973.7L63 B4H97e COD. 3 TOIIS0N, A. P. 1HEMNICNWH HINGED (/rrn - . . - I B RAFLY OF THE UNIVERSITY Of ILLINOIS cop* 3 IIMIHHS HISTORICAL SURVEY - - - THE EVENT ON WHICH THE GREAT CIVIL WAR HINGED AN UNWRITTEN CHAPTER Relating to Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ- BY A, P. HUTCHISON "There shall come a star out of Jacob and a scepter shall rise out of Israel and shall smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Sheth." PRICE 1O CENTS To my wife who is "passing under the rod" whose weary feet can no longer run on errands for her Lord and King, whose willing hands can no longer minister to Him and His, and whose ready tongue can no longer speak or plead for His crown right; THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER is affectionately dedicated. RELATING TO Abraham Lincoln and Jesus Christ, or the Event on Whtch the Great Civil War Hinged. CHAPTER I. A NEW MOULDED NATION. 5 A Corn of Wheat Which Fell Into the Ground and Died. n September 13th. 'oft. two days before the sur- render of Harper's Ferry, ministers of Chicago visited ihe White House to insist upon the immediate PAGE SIXTEEN emancipation of the slaves. To these ministers the President replied : "I do not want to issue a document that the whole world will see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the comet." But the very thing had happened which Abraham Lincoln sought to avoid. Emancipation was des- tined to go into effect, only 18 days after the bloody disaster of Fredericksburg. Well might the Presi- dent have taken up the wail of Hezekiah : "This day is a day of trouble and of rebuke and of blasphemy; for the children are come to the birth and there is not strength to bring forth." Darker days have seldom brooded over any land tfian our dark days of '63. The Army of the Po- tomac at the seat of war had met many and grave disasters. The whole land was burdened with taxes, stricken with untold griefs, and harrowed by sentiments of treason. The public debt had mounted up and up until it had become a nightmare. On Feb- ruary 2nd, '63, the public credit had reached the lowest point touched that year, and lower than any hitherto in the history of the Republic. Many regi- ments in the army of the Potomac had not received a cent of pay in six months. Beaten and decimated and penniless, the Army of the Potomac now under Hooker, had lost its morale and 200 men were de- serting every day. The Confederate press vaunted the prowess of the Confederate leaders, was exult- ant over repeated victories, and was insistent upon foreign recognition. The spirit of the Northern press and people can well be gauged by a letter of Horace Greeley, written to the President four days after the battle of Gettysburg, in which he said: "I venture to remind you that the bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country longs for peace." PAGE SEVENTEEN THE INTRIGUE OF NAPOLEON. The repudiation of ten loyal States was ominous enough. But our greatest menace in those dark hours was the ambition and intrigue of Napoleon III of France. The Emperor of France was well gifted with the ambitions of his uncle, the great Napoleon. Of the genius of the latter he had none. Napoleon III could not but remember that 60 years be fore, when his illustrious uncle was at war with England, Jefferson and Madison had dealt him out of the Louisana Purchase, a territory five times as large as the French Empire. The great Napoleon had a dream of a great Latin Empire on the Amer- ican Continent. Napoleon III revived the dream, and thought to found an Empire tributary to his own. Mexico as. she is now, was rent with revo- lution. Our hands were tied by Civil war. Na- poleon landed an army at Vera Cruz. William H. Seward, our Secretary of State, warned the Em- peror. The warning was insolently ignored. Maxi- milian, Arch Duke of Austra, was groomed for the throne of Mexico. An assembly of notables, seven days after the battle of Gettysburg, tendered him the crown. Napoleon was eager to interpose an independent Confederacy between the American Republic and his new Empire. The fates favored his ambitions. The Confederacy was eager for his support. Maximilian was of the House of Haps- burg, which invited Spain's good will. Napoleon had strongly supported Pope Pius IX against the Republican trend of Italy, and could now count on his support. The Emperor could pledge to safe- guard the interests of the English in Mexico. And Gladstone and the ruling classes of Great Britian were in heart with the Confederacy. The lines of PAGE EIGHTEEN Napoleon's schemes were deeply laid and waited only the crowning of Maximillian. The peril of the American Republic was imminent. The wonder is that Abraham Lincoln endured. With treason exultant ; with the spirit of the army broken ; with our debt towering like a mountain : with our credit almost prostrate; with his adminis- tration deserted ; with the powers in intrigue against us ; the good President's face took a cast more sad and sallow, and his shoulders stooped a little more. He \vas what Charm called him /'The Man of Sor- rows," and like the man of sorrows, "His visage was so marred more than any man." On June 12th. 1914. former Vice President Fairbanks stood with three Governors