Abraham Lincoln | Page 8

No treason was ever so repulsively foul, so reekingly corrupt.
For its great leaders, the block and the halter; for its chieftains, military
and civic, of the second class, perpetual banishment with confiscation
of their goods, for all who have volunteered to fight against the Union
perpetual disfranchisement--these are the demands of a long-suffering
people.
The case of treason-sympathizers among us is one of grave moment. It
is hard to bear their sneers and patiently to listen to their covert treason.
It is a question whether the limit of toleration has not been passed. The
era of assassination has been commenced. Be sure that any man who
will excuse an assassin, will himself do foul murder when he can shoot
from behind a hedge, or strike a victim in the back. It is matter of
self-defence to cast such from our midst. Let us have no violence, no
lawlessness, but such persons must be persuaded to depart from us.
"They are gentlemen." Booth was courtly in speech and mien. Have
they been State officers? So was Walsh, whose house was a disunion
arsenal. The time has come when we cannot permit men in sympathy
with armed rebellion, which employs the assassin, to dwell in our
midst.
Abraham Lincoln is no more. His work is done. We may not
comprehend the mystery which permitted his removal at such an hour,
in such a way. God hideth himself wondrously, and sometimes seems
to stand afar from His truth and His cause when most needed.
Our leader is gone. His work is finished, and it may be that his
Providential mission was fully accomplished. His memory is
imperishably fragrant. WASHINGTON--LINCOLN! Who shall say
which name shall shine brighter in the firmament of the historic future!
He is dead! In the Presidential Mansion are being said words of solemn
admonition and godly counsel. In a few hours his remains will be on
their way to sleep in their Illinois grave!

Dead! "How is the strong staff broken and the beautiful rod!"
Pray devoutly for the smitten widow and fatherless children of our
Chief Magistrate. They are sorely stricken and God alone can heal them.
To them it is not the loss of the Chief Magistrate that makes this hour
so sad, but that they have no more a husband or a father!
And now that there has been sorrow in all the land, and the death- angel
in all its homes, from the humblest to the highest, is not our expiation
well-nigh wrought, and will not our Father have compassion upon us?
Let us devoutly pray the King of nations to guide our nation through its
remaining struggle! It may be He means to show us that He alone is the
Savior!
Let us implore Divine guidance upon Mr. Lincoln's successor, Andrew
Johnson, President of the United States. He was faithful amid the
faithless. He was true to the Union when few in his section had for it
aught but curses. Pray for him. He comes to power at a critical time and
needs wisdom from above. Confide in him. He will surely rise above
the one error which temporarily drew him down. He is only hated by
traitors, and when they hate, it is safe for loyal men to trust.
By and by we may understand all this. Now it passes comprehension,
but we have seen so many manifestations of God's supervising agency
when we least looked for it, that we may safely trust Him. He means to
save us. Nay, blessed be His name, He has saved us!
His grand purposes will go forward. The wrath of man shall praise Him,
and the remainder of wrath will He restrain. Remember, and take heart
as you remember, the ringing line of Whittier.
"God's errands never fail."
He who rides upon the whirlwind and directs the storm, is neither dead
nor sleeping, and He is a God who never compromises with wrong, and
never abdicates His throne.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Abraham Lincoln, by Rev. T.
M. Eddy
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