CIass__ i Book. .* THE LESSON OF THE HOUR. JUSTICE AS WELL AS MERCY. y*k u u A DISCOURSE PREACHED ON THE SABBATH FOLLOWINO THE Assassination of the President, IN THE CAPITOL HILL PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHINGTON, 13. C, BY THE PASTOR, REV. JOHN CHESTER. WASHINGTON CHRONICLE PRINT 1865. THE LESSON OF THE HOUR. JUSTICE AS WELL AS MERCY. A DISCOURSE PREACHED ON THE SABBATH FOLLOWING THE Assassination of the President, tffllt HILL FEMMII CHURCH, Y\ ASHINGTON, D . C . , BY THE PASTOR, REV, JOHN :STER^UI«hH^ WASHINGTON CHRONICL-E PRINT. 1865. CoM ^ t_4Sn Washington, Aprils, 1865. REV. JOHN CHESTER. Reverend and Dear Sir : The undersigned, of the Congregation and Members of the Capitol Hill Presbyterian Church, being impressed with the importance of the truths conveyed in your eloquent and appropriate discourse of last Sab- bath, on the assassination of the honored and beloved President of the Republic, Abraham Lincoln, and believing that the thoughts therein conveyed are worthy of perusal and careful consideration by a more extended circle, respectfully request a copy of it for publication. WALTER L. NICHOLSON, C. H. PARSONS, ROBERT LEITCH, CHAS. E. LATHROP, J. S. KELLOGG, JAS. M. GORDON, JOHN R. ARRISON, JOHN TAYLOR. To Messrs. Walter L. Nicholson, C. H. Parsons, Robert Leitch, Charles E. Lathrop, and others. Gentlemen : 1 cheerfully yield to your kind request, if you deem this humble offering of affection, laid on the altar of our beloved President's mem- ory, capable of benefiting a wider circle. It was intended as a calm appeal, not to the passions, but to the consciences of all who desire the integrity of the Union, maintained on the principles of Justice. Very truly yours, JOHN CHESTER. SERMON "HOW ARE THE MIGHTY FALLEN !" — II SAMUEL, 1, 19. The President of the United States is dead ! He whom for more than four years we have looked up to more as a father than a ruler; the kind-hearted, the true-hearted, the wise- hearted President has fallen. A few days ago I saw him standing at the window of his mansion, his face irradiated with a genial smile, which showed the warm heart within. I heard the kind, generous, forbear- ing words he spoke in the hours of triumph, and heard the cry ascend from many a lip, in a tone that showed it came from the heart, "God bless you, Abraham Lincoln." A few hours ago, at midnight, a messenger knocked at my door, and breathed in faltering accents the awful tidings, "The President is mur- dered ! !" Oh, can it be? Is it not a dream? Can it be, that even in this sinful world sin has reached such a height as to assassi- nate our Chief Magistrate, and folly such a pitch as to murder him whose leniency they now so much needed ? But an hour of trial is an hour of duty. While God permits his people to weep, and even sympathizes with them in their sorrow, yet he summons them to fulfil their stern duty. You have come this morning to the sanctuary of God, not only to pray and praise, but to be taught your duty. It is, I believe, the time when the minister of the Gospel is charged with a grave and responsible task. That task is like Aaron's of old, when 6 he stood " between the living and the dead."* Then, as now, the crime of rebellion had brought a fearful judgment on the people. God commanded his ministers, Moses and Aaron, to direct the people to separate themselves from the leaders of that rebellion, that a righteous judgment might overtake them.t Jehovah changes not. The principle of justice on which he deals with his creatures changes not. The message which he entrusted to his ministers then to deliver to his people, is the message which we believe he entrusts to them now. But first, let us take our own place in the dust before his throne. " I and my people have sinned." God is punishing us for these sins. We have been proud, and depended too much on our own strength. God has shown us how weak and de- fenceless we are without his strengthening and sheltering arm. We have trusted too much to the wisdom of our rulers and the skill of our generals. God has removed the one, and by an hair-breadth escape, shown how easily He could have removed the other. He wants to withdraw us from leaning too heavily on the feeble arm of man, that we may lean more on that of tl e Almighty. We have permitted that accursed thing, human slavery, to grow up and flourish under a Constitution which proclaimed liberty to the oppressed. We have permitted men to fill the high places of the nation whose wealth has been ex- torted from the sweat of the brow of the oppressed, and whose power has been maintained by their blood. God has made us to shed our blood to defend our country from the assaults of these men on its liberties. And now He has put the cup again to our lips. We thought it had been drained to its bottom ; but we had yet to taste its dregs — the bitterest draught of all. Our President has been assassinated ! ! Our President, we say, for he was emphatically the people's *Numbors xvi: 48. fNumbers xvi: 24-26. President, chosen by their hearts as well as by their votes. One who had the affection of the masses more than any who preceded him, (except it be Washington.) One who was es- teemed by the lovers of liberty throughout the world. One whose most prominent trait was kindness of heart to all. One who stood nrm " amid the raging of the people," and