at the grave of Lincoln's mother, at Lincoln City. Indiana. The three represented and spoke for the State of Lincoln's birth, the State of his boyhood, and the State of his mature years. There speaking for the Nation, Mr. Fairbanks said : "In these days of anxiety for the future, it is well to recall the unwearying patience, the sublime faith and the loyalty of Abraham Lincoln to the cause of the Union; his confidence in the virtue of the Republican Govern- ment and his trust in the ultimate judgment of the Ameri- can people." CHAPTER V. THE UNWRITTEN CHAPTER OPENS. Note Now Where the Great War Hinged. In a recent number of the Saturday Evening Tost. President \Voodro\\ Wilson said: "I challenge you to cite me an instance in all the his- tory of the world where liberty was handed down from above. Liberty always is attained by the forces working below, underneath, by the great movement of the people." PAGE NINETEEN Truer words were never uttered. Every upward movement comes from the common people. Every t Hxhvard movement from the humble walks of life. The reformer, as the rule, conies from the humble folk or rises from obscurity. The Scriptures read : "For ye see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world, and things which are de- spised hath God chosen; yea and things which are nought to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence." The Godward movement of 1863, in which the gloom which rested upon the country lifted, began on the stricken hearthstones of the people. The writer could not, if he would, efface the memory of the faltering prayers of the family altar, when the suspense of troubled months brought no word from a sturdy soldier boy, save that he was missing ; nor can he forget the mother sobs and sister tears which answered to these cryings of the heart. That this spirit of the Nation should seek a way to utter itself was but natural. Two conventions were held. They were in no wise related. The first met at Xenia, Ohio, on the 3rd of February, '63, the day after the public credit had reached its lowest ebb. The other met at Sparta, Illinois, on February Gth. The rod of chastening had brought the Nation to her senses. The convention at Sparta adopted a pledge : "To labor to bring the Nation to repentance toward God, and to a faithful administration of the Government ac- cording to the principles of the Word of God." Two days before, John Alexander, a layman of Xenia, presented to the convention in session a paper in which the sins of the Nation were confess- PAGE TWENTY ed, and which insisted on repentance and reforma- tion. A sentence of this paper reveals the spirit of the convention : "We regard the neglect of God and His law, by omitting all acknowledgement of them in our Constitution as the crowning original sin of the Nation, and slavery as one of its natural outgrowths." The National Reform Association, organized at Pittsburgh, January 27th, '64, sprang from the loins of this convention. There were no historic characters at it. The brilliant pulpits were not in ev- idence. The leading spirits, John Alexander, Rev. Samuel Collins, Dr. H. H. George, were men of the common people. But their work will endure : "Till the stars grow old, And the sun grows cold, And the leaves of the Judgment book unfold. WHEN CHRIST CAME TO THE SENATE. It was but a little time until the spirit of the Xenia convention had reached the National Capitol. Onlv 26 days after a night of fervent prayer and tense discussion at Xenia, there was such a session of the United States Senate, on March 2nd, '63, as the Recording Angel marks. In the night visions of Daniel, one in white array stood with uplifted hands upon the river. Even such a one is standing now at the door of the Senate chamber. Had he found the spirit of the Senate like the revel of Bel- shazzar's lords, he would have written on the wall. But instead, to those Senators, broken in spirit, the Angel of Providence had a message : "Be it known to you, men, that Almighty God rules in the affairs of men and Nations: that no people how- ever great in wealth or number can prosper without His favor: that 'The Father judge th no man but hath commit- ted all judgment unto the Son that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father.' He stood before PAGE TWENTY-ONE the Senate chamber to say of the Child that was born, of the Son that was given: 'The Government shall be upon His shoulder.' 'His name shall be called Wonderful;' 'His dominion shall be from sea to sea.' 'He must reign until He hath put all enemies under His feet.' 'On His head are many crowns;' 'And on His vesture and on His thigh a name is written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.' 