light ahead.". WAITING FOR DAYBREAK. 179 Prepare to meet me in heaven.”—“I am only going to a different sphere of labor, and shall be as near you as ever."—"To live is Christ and to die is gain." He asked that no words of praise should be put on his tomb-stone, but simply, "Lieutenant Edgar M. Newcomb, of the Nineteenth Massachusetts." His last thoughts were not for himself, but the welfare of mankind. The property at his disposal he devised equally to the Societies for Home and for Foreign Missions. His last letter was written on Saturday morning, and was in his pocket when he fell. The last sentence in that letter was, "C. thinks I owe my present safety to the prayers of my friends. I have often thought the same; and when I consider the temptations of this most trying life, my protection from sin is more marvellous than from wounds and death. Good-by." Yes, "Until the daybreak and the shadows flee away!" "How calm and blest The dead now rest, Who in the Lord departed; "Oh! blessed Rock! Leave grant thy flock To see thy Sabbath morning; CHAPTER VIL OUR DEPENDENCE ON GOD FOR SUCCESS. I. THE PRESIDENT'S JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON. On the eleventh of February, 1861, Mr. Lincoln left Springfield, Illinois, to proceed to Washington to be inaugurated as President of the United States, on the fourth of March following. The first words clothed with anything like official significance, addressed by him to the country after his election, were those which he uttered on this journey to the capital. Those who may read those words in future times can form but a faint idea of the relief and encouragement which they brought to anxious hearts in the hour when clouds of distrust and fear, of civil discord and anarchy so darkened our sky. It is the part of true statesmanship, as well as of piety, to feel at all times that "Except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it; except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain."1 The President's avowal of this truth, in terms so unreserved and earnest, as he approached the great work allotted to him, reassured the Christian heart of the nation, and inspired us with hope in the wisdom and success of his administration. It adds to the suggestive import of his language, under such circumstances, to remember that the President elect was pursuing his way to the seat of government at that 1 Psalm cxxvii. 1. THE PRESIDENT'S JOURNEY TO WASHINGTON. 181 very time, through a band of hired assassins, who were watching, as he went from city to city, for an opportunity to slay him. The train which was to bear him away started at an early hour in the morning; but more than a thousand people had collected at the station to bid adieu to their friend and neighbor. After shaking hands with his more intimate friends, he addressed the crowd as follows: "My Friends: -No one not in my position can appreciate the sadness I feel at this parting. To this people I owe all that I am. Here I have lived more than a quarter of a century; here my children were born, and here one of them lies buried. I know not how soon I shall see you all again. A duty devolves upon me which is perhaps ́greater than that which has devolved upon any other man since the days of Washington. He never would have succeeded except for the aid of divine Providence, upon which he at all times relied. I feel that I cannot succeed without the same divine aid which sustained him, and on the same Almighty Being I place my reliance for support. I hope you, my friends, will all pray that I may receive that divine assistance, without which I cannot succeed, but with which success is certain. I bid you all an affectionate farewell." Expressions of approbation, tearful greetings, and cries of "We will pray for you," followed the delivery of these remarks. During the speech Mr. Lincoln betrayed much emotion, and the crowd was affected to tears. At Columbus, Ohio, he remarked in the same strain,— "I cannot but know, what you all know, that without a public name, perhaps without a reason why I should have such a name, there has fallen upon me a task such as did not rest even upon the Father of his country; and, so feeling, I cannot but hope for the support without which it will be impossible for me to perform that great task. I turn and look to the American people, and to that God who has never forsaken them." At another point of his progress, Steubenville, in the same State, Mr. Lincoln further said, "I fear that the great confidence which seems to exist in my ability is unfounded; indeed, I am sure it is, encompassed as I am by such vast difficulties. I can only say nothing shall be wanting on my part, and I hope to be sustained by the American people and the blessing of God, who alone can prosper my endeavors." II. THE PRAYER AT FORT SUMTER. During the Christmas night of December 1860, Major Anderson, commandant at the harbor of Charleston, S. C., with his little garrison of only sixty effective men, passed stealthily from Fort Moultrie to Fort Sumter. This unexpected movement was the spark which electrified the nation. The storm of civil war might not burst at once, but it was seen now to be inevitable. Here was the opening act of the great drama which was to end in the triumph of law, civilization, and liberty, or in the subversion of the republic, and the reign of anarchy, barbarism, and slavery. Major Anderson deeply felt the responsibility and importance of the step he had taken. He gave expression to that feeling by a simple but significant act. The flag which he had brought from Moultrie was to be thrown to the breeze from Sumter. The ceremony was fixed for twelve o'clock, the noon of December twentyseventh. The commander assembled his little force and the workmen employed on the fortifications, at the foot of the flag-staff. His own heart led him naturally to God, as THE PRAYER AT FORT SUMTER. 183 now the only efficient helper. He was anxious to bring those with him into sympathy with himself in this critical hour. The chaplain stood forth and stated the object of the service. The flag which they were there to defend as the symbol of the national unity and life was then attached to a cord, and Major Anderson, taking the ends in his hands, knelt down, while