Wjt LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 012 028 374 1 J HoUinger pH8.5 Mill Run F3-1955 E 458 .5 .G31 Copy 1 THE CROWNING EVENT A DISrOlKSE ON THE OCCASION OF THE FALL OF RICHMOND, PREACHED ON SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 1865, IN ^hrist fitiangeticHt Jieformd (l|fiurtj), GBEEN STREET, NEAR SIXTEENTH, PHILADELPHIA, BY THE DP^STOR., Rev. SAMUEL H. GIESY, PHILADELPHIA: JAS. B. RODGKRS, PRINTER, 52 & 54 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 1865. THE CROWNING EVENT: A DISCOIKSE 0\ THE OCCASION OF THE FALL OF RICHMOND, PREACHED ON SUNDAY, APRIL 9, 1865, IN d[hrist firaujgdiral |^4^rmd ^hurdj, GREEN" STREET, NEAR SIXTEENTH, PHILADELPHIA, BY THE PASTOR, Rev. SAMUEL H. GIESY, PHILADELPHIA: JAS. B. RODGERS, PRINTER, 52 & 54 NORTH SIXTH STREET. 1865. 1» To THE Rev. S. H. Giest: » Dear &')•— Having been deeply impressed with the Thanksgiving sermon, preached by you on Sunday, April 9th, 1865, in accordance with the proclamation of the Governor, and believing its circulation would be productive of good, we respectfully solicit a copy for publication. Yours, truly, JOHN WIEST, EDWIN BOOTH, C. N. BROCK, R. ROTHERMEL, J. S. FRY, AXD OTHERS. Philadelphia, April 10th, 1865. Phil.ujelphia, April 11th, 1865. Gertfl^mfn— The sermon, a copy of which you so kindly solicit for publication, was written in cheerful compliance with the Governor's proclamation of thanksgiving for the Nation's triumph at Richmond, but with no thought of its publication. Yielding to your judgment, it is placed at your disposal. Respectfully yours, SAMUEL H. GIESY. To Messrs. J. Wiest, E. Booth, C. N. Brock, and others. DISCOURSE. '^ Matt. 1.3: 1(5,17. "But blessed are your eyes, for tliey see: and your ears, for they heat"; For verily I say unto you that many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and nave not heard them." In April, 1861, the fall of Sumter sent a thrill of patriotic indignation throughout the entire country. In April, 1865, the fall of Richmond, the enthroned and vastly fortified centre of rebelhon, sent a thrill of deepest gratitude and most enthusiastic joy through- out the length and breadth of the land. Almost simultaneously with the raising of the old flag over the ruins of Sumter we find it waving in triumph over the defiant capital of treason. The rebellion has been crushed; they, who rose up to overthrow the govern- ment, have themselves been overthrown; they, who plotted the country's dismemberment, have been over- taken with ruin; treason has been punished; Fort Sumter has been avenged. " The Lord has triumphed gloriously." The government has been sustained; the cause of freedom has been vindicated; the sacred rights of humanity have been secured to millions of 6 DISCOURSE ON THE oppressed beings; the Union has been preserved; the* nation is free, A war, inaugurated on the most gigantic scale, and putting forth the most tremendous efforts to secure forever the right of proj)erty in human beings, and by governmental authority legal- izing the oppression of the slaveholder, has destroyed that tenure altogether, and slain the giant iniquity itself The treasonable schemes, intended to rivet more tightly the fetters of the bondsman, have, guided by an unseen hand, served to break forever the gall- ing chain of involuntary servitude. The wicked at- tempt to establish a republican government upon the basis of slavery, as its "chief corner stone" (in- famously spoken) has utterly and ingloriously failed. We ought to rejoice to-day. It would be the basest ingratitude to that God who has vouchsafed the na- tion such signal triumphs over her enemies not to re- joice to-day. We may with all our powers of soul sing this morning the "Te Deum laudamus." As never before, we may smg the doxology : •'Praise God, from -.vliom all blessings flow! Praise Him, all creatures here below ! Praise Him above, ye lieavenly Lost! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost." Blessed are our eyes, for they see; and our ears for they hear the thrilling news of this grand and glorious consummation — the nation still one — undivided and indivisible — the star-spangled banner waving in ma- jestic triumph over a land more free than ever. FALL OF RICHMOND. 7 But, we cannot forget that this great event has been reached through a vast expenditure of the best blood of the nation. What invaluable lives have been sac- rificed on their country's altar, and in the sacred cause of freedom and humanity ! Ah, thousands upon thou- sands have desired to see those things which we see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which we hear, and have not heard them. They fought, and bled, and died, but entered not into the glorious reward of their labors. Freely they poured out their blood on many a . hard-fought battle-field, endured hardship, exposure and peril, but lived not long enough to see an imperiled country come forth from the fierce conflict with banners waving in triumph. Oh, that those fallen heroes but knew the joy of this hour ! Knew that their lives had not been sacrificed in vain! Oh that their eyes could see what our eyes now see, and hear what has fallen on our ears, and so thrilled our hearts with the swelling