as this is at all times, it is especially true 
 in the presence of events such as these which now 
 thrill our hearts. We must be blind, indeed, and 
 wilfal, if we do not realize that God is now speak- 
 ing to us in solemn accents, and pointing out by 
 His providence, the path of our duty and the dan- 
 gers that beset us. 
 
 We have passed almost, if not altogether, through 
 the Red Sea of rebellion and civil war ; we have 
 witnessed the utter discomfiture of oui' enemies and 
 the overthrow of their unrighteous cause ; we have 
 raised our song of victory and of praise for so great 
 a deliverance, and now each loyal heart thrills with 
 
the consciousness that not only for ourselves, but 
 for the whole human race and for far-distant asres, 
 has oiu' nationality been raised from the dust, 
 cleared from the manifold embarrassments of the 
 past, and established anew on a basis of union and 
 liberty. 
 
 One shadow alone dims the grandeur and rap- 
 ture of this hour of triumph. But that is so deep 
 and sombre that it has drawn away all eyes from 
 the constellation of beauty, which begins to shine 
 again in the firmament, to fix them upon the pale 
 form which that shadow covers. 
 
 The death of the President, in the midst of the 
 national rejoicing — his mm'der at the very hour 
 when he was bending the energies of his clear head 
 and generous heart to the great work of healing 
 the wounds of the nation and restoring the breaches 
 made by the rebellion — compels us to pause, not 
 only for lamentation and woe, but also to inquire 
 what God has intended to teach us by His permis- 
 sive providence. 
 
 Not without meaning, as I firmly believe, has 
 this deep sense of injury been inflicted upon us. 
 Not without a pui-pose of God has this last ci-uel 
 blow been struck by those who were in sympathy 
 with the cause of treason and slavery. If we can- 
 not bring ourselves to think that God has ordained 
 
it, at least we know that in permitting it He lias 
 had an end to accomplish, a lesson to teach. 
 What this lesson is, it behooves us to consider. 
 
 Incidentally, it has taught us much ahout the 
 frailty of man, and the vanity of all earthly great- 
 ness ; and much about the mckedness which the 
 lost human heart can conceive and accomplish. 
 Incidentally, also, it has revealed, as never before, 
 the strength of our Republican Government ; receiv- 
 ing as it did this deadly wound full on the front, 
 yet hardly reeling for a moment, but standing, ere 
 the shock had passed, like the prophetic Church of 
 God — " fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and ter- 
 rible as an army with banners." 
 
 Yet, salutary and impressive as these lessons are, 
 we cannot doubt that the Divine purpose disclosed 
 in this event is of far more importance and points in 
 a different direction. It reveals to us, and was in- 
 tended to reveal, the depths of darkness which were 
 concealed under the specious defenses of secession 
 and slavery, and the utter impossibility of any na- 
 tional compromise with the crimes which they have 
 committed. 
 
 This I take to be the great lesson to which God, 
 by His providence, is now directing the attention 
 of this stricken people. 
 
 It can hardly be denied that, as a nation, we 
 
were in a position of danger before this calamity 
 befell us, tlirougli a prevalent disposition to over- 
 look tlie sanctions of law, and to treat the authors 
 of om- political woes as if their crimes deserved to 
 be condoned rather than to be punished. The 
 marvelous magnanimity of the Government seemed 
 almost prepared to disregard the great principle of 
 the Divine law, which requires the administration of 
 justice, not only for the punishment of the guilty, 
 but also for the defense of the innocent. In the 
 brilliancy of oui- military success, the crime of re- 
 bellion against a free constitutional government 
 was beginning to be lightly esteemed, and the re- 
 straints which must ever be the safeguard of liberty 
 were in danger of being more seriously broken 
 down in the hour of our triumph than even in the 
 suspense of the conflict. Had these lenient senti- 
 ments been exercised without interniption, it would 
 have been most unfortunate for the nation and for 
 the world ; the largest indulgence would have been 
 given to the leaders of anarchy and misrule the 
 world over, could they have been allowed to infer 
 that the failure of their infamous schemes would 
 involve only their subordinates in ruin, while they 
 themselves might hope to get safely off in the haze 
 of their more daring criminality. 
 
