Excerpt from The Uncrowned Nation, a Discourse Commemorative of the Death of Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President of the United States: Preached in the First Presbyterian Church of Plattsburgh, N. Y. April 19, 1865

A ruler's death could scarcely have taken place at a more inopportune time we thought, and therefore our grief was aggravated. As in previous stages of our contest, we may err in our calculations of what is needful in an emergency, but it seemed to us, at the first intelligence of our bereavement, that it would be well nigh ruin to our national interests. Though we are recovered from this feeling, and more hope ful, we are still anxious and apprehensive. The ship of state will perhaps steer wildly we fear, now that the skilled helms man is taken from the wheel. His eye has grown wary as he has peered long into the cloudy night, through which we have been sailing - his hand has grown more firm, as the shock of the storm has threatened to tear away its grasp his heart has grown more undaunted, as danger has lowered more fearfully near. And now as we are approaching the shallows and bars, - the narrow and tortuous channels, - the sunken rocks and boiling breakers, - over and through which we must enter the port of peace, we need all these for our safe piloting into the haven of our desires. If I have not misinter preted public opinion, there has been an increasing confidence in President Lincoln's sincerity and integrity of purpose, practical and comprehensive good sense, - benevolence andmagnanimity of disposition, and whatever have been our theories of administration, whoever our preferred exponents of these, -the people as a whole, were settling down into acquiescence and trust, in assurance that the reins of govern ment were in wise and safe hands. It cannot be less than a severe calamity which removes him at this juncture. The man upon whom divine providence has let fall the mantle of succession may prove a true and fit man. God make him so, we heartily pray, in his private character and Official acts. Yet we mourn, anxiety largely entering into our mourning, for the proven and the trusty has been taken away, and we crave the quieting of apprehension, lest some national disaster be brought upon us by mal-administration.

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