DANIEL IV:35.

ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH ARE REPUTED AS NOTHING AND HE DOETH ACCORDING TO HIS WILL IN THE ARMIES OF HEAVEN AND AMONG THE INHABITANTS OF THE EARTH; AND NONE CAN STAY HIS HAND OR SAY UNTO HIM, "WHAT DOEST THOU?"

WE would have celebrated the joyous festival of Easter to-day. Generous hands had provided the flowers that were to adorn our altar, and tuneful voices had made ready the anthem that was to hail the resurrection of our Lord from the dead. Next to Christmas, this is the great feast-day of the Church; and believers of all denominations are uniting to appreciate and observe it in a proper manner.

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But, yesterday morning, like a clap of thunder from clear skies, came the appalling announcement, The President has been assassinated." "Impossible; it cannot be!" we all exclaimed, because we felt it should not be, it must not be. But when it was re-affirmed, and. the official statement, spread before our strained and eager eyes, forced the unwilling conviction upon us that it was, alas! too true, how startling and dreadful the blow! We all felt personally bereaved. About our

streets the people walked with mournful faces. as though each one was bowed down by a personal sorrow. We all seemed to have lost a father, a brother, a dear bosomfriend. How much we loved, how much we trusted, how much we leaned upon him, we never knew before. How can we bear it? what shall we do without him? what could have provoked such an atrocious crime? what does it all mean? Such were some of the questionings which darted through all minds, and formed the burden of conversation passing from lip to lip.

We can now understand, somewhat, how the apostles felt when our Lord was arrested, and cruelly put to death. They had leaned wholly upon Him, supposing that it was He who should have redeemed Israel; and when He was taken from them, and ignominiously crucified as a common malefactor, no wonder they were scattered, each one to his own place, leaving Him alone.

The week through which we have just passed has not been unlike that Holy or Passion Week, which, in Judæa of old, was so eventful to the Saviour and his disciples.

It began in triumph and rejoicing, not only because Richmond had fallen, but because Lee and his army had been compelled to surrender, prisoners of war, and our country was saved at last. It seemed impossible to express the universal exultation. Churches were thronged; cannon boomed from the forts; assemblies, gathered from all classes of society, were extemporized in hall and mart; flags fluttered on every breeze; buildings were gayly decorated with the emblems of

rejoicing; schools were dismissed; stores and workshops closed; bonfires, illuminations, and fireworks brightened the night, and every loyal heart was full of happiness. But, alas! it ended like the week of sorrows, in gloom and blood. And is it not strange that Good Friday was the day, of all days in the year, chosen by the murderer for his infamous deed? It is one of those remarkable historical coincidences, which, whether we will or not, challenge observation and cause remark; and, no doubt, could our President have spoken after he was shot, he would have forgiven the cowardly perpetrator of this inhuman act, and rounded the parallel with a final and complete imitation of our Lord's example.

Let us not imagine that the evil of this deplorable event is unmitigated and unrelieved; for, in the worst condition of human society, and amid the most disastrous circumstances connected with human affairs, 66 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea." God maketh even the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder He restraineth.

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"All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto Him, 'What doest Thou?"

This awful occurrence has not taken God by surprise, for known unto Him are all his works from the beginning of the world.

Death is an experience of such magnitude, that, as we are assured, not even a sparrow falleth to the ground without God's notice; and surely an event of such transcendent moment as the brutal murder of the ruler of a great and free nation, in the zenith of his popularity and usefulness, cannot occur without the oversight of an allcontrolling Providence.

"The very hairs of our heads are all numbered." "The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delighteth in his way."

Let us never forget that God gave us President Lincoln in the first place. That He led his father to move across the Ohio River when he was as yet but a child, leaving that condition of semi-bondage in which all poor whites were then compelled to live in the slave States, and settling down where he could breathe the air of freedom. Let us remember the struggles, labors, and aspirations of his boyhood, youth, and early manhood; how he toiled, as a boatman, up and down the great rivers of that region; how, axe in hand, he hewed his own way through the world; how he studied, thought, observed, prepared himself for the bar, and finally entered upon his political career; how he distanced all competitors in the nomination for the presidency; how he was elected, after the most exciting canvass ever known in this country; how his life was preserved during the passage through Baltimore to his first inauguration; how signally he has been directed and sustained throughout his official career thus far, and how really he has not been taken from us until his work was done; his enemies scattered, the rebellion put down, the Union restored, and the country saved.

Though dead, he yet speaketh to us, in that earnest request of his, for the prayers of all Christians throughout the land, that he might be guided and controlled of God. And who knows, but the Most High, how much he owes to the prayers of righteous men and women, which have been going up day and night for him, accordingly, ever since he entered upon the discharge of his duties. As a nation, we have relied too little upon God. Ever since the war broke out, we have been seeking and trying General this and General that,

– feeling sure, at each fresh selection, that at last we had hit upon the right man, and he would prove our national deliverer. But as one after another Our Generals have been tried and found wanting, how plainly has God revealed to us, that "all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and He doeth according to his will in the armies of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, 'What doest thou?" " How clearly and irresistibly, after every fresh disaster, has He led us back to himself, and taught us that vain was the help of man; that "the race was not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong," and that we were to prevail over our enemies, not by might, nor by power, but by his blessing and favor.

Never had nation stronger reason for reliance upon God than has ours. The location of our Puritan ancestors here, after a vain endeavor to settle in Holland; the Declaration of Independence leading to the Revolutionary war, during the first years of which hardly glimmered the hope of our success; the final achievement of