emo- tions of gladness and gratitude. But bravely breast- ing the fury of the death-storm, thousands upon thou- sands have fallen in a noble and honorable service. How many, the records of eternity only shall disclose I They sleep in the sea, and in the swamps around that captured stronghold of rebellion so long defiantly flinging back the intrepid soldiery of freedom. They sleep in honored, and thousands in unknown, graves — at Fredericksburg and Antietam, at Shiloh and Donel- 8 DISCOURSE ON THE son, at Vicksburg, and above the clouds at Lookout Mountain, at Gettysburg, at Dallas and Atlanta, at Chattanooga and Nashville, and in the signal triumphs of the cause they loved so well, before captured Petersburg and Richmond. Noble heroes, they know- not their country's triumph! Their eyes, closed in heroic death, see not what our eyes see — ultimate and decisive victory resting upon the banners of freedom. Their ears, hushed in the patriot soldier's grave, no sound shall awaken to the glory of this hour. Seeing what they, in the fatal issues of the terrific ou-tset were not permitted to see, shall they be ungratefully forgotten, and their graves neglected. The national cemeteries at Gettysburg, and Alexandria, and For- tress Monroe, and City Point, and Chattanooga, and other points where the bodies of the fallen heroes have been brought together and laid down side by side, show how utterly impossible it is for the memory of their heroic death and deeds ever to be obliterated from the national heart. Though no board, nor stone, nor the diamond pen of history shall preserve their names upon the scroll of fame, yet, as long as the world stands, the stirring events in which they bore so honorable a part, and the great result they helped to achieve, will never pass from the memory of a na- tion thereby saved from dismemberment and entire overthrow. In the proper rejoicings of this hour, how can we forget those, known or unknown, who, falling FALL OF RICHMOND. 9 with their face to the foe, built up a huge breastwork of human bodies between danger and our peaceful homes ? And there are others, who, on this glad and grateful day, see not what our eyes see, and hear not what our ears hear. Honored statesmen have passed away be- fore the triumphant day dawned — men, whose gifted pens wrote stirring sentences in vindication of the righteousness of the country's cause, and whose eloquent tongues thrilled other souls Avith patriotic impulses. Ah, the most eloquent of American states- men, with a stainless reputation, a public record as pure and unsulUed as an angel's robe of white, who so nobly, and even to the exposure of health, gave all the powers of pen and tongue — none so eloquent — to his country's service, passed away suddenly and sadly to the nation, while darkness and clouds still en- veloped our country's cause. Would that Everett had Kved to see what we have seen, and hear what we have heard! More favored have we been. We have hved to see an assailed government thoroughly Adctorious, We have lived to see the well-disciplined and skilfully handled forces of the enemy scattered, we confidently beheved, beyond all possibihty of presenting again an opposing front. We have lived to see the most infa- mous rebellion in all history effectually crushed. We have lived to see the goddess of liberty crowned with 12 DISCOURSE ON THE sanna! Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord," did not know the full sig- nificance of that earthly coronation. And, even so, we may not be able to compute or even conceive of the vast results of these grand triumphs of national arms and authority, for which we are directed offi- cially to render thanks to Almighty God. Never was there a Palm Sunday thus made doubly glorious. In the full spirit of the day and the occasion we may give expression to our jubilant and grateful emotions. The grand issue, to which the God of nations has con- ducted this terrific contest for national existence and unity, imposes, foremostly, this duty upon all Chris- tian churches and people. We should thank Him to-day for that warm, ardent, enthusiastic, and unyielding patriotism, which, not for one moment, shrank from the tremendous de- mands, and the unparalleled sacrifices, made neces- sary in the terrible alternative of war forced upon the nation. Only think of the immense requisitions made upon the people in the way of material contri- butions to the soldiery on their way to the field of battle, and for their comfort and relief when brought, wounded and maimed, bleeding and sufiering from the scene of carnage and conflict, where death held high revel. Have these increasing requisitions been met? Ah, in the whole history of the world, there has been nothing like this in-pouring of contributions. FALL OF RICHMOND. 