of his wisdom fall upon his official successor. Andrew Johnson is as yet an untried man in this sphere, yet I have strong hopes that the nation will not be disappointed in either his capacity or integrity. I accept him as the President of these United States. I intend to honor and obey him as the minister of God, and do what I can to support the government of my country as administered by him. Let us, my friends, lay aside all partizan animosities, and unite together as one people in again bringing peace and prosperity to this land. This, I am persuaded, would be the advice of our President dead could he speak to us from that world whither his spirit had gone.

ness.

5. Lifting our thoughts finally above all the scenes of earth, and contemplating God as sitting upon the throne of eternal providence, permitting and ordering all things after the counsel of his own will, I advise you, while discharging the duties of the present, to trust his providence for the future. His providence gave us our President, and preserved him to us in the days of our greatest darkHe was the pupil and the creature of providence. He sat at the feet of providence, and sought to walk in its ways. This providence has permitted what seems to us an untimely fall. I cannot explain it-I shall not try. Yet I am comforted with the thought that God has made no mistake. Under his providence all men are immortal till their work is done; and then they go the way of all the earth by an arrangement which in heaven is no error, however painful it may be to man. Our late President had finished his allotted task, and well and truly has he done so. If we, his survivors, trust providence and do our duty, God will complete this work and preserve us by other hands than those we had anticipated. Hitherto he has made our cause his care, imposing upon us a severe discipline for our good, postponing our final triumph till

the ends of his providence should be realized; and now he has permitted this great apparent calamity for some wise reason, perhaps now perfectly simple to the enlarged intelligence of our President in heaven. On earth we may never see this reason; yet the Lord knows, and this should suffice for us. Let us bow in faith and weep in hope. God's government is not dead. God's providence is not dead. These will prevail when empires perish. No fiendish hand can strike the supremacy of God's throne. No assassin's shot or traitor's dagger can suspend his control in human affairs.

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never-failing skill,

He treasures up his bright designs,

And works his sovereign will."

Such, my friends, are the remarks which I have thought fitting to the occasion. I have prepared them amid the haste and excitement of this soul-stirring hour. I have had ro time to revise them, or recast my words. I have spoken to you just as I feel. And now I ask you, one and all, to be solemnly reminded of the fact that you are mortal, that your days are uncertain, that soon you must resign all the trusts of earth, and appear before the Judge of quick and dead. I point you to the Bible for your light, and for your salvation to Him whose atoning blood cleanseth from all sin. I hope-from what I have heard I am led to believe-that Abraham Lincoln was a Christian, a man of prayer; and hence that his sudden and appalling death has been to him sudden glory. We leave the fallen with God. We beseech the God of grace to

make this providence a blessing to our hearts. We commend our suffering country to his care and keeping. We here pledge ourselves to each other, and call upon high heaven to witness the covenant, that to the cause for which Abraham Lincoln lived, and in which he died, we will be true to our last breath; we will never desert the Stars and the Stripes; we will never lay down the sword till the supremacy of this government is vindicated; we will never pause till the daring criminals who have brought this evil upon the land are themselves brought to merited justice. God helping us, we will crush treason and suitably punish traitors, cost what it may. Just now we are in no mood to be trifled with by that senseless philanthropism, that shallow and almost soulless sentimentality, that has no foundation in the moral nature of man, and none in the moral government of God. We are not dealing with wasps-perfectly harmless if we let them alone-but with traitors, with the enemies of public order, with men who have virtually raised the black flag over our defenceless and helpless soldiers captured in war, a fit representative of whom has just murdered our President. Such are the men who are at the head of this rebellion and with whom we have to do, and our duty in the premises is as clear as light. May the God of heaven. prepare us for the work and crown it with his blessing.

SERMON XVII.

REV. ROBERT LOWRY.

“And the victory that day was turned into mourning, unto all the people."-2 SAMUEL xix. 2.

You do not expect a sermon to-day. I have no sermon to give you. The air is laden with sorrow, and our hearts are plunged together in one common grief. The mind refuses to think of anything but the great public calamity. Our dear, good President is dead! We are all mourners today. It is not for me to comfort you; we can only weep together in our overwhelming family bereavement.

We have looked forward to this day as the Resurrection Sunday of our Lord. We had adjusted our minds to the contemplation of the event, which broke the seals of the dark world, and opened up life and immortality to the sons of men. But the smile has fled from our faces to-day. We weep as at a burial, though we stand by the empty grave of our Saviour. There is no jubilant music from the organ to-day. There is no glad song of victory on our tongues to-day. No bright flowers of gladness decorate our church to-day, but, instead, we sob forth our funereal dirges. We cover our faces and drop our bitterest tears. We hang these walls with the deep drapery of woe. We droop our