 In such a juncture our Government needed an 
 
8 
 
 infusion of the Old Testament severity rather than 
 of the New Testament tenderness, and it seems clear 
 that God has intended, by this sudden and appall- 
 ing calamity, to bring to our remembrance those 
 truths of distributive justice which stand out so 
 clearly in His dealings with* Israel of old, and 
 which do indeed underlie the whole framework 
 of Gospel salvation. 
 
 There is a prevalent mistake concerning the 
 bearing of thai old dispensation upon the Divine 
 government as now administered. It is regarded 
 by many as entirely a thing of the past ; abrogated 
 when Christ came to achieve our deliverance. It 
 is supposed that justice, as an attribute of God, has 
 gone into abeyance, and that the only example 
 which is now binding upon us as individuals, and 
 as nations, is that of the gentle and forgiving Lamb 
 of God. But can we forget that Christ came not 
 to destroy the law, but to fulfill it ? How can we 
 miss the meaning of that great sacrifice on the altar 
 of justice, by which God can be just and yet justify 
 those who believe in Jesus ? That Divine wrath 
 against sin is not extinguished because sinners are 
 pardoned. That stem word of the law, " the soul 
 that sinneth it shall die," is as time in the light of 
 the forgiveness conferred at the cross, as it is in 
 the darkness when there is " weeping and wailing 
 
and gnasliiiig of teetli." God did not remit the 
 sanctions of His holy law when He became rec- 
 onciled to man through the blood of atonement. 
 Nor have the Old Testament ethics lost theii* appli- 
 cation, either to personal duty and destiny or to the 
 guidance of nations. As God j)asses before us 
 now in his goodness, we hear the same voice which 
 Moses heard in the Mount, proclaiming, " the Lord, 
 the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suifering, 
 and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy 
 for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgres- 
 sion, and sin, and that will by no means clear the 
 guilt}' ; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the 
 children, and upon the children's children, unto the 
 third and to the fourth generation." Here is Jus- 
 tice standing on guard at the door of His temple of 
 grace, and vindicating His law to the letter, both 
 to those whom He pardons and to those whom He 
 punishes. We must thus understand the New 
 Testament in the light of the Old, or we shall mis- 
 understand it, and we must conform oui* opinions 
 and practices, as individuals and as a nation, to 
 these clear moral principles, or our morality will 
 be extinguished in license and all social order will 
 be WTecked on the insui'gent passions of men. 
 
 In view of these truths, we urge, therefore, that 
 the principle on which the Divine government is 
 
10 
 
 administered, is strictly applicable to the welfare of 
 nations. Deliberate sin must be punished according 
 to law^ or forgiven only with the approval of justice. 
 
 This is the process which is revealed to us, in 
 the moral government of the world, through the 
 incarnation and atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 And this is the truth to which the hearts of this 
 nation have been solemnly turned in this season of 
 mournino;. 
 
 There are two distinct sentiments ^vhich have 
 been struggling together in our national councils, 
 as the question of the final adjustment of our 
 difficulties has come practically before us. The 
 minds of Christian men have also been exer- 
 cised mightily concerning the true mode of har- 
 monizing the Divine law of forgiveness and good- 
 will to our enemies, and the Di\dne law of punish- 
 ment in the interest of justice and for the welfare 
 of society. 
 
 It is evident, when we place side by side two pas- 
 sages like those which I have read at the outset, 
 that they are either in direct contradiction, or that 
 there is a rule of personal conduct laid down in 
 the Gospel which cannot be carried into strict 
 operation in the administration of public affaii's. 
 
 On the one hand, we meet those precepts of the 
 Saviour and His apostles which direct us to the 
 
11 
 
 most patient endurance of wrong, without a 
 tliouglit of revenge or an attempt to make our- 
 selves the executioners of justice. 
 
