Year: 1865




ject, both Government and Governors
to human infirmity and sin; and yet
"there is no power but of God; the
powers that be, are ordained of God.
Whosoever resisteth the power re-
sisteth the ordinance Of God" The
will of God therefore demands our
respect and reverence for earthly
rulers, il makes it matter of con-
science, a religious duty, an obligation
that we owe to Him, and the whole
world over. From the very beginning
Of history, the truth has been owned
and felt. 1t is one of the universal
traditions of the race, one Of those
points in which, as in regard to the
being of God Himself, or the coming
of day of Judgment, the conscience
of the whole human race seems TO be
taught of God. From the earliest
nations Of whom record remains,
down to our own day; from the NEST
barbarous tribes to the most polished
nations of Europe, alike in the des-
potic Empires of Asia, and the free
governments Of the West, the law
holds good. The human heart where
it is not perverted to evil, and schooled
by false theories, spontaneously recog-
nizes something of divine authority
in rulers, that "a divinity doth hedge
a king" We see it in the reverent
regard paid by David to Saul, even
when that monarch had proved false
to God and to his duty. Still as the
Lords anointed, his person, his honor,
and his name were sacred. We see
it in the almost divine worship paid
to the Kings Of Persia and Chaldea,
and still shown in those eastern lands
by prostrations and by kissing of the
dust before them. We see it in Russia,
where one mans will, provided that
man be the Emperor, is reverenced
almost as divine law; in France,
where ruler, almost a usurper, once
established and legalized, is guarded
and made sacred by the nations enthu-
siasm; and in England, where wo-
man holds the sceptre, and not a heart
can be found that does not love her,
nor tongue that will whisper word
against her; where reverence and
worship wait upon her steps, and next
TO God and the Church, the Queen
is the word and thought most sacred
to English hearts, and wherever such
loyalty is seen in its purity, it is lovely.
1t may have been often perverted and
exaggerated, it may at times have
been pushed almost to idolatry, and
have made the people almost slaves.
Yet in its trust it rests upon foun-
dation Of Gods own will, and COM
pels our consent and admiration.


1t rests not simply on the personal
qualities of the ruler. Saul, rejected
of God, cruel and treacherous, was he
whom David honored. Nero was
Emperor of Rome, when st. Paul
wrote to the Romans "the powers
that be are ordained Of God" No
one pretends to say that tho Queen is
in personal character, the foremost
woman in England. She is not the
most lovely in person, nor the most
polished in mind, nor the most pow
erful in genius, nor the most gentle in
her character. There may be in lower
ranks of life, women that in all such
points would stand above her. But
in the Providence Of God, she has
become by the laws of the land, the
Queen. In her the nation is embodied.
She is its visible symbol, the living
centre, in which are concentrated its
power, its dignity, its honors, and on
which may be fixed, and through
which can be expressed, the loyalty
that fills all hearts. To harm her is
to harm England. To speak against
her is Treason, and well it is, that il
is counted so, for it weakens tho ma
tional security, it saps the strength of
government, it brings it down from
the level where God had placed it,
and robs it of tho reverence with
which He would have it guarded.


And, Brethren, the same great prin-
ciple and law Of loyal reverence holds
good in our nation also. We may have
grown careless Of it, wo may have
been trained by the peculiar character
of our laws and customs to lose sight
of it, and most awfully and eifectu-
ally does God now call it TO our
minds. We had come almost to think
the President the creature Of our
will, the government, our invention
and creation; to think that it was ours
to set up one and pull down another,
and that Government was purely by
our consent. We wereforgeting that
Gods Providence is as powerful over
the Ballot Box as over SUGGESTIONS Of
national life; as present and omnip-
otent in Republic as in Kingdom
We were fast coming,in the hot strife
of party madness, to forget the rever-
ence that God demands for NATIONAL
authority, and to count the President,
the President of party rather than
of the country. God permits the |
bullet of murderer to reach the |
Presidents life, and the whole nation
stands aghast. Lives by hundreds of
thousands have perished in bloody
battles, and starving, pestilential pris-
ons, but their accumulated horrors
havenot so touched the nations heart
as this. Party feeling is hushed; men
that but short tDne since could find
no words too bitter to speak their op-
position to Abraham Lincoln, now
mourn as though they had lost dear
friend in the President.


And now Brethren, let me speak
the lesson plainly. l know that many
a conscience must take it home ]
sneak not to one party, but TO all. -
Democrat and Republican alike are
guilty, The one party, it may be
more recently, because they had most
recent occasion, but both in equal
degree. 1t is not party fault, but q
natural sin denounce. >