13 both in money and material, for the wants of the thousands upon thousands upon whom the calamities of the war pressed most severely. Funds and stores have flowed, like a steadily swelling river, into the treasuries of those commissions, intrusted with the sanitary and spiritual condition of the soldiers. AVhat vast sums have been given to provide comforts for the wounded, and religious instruction and food for all. Wherever our armies have j)eiietrated, these com- missions, maintained by voluntary contributions, have pressed with their stores, their boxes of good reading matter, and their mostly unpaid agents, full of Christ and the love of souls. And the millions of dollars alone needed for this Christian and Sanitary branch of the great work have been most promptly and cheerfully furnished. Why? Because of that noble and inextinguishable spirit of philanthrophic patriot- ism, which, from the very first shock of the war, fired the breast of the people. New channels of trade and business were opened up. Greater facilities for accumulating wealth were at hand. Fortunes were made in a day almost. And out of this in-pouring abundance, the people have given most freely, most generously and largely. The government has not wanted for a single dollar. How surprising the rapidity and universality with which the several national loans have been taken! From the poor man's fifty dollar bond up to the milHonaire's 14 DISCOURSE ON THE thousands, millions on millions have thus been in- vested by the people, showing their most implicit and universal confidence in the ability of the govern- ment to meet eventually all its obligations; and this, too, let it be borne in mind, under combined and successful efforts to depreciate the public currency. This remarkable feature in the case has made this nation, in this momentous struggle, a grand spectacle to all the nations of the old world. How confidently was our national bankruptcy predicted! How diffi- cult even, at one period of the war, Avould it have been to have negotiated a foreign loan ! How ready are the moneyed men of other lands to take our bonds now! But, through disasters and triumphs, through gloom and hope, through defeat and victory, through the seasons of well nigh crushing despair, the war, costing its $3,000,000,000 has been carried on to its speedy conclusion without a single dollar of a foreign loan. The people have themselves furnished the means for its successful and continued prosecution. The thing is marvellous. It is unparallelled in the histor}^ of any other nation. No wonder that the heretofore ruling powers of the earth have looked on utterly confounded. And well they may be. It shows us in a truly astounding degree, the immense, we may say, the exhaustless resources at command. Had the war cost twice that enormous amount, the means, we verily believe, would have been forth- coming. FALL OF RICHMOND. 15 Now, what is the secret of this grand spectacle? In what fact are you to find the clue to all this steady, unfailing, and universal giving on the part of the people to the support of the government in this, its sanguinary hour of trial ? Where, but in that noble, patriotic spirit, which had resolved that "the Union must and shall be preserved?" And for this unfailing spirit of patriotism we have need to-day to be truly thankful. The mighty question, submitted by the leaders of rebellion to the arbitrament of the sword, has by the sword been decided. The RepubHc has been saved. And this in itself to-day is sufficient cause for grati- tude to Almighty God, aside even from its immediate and pregnant results. The Governor of our Com- monwealth, in calling the churches to this thanks- giving service, very properly uses this strong language. "The republic is saved. Let us give glory to the Lord, who hath given us the victory. Again let us say, glory to the Lord who hath inspired our heroic people, that during four weary years, though often baffled, defeated and disheartened, they have persisted steadily in the great cause, and have poured out their blood and treasure like water for the salvation of the country." There can be no doubt that the wicked purpose of the rebellion was the breaking up of the old govern- ment, and the formation of a new one, answermg their 16 DISCOURSE ON THE own political designs. The attempt to justify their appeal to arms by a doleful wail over invaded rights, "was no support whatever in the facts of the case. The history of the government, as drawn from its le- gislative enactments, from 1820 and upward, shows a vastly different record. Instead of there having been any interference on the part of the general Govern- ment with so-called Southern rights, unfortunately, we think, new concessions and stronger guarantees were given on every fresh demand for them by the slave-holding power. This spirit of compromise on the part of the North was continued, until, in order to avert an impending and threatened civil war, the famous, or rather infamous'"" fugitive slave law was enacted in 1851. Supported by the best men in the nation, that was hailed as a settler of the vexed and agitating question. But, as subsequent facts proved, it was only transferring the dispute from the halls of congress to the people. The attempted arrest of fu- gitive slaves in different places and states, under the most l^rutal circumstances, and of a number of colored persons known to be free, but, by parties interested, sworn to be long escaped slaves, aroused the indigna- *Especially odiovis and objectionable in the feature of allowing the al- leged fugitive no right of trial by jury. A colored man, seized by one claiming liim as his slave, may have been free, and his parents before him, but this law allowed him no privilege of introducing evidence to that eifect for his protection. Vide the law. A number of instances arc on record of persons having lived for fifteen or twenty years in unchallenged freedom, being seized and hurried away to life-long bondage. FALL OF RICHMOND. 