YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY

3 9002 06126 6574

Thompson , John C .
In memoriam of Abraham Lincoln.
Philadelphia, 1865

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

Gift of
STUART W. JACKSON
Yale 1898

IN MEMORIAM

OP

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

IN MEMORIAM.

A. DISCOURSE
UPON THE CHAEACTEE AND DEATH OF
ABRAHAM LINCOLN.
PEEACHED IN POTTSTOWN PEESBYTEEIAN CHUECH, ON THE DAY OF
NATIONAL HUMILIATION, JUNE 1, 1865.

Rev. JOHN C. THOMPSON.

PHILADELPHIA :
Stein & Jones, Pbintees, No. 321 Chestnut Street.
18 65.

rOTTSTOWN, JDNE 7th, 1S65.
J. 0. Thompson.
Eev. and Vear Sir : — Being deeply impressed and highly delighted with your able and eloquent dis
course of Thursday moraing, commemorative of the virtues ofour late illustrious and martyred chief
magistrate, and feeling assured that by asking a copy of it for publioation, we express the cordial wish
of all who heard it, and of many who only heard (if it, we the undersigned most respectfully solicit a
copy of said discourse, that we may give it to the public at as early a day as possible.
By granting this request you will greatly oblige.
Reverend and Dear Sir,
Yours very Respectfully, ROBERT CRUIKSHANK,
J. L. LANDIS,
A. L. CUSTER,
MILLER D. EVANS,
D. H. KEIM,
M. H. RICHARDS,
J. DUTTON STEELE,
D. H. BEECHER,
EDW S. DAVIES,
HENRY POTTS, jr.

POTTSTOWN, June 7th, 1865.
Respected Sirs :— I comply with your request, not from a feeling that there is anything in the dis
course really worthy of publication, but only from a desire to place on record my position towards, and
estimation of one whom in the future it will be deemed an honor to have appreciated and sustained.
Thanking you for your complimentary note,
I remain very truly Yours.
J. C. THOMPSON.
To Bev. R. Cruikshank.
Bev. J. L. Landis,
Miller D. Evans, Esq.,
Hv- J« Dutton Steele, and others,

II. Samuel, iii. 38.
KNCW YE NOT THAT THEEE IS A P'EINCB AND A GREAT MAN FALLEN
IN ISEAEL?
The first object for -which every congregation should
convene in the sanctuary, is to discover the Divine good
ness, so that from that discovery they may ascribe glory to
God. And when in the course of Divine Providence a
crisis of public peril appears, either Political or Ecclesiast
ical, the goodness of God is often seen no less clearly in the
master spirits, which are raised up to meet it, than in any
other department of His Providential government. In be
holding such men, every rightly affected heart must beat
more truly in gratitude to that God, whose Providence
furnished, sustained, and crowned with success their noble
efforts. And whatever of praise we may ascribe to him,
in memory of w^hose death we are here assembled, a loftier
praise shall ascend to Him, of whose hand he was the noble
workmanship. We are here to mourn for one over whose death the la-
mentation of a mighty people is heard to-day. That wild
and melancholy wail of grief, which started weeks ago from
our National Capitol and was borne upon the blast to the
remotest regions of the civihzed world, has returned again,

6
and its returning echo seems almost as fresh and loud to
day as when it first struck upon the startled ear of the
nation : and we, taking advantage of the softened feelings
of the heart, which this returning wave of sorrow has oc
casioned, would pay a tribute to one whose memory every
lover of freedom in all ages to come will delight to honor.
A better estimate of the man whose death we mourn
might perhaps be made by throwing up a hasty background
upon which to view his virtues. The position he occupied-;
the unparalleled circumstances by which he was surround
ed ; the troubled stage upon which he acted his part ; all
serve to magnify the natural greatness of Abraham Lincoln's
character. The Government, to whose Administration he was called,
was upon the very verge of dissolution ; and that, not by
sudden inflamation, but by evils which were chronic and
growing. These evils, seen and acknowledged by the noble
founders of the Government, instead of being outgrown in
the nation's progress, as they had fondly hoped, had only
increased with the national growth and developed with the
nation's enlargement. Por long years the leaven of evil had
been working, and the process of disintegration had been
going on. All the array of talent which could be called
from the mighty resources of the Republic had been put to
the strain to prevent the nation's falling into ruin. The
stalwart shoulders of Webster and Clay and their contem
porary giants were barely sufficient, even.in their day, to

