Qass. Book. T) i ^^|^^?>^^. MMMM^M THE LESSONS OF THE HOUR,. t^ i ilSSiiiSi THE DEATH PUKSIDKNT LINCOLN, DELIVERED IN THE FIRST PRESBYTEPiIAN CHUllCH, April i9th, 1865, BY REV. ROBERT DAVIDSON, D. D. 1 PUBLISHED BY REQUEST. SECOND EDITION. IIUMIXGTO.V : LOXG-ISLAXDEU PFa'CT. m OJSh Huntington, April 19, r8o3 Dr. Davidson— Rev. and Dear SiR:--We, the undersigned, thinking that ihe excellent discourse delivered by you this day to "the great congresaiion," on ihe d-^sih ot our lamented Chief Magistrate, Abraham Lincoln, should have a siill more ex- tended influence, do respectfully ask it of you for publication. Geo. II. Shepard, S. C. Hatfort., John J. Wei.ls, Isaac Rouers, RoBT. Rogers, Wm. J. Wood, Z. Ketcham, Geo VV. Shith, Geo. a. Scudder, S. VVoodhcll, John Hopper, J- R- R-olph, G. W. Eldkidc-e. Huntington, April 20, iSGj. Gentl2.men: — The discourse of which you ask the publication, ig placed at your disposal. Il is scarcely necessary to observe that the haste and pressure utiilwr vvliich it was unavoidably prepared, should exempt it Irom that severe criticiMu lo wbicli elaborate and finished compositions are supposed to be liable. l[ the publication may subserve any useful purpose, i shall be satisfied. Yours Respectfully, R. DAVID.SON. Messrs. Shepard, J-'cudder, SjMiTH,nnd others. TllE LESSONS OF THE HOUR. •' And the viciciv ilnii day was luiiied into mourning unto all ibe people." — 2Sam, *ix a. It wouM be su|vifiiioi)s !o aliempl, on the present occasion, lo be- speak your ailpniion, to disarm your prejodices, or lo enlist vour syrn- pathy. All that is already done. You have no prejudices to be disarmed, your sympalliies are engaged, your alleniion is awalcened. A more powerlul speaker, a more convincing orator, has spoken, and at this- iriomeni spealcs, with more ilian liuman eleqiuence, at once lb' your hearts, ap.d to the hearts of thirty millions of people. Carried' on the lightning's vvi;i2, the mournful intelligence has spfead from one end ot the continent to the oilier, and there is but one sentiment eVery where. At liiii-T hour, wlien the sad obsequies are being conducted in the Federal City, simulianeously, in thirty thousand churches, thirty thousand pulpils are attempting to interpret the voice of Providence, and to direct into a pious channel the (ears of a mourning nation. Party clarmor is lor the liine hushed. Party names are not, and ought not, 10 be mentioned. To day there is but one parly in the land, that U, the party oi" pairiotism. No one thinks, no one speaks, of any tiling else than the calamity which has befallen us. All seem over, whflnied by t!ie greatness of a sorrow for which words are inadequate. All are prompt to offer tiieir tribute of praise to our late lamented and beloved President ; and none more so than his tormer political oppo- nents. They who lent no aid to his first elevation lo office, have been satisfied, by a severe trial, of his honesty of purpose, his conscientious- ness, his integrity, his- pure patriotisnv, his sagacity, his breadth of statesmanship, his candid appieciaiion of tlie drift of events, his equi- librium between the extremes of conservatism and progress, his firm jirappling with the root, the tap-root, of the national troubles, his free- diim froiri vindictiveness, his humahe and conciliatory spirit, his pacific plans, just about to flower into development. They have seen till this, and have watched his impartial hand adjusting the balances for the last four years, impressing his own views on the policy of the country, and finally condiicting us out of unprecedented diffibulties and perils ; and they have candidly acknowledged (I quote their very language,) that "liteie i> no man who can occupy his flaco, so strong in the confidencs of (he pfiitple, so eaMiP.>l io do ii;;ht, um! .-o ai.si 'U-. !o 'i i j i>iicp to a,'!.'"^" And lirif is a similar ailcbtalioii piMunaiiiiji' by authority from (he iii:ih«>si v.il people ol liie n.iiioa — immI t'\iiihiiinu in "the recent evcnis uluch hcd culmi.'KUrd in ihi; ddvsnfall of the rebellion, a wise, lorbearini; and riia^i-.aiiimoiis >ia'e>sm;U)S)ii|), iIik px- croise of which j^ave such hopeful protni-e of a spi cdv and perlec.i restoration of the aatioDal Union in the t-pirit and principles upon vvhi«:li it was founded, we reijard his sad pwc] and iiniin>e!y deciase u,>, a grwal' misfortune to the whole country." i" 1 prefer to repeat coinniendalions from such dihinte.-esled .souioeM rather than ofTer any of uiy own. Wliat are the Lessons of ths Hour ? How hath God mulli()lied hi.s uiementoes. and ^'iven u> line upoir line !' Mow many have we seen, th-f favorites of lor'u »p, admired auci envied by the crovvd, in the very sprint,^ lide ot iheir i^'reatness, culmi- nating to the meridian of their glory, " haste to their snuing, like au exhalation of the evenincr," quenched in fiortemous ni^hl ! 