17 tion and slumbering ojDposition of the Northern peo- ple to the whole system. It was impossible to compel the inhabitants of the free North to aid in the rendi- tion of fleeing slaves to their pursuers. The instincts of humanity were ngainst it. Those enjoying the sweets of liberty could not lend themselves to the re- quired work of delivering fugitives back to the mercy of their owners. The law ran counter to the feelino-s o deep lodged in the human heart, and its reactionary effects hurried on the opposition to that system of in- voluntary service, which culminated at last in the horrors, and woes, and wide-spread calamities of this terrific civil war. Hence that very stroke of legisla- tion, in the unwise sj)irit of compromise prevailing at the time, made necessary to pacify southern anxiety and disquietude, which was intended to rivet more tightly the fetters of the bondsman, was, in fact, one of the most potent causes operating to bring about that general emancipation of the slaves which is one of the direct results, though not the original purpose, of this sanguinary war. These are simply the unvarnished facts in the case, which every one, at all familiar with the history of the stirring times in which it is our privilege to live, knows full well. The giant iniquity seeking to en- throne itself still more securely in its control of the government, has itself been dethroned. And in this, there is great reason for gratitude to Almighty God. 18 DISCOURSE ON THE We could have preferred the great end having been reached by peaceful measures, operating through a number of years. But it is a question, whether the quiet and noiseless potencies of the gospel would for ages have accomplished the extinction of human sla- very. The storm cannot uproot an oak without tearing up the ground all around it, and in its fall bearing down other trees of the forest. Like a huge boa-constrictor, in its tightening folds crushing out the life of its vic- tim, so this giant wrong, by new and more stringent enactments, had well-nigh bound the federal govern- ment hand and foot; and its bands of political domi- nation could not be severed without leaving a track of blood, broad and deep, throughout the entire land. God be praised, that good has been brought out of evil. And God be j)raised, that in this "irrepressible con- flict," the republic has been saved. What imminent perils beset us in this direction! The rebellion itself presented a bold, defiant, and da- ring front. Thirty years' familiarity with the idea and probability of such a conflict between the tAvo sections found the South to some degree prepared for an ap- peal to arms. The outbreak of the rebellion found the government shorn, like Samson, of all its locks of strength. Its ships of war were quietly sailing in dis- tant seas. Its munitions of war had been ofiicially transported to southern forts. Treasonable men held PALL OF RICHMOND. 19 high positions. The governmental forces were on the remote frontiers. An army and navy had to be im- provised to meet the terrible emergency. But flushed with that patriotic ardor and devotion that more than met the President's first call for troops, we really knew not the danger, which from the very first threatened the existence of the republic. Subsequent appalling disasters hardly served to arouse us to a proper sense of our country's peril, and remove that vain-glorious confidence and consequent depreciation of the enemy's numbers, determination, and resources, Avhicli well nigh were, in several instances, our utter ruin. But these facts are as familiar to you as they are to me. The great matter for which we have to praise Almighty God, to-day, is, that these things did not effect the complete overthrow of the government. We have to bless God that the Republic has lived through it all. To bless Him, that it has lived in spite of it all — lived through all disasters, through grave military blunders, and through mortifying defeats, and through seasons of gloom — hved to this crowning act and glory. Blessed are our eyes, for we have been permitted to witness this complete and triumphant vindication of the national cause. The result just reached is the end of the rebellion and the end of the war. And this certainly is some- thing to bless God for. 20 DISCOURSE ON THE It has been well said: "The fall of Richmond is practically the fall of the Confederacy." By some of the most prominent leaders in the rebellion, the suc- cess or failure of their bloody undertaking was felt to hang on the fate of their capital. In the possibility of that very contingency which has just arisen — the overthrow of the rebel seat of power — the head and front of the bold conspirators holds this language in last year's message to his truculent Congress: "Not the fall of Eichmond, nor Wilmington, nor Charleston, nor Savannah, nor Mobile, nor of all