'Be wise now, therefore, O ye Kings; be instructed ye Judges of the Earth;' Hath not God said, 'The Nation nd Kingdom that will not serve Thee shall perish, yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted?' ' And that day the Senate heard. The partridge in its fright flees to the brake. In like manner there is an intuition in the human soul which impels men to "Flee as a bird to their Mountain/' As Hezekiah in dread of Sannacherib shrank into the shelter of Jehovah, so did the United States Senate and Abra- ham Lincoln shrink into the shadow of Him whose name is "above every name." Senator Harlan, of lo\va, arose in the Senate chamber and presented the following resolution. This resolution is in keep- ing with the dignity, the high patriotism, and the devoted spirit of the man who offered it : THE HARLAN RESOLUTION. "RESOLVED, That, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in the affairs of men and of Nations, and sincerely believing that no people, however great in numbers and resources or however strong in the justice of their cause, can pros- per without His favor, and at the same time deploring the National offenses which provoked His righteous judg- ment, yet encouraged, in this day of trouble, by the as- surance of His word, to seek Him for succor according to His appointed way, through Jesus Christ, the Senate of the United States do hereby request the President of the United States by his proclamation to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation, request- ing all the people of the land to suspend their secular pursuits and unite in keeping the day in solemn communion PAGE TWENTY-TWO with the Lord of Hosts, supplicating Him to enlighten the counsels and direct the policy of the rulers of the Nations and to support the soldiers, sailors and marines, and whole people in the firm discharge of duty, until the existing rebellion shall be overthrown and the blessing of peace restored to our bleeding country." JUDGE JAMES HARLAN OF IOWA. Author of the Senate Resolution "Devoutly Recognizing" the Supreme Authority of Almighty God and the Mediation of Jesus Christ the King of Nations. CAN il be that such a resolution passed in the United States Senate? It passed next day with no dissenting voice. Did the Senate indeed resolve, that. "Xo people however great in numbers and re- PAGE TWENTY-THREE sources, or however strong in the justice of their cause can prosper without the Divine favor?" Did the Senate say, "Encouraged in this day of trouble by the assurance of His word to seek Him for suc- cor in His appointed way, through Jesus Christ?" Even so the Senate said. What Senate so resolved ? The Senate of the 37th Congress; the greatest de- liberate body that ever sat in any chamber, clime or country. Why say ye so? Well, pause and think. How many members of the present Senate will have a place in history? Penrose or Smoot, think you? What Sanhedrim or Roman Senate or Parliament had immortals, even half a score ? But call the roll of the illustrious Senate which so honored Christ the Lord. Judge James Harlan of Iowa, Lyman Trumbull of Illinois, Henry S. Lane of Indiana, Zachariah Chandler of Michigan, Benjamin F. Wade and John Sherman of Ohio, David Wilmot of Pennsylvania, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts, assaulted in the Senate chamber May 22, '56 ; Henry Wilson and John P. Hale of Vermont, the same Hale who carried his State against slavery by the "Hale storm" of 1845 ; William Pitt Fessenden of Maine, and Lot M. Morrill elected to fill the seat which Hannibal Hamlin left vacant when made Vice President ; and Hamlin presiding over all. When in the world's eventful history sat any body with so many immortal names ? Never in human history was Jesus the King so honored as when this Senate set Him forth in the sight of all Nations of the Earth as the Mediator between our Nation and our Na- tion's God. PAGE TWENTY-FOUR CHAPTER VL THE MAN AND SENATE, Abraham Lincoln's full Concurrence. Could Abraham Lincoln, whom some say was a Deist, approve of such a resolution? Here is the man and here is his proclamation. Let him speak for himself: "WHEREAS, The Senate of the United States, devoutly recognizing the supreme authority and just government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and Nations, has by a resolution requested the President to designate and set apart a day for National prayer and humiliation, and whereas, it is the duty of Nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sor- row, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by PAGE TWENTY- FIVE all history, that those Nations only are blessed whose "God is the Lord. And, insomuch as we know that by His divine law 'nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our National reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipents of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other Nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and en- riched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the of- fended power, to confess our National sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness. Now, therefore, in com- pliance with the request, and fully concurring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my proclamation designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of National humiliation, fasting and prayer. And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite in their -ioveral places of public worship and their respective homes in keeping the day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion. All this being done in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the divine teach- ings that the united cry of the Nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our National sins and the restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace. PAGE TWENTY-SIX In Witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. Done at the city of Washington, this 30th day of March, A. D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-seventh. By the President, ABRAHAM LINCOLN. WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State." The most sublime, and certainly the most pathetic thing in the annals of our Republic, was Abraham Lincoln, sitting amid the Nation's woes with the resolution of the Senate before him, and with the sad and sallow face which bespoke the "Man of Sorrows," writing: "It is the duty of nations as well as men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins in humble sorrow, and to recognize the sublime truth announced in Holy Scripture and proven by all history, that only those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord:" "It behooves us, then, to humble our- selves before the offended Power, to confess our National sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness." "Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully con- curring in the views of the Senate, I do by this my pro- clamation, &c." Was this proclamation a mere form ? O, no, no ! Look at the tenor of it. Such words could only come from a heart broken and contrite. Amid the chastening of the Nation the President had become a man of prayer. But the last test of sincerity is to obey. "Behold to obey is better than sacrifice." Will the President and Senate and the Nation now obey? Slavery was the sin of the Nation. It was a "Throne of iniquity" in which all other evils centered. Up till this hour Emancipation was only a "war meas- ure." It did not apply to slave States not in rebel- lion, nor to such counties or parishes of the Seces- PAGE TWENTY-SEVEN sion States as had yielded to our arms. It left thou- sands of negroes in slavery. It rested on mere ex- pediency. It had no regard for "Thus saith the Lord." To hold slaves was still the privilege of thousands. But now a resolution was offered in the House, It made the holding of men in involuntary servitude to be a crime. It was in harmony with the eternal fitness of things, that Owen Lovejoy, who more than 25 years before had witnessed the martyrdom of his brother Elijah for his Abolition principles, should now stand sponsor for the resolution which abol- ished slavery. This resolution which made an ever- lasting end of involuntary servitude save as a pen- alty for crime, was adopted by the Senate on June 9th, 1863; concurred in by the House on June 17th, and signed by the President on June 19th. This resolution set the Nation right with God. A penitent Republic had laid itself low before the throne of Him whose name is "above every name." CHAPTER VII. THE UNSEEN HAND. The Signal for the Turning of the Tide. Skepticism is wont to say, "What profit is it that we have kept his ordinances?" But the events of '63 silenced all unbelief. So far as the writer's investi- gation goes, not one paper North or South mur- mured at the Senate's resolution, or at Lincoln's proclamation. The people's fast was a signal for theturningof thetide. The unseen hand wrote in that hour the doom of the great rebellion as plainly as the hand that wrote "TEKEL" upon Belshazzar's wall. PAGE TWENTY-EIGHT Two great issues hung in suspense upon the hour : Human Slavery and the. Federal Union. Thirty- three years before, in his reply ta Hayne, Daniel Webster linked these issues in the memorable words, "Liberty and uiiirm, now and forever, one and insepar- able," Abraham Lincoln said at the dedication of the cemetery at Gettysburg on November 19, '63 ; with graves of 3600 heroic dead around him, of which more than a third were marked unknown : "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought, forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing; whether that Nation or any other Nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure." Chief Justice Joseph Story, who had been sleep- ing with his fathers for 18 years before Lincoln uttered these words, had said : "We stand the latest and if we fail probably the last experiment of self-government by the people." If the Union endure, tyranny must die. If slavery fall on American soil, that age old system must per- ish everywhere. This was the great stake when the Senate of '63 and Abraham Lincoln carried up their cause; as did Hezekiah and the elders. And now, ''Behold what God wrought.'' Amid darkness as deep as ever brooded over a nation, John Alexander, Samuel Collins, H. H. George, and the Xenia convention, on February 3rd. '63, prayed and deliberated over a national recogni- tion of Christ the King until deep midnight. On March 2nd the Senate adopted the Harlan resolu- tion. On March 30th Abraham Lincoln issued his proclamation of a fast. On April 30th the people held "solemn communion with the Lord of Hosts." PAGE TWENTY-NINE On June 19th the President put his name to the bill Avhich made an end of slavery. Then followed a lit- tle period of dense darkness. Of it Horace Greeley wrote, "The ten days which preceded the battle of Gettysburg were the darkest in our history." But it was the darkness before a womlrous dawn. THE ^IDE OF WAR TURNS. Now mark