steady the rocking walls and the trembling pillars of.the
Union. These supports had all passed away. The Re
public had grown in size but lessened in compactness. The
strength and the malignity of its enemies had increased,
and to every sagacious mind the day was at hand which
was to determine the life or death of the American Repub
lic. Aye, more than this : which would in all probability
determine the political' destiny of the world, and settle the
question whether a Republican form of government should
exist on this globe ; It was not a question which confined
itself to American interests merely, but one whose interests
were co-extensive with mankind — widening until it reached
the poles and stretching downward to the latest genera
tions. — It was the awful "Armageddon" of politics, which
was to settle at once and forever the problem of political
freedom — and the question of man's capability of self-gov
ernment. It. was the dawn of that day from the thought
of which the gigantic soul of Webster recoiled with a shud
der, and prayed that his eyes raight be. closed in death
before they looked into the abysmal depths of its horrors.
These were the circumstances under which Abraham Lin
coln played his part. — It was when more than a million
of men were waiting in feverish anxiety with their hands
upon their sword hilts— when more than thirty millions
were mute with despair or frantic with rage — when the whole
country had already drifted within the outer circle of that
political Maelstrom, and was fast driving like a rudderless

8
and broken ship toward its annihilating depths. These
were his surroundings when he entered the chaotic arena
and evoked from his mighty resources the present deliver- '
ance and the regeneration of the Great Republic.
It is one of the beauties of history, as well as a striking
feature of Divine Providence that whenever and wherever an
important and vital crisis presents itself either in church or
state, a master spirit is immediately forthcoming to meet it ;
and it is worthy of note that in all the great revolutionary
movements for the advancement of truth the leading spirits
have been what are called self-made men ; men in whose
great souls there lay enveloped and folded up all the ele
ments and principles of the reformation which they were
instrumental in developing. Martin Luther and John Calvin
were themselves the Reformed Church personified. Wash
ington was himself the embodiment of the American Revo
lution. And the political regeneration of this Repubhc in
its every element and principle existed in the mind and
heart of Abraham Lincoln. He , was its perfect personifi
cation, and future generations, in studying his character, may
see the whole spirit of the contest, and the motives which
actuated the nation in the mighty struggle. Look at the
spirit of the contest as it lay in his great soul — its sincerity,
its unselfishness, its forbearance, and its calm and death
less determination. And just so far as he was able with
out transcending his limited power he stamped the nation
with the impress of his own spirit and made its constitution

9
and government a transcript of his own noble character.
And as Divine Providence slowly but steadily by the beat
ing waves of adversity broke down those barriers to reform,
over which his honest truthful heart forbid his public policy
to pass, the government gradually assumed that purity and
freedom and constitutional perfection which had long lain
as an ideal in his own soul.
No man perhaps in all the land so well personified the spi
rit of the nation, or could have furnished a more striking and
perfect illustration of what man, with no antecedents but
those of his inherent worth, may become under the benign
influence of American Institutions than did Abraham Lin
coln. Rising from an origin obscure, without means, with
out he^'aldic honor, without any external circumstances by
which to climb — fostered and stimulated only by the genius
of that go,vernment under which he, lived, he attained by his
own efforts to such a stately height that the nation caught
him up as the tallest of her children and lifted him to her
head. And as to the wisdom of his. elevation an admiring
world has already decided. His noble actions have passed
into history. What Washington did for the nation in its
first birth, Abraham Lincoln did for it in its regeneration.
And there need be no envious feelings stirred by the com
parison of these two great men ; no more than in the com
parison of Moses and Paul. Each 'one marked an era in
history. Washington was the master spirit of the Old
PoUtical Dispensation — Abraham Lincoln was the master