 The first part of the text stands for an illustra- 
 tion of these : " Dearly beloved, avenge not your- 
 selves, but rather give place unto wrath : for it is 
 written, Vengeance is mine ; I w^ill repay, saith the 
 Lord. Therefore, if thine enemy liunger, feed him ; 
 if he thirst, give him drink : for in so doing thou 
 shalt heap coals of fire on his head. Be not over- 
 come of evil, but overcome evil with good." 
 
 And following this directly we meet those man- 
 dates of public justice, which gleam before us in 
 the 13th chapter of the same epistle ; which rep- 
 resent the rulers of nations as ordained of God 
 to be a terror to all evil-doers; revengers to exe- 
 cute wrath upon all who transgress their authority. 
 
 Is there then a inanifest contradiction in these 
 two Divine orders, or are we to understand that 
 there is a law of public justice, which must tran- 
 scend altogether the dictates of personal and pri- 
 vate forgiveness ? Undoubtedly the latter is the 
 only tenable view, and it can be justified and 
 made perfectly plain, as soon as we consider what 
 human government really is, and how the sanc- 
 tions of just human laws are essential to the well- 
 being of man. 
 
12 
 
 In the first place, God meets us iu tlie Gospel as 
 members of a lost race, indi\idually guilty and 
 individually condemned. As He offers forgiveness 
 for the sake of His Son, He bids us purge our 
 hearts from the old leaven of malice and selfish- 
 ness and unrighteous enmity, and to possess the 
 Spirit of Christ, who died for us, "leaving us 
 an example, that we should follow His steps: who 
 did no sm, neither was guile found in His mouth: 
 who, when he was reviled, reviled not again ; when 
 He suffered. He thi-eatened not ; but committed him- 
 self to Him that judgeth righteously." This is 
 always our personal rule / love to our enemies, for- 
 giveness of injuries, kindness of reproving their 
 faults, generosity in rewarding therd with good for 
 their evil. 
 
 We are to take this golden rule and practice it, 
 just as far as God has applied, that is, in all per- 
 sonal relations. But it is evident that it needs to 
 be limited in certain respects. For, if it stood 
 alone or without limitation, it would be quite im- 
 possible to justify war, or to engage in it without 
 sin, no matter how righteous the cause for which 
 it was waged. Nay, more ; if this golden rule stood 
 alone, we should find it impossible to sustain the 
 integrity of the social condition of man, or to ar- 
 rest and punish malefactors and criminals. So far 
 as the Christian miglit be concerned, under this 
 
13 
 
 law alone, society would be dissolved into a cliaos 
 of impunity in tlie commission of crime, and of suf- 
 fering on tlie part of the purest and best. 
 
 But God lias set tlie limitation at the right place. 
 While the individual is bound by these gentle 
 precepts, governments are organized on a dif- 
 ferent plan altogether. The State represents the 
 Divine sovereignt}' over the eartlily conduct and 
 interests of associated individuals. Law is its 
 basiSy justice is its animating principle, security is 
 its end, punishment is its prerogative. 
 
 Therefore, in the second place, we are not author- 
 ized to bring these personal sentiments, which we 
 cherish as individuals, into the administration of 
 public aifaii's ; but must stand by the letter of God's 
 word as it applies to them, and must recognize 
 Governments as di\anely commissioned to admin- 
 ister justice, in rewarding the good and in punishing 
 the evil. 
 
 This principle runs clearly through the Old 
 Testament history, and is reaffirmed in the New. 
 Just in proportion as this is lost sight of does the 
 State weaken, and the tendencies to misrule and 
 corruption increase. 
 
 It is not indeed requisite that the strict letter of 
 law should always be observed in meting out pun- 
 ishment. Extenuating cii'cumstances continuall}- 
 modify its application. But unless the iiiliug pur- 
 
14 
 
 pose is to honor the law and to. administer govern- 
 ment in the interest of justice, the State is always 
 in peril, and anarchy lies in wait at the door. 
 