'inhere was Herod, smitten with a loathsome disease in llie very hei^di! of popular applause. There was Fiesco, flus'ied wit.n the succphs of ids ambitious plans, stepping off a plank and dragged down by the weight ot his armor into the d>ocl<, to ri^e no more. Tliere was tiie Princess Chin-- lolte, the youthful wife of Leopold, the probable queen of Great Briiian, suddenly carried to ihe grave amid the sincere grief of the whole people ;"" who appeared," in Robert Hall's eloquent language, '• lo have been placed on the pinnacle ol society f->r the exor^rss ntirpose of rendering her fall tlis more conspicuous. The Deity himself adorned' the victim with his own hands. He permitted her to toncir whalevf-r this sublunary sG?.iie presents thai is nsost atliac:ive and alluring, bur lo graap nothing ; and after conducting her to an efninence whence .'he could survey all the glories of empire as her destined possession, closed her eyes in death.":!: There was tluskisson, elated by the restored smiles of princely favor, crushed and mangled beneath an advancing train. There was the accomplished Lagare, hurried out of life by a rapid malady soon after taking the seals of oflice. There was Gilmer snatched from the council board within a brief week from his elevation, hy the explosion of the great cannon on [hs Princeton. And time would fail me to enumerate, only by name, the brave men who have t^allen in iheir country's cause, since the commencement of this war, beginning with Col. Ellsworihj the first martyr, down to Col. Hugh Janeway, buried last week. •' The paths of Glory lead but to the grave." Three times has the Capitol of this nation been draped in mourning Purdr. ■''■Tamtmnv Hail. 'THK'L'R-iSoN.S OF Till-: IDf'K. 5 't)r I'lc siiUc-n athJ un.^xpec'rJ i|,Mniow it was refilled history will say. A new policy was intro. duced ; every thing was once more thrown into confusion ; wars and rumors of wars camelhick upon the breeze; then was paved the way for ihe very troubles whicii coiitintied fur years to fill us with dismay. Was it that we had counted too liMcli on ■' Man whose breath is in his nostrils," and liad forgotten One above who should have been consulted ? Did we think that we had now our favorite safely in oflice, and we ■aiiirlit (lety chance and change ? [low easy was it for the Almighty i\n blow upon our work, and to " hiss for the fly" from the uttermost ■part of the land ! In a tnomeiit the counsels of the wise were turned into foolishness, and the heart of the people was taken away. Not greatly di.ssiniilar w;is the pa>iiion of the country in 1850. A popular cliieitain, Gboera! T.iylor, was raised lo the highest oflice in she nation's gift, as it were by acclamation. Veteran statesmen were ■Sft aside to inake way for the elevaiion of a man whose life had been s()Pnt in camps, lie was the " available" candidate. He was the .pf>ople'"s choice. Aien of all prirlies united their votes on him. And now, under tlie rule of a [Hire patriot and an honest. man, what glowing (Irearns of the fuiure weje indulged ! One might think the Golden Ago was al)oiJl lo return a. id l)l('ss the huid. Si.xteen short n)ooiis ran their ■ career, and this popular chief, this pure patriot, this upright man, was suddenly gathered to his fathers. The riderless war horse was led after the liearse of liim who never should mount his back again. A third lime the blow has fallen. But tin's last insiarxe was the n.ost horrit)le of all, fro(n its cause and circumstances. Never has ihe nation sus- tained such a shock. Never before in our history has such a crime occurred. Miilnito the annals ol tlie nation have been unstained by so |)arricidal a blow. And, as if to burn in on our minds the solemn les- son of the instability of all human plans and honors, the blow fell just in the moment of exultation ; when ihe people were indulging in boundless hilarity ; vviien the rebellion seemed about lo be crushed, and the prospect of peace was brightening in the hoiizon ; when the flag, the identical flag, of Sumter was run up again to its staff on the fourth anniversary of its being lowered ; when the President saw the literal and coni|)lete fulfillment of his inaugural pledge, that he would bend all his efiorts to recover, hold, occupy and possess, ihe foris, arsenals, navy yards and seaports which had been traitorously wrested from the national control ; when he vvas entitled to expect the coisunimalion of • bis loudest hopes, ibe pacification of ihe country, the rest'Tation of in*; ^ 'niE l.E-iSO^S OF THE.KCCa Union, and llie c..)mtnefice'neiit of a new era of natiotvil prospetlfy an^i inBuence, lo which ab'i'niutely no li'uits cad bo set. This was the mo. rnent, so brilliant, so inierestiiij/, so !, when humati anibitiora seemed to have attainerl tis top and crown, wheu there was nothing hardly left to desire, this was the selected moment of all mornerits, for Death, who " loves a shintnc; mark," at one relentless stroke, to pros, trale his illustrious victim with all his hlossomin" honors to the dust. " His sun went down at noon, while it was yei day," — went down io tears and blood. By & striking coincidence, some verses have just been brou^^ht to light, which were favorites with Mr. Lincoln, and whose mournful rinij seem to have contained some presa