by the hand, the widows and mothers to whom he has sent a word or line of sympathy, the personal appeals from the humblest individuals which he has answered. Nothing is more remarkable than his kindness toward the colored race, and the earnest and determined purpose with which he set about their emancipation, and yet the subordination in which he kept this sovereign purpose to the work of extinguishing the rebellion.

His faults, for grave faults undoubtedly he had, were principally those of over-leniency and generosity, deliberation and patience,—faults which would have been excellences in less desperate times, and which even in these times have probably been our salvation. His virtues were such as would have adorned a king. There is another bond between President Lincoln and many of us, a bond which not even death can sever. He was, to all appearance, a Christian man, and in the sense in which we understand the term. If a conversation which has been reported really occurred, he professed to have consecrated himself amid the graves of Gettysburg to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be endeavoring to live by the faith of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. The public documents which have issued from his pen have certainly been remarkable, especially of late, for their religious tone. This trait in President Lincoln's character, so distinguishing him from all his predecessors, rendered him especially interesting to the Christian mind, and will irradiate his grave with a peculiar and glorious hope. We have, at length, a President who "sleeps in Jesus."

President Lincoln was remarkably a man of the peo

ple, and not merely in having traits which won popular confidence. He was one of the people. He rose from the humblest class; he had a popular way of talking and writing; he could get hold of the popular heart. It is doubtful whether any of our Presidents, even Washington himself, was so thoroughly in the sympathies and affections of the people as President Lincoln was. The people themselves did not know how much they loved him, till he was stricken down. There have been many bitter tears shed in every city and hamlet of the North, within the last few hours, over the tidings of his fall. Strong men have wept, and been convulsed with grief, as if they had lost a father or a brother. Oh, if votes could

The nation mourns, with a No such sorrow has ever

These draperies, in which

raise him from that bier to that chair of state, what a ballot would the North cast now! sincere and sacred grief. touched the national heart. the land is dressed to-day, these solemn-tolling bells, which speak to one another from valley to valley, from hill-top to hill-top, give expression to no formal mourning; they tell of a real, profound, and mighty grief.

There is a consolation in the midst of this grief; in the return of a day suggestive to very many minds of a triumph over death. We do not follow our noble chiefmagistrate to the grave with the feeling that this is the last. We are spared the sadness with which we are too often compelled to witness the end of earthly greatness. Gloom has no place around the grave of the Christian. How sublime and comforting those words which seem to float to-day over the whole land, echoing through its numberless cemeteries and battle-fields, and lingering to

touch alike the bier of the Christian President and the sod that covers the Christian slave, "I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live"!

There is another feeling which naturally succeeds the emotions of horror and grief; it is rage. I would not say a word to inflame the passions and exasperation which are already filling the public mind. I would rather say that which may soothe excited feelings. It is a time for every man to lay upon himself a strong control. It is easy at such a time to be ungenerous and unjust. Let us discountenance all violence and passion, and seek the punishment of evil-doers only through the legally constituted channels. Let us not be violent even in our defence of the fallen. Let us remember that there is one thing more sacred than even friendship, and that is liberty. The contemptible creatures who profess to rejoice in the work of an assassin are not worth spending rage upon; there is nobler game afoot. Let us not waste too much passion upon the perpetrators of this dastardly crime;- not that they are not deserving of indignant condemnation, and condign punishment; they must receive it. But their importance is not commensurate with the mischief which they have done. То lavish indignation upon them is to misuse and waste it.

Let us not jump hastily to the conclusion that the perpetrators of this vile deed were in the employ or the counsels of the enemy. For one, I do not believe that the Southern leaders are too honorable to stoop to such a deed; I do not believe that they are too shrewd to see that it would injure rather than serve them. But let us

not come to conclusions without proof. We can wait for the light of evidence.

But there is one direction in which the general indignation may be properly turned, always in lawful ways and the appropriate channels, and that is against the

rebellion, and all who uphold it. The real spirit of secession, the kind of men who are most devoted to it, the conduct which it inspires, are made obvious in one more notable instance. If, in the providence of God, this last utmost stroke of malignity shall be the means of opening the eyes of this people to the real character and spirit of secession and secessionists, the calamity will not have been sent altogether in vain. It will begin to be found out at last, that the men who are rabid with secession, the leaders, or rather, the mis-leaders of the South, are not men to be paroled, and let off with political disabilities, and shaken by the hand, and feted: they are men to be hunted down like wild beasts, and sent to the prison and the gallows; that secession is not to be vanquished by leniency and kindness, but is to be stamped out with the iron heel. This is said, not in any spirit of vengeance and wrath, but from a solemn conviction that the true interests of the country, and true humanity and religion, require the prosecution of a vigorous policy of extermination and utter subjugation.

The spirit of secession has at last shown itself in every possible variety of form. It is the spirit of hate, the spirit of murder, the spirit of cowardly cruelty and treachery, the spirit of barbarism, the spirit of hell. If men will not renounce it now, and all connection with it, and all sympathy with it, let them be, by the proper

authorities of course, cut down without mercy. Let our indignation take the form, not of frantic and revengeful passion, but a stern and united determination that this rebellion, with its leaders, and with all who persist in upholding it, shall be wiped out, so that no one will ever be able to find the stain where it was.

There is one other feeling which fills almost every mind, it is anxiety.

President Lincoln's life was one on which much seemed to be depending. He had won the confidence of the people; he was meeting with triumphant success; his policy was somewhat apprehended; his plans seemed to be working well. denly fallen upon the future.

But now a cloud is sud

What kind of a man the

new President will prove himself, — who will be his friends and advisers, — what policy he will pursue, and what the results will be, how well he will succeed in uniting the people in himself, — and what is before us, are matters of blind conjecture. I might present to you some considerations of a subordinate character, calculated to afford hope and encouragement; I might point you to the cheering features in the past career of the new chief magistrate; I might remind you of the overwhelming successes already achieved, and how little in the way of conquest remains to be done; I might show you, that the union and strength of feeling which this very calamity has caused is auspicious: but of the worth of such considerations, you are better able to judge than I. I prefer only to remind you that we are

under the rule of a wise and benignant God, who disposes and ordains all things for the best. What He