 If we carry over these principles to the questions 
 which all men are pondering now, their bearing is 
 plain : 
 
 We have IS^O EIGHT AS INDIVIDUALS TO BE VINDIC- 
 TIVE, BUT AS A NATION WE MUST BE JUST. The Senti- 
 ments and conduct which we could not exercise, if 
 we had been injured in our personal welfare, become 
 needfal and proper, when we act in behalf of the 
 State, whose majesty has been defied, whose laws 
 have been broken, whose very life has been put in 
 peril. We may obey the voice of the holy Apostle, 
 in the first of these passages, while we insist that 
 the State shall obey his precepts in the second. 
 
 Personally, every one of us has suffered irreparable 
 wrongs by this rebellion. Who or what can com- 
 pensate for the loss of treasure, for the fearful solic- 
 itudes, for the nights of agonizing suspense, for the 
 contemplation of those things which have passed 
 before us, in the sad years gone by. Many present 
 have suffered also in far deeper anguish. I have 
 seen here the venerable old man, tortured with 
 ceaseless anxiety for his sons away in the war. I 
 have seen the widow bowing in heart-broken 
 anguish for her only son slain on the field. Fathers, 
 too, have been mourning here like David for his 
 
15 
 
 lost Absalom. Twice have we gathered in our 
 place of worship to bury two of the noblest of our 
 American youth. Nay, more than this ; who of us 
 all is not in his own heart a mourner to-day ? As 
 we stand awe-struck and tearful at the cruel fate of 
 our Mart}T-President, it seems as though each family 
 circle had lost its head ; and from every heart 
 goes up a cry like that of Elisha : " My father, my 
 father! the chariot of Israel, and the horsemen 
 thereof." 
 
 And yet for us all, in this manifold experience 
 of personal injury, the Gospel law of forgiveness is 
 emphatic and clear. Let the mourners weep, but 
 curse not, for, " Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, 
 saith the Lord." He that cometh from Edom, w^th 
 dyed garments from Bozrah, all glorious in His 
 appai'el, is now travelling among us in the greatness 
 of His strength ; and they that fear the Lord can 
 leave their cause in His care, as He moves through 
 the land proclaiming by His providence, " the day of 
 vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my 
 redeemed is come." 
 
 But with this sentiment of personal forgiveness, 
 it will never do to ccmfoimd the obligations which 
 belong to us as members of a commonwealth, or 
 rather of a nation which has been set on the high 
 places of the earth, by God himself, to maintain the 
 
16 
 
 interests of public justice, humanity and trutli. At 
 this point our responsibility is drawn, not from the 
 12th but from the 13th chapter of the Epistle to 
 the Romans. It is di^awu not from the gentle im- 
 pulses of personal piety, but from the stern man- 
 date of the eternal law of God. As members of a 
 community, founded upon law, it is imperative 
 upon us to demand the administration of justice 
 according to law. 
 
 Nothing more vigorous or more comprehensive 
 can be said on this point than the utterance of 
 President Johnson to the Illinois delegation a few 
 days ago : " The American people must be taught, 
 if they do not already feel, that treason is a crime, 
 and must be punished ; that the Govermnent will 
 not always bear with its enemies ; that it is strong, 
 not only to protect, but also to punish. When we 
 turn to the criminal code and examine the cata- 
 logue of crimes, we find there arson laid down as a 
 crime, with its appropriate penalty ; we find there 
 theft and robbery and murder given as crimes, and 
 there, too, we find the last and highest of crimes — 
 treason. With other and inferior oifenses our people 
 are familiar, but in our peaceful history, treason 
 has been almost unknown. The people must un 
 derstand that it is the blackest of crimes, and will 
 surely be punished." 
 
17 
 
 These are "brave words, and the nation is stronger 
 to-day tlian ever before, because they were uttered 
 with the clear emphasis of one in authority. 
 
 Let no man forget that equity is the true, the 
 Divine basis of government, and that leniency to 
 crime, in defiance of law, is an open door into the 
 treasury where the regalia of nations are lying. It 
 was for justice that the elder Bmtus gave his two 
 sons to the lictors of Rome, and sat unmoved on his 
 judgment-seat when they laid their guilty heads on 
 the block. It was for justice that George Wash- 
 ington signed the death- wan-ant of the unhappy 
 Andr^, though his tender pity made the tears run 
 down his cheeks. It is the claim of justice that the 
 authors of this tremendous crime of rebellion against 
 the liberties of America, and of the enormous 
 misery which has followed it, should be condemned 
 and punished, and the people must rise to the stern 
 virtue which will accept the claim, and cry " Amen" 
 to its fulfillment. 
 