10
spirit of the New. The latter accomplished only what the
former would have accomphshed, had surrounding circum
stances demanded it, or rendered it possible. And we do
not bate one iota from the glory of Washington, a name
brightning and becoming more loved with every passing
year, when we say that Abraham Lincoln shall henceforth
form the "Figure-Head" of the ship of state, which he re-
modled by his skill, and which he purified and burnished by
his virtues.
In describing the character of such a man, no clearly de
fined analysis can be given, especially by one who never
enjoyed the privilege of coming near enough to its posses
sor to detect its outlines — to distinguish its less aparent
virtues, or to become thoroughly acquainted with all its ex
cellencies. Our picture must be like that drawn by one
who stands off and looks from a distance upon some noble
building, describing it as a whole, and marking only what
stands out prominently to view — passing over the more de
licate delineation — ^the rich cornice and fresco and finish
which adorn and beautify the interior, and which can be
seen only by those who are privileged to enter its secret
chambers. Among the qualities of his character upon wljich the
pubhc eye has looked with admiration, stands preeminent
his integrity of purpose — an integrity which has already
made his name a proverb — and which formed for his character
a basis which made it in all its decisions as stable as the

11
Pyramids of Egypt. That single speech, made in the
Cooper Institute, when he first began to rise upon the na
tion's view, and which to this day has remained unanswered
and unanswerable, revealed in him a degree of intellect ca
pacious as the Colosseum. His every noble quality re
vealed throughout the great struggle seems to invest his
character with the richness and magnificence of the Parth
enon — while over the whole was thrown a genial playful
ness of disposition which seemed to light up the chambers
of his soul with sunshine, and caused it to glow and sparkle
with the timely and irrepressible flashes of wit. His extra
ordinary degree of common sense rendered him almost in
capable of falling into mistakes. His seemingly unpolished
manners, which to senseless brains was unpardonable, was
only the natural and rugged beauty of nature, as far superi
or to those who criticized him as the unadorned face of
nature is superior to the painted landscape. In his char
acter was the simplicity of a child combined with the
strength of a giant — the purity of a christian with the cour
age of a martyr. Through every vicissitude of this uparal-
leled struggle his great soul was equal to the occasion.
Through all his public career at the nation's head, the
Provideri^ce of God, the current of popular feeling, and the
policy of his administration, ran strikingly and beautifully
parallel. Every public act and proclamation seemed to come
at the right time, and was appropriately adapted to the
necessity of existing circumstances. His calling out of

12
seventy-five thousand men for ninty days, -was not as the
short sighted supposed, a failure on his part to comprehend
the magnitude of the struggle, but a measure springing fi-om
a thorough knowledge of men, and showing that he deemed
it indispensable that his policy should keep pace with the
progress of popular feeling. Every act of his administra
tion seemed as fitting and opportune as if it had been mor
ticed and grooved by the suggestions of Supernatural wis
dom ; and future generations will see it as they calmly
contemplate his public acts.
He was great in adversity by his fortitude ; — a man of
heroic faith, because that faith rested upon the superintend
ing Providence of a righteous Gvi. His very name seemed
to be the gathering point of the nation's confidence. In
those dark and dreadful hours of reverse his giant soul stood
above the storm, because, as he himself declared, he knew
"the prayers of the whole church were constantly ascending
for his success." And Oh! What a sight to look back
upon was that :— When the mighty pendulum of destiny
seemed te be vibrating with uncertainty : back and forth ;
now to this extreme of victory, now to that of defeat ; there
he stood between its oscillations, as the instrument of Divine
Providence, steadily weaving out the nation's fuiure to a
pattern defaced and soiled by no dark spot of slavery, but
embelhshed with the glories of, universal Emancipation.
He was great in prosperity by his moderation. He exercised
forbearance and gentleness under provocation, where in

13
hearts less noble, humanity itself would have been lost in
revenge. His great object was to save the Union and
purify the Nation. When that was accomplished, he was
ready to issue amnesty, to forgive, and to restore, where
justice itself seemed to revolt. And what shall we say
more of one who seems to be still rising in the estimation
of the world ? Is it rashness to pronounce him the ablest,
the best man in the whole nation ? I am relieved fi-om the
responsibility of the declaration, for the finger of Providence
pointed him out as such, and the overwhelming opinion of
the American people expressed at the ballot-box confirmed
the decision.
But we have assembled to-day for a sadder purpose than
to admire the virtues and to rejoice in the excellencies of
fthat great man whom God gave to us as a leader. We are
a nation of mourners, deep in the vale of humiliation, and
•our lamentations for his loss must be mingled with our ad
miration for his virtues. Abraham Lincoln has gone ! And
I would not harrow up the feelings of this assembly by
alluding to the manner of his death ; a tragedy which will
remain as a dark, indelible, heart-sickening spot upon the
pages of history for all time to come, were it not that his
memory is endeared to us by the very manner of his de-
parture, and that his virtues seem to glow and sparkle with
a more intense lustre when viewed upon the background
of that dark scene in which he passed from the stage of life.
Can you ever forget that sad morning in which you heard

