Year: 1865

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put not your trust in princes, nor in any
child Of man for there 10 no help in them For
when the breath of man gosth forth he shall
turn again 10 his earth. and thea all his thoughts
perish. PSALM, it6-2d, Sd.


Among all the duties that are laid
upon minister of Christ, few if any
are so difficult in their right discharge,
as that of comforting the sorrowing.
To stand IN some smitten household,
knowing that sad souls are looking to
him for words and thoughts of COM
fort, waiting for his voice to lead their
prayers, and to calm and quiet the
bitterness of bereavement, and guide
them to the source and giver of all
comfort, their only hope and Saviour.
Nor is the greatness of the task at all
abated, when he remembers that all
he then does, he does not on the inn
pulse of his own private Judgment,
not with simply the weight and inhu-
ence that may come from his own
personal character, and the esteem in
which he may be held; that he speaks
as Gods Minister; is ordained as such
by God Himself, and owned as such
by those about him, that he prays
as ono appointed Of God to lead their
prayers; comforts, as sent of God to
comfort; guides, admonishes and in
structs, because God commands him.
There is therefore, double response
bility, to the sorrowing who need him,
and to God as whose ambassador he
speaks. He may not leave souls
longing for comfort, still unsatisfed;
and yet he may not speak to them
anything but Gods truth, nor with
hold the warnings which God may
bid him utter the teachings, perhaps
reproofs, for which such visitations of
sorrow open and prepare mems hearts.
But if it be duty hardly done, to
minister thus as messenger Of Gods
comfort and instruction to some single
stricken soul, or stricken household,
how hard must it be to do the duty
well and wisely, when a whole nation
has been smitten, and every house,
hold feels the sorrow. If it be hard
to fathom the sorrows of one weeping
homo, how hard to appreciate the
mourning of nation. If it be hard
to riso to the level Of Gods warning
providence when by an ordinary death
He speaks to some few, how hard
when He speaks to millions, speaks
so awfully, speaks so suddenly. Bear
with me then, brethren If j do the
duty feebly, for / confess my own
soul and mind to be overwhelmed
with the vastness of the occasion.-
The more l study it, the more plainly
I hear in it Gods roice 10 this people
Our feeble minds cannot fathom the
mystery of Gods unerring Providence,
nor toll how that Providence could
control death whose guilt rests on
an assassin's heart and hand. But
God orders all lives and times all
deaths, of Kings or beggars, of Pres
idents or slaves. Through all the
workings of good and evil, His hand
guides the train of results. "He
maketh the wrath Of man to praise
Him." See then how plainly. how
awfully Gods hand may be seon in
this. .sg "


First, in the person through whom
the nation was stricken, its chosen
head; t,oice chosen to be the embodi-
ment Of the National Sovereignty, the
impcrsonation of its high authority,
entrusted with all it's strength, WELD
ing the might of all its mighty armies
and guiding all its work. There may
be many men in the nation of greater
personal worth, many of far greater
attainments in learning, of deeper
and sounder wisdom; of moro trained
and far-roaching diplomatic skill But