 This is essential, as much in the interest of pri- 
 vate security as of public justice. Unrestrained 
 mercy to criminals is always cruelty to the innocent. 
 It is necessary for us to make rebellion perilous and 
 odious for all time to come. We cannot aflPbrd, as 
 a people, to invite by our leniency a new assault 
 upon our union and liberty. 
 
18 
 
 It is well said by Samuel Rogers, in his " Sketclies 
 in Italy," tliat wlienever justice is ill-administered, 
 the injured will redress themselves. Robbery pro- 
 vokes to robbery, murder to assassination. Resent- 
 ments become hereditary, and what began in dis- 
 order ends as if all hell had broke loose. Laws 
 create a habit of self-restraint, not only by the in- 
 fluence of fear, but by regulating in its exercise the 
 passion of revenge. If they overawe the bad by a 
 prospect of punishment, certain and well-defined, 
 they console the injured by the infliction of that 
 punishment ; and as the infliction is a public act, it 
 excites and entails no enmity. The laws are of- 
 fended, and the community, for its own sake, pui'- 
 sues and overtakes the offender, often v^thout the 
 concurrence of the sufferer, sometimes against his 
 wishes.* 
 
 And now from this ground we are prepared to 
 meet the final inquiry to which all these principles 
 converge. 
 
 Who, then, are properly amenable to this claim 
 which comes before us in the second portion of our 
 text ? 
 
 I answer, first, the institutions in the interest of 
 which the rebellion has been organized, and this 
 last direful crime has been wrought ; secession and 
 slavery, the twin horrors which have sought to 
 
 * "Italy," Part II., Sect. 5. 
 
19 
 
 rule or to ruin this land — criminal in every aspect — 
 barbarous, ruthless, ruinous to the bodies and the 
 souls of men. To sustain and to perpetuate them, 
 woes unutterable have been wrouo-ht amono; us. For 
 these, 300,000 men or more are l}'ing cold beneath 
 the sod to-day, or bleaching under a southern sky. 
 For these, as many more have been brought home 
 to live among us, maimed, mutilated and suffering. 
 For these, vridows are weeping, children are defense- 
 less, and the world is filled mth wonder for our 
 shame. Secession and slavery have done this 
 work. Let them perish ! In the grave of oui' 
 murdered President, let the last vestige of them 
 be buried, and let theii' memory rot, never to be 
 spoken of vnth approval hereafter by a true patriot 
 or Christian man. Let the axe be laid to the roots 
 of these deadly trees, and as they fall for ever, heaven 
 and earth ^vill raise new hallelujahs to the throne 
 of the Most Hio-h. 
 
 And besides these institutions, who are properly 
 amenable to the claims of justice ? I answer, second, 
 those leading meii, wliether of Northern or of South- 
 em bii-th, who have contrived and consummated all 
 this crime and misery ; those who enjoyed the be- 
 nignant nurture of the Government only to aim 
 their murderous hands straight to its throat ; those 
 who, to gratify a personal ambition, rent the land 
 
20 
 
 asunder, and strode tlirougli tears and blood to 
 transient years of power ; tliose wlio have fanned 
 the flames of hatred between the people who were 
 once peacefully united ; who have murdered help- 
 less prisoners by thousands ; who have wrought 
 outrages upon the loyal men of their owti section, 
 beside which the horrors of the Sepoy mutiny seem 
 like the work of children ; those who, through these 
 four bitter years, have known no end but to annihi- 
 late the union of our fathers, and who have consum- 
 mated all their foul misdeeds by laying low our 
 gentle, generous chief. Let them have justice, be 
 they who they may, statesmen or soldiers, editors, 
 artizans or planters, open foes or treacherous 
 friends — ^let them have justice ! This land is broad 
 but it is not broad enough for them and us. 
 Henceforth, let them have no name, nor right, nor 
 memorial in Israel. " O my soul, come not thou 
 into their secret ; unto their assembly, mine honor, 
 be not thou united : cursed be their anger, for it 
 was fierce ; and their wrath, for it was cruel ; I will 
 divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel." 
 