the swift turning of the tide. On Thursday the people fasted. That Saturday night Stonewall Jackson, worth more to Lee's army than a score of regiments, the man as Wendling viewed it on whom the whole war turned, was mortally wounded at Chancellorsville. Chancellorville was less a disaster than a providence, because that bat- tle prompted Lee's invasion of the North. Thus was it ordered that one of the most memorable battles for human freedom in all time should be fought on the soil of a loyal State; that her's should be the monumented field, the hallowed graves, the priceless memorials. In two brief months after the people's fast in two brief w r eeks from the hour when the signature of Lincoln made an end of slavery- Gettysburg was fought and Vicksburg fell. The Mississippi was flowing "unf retted to the sea." With the loss of the fourth of his army, with a wagon train of wounded 17 miles in length. Lee in a pitiless rain was retreating to the Potomac. As the great news flashed over the land the gloom lifted. The bells pealed. The cannon thundered. The glad ban- ners waved. Amid the loyal rejoicing the intrigue of Napoleon ended. The danger of foreign intervention had vanished. And the hope of the Con- federacy died. Napoleon had held back intervention until Maximillian could be crowned. The fall of Vicksburg and victory at Gettysburg seven days be- PAGE THIRTY fore the coronation ruined his program. But are we to conclude that the life of the Nation, and the fortunes of the great Civil War hinged upon a National recognition of Almighty God as supreme in the affairs of men and nations? And did the sav- ing of the Nation turn upon her seeking Him for succor in His appointed way through Jesus Christ? Abraham Lincoln has settled that. Only 12 days after Vicksburg fell and Gettysburg was won, he proclaimed a great thanksgiving day. The instru- ment was dated July 15. The day observed was August 6th. In his proclamation the Great Common- er said : "It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the suppli- cations and prayers of an afflicted people and to vouchsafe to the army and the navy of the United States victories on land and sea so signal and so effective as to furnish reasonable grounds for augmented confidence that the Union of these States will be maintained, their Constitu- tion preserved, and their peace and prosperity permanently restored." "Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State! Sail on, Union, strong and great! Humanity with all its fears, With all its hopes of future fears, Is hanging breathless on thy fate." "Sail on nor fear to breast the sea, Our hearts, our hopes, are all with thee. Our hearts, our hopes, our prayers, our tears, Our faith triumphant o'er our fears Are all with thee- are all with thee." H. W. Longfellow. CHAPTER VIII. THE LOST OPPORTUNITY. Lone Watchmen on the Mount of Vision. When James Harlan and Abraham Lincoln and PAGE THIKTY-ONE the Senate of '63 made humble acknowledgement of Almighty God as supreme in the affairs of men and nations, and when amid the perils of the Nation they led the people "to seek Him for succor in His ap- pointed way through Jesus Christ" when they made humble confession of the National offences and in token of their sincerity blotted out the sin of slavery they came within but a little of enthroning Him among the people whose name is called Won- derful. O why did not men rise up in that hour and make the name of Jesus Christ supreme, and write it in their fundamental law ! How everything was ripe for such a movement! How all things argued that Christian men should act! The people were chasten- ed in spirit and ready. The Senate with no dissent- ing voice had made humble confession of Almighty God, of the Holy Scriptures, and of Jesus Christ as the Nation's appointed way of reaching God for succor. Abraham Lincoln in the sight of all the Na- tions of the earth had proclaimed his full concur- rence in the views of the Senate. Infidelity, atheism, and every other opponent of Christ the King, was awed into silence, while a smitten people looked to the one and only Mediator between God and the Nation. The President and Congress had taken such action as to slavejy as honored the Great Crea- tor who had made of one blood all them that dwell on the earth. Great victories, which had turned the tide of war, had followed the honoring of Almighty God and the recognition of His Son as Christ and Mediator. Abraham Lincoln in a National proclama- tion when the Nation was wild with joy. had ascrib- ed our victories to the hearer of prayer from whom had come deliverance. "There is a tide in the affairs of men which taken at the flood leads on to fortune." PAGE THIRTY-TWO What an hour to strike for Christ and His crown rights! How could men miss such an opportunity! We cannot but wonder at the stupidity of those who call themselves the soldiers of the cross. Not long ago a distinguished Hebrew scholar said, "The preachers of today seem to know all about the Bible, save how to apply it." Prophets are many. The seers are few. These stupid Christian men were the same who had voted for slavery and with the parties which for years had catered to and upheld that "sum of villainies." Now, in their blindness, they