combined, can affect the issue of the present contest." But the most prominent and independent representatives of Southern opinion and feelings have not accej)ted this declaration of the rebel chief, touching the non- importance of the capital to the success of their cause. An outsjwken journal in that city, over whose ramparts now floats the old flag, quoting these words of President Davis, says correctly: "Let not this fatal error be harbored till it takes root in the imagination. The evacuation of Richmond would be the loss of all authority and respect toward the Con- federate Government, the disintegration of the army, and the abandonment of the scheme of an inde- pendent Southern confederation. The war, after that, would speedily degenerate into an irregular contest, in which passion will have more to do than purpose ; which would have no other object than the mere de- FALL OF RICHMOND. 21 fence or present safety of those immediately persist- ing in it. The common sense of the country, the in- stinct of every man and woman in the land, contra- dicts the idea that any possibility of an independent South would remain after its capital was abandoned, its government set adrift, and its army withdrawn into the solitudes of the wilderness. Its loss would be material ruin to the cause, and in a moral point of view, absolutely destructive, crushing the heart and extinguishing the last hope of the country." We believe this no magnified statement of the vital importance of the rebel capital to the success of the rebellion. The one has confessedly been bound up in the fate of the other. The overthrow then by the federal forces of "the rebel seat of power seals the final doom of the entire confederacy," and thus virtu- ally ends the war. And certainly this is a matter for which we ought to praise God. For four long and weary years, with varied success, alternating defeat and victory, this war, so frightful in its casualties, and circumstances of cruelty and barbarity to prisoners, has continued. How many have fallen in battle, died of wounds or disease, or in some loathsome prison pen, will never be known on earth. The whole land is full of de- solation and sorrow. Wherever the contending armies have pressed, the country, for miles and miles around, has been marred and marked with graves. The nar 22 DISCOURSE ON THE tion is truly a nation of widows and orphans. War is a Moloch of fearful destruction. Every hamlet throuohout the land has made its contribution to the ranks of the army; and every hamlet, perhaps, has its representative among the fallen heroes. And each martyr to liberty was dear to some sorrowing heart at home. The widow in her desolation looks in vain for the return of her husband. Killed in battle, and she knows not where they have laid him. In vain the boy expects his sire's coming. Where the fight raged the hottest, there he nobly fell. The brother will no more grasp his brother's hand, who led the regiment forward in the deadly charge.* They have fallen in freedom's cause, and are not here to rejoice with us to-day in the full and glorious triumph, which they died to achieve. If, with this decisive victory, the necessity for such * Major Henry H. Giesy, youngest brother of the writer, a prominent member of the bar at Lancaster, Ohio, entered the service as Captain on the first call for three months' volunteers. Served this period in Western Vir- ginia. At its expiration returned, and raised a new company, and re- enlisted for three years. His first terrific engagement was Shiloh, and shortly after, for gallant conduct, was promoted to Mnjor of the Regiment over three other captains whose commissions antedated his. In the great battles of Gen. Sherman on his way to Atlanta, the Col. of the 4Gth Ohio Regiment being assigned to the command of a brigade, the command of the Regiment devolved on Major Giesy. He nobly fell in his country's service at Dallas, Georgia, May 28th, 18(34, when leading the regiment in a furious charge. An appointment to Lieut. -Colonel had just been made by the Governor of Ohio, but failed to reach him before the fatal wound had been received. A justifiable pride in a brother's brave record will be a sufficient apology for this brief notice. He fell in the prime of man- hood, in his 29th year. FALL OF RICHMOND. 23 sacrifices shall pass away, we may well sing praises to God. War, even under its mildest form, is a terri- ble scourge. And a people may well rejoice, when the question in dispute is solved, and the contending armies are disbanded. In the prospects for a speedy termination to this destructive civil war, we would be recreant to our most obvious duty, not to bless God that the end has come — and such a trlumpliant e7id. The more recent intelligence gives us ground to an- ticipate the complete overthrow of the rebellion in the entire capture of its main army.