 And are there others still, to whom this law of jus- 
 tice appertains ? Yes, but with another application 
 of it altogether. There is a nobler conquest yet 
 before us at the South — the conquest of light, and 
 love, and generosity, and pity, over all those who 
 
21 
 
 have Ijeen misled by ignorance or maddened by 
 lying words, or drawn by force into the mad rush 
 of battle. The helpless people, angry, stubborn, 
 willful though they may be still ; they have a claim 
 upon us now, a claim of justice — the claim which the 
 weak have always on the strong, and the miserable 
 on the prosperous. As solemnly as we are called to 
 punish deliberate transgressors, are we called upon 
 to shelter and pi'otect the ignorant transgressor. It 
 is ours as a nation to bid these dry bones live, to 
 build up these waste places, to purge corrupted in- 
 stitutions, to upheave the roots of bitterness and 
 sow upon the track of desolation the seeds of 
 liberty and Christian love. And this also will we 
 do, if God assist us by His grace, until ere long 
 brighter harvests shall be waving on that sunny 
 soil than ever yet were planted there ; until a na- 
 tionality is builded there which is bone of our bone 
 and flesh of our flesh ; ^vith one temple for the peo- 
 ple, consecrated to law and justice and true relig- 
 ion ; with one loyal and fraternal impulse ruling 
 the hearts of all who have come forth from this 
 great tribulation, and who will stand before the 
 world in brighter years to come, to proclaim the 
 honors and to defend the rights of constitutional 
 freedom in America. 
 
 This work of justice toward the people, which 
 
22 
 
 tlie providence of God now lays upon us, is brought 
 the more impressively before us now, as we stand 
 on tlie threshold of that civic pageant which is to 
 honor the memory of that great and good man 
 whose life was consecrated to the union of these 
 States, and whose death has sealed his glorious 
 record. 
 
 It will be oui's, as a community, to receive to- 
 morrow the sacred dust, which comes to touch our 
 hearts once more with pity, and to speak to us, 
 through those sealed lips, more solemnly than any 
 voice of eloquence or power could speak. 
 
 Amid the tolling bells, the beat of muffled 
 di'ums, the mournful music, and the steady tramp- 
 ing of these long funereal procession, the mortal part 
 of Abraham Lincoln will be brought hither, and 
 will pass forth from us to his last resting-place be- 
 neath the prairies of the West. 
 
 Amid all the thrilling lessons of this heroic 
 time, amid all the strong incentives to patriotic 
 self devotion, and to humble trust in God, which 
 have been urged upon us, perhaps the most im- 
 pressive lesson, and the loftiest impulse will be 
 connected with these funereal honors to our martyred 
 President ; who, though dead, yet speaketh, and 
 evermore will speak, for the Union which he 
 saved, for the liberty he guarded, and for the op- 
 pressed millions whom he raised to freedom. 
 
23 
 
 And if it is given unto those who have passed 
 within the veil which hides the eternal world from 
 us to look back upon these scenes, and tg sur- 
 vey the progi'ess of the work which fell unfinished 
 from theii* hands ; if spirits of the blessed know 
 the progress and triumph of those interests for 
 which they labored, who shall say that our last 
 martyr has not already had a recompense for all 
 his patient toil, and for his bitter death ? 
 
 Yes, from the everlasting hills surveying a na- 
 tion reunited, round the pale form which journeys 
 through the land he loved so well, doubtless he 
 understands it all ; and bomng before the Saviour, 
 to whom he gave his weary heart, among the 
 gi'aves of Gettysburg, he joins with cheerful voice 
 the song of those who have gotten the victory 
 over the beast, and over his image, and over his 
 mark, sa}T.ng, as they stand on the sea of glass, 
 having harps of gold, " Great and marvelous are 
 thy works, Lord God Almighty ; just and true are 
 thy ways, thou King of saints !" 
 
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