14
of the President's death ? — a morning girt all round with
gloom — a morning, the .darkest that ever rose from the
womb of midnight upon the American people. All night
long the terrible news had been flitting here and there, and
like gloomy spirits from the nether world had been creep
ing in the darkness along the quivering nerves of the coun
try, and men woke up to hear the startling news : Abraham
Lincoln was murdered I Oh ! God ! — It was as if some
spell had fallen from heaven upon the nation, paralysing
its every movement and transfixing it with horror. Every
countenance turned to ashy paleness, and every tongue
seemed dumb with silence. Strong mefl. bowed down
with grief, and the lion-hearted wept like children. The
wounded veterans in the hospitals forget their pains and
start up as from the gate of' death. The very soldiers
seem to clutch their weapons with nervous desperation as
if some invisible but terrible enemy had suddenly sprung
at the nation's heart. Low and sullen mutterings of re
venge were heard rumbling in the mighty bosom of the
populace, swaying and surging it like the billows of uncon
trollable wrath, and Justice seemed to hold his breath until
the murderer was lifeless in his iron grasp. And then, after
the first reaction from the dreadful shock, every mind in
stinctively turned to the scene of death, and the streams of
affection, and sorrow, and sympathy from millions of bruised
hearts flowed out to the chamber where the good man lay.
The whole nation was in feeling and sj^mpathy, assembled

15
at the dying bed of Abraham Lincoln. And there he
lay a martyr to the Country's good.
"Oh Death ! raade proud with pure and princely beauty !"
* * ::¦: :¦: * *
"This is the very top, the height, the crest of murder's arms
This is the bloodiest shame, the wildest savagery,
The vilest stroke that ever wall-eyed wrath
Presented to the tears of soft remorse ;
All murders past do stand excused in this."
And then so unexpectedly it came. We had thought
that the dark days were over. It was the last desperate
dying act of the Rebellion. The closing battle of the con
test had been fought, and as the smoke of that battle rolled
up, the departing fiend of the Rebellion seemed to enter it —
to quickly condence it into a cloud — to wheel it over the
National Capitol and to discharge its last lightnings at the
nation's head. But how swift and terrible was the sword
of justice in its work, for before that good man's form was
laid to rest, the avenging fires had consumed the very
building which gave to the assassin a temporary refuge —
his guilty spirit had curled upward in those flames, and the
dogs had licked up the murderer's blood.
But let us turn from this gloomy and forbidding scene to
thoughts more cheering and hopeful, for there is comfort to
be extracted from even this prince of calamities. That
stroke which startled the nation did not alter the purposes
of Jehovah. Abraham Lincoln lived until his work was
accomplished. The fatal shaft of death came too late to

16
alter the issue of the conflict. It seemed necessary that he
should live to direct the efforts, and sustain the hopes' of
the nation until the fury of the storm was expended and
God kindly granted us that. He was taken from the earth,
but not until he had given freedom to an oppressed and
downtrodden race — not until the fatal hne of Mason and
Dixon was completely obliterated. He lived until that
traiterous rag had given place to the venerated "Stars and
Stripes" upon the battered and blackened walls of Sumpter.
He lived until the victorious legions whicli moved in obe
dience to his will had entered the fire-wrapt city of Rich
mond — until he himself had entered that lair of treason,
and surveyed the glory of his triumph. He lived until he
had sent forth that manly Proclamation, well worthy to be
his last, notifying the unfriendly powers which had sneered
at us in the day of trial, through a treacherous neutrality,
that our flag must be respected and enjoy its full and equal
rights in every Port that sentinels the ocean. He died
when all those splendid victories came trooping up and re
vealed ix) his gladdened vision the dawn of peace — when
the flag was proudly streaming from the mast-head of the
ship of State, with ' ' not a stripe erased nor a single star
obscured." — When the shouts of triumphant thanksgiving
were rolling through the land — and the Paeans of victory
.'stiU fingered in the higher regions of the atmosphere — the
spirit of Abraham Lincoln passed upward to God who
gave it.