let their great hour pass. These are the stupid figures of a formal church, who nine years later let the party of Abraham Lincoln, which he had led so near to the Kingdom, sell itself by covenant to the brewers, with not a word of protest. These are the stupid fathers of the recreant sons of the church of today, who follow their fathers in blindness or perfidy, while the Prince of Darkness votes them like sheep for the traffic in strong drink. What a marvel in these years of the 20th century, that lusty throated men who have been, singing the rousing hymn of Per- ronet. "All hail the power of Jesus' name," for nearly seven score years, have not the shadow of a plan for the enthronement of Jesus in the Nation! Two classes only have a clear cut program for the enthronement of the King. One class is large, well learned, well booked and titled. It has a taking plan. Its plan is to let the King of Nations come and crown Himself. The other class comprises a few lone and scattered watchmen. THE MOUNT OF VISION. \Vho are these lone and scattered watchmen on the Mount of Vision? Who are the men who have a plan for the enthronement of the King? Who are PAGE THIRTY-THREE the men who 50 years ago saw what ,might have been? They are John Alexander, David McAllister, Samuel Collins, T. P. Stevenson, A. M. Milligan, J. H. Mcllvaine, H. H. George, J. R. W. Sloan, and such as these. These are the men who had a plan for recognizing Jesus the Son of David as King of the Nation. They have left it as a heritage to their children. Their plan is to impress upon the Nation the fact that "All rule and all Authority" has been committed to the Son of God, and that He must reign : that we the 1 people "do ordain and es- tablish" and "provide" and "secure," but subject to His supreme Authority that His kingly rights and claims must be recognized in the fundamental law of our Republic; and that in the enactment and enforcement of laws, reverent regard must be had to His royal prerogative. To give effect to this lofty purpose there must be a political party of high char- acter which will make these principles a part of her platform and pledge herself to make them Constitu- tion and law. As slavery could not exist in any Na- tion worthy of the name when once the United States had abolished it, just so no Nation can long refuse to own the King of Nations when once our Nation has owned His supreme Authority in her fundamental law. The plan is to awaken the Nation to a sense of her high destiny. HOT FOR THE FORGE. These scattered watchmen held a convention in Pittsburgh on January 27, 1864. They struck when the iron was ready for the forge. The convention cftd three things. It organized the National Re- form Association which is the vital center of the greatest political movement on earth. It adopted and addressed a memorial to the United States PAGE THIRTY-FOU.R Congress. It sent a committee of 21 to the White House to ask Abraham Lincoln to commend to Congress action that would make permanent such, a recognition of the Nation's Supreme Ruler and Mediator as the Senate and the President load al- ready made. The chairman of the committee was J. H. Mcllvaine, pastor at the time of High street ehurch of Newark, N. J. The committee called upon the President on February 10. It stood in a semicir- cle before him. The chairman's address was brief, but most fit and masterful. It set forth the object of their Association and made its appeal to the President. Abraham Lincoln listened with profound attention. His reply to the committee, as rememl^er- ed and reported by H. H. George, one of its mem- bers, was ; "Gentlemen, you have come here on a great errand. We are going through a terrible war to secure the rights of men. The next step will be to acknowledge the rights of God. And I, as soon as I see my way clear, will recom- mend the same to Congress." What an hour! What an opportunity! Where now were the ten thousand times ten thousand who have been singing, "All hail the power of Jesus' name ?" Where were the multitudes which for four score years had been shouting, "Bring forth the roy- al Diadem?" How was it that when the Senate with no dissenting voice voted its devout recognition of the Nation's Mediator: that when the President proclaimed his humble concurrence with its views that when the mouth of infidelity was stopped that when Vicksburg fell and Gettysburg was won that when the thrill of band and boom of cannon and revel of banner and glad hand clap and the tear-gush of joy blent in the Nation's rejoicing that when Abraham Lincoln stood reverently forth PAGE THIRTY-FIVE to proclaim that, "It has pleased Almighty God to hearken to the supplications and prayers of an afflicted people" that there was no great movemeent in the interests of Emanuel's crown? O why was it that only a little remnant rose to the hour? What fatuity! What an hour that would have been to "Bring forth the royal diadem!" When Johnson had taken up a strong position behind the mountains at Dalton, Sherman ordered McPherson to march by way of Snake Creek valley, Ship's Gap, and the forest screened roads of Villanow and strike the Confederate rear. Had McPherson moved as swift and struck as hard as Jackson would have done, little would have