* But even if that event should not just now transpire, we may bless God that its prestige is gone, and its militar}^ power broken. Under such circumstances, peace long prayed for — ^peace established on a righteous and per- manent basis — peace bringing happiness to the entire land, and more than wonted national prosperity — cannot be much longer delayed. Blessed are our eyes, for they see the first streaks of the morning. Another cause for devout gratitude to God in the result of the war, is its triumphant vindication of the possibility of free government. In the very outbreak of the rebellion, on the Continent, but in England especially, it was regarded as a foregone conclusion, that the "Great Republic" would not survive the * The 9th of April, 1865, will be forever memorable in history as the day on which Gen. Lee surrendered the Army of Virginia to Lieut. -Gen. Grant. 24 DISCOURSE ON THE storm which was sweeping clown upon it. The wish being father to the thought, the case was thus hastily prejudged. So far from there being any doubt at all of our downfall, it was regarded and treated as an accepted fact. The English never dreamed the nation had such powers of endurance and self-preservation. They pretended to see in our political system the seeds of destruction. Popular governments, in their view, offering such a wide field and tempting induce- ments for the plottings of designing and aspiring- demagogues, must eventually fall to pieces in the ^vrangling and feuds engendered for place and power. In these facts, lying on the surface, and the furious claim which was set up for State sovereignty, they professed to see the elements of our national disinte- gration and certain dissolution. They affected to penetrate the veil of the future, and were not slow to predict the utter failure of our Republican Institu- tions, All the British Reviews of 1861 contained able and lengthy articles on the failure of Demo- cracy. I recall now an article of that character, on what the writer was pleased to call the ''bursted bubble." The facts which have recently transpired do not exactly correspond with the monarchist's ex- ultant conclusions. The power of the government, in the recent events before Richmond, and a little further South, have made the issue somewhat difier- FALL OF RICHMOND. 25 ent from that then anticipated or predicted. A week hence, the news carried out by the "Australasian" will inform them in England, and on the Continent, that the Eepublic yet lives, and means to live, not- withstanding their sympathy with the rebellion, and wish that it might have been otherwise. Republican- ism can no longer be regarded as an experiment; it is a self-demonstrated fact. And this is one feature in the case, which may well fill our hearts with rejoicing in view of the re- sults of the war. No people under the heavens have larger and richer privileges than we. No people have so much to do in the determination of those exercising authority. No people have so much to say in marking out a line of national pohcy. No people have so much to do and say with regard to the conduct of high officials, and the jDroceedings of legislative assemblies. The people constitute the go- vernment. The foundations of our national fabric are laid, "where alone they ought to be laid — on the broad consent of the people." To what a terrible ordeal have the princijDles of popular government been subjected! But thank God, they have survived the shock of the battle. The furious storm has swept over, and left us, both our country and our liberties. The government is stronger now than it was four years ago; has a firmer hold upon 26 DISCOURSE ON THE the confidence and heart of the ^)eople; and is better able to cope with its enemies, either domestic or foreign. The result of this sanguinary struggle has fully vindicated the stability of republican institutions. And in this fact, finding hope and promise for the future, we have especial need to bless God for the signal mercy He has been pleased to vouchsafe the nation. Let the interposing of His hand — that Hand which no power can withstand — that Hand, in recent events, so manifestly made bare in our country's cause, lead us to sing unto the Lord, who hath made our forces to triumph so gloriously. Let us joyfully and gratefully bring all the glory to the foot of that Throne which is back of all earthly thrones, kingdoms, and powers. Not to be thankful under such circumstan- ces, and with such vast causes for it, pressing upon heart, and reason, and conscience, were indeed to show ourselves ingrates, unfit to inhabit such a land as this, and really meriting the iron yoke of despotic rule. Let this then be our national anthem to-day : " I will sing unto the Lord, for He hath triumphed gloriously : the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will prepare Him a habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt Him." Another cause of national gratitude is the enthrone- ment of God in the heart of the nation. It is not to be disputed, that these severe chastenings of the Al- FALL OF RICHMOND. Zi mighty have led to the undisguised and universal re- cognition of His existence and sovereignty. This has been shown in the frequent proclamations for thanks- giving upon the achievement of important victories, and for fasting, humiliation, and prayer in seasons of national disaster and gloom, prompted by the deep religious convictions of the noble chief Executive. This has been shoAvn in the brief dispatches of some of the Generals, announcing success against the enemies of the country, acknowledging God's favoring hand. This was sho^vn in the spontaneous and en- thusiastic rejoicings of last Monday. One placard, reaching from the fourth story down, containing the several dispatches which so thrilled the people with joy, concluded with this proper recognition of God's mercy: "The Lord be praised." =^ And what a mag- nificent spectacle was that, when by thousands of persons, with heads uncovered, in front of City Hall, New York, and that sacred relic of the Revolution — Old Independence Hall, the doxology: "Praise God, from whom all blessings flow," was sung with an unction and spirit never before felt, or shown. All this goes to show, that this severe disciphne of four years has produced some happy effect. Wickedness does indeed greatly abound, and alas, still in high * See Stanton's dispatcli, April 9th, 1865, ascribing tlianks to Almighty God for the surrender of Gen. Lee's forces. 28 DISCOURSE OX THE places. But the nation is far from being infidel. Nay, if official acts are to be taken as any standard of judgment in the case, more Christian than ever. The war in its individual and social influences has been a fearful demoralizer, and yet the nation, as such, in its governmental principles and proceedings, has been lifted nearer the throne of God. The prophet Zechariah speaks of a time coming, when the motto: "Holiness unto the Lord," shall be engraven upon the bells of the horses, and even the common utensils of the house. The gold and silver of the earth are the Lord's. Practically, however, this has been denied. Recently it has been acknow- ledged in a very expressive way. This inscription: "In God we trust," within a year stamped upon a a new coin, has, while it shows the nation's f}-ust, re- deemed unto the Lord the currency of the United States. Our gratitude to-day is immeasurably augmented, when we consider this triumph of the govern- ment in its far-reaching results. The immediate generation, in which vast historic movements occur, reap not, and is, by no means, able even to calculate the advantages growing out of them. Which of those noble patriots, who signed his name to that immortal document — the Declaration of Independence — the formal corner-stone laymg of the temple of liberty — FALL OF EICIIMOND. 29 ever dreamed of the national greatness even our eyes have been blessed in seeing, and the vastness to which their work has expanded — nearly treble the original number of States. Had the future, as we saw it just antecedent to this war, loomed up before them, how would those noble fathers of the Republic have stood amazed ! Equally so now; the benefits of these great events are not to be limited to this age, nation, or continent. The old world, bound yet by despotic rule, and still moving in the old ruts of the feudal system, must feel the vindication given before Richmond, to the possi- bility of free government. Crowned heads will be uneasy since democracy has not proved itself an ex- ploded idea — a "bursted bubble." Freedom is man's birthright. And the Red Sea will be crossed to make its possession good. This beacon light, all the brighter for having emerged, round and full-orbed, from clouds charged with fierce lightnings and deep thun- ders, may beckon others to the achievement of the dearest rights of humanity. Nor, are the blessings of these grand triumphs to be limited to the three or four millions of bondsmen thereby forever made free, nor the thirty millions now inhabiting the land. The present race of freedmen may be all the worse for the sudden liberty for which they are wholly unprepared; — but the next genera- 30 DISCOURSE ON THE FALL OF RICHMOND. tion, more educated and elevated, will know better how to appreciate it and use it. And the time will come when a population of a hundred millions will stand where thirty millions do now. There are mineral and material resources here to sustain for centuries a vaster population than the enormous one just named. It is impossible to speak of the probable future of our country Avithout seeming to be most extravagant and vain-glorious. But con- sidering the vast territory ^^et to be occupied, the country may, indeed, be said only to have entered upon its grand career. And we do well to rejoice to- day over the victories just won, and the vindication of the national authority, and re-establishment of na- tional unity, when the unparalleled interests and the unparalleled blessings of coming generations and a thickening population, are considered. These are only a few of the causes entering into the just call for gratitude to-day to Almighty God for His great mercy. The}^ might easily be multiplied. These are enough, however, to inspire the poet's words : ''Great God, we thank Thee for this home — This bounteous birthland of the free; Where wanderers from afar may come . And breathe the air of Liberty! Still may her flowers untrampled spring, Her harvests wave, her cities rise; And yet till time shall fold his wing Remain earth's loveliest Paradise." LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 012 028 374 1| LIBRARY OF CONGREJ 012 028 374 1 -/ J Hollitiger pH8.5 Mill Run F3-195 /^ LIBRARY OF CONGRESS li'iiiiiiii.iiijiiijni 012 028 374 1 J HoUinger pH8.5 Mill Run F3.1955