17
And what an alleviation does it furnish for the nation's
«
sorrow to behold the effects which his death produced upon
the hearts of men. Hearts before discordant seemed in
unison then, consolidated by the shock as the. heart of one
man. When was there ever a sorrow so universal, or a
lamentation so profound ? When did lifeless King or Queen
or Potentate draw after them such a mighty aggregate of
love and sympathy and flowing tears, as that funeral page
ant silently wending its way through the country's heart?
The pulse of business stands still as the procession passes.
Men of all shades" and nationality press forward to do it
honor. *The very' prisoners peering through their grated
cells, reverently uncover their heads as the procession passes.
Four millions of swarthy freemen send up a wail of grief
as for the death of their deliverer. And look all over the
enlightened world if you would take in the aggregate of
sympathy. Where was the death that had ever occured
which lowered the flags of Christendom to half-mast?
Oh ! It is wonderful, and it shall stand on record as a
wonder of history, that the first class Powers so deeply
mourned the death of an American President. And is it
not worth alrtiost the agony it cost, to have the Royalty
of the world see how the President of a Republic can be
loved and respected, and how deep is the place that he
may occupy in the hearts of the people ? — And when he
suddenly falls, even in the midst of a revolution, to see
*At Sing Sing the prieonera stood vith hats off.

18
how the whole machinery of the^ government moves on
without a jolt, or even a dissenting voice ? Surely our be
reavement, sad as it is, is not without its redeeming
features. Abraham Lincoln has indeed gone : but he still lives by
the force of his example, and that example shall tell upon
the people for generations to come. His virtues shall still
live in the memory of a grateful people. His name is in
terwoven with the nation's history. Like as in that mast
er-piece of sculpture, the statue of Minerva, executed by the
chisel of Phidias, with his own likeness inwrought so deli
cately and so inseparably upon the shield, that that like
ness passed down and carried to future ages the sculptor's
fame imperishable as the statue which bore it, — so the
fame of Abraham Lincoln, so inseparably ¦wrought upon
the nation's shield against this rebellion : and his virtues
so emblazoned upon the armorial ensigns of the Republic,
shall pass down the ages contemporary -with the nation's
life, and deathless as the nation's history.
Abraham Lincoln ! The Union Saved ! who shall ever
¦ divorce the two, or think of them seperately while the
vestal fires of patriotism burn in the heart ?
Abraham ' Lincoln ! Emancipation ! where is there a
heart upon this globe where man is struggling for freedom
that will not cherish the association ?
Look around upon the land to-day, and see the rival
cities, each desirous of having his monument set as a gem

19
in their bosom. Let those monuments go up, for it is well
to honor the illustrious dead ! But a loftier and a more en
during monument has its foundations already laid and its
walls in process of re-construction ; for as the traveller in
foreign lands enters that vast cathedral which swells from
the heart of the British Metropolis, and vainly looks for
the monument of Sir Christopher Wren who planned the
building, but lifting his eye catches the inscription: " Ij
you seek his m/)nwment look around." So in future years
when pilgrim feet, flying from the shadow of the despot's
throne shall visit this land, and tread this mighty temple of
human freedom, when they behold its spreading dome — its
Corinthian pillars — its ponderous architraves — its gorgeous
windows, through which streams the pure air of freedom,
they may read upon its every glory, "Behold the monu
ment of Abraham Lincoln."
With this day perhaps will close the public honors to our
"fallen Chief," but individual hearts will do him honor, and
private tongues will continue to speak his worth ; and oft
in coming years, when .these sad scenes of blood shall all
have passed away ; when the peaceful waters of the Poto
mac shall have cleansed the gore-sodden soil which lines its
banks ; and when nature shall have kindly covered up, with
her luxuriant robe of harvest the battle-scarred and black
ened bosom of the earth ; unnumbered pilgrim feet shall
wend their way to the great man's tomb, and bitter tears
will fall upon the sacred soil where the Chieftain sleeps J

20
' Abraham Lincoln has gone ; but we fondly hope, and
we cherish the belief, that God has given a peace in heaven,
to him who did so much to secure an honorable and last
ing peace in the bosom of the country which he so nobly
served.