been left for Johnson but surrender. Sherman was vexed at the brave man's failure, but only said, "General, a great opportuni- ty only comes once in a lifetime." And it would seem that the very angels must have heaved a sigh in some such words when the Ransomed of the Lord in America failed to rise to their hour. CHAPTER IX. SOME BRIEF ADENDA. A Chapter in Fragments. It has often been rufully said that Abraham Lincoln never made any confession of Christ. But what man in 1800 years has made a confession which so honored the world's Redeemer as when Abraham Lincoln with the resolution of the Senate before him, and with the eyes of all the earth upon him, sent forth in proclamation the words : "It is the duty of Nations to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all his- tory, that only those Nations are blessed whose God is the Lord." PAGE THIRTY-SIX The great and grave issue of the Great Civil War was, neither the Union nor Slavery, but wheth- er the American Republic would own her Lord and King. It is written, "That nation and that king- dom which will not serve thee shall perish, yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted. Here was the issue upon which the Great Civil war hinged. Had some Senator rose in his place and voted to strike the name of Jesus Christ out of the Harlan resolution; had the Senate voted for such an in- dignity; had Abraham Lincoln written over such act of perfidy, "Fully concurring in the views of the Senate," the London Times would have had her wish, and Fredericksburg would have been "A memorable day for the future historian of the de- cline and fall of the American Republic." HC >K >K Jfc 5J5 % The editor of the Venango Vindicator once wrote of the proposed honoring of Christ the King of Nations in the Prohibition platform and in the Federal Constitution, "It would raise many grave questions." And again he wrote, "We believe the proposition to be out of harmony with that religious liberty for which we have so long and so often thanked God." But when the illustrious Senate of '63 and Abraham Lincoln so honored Jesus Christ in public proclamation, the lions which the objector saw in the way proved not to be real lions, but only tethered scare-crows at which men balk. When the Senate by resolution said, "Yet encouraged in this day of trouble by the assurance of His word, to seek Him for succor in His appointed way, through Jesus Christ;" and when Abraham Lincoln pro- claimed, "Fully concurring in the views of the Sen- ate;" and when God in His Almighty providence PAGE THIRTY-SEVEN set His seal by signal victories upon their deed, then was every infidel and Jew and atheist in all the land awed into silence. To honor Jesus Christ, as the Senate of Hale and Harlan and Sumner did, has ever been a grave question in any nation. But to refuse to own Him has been the grave question for many a party, State and throne. To many, the kingdom of Jesus is an ethereal thing, a sort of hazy sentimentalism. It goes well in sacred song. It sounds natural in prayer. It is a taking sentiment for pulpit. "In God we trust," will even pass on coin. But to declare for Christ's crown rights in a party platform, to uphold His scepter at the polls, to move to own His authority in the fundamental law, is another matter. The ob- jector quotes, "My kingdom is not of this world." "The kingdom is within you." Even so the kingdom is from above and is within. And so is patriotism. But heaven pity your patriotism, if it does not voice itself on election day, plead the cause of the public weal at the ballot box, or should- er a musket or give up a first-born in the hour of your country's peril! And God pity your sickly fealty to your Lord and King, if it do not move you to honor Him in your party platform and bear his name upon your heart within the polling booth ! ****** The Drink Problem is the grayest problem which ever confronted the American people. The Rum Power is one of the most gigantic conspiracies which ever reared its crested head against the Christ of Nations. The debauchee, the dead and dreary churchman, the mammon server, the Sab- bath hater, the white slaver, the political corrupter PAGE THIRTY-EIGHT are all in the conspiracy. It runs the country. It controls the license parties. It has neutralized the church. It is the overshadowing curse of the Nation. Slavery had to be overthroAvn to save the Federal Union. Leave the Rum Power go on and it will destroy the Republic. We have serious work ahead. And be it known to all men, that since Abraham Lincoln and the great Congress of '63 could make no progress in saving the Union, or in solving the problem of slavery, until a humble confession was made of Him who is called ''Wonderful/' that so will it be again. We shall never solve the Drink problem or overthrow the Rum Power until we humbly confess and devoutly honor Him on whom Almighty God Jias laid "Honor and Majesty. Printed from the Job Room* of BUTLER PUBLISHING CO. Publishers of ehr (Clran (Tnmmmuuraltlj Pamphlet Binder Gaylord Bros. Makers Syracuse, N. Y. PAT. JAN 21, 1908 ?:.>'.- '-" . fc'T., ....,:. W ; ^: m^:- UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBANA 973 7L63B4H97E COOS THE EVENT ON WHICH THE GREAT CIVIL WAR H 30112025367415