conscien- tiously and fearlessly discharged his duty amid the taunts and sneers of a vile faction. One who guided the helm of State so skillfully amid the Scylla of domestic treason and the Charybdis of foreign intervention, that it extorted from the press of Eng- land and Europe a reluctant but necessary admiration. This man has fallen! Just at the period when the sun of our coun- try had reached its meridian splendor, his sun was suddenly eclipsed. And now, who is to answer for the blood of this man ? It should be laid at the door of those people of the so-called "Southern Confederacy," who have in their public press clam- ored for the commission of this very deed: who have advertised for means to carry out the diabolical scheme ;* who have asked contributions to it as "toward a patriotic purpose ;" and at the door of men who would permit such things to appear in then- public press unrebuked. It should be laid again at the door of that spirit of rebellion against the rightful authority, which they have fostered in their hearts and acted out in their lives. The very same spirit which *The following appears iu the advertising columns of the Selma (Ala.) Despatch., copied in the National Republican January 26, 1S6.3 : " One Million Dollars Wanted to have Peace by the 1st of March.— If the citi- zens of theSouthern Confederacy will furnish me with the cash, or good securities, for ,: the sum of one million dollars, I will cause the lives of Abraham Lincoln, William H. " Seward, and Andrew Johnson to be taken by the 1st of March next. This will give us " Peace, and satisfy the world that cruel tyrants cannot live in a "land of liberty." If ■ ' this is not accomplished, nothing will be claimed beyond the sum of fifty thousand dol- '• lars, in advance, which is supposed to be necessary to reach and slaughter the three " villains. '• I will give, myself, one thousand dollars towards this patriotic puipose. Every "one wishing to contribute will address Box K. Cahaba, Alabama. " December 1, 1864." would strike a blow at the Government of this country is the very spirit that would strike one at the head of that Govern- ment. The very Avar that the South inaugurated four years ago by concentrating the fire of a dozen forts upon a helpless garrison, in the harbor of Charleston, is the very spirit that would make an assassin skulk behind an unprotected man and fire upon him. The very spirit that would delight in the mise- ries of the captives who fell into their hands — which would starve them to death in their prisons — which would hunt them with blood-hounds when they tried to escape from the horrid bondage — which would light with the incendiary torch the dwellings of our Northern cities, is the very one that would revel in the thought that the fatal blow had been inflicted on the head of our President. II should be laid at the door of Slavery. The very same spirit which has held so long thousands of its fellow men, born in the image of God, in bondage — which would sell them at the auction block like cattle — which would lacerate them with the whip — which would stand by and see husband and Avife and parent and child separated for the sake of money, and yet de- fend slavery as a "Divine institution," is the very same spirit which the Savior spoke of when he said " Verily, he who kill- eth you Avill think he doeth God service." It is the very school Avhose course of education could graduate such an assassin as him who crept up to a sick man's bed under the pretence of mercy, and then endeavored to rnuitder him as he lay in all the helplessness of suffering. Slavery has begot many such chil- dren, and noAv, in her last dying throes, she has brought forth this Monstrosity of Sin. // should be laid at the r.< tif those in the North who have aided and symjyalhized villi the rebels — who have tried to weak- en the hands of this Government while it was endeavoring to maintain its rightful authority— Avho have held up our kind 9 President as " a tyrant " who ought to be deposed — who have heaped names upon him which, if true, would make him merit death — who have taught this people in secret societies to plot treason, and encouraged armed resistance to the efforts of the Government to draft soldiers for its defence. Who can dare deny that the very spirit that manifested itself in the city of New York in the summer of 1863 is the very spirit that man- ifested itself in the city of Washington during this last week? That those who would burn down an Orphan Asylum, and roast Negroes in the streets, would not hesitate to perpetrate the crime of assassinating the President? Just as the clothes of that holy man Stephen were laid at the feet of " that young man Saul," who, though not casting a stone himself, sympathized with those that did, and therefore " consented to his death," so ought the clothes— the blood- stained garments of our President — to be laid at the feet of these men, yea, women, saying, " What hast thou done ? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto God from the ground against thee." I trust that I address none such this morning, but if one such is under the sound of my voice, I warn you that you have blood on your skirts — that it becomes you this day to repent of your sins if you wish to escape the justice of God and the jaws of hell. And now, we approach a part of this subject to which is invited your most serious and thoughtful consideration. It is a point to which I have myself given much prayerful attention, and which certainly demands the same of every well-wisher of his country. I ask no one to adopt these views without first com- paring them with the teachings of the Bible ; but I ask you also not to reject them without the same examination. The question is, whether this sad calamity is not meant in mercy, to rouse us to act justly towards the leaders and foment- 10 ers of this rebellion ? Four years ago the people of this coun- try could hardly be made to believe that, if the Union was to be preserved, the whole armed power of the Government must be called into requisition, and conciliatory measures exchanged for forcible suppression. Then came that attack on Fort Sum- ter, which dissipated the theory of pacification to the winds, and forced from loyal people of the North the cry for vengeance on the men who were dipping their swords in the life-blood of the Republic. Just so now. God finds some of this people, after a struggle which has cost rivers of blood, expecting to end this nefarious rebellion by conciliatory measures with its lead- ers and fomenters. Let conciliatory measures be shown in abundance to their poor deluded followers, who have long since seen their folly, and for many months have longed to hear the tramp of that army which should free them from their oppres- sors. But to the men whose hands are stained with the blood of our fathers, brothers and sons — to the men who have, by the most wicked lies, " fired the Southern heart " — whose hearts have not one particle of repentance, but who would still destroy this Government if they had the power — to such let justice (we do not ask for revenge, only for justice) be meted out. Let it be a justice that will deprive them of the opportunity of repeat - ing the crime. We claim this as a duty enjoined on our rulers by the Word of God. God has given them on this subject, the following plain directions : — " 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. AYhosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same. For he is the minister of God to thee for good." 11 That is, Government is not to be feared except by evil doers, But that God does intend it shall be feared by evil doers, and that they shall not escape punishment is evident, for he adds, " But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid ; for he beareth not the sword in vain, for he is the minister of God.'' That is, he acts as the delegated authority of God, and as such God commands him to be " a revenger, to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil." Now we present to the consciences of any who have scruples on this subject, this question : Can this Government refuse "to execute wrath upon those who have done evil " by resisting its rightful authority, when God says in so doing they have resisted him? Can they do it with- out disobeying the plain injunction of His Word ? Do you want to know how God views rebellion ? You will tind his opinion in I Samuel, xv: 23 — " For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft ;" and the punishment he commanded to be dealt to the witch, you will find in Exodus, xxii : 18 — " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Yes, this people are now in danger of the very sin which they were guilty of before this war. Then they were in danger of having a sinful complicity with slavery by undue leniency to the crimes of the slaveholders. Xow may they not be in danger of a sinful complicity with rebellion by an undue leniency to the crimes of its leaders ? But it is urged that we ought to be merciful to our enemies if we wish to obtain mercy in the day of judgment, Well, if the Bible is true, no one will obtain mercy at God's hands that does not first repent of his sins. " Repent and believe, and ye shall be saved." Yea, they must first forsake them. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him ; and to our God, for He will abundantly par- don." Let these men show a sincere and hearty repentance of their sin of rebellion ; let them return unto this Government with a full purpose of and endeavor after new obedience, and 12 we admit that leniency ought to be shown them. But when they are captured in their sins ; fighting to the very last moment, and only giving up because they are conquered ; not because they are less desirous of success, then we say treat them just as God will treat the man whom he finds rebelling against him at the hour of death, giving up then his course of sin only because he has not the opportunity of pushing it further. But it is urged again Christ prayed for the forgiveness of his enemies, and we should imitate his spirit and forgive ours. Yes, but the same Savior wept over those very enemies, be- cause he saw their persistent rebellion must cause the wrath of God to come upon them and their guilty city;* for even his mercy had no longer any argument why justice should forbear to punish. If you will read the account of Josephus, of how God permitted the crucifiers of Christ to be punished in the destruction of Jerusalem, you will read a catalogue of horrors uch as even this war cannot equal. Oh, yes, God punishes the wicked when they do not repent of their sins and return to Him, and wo to that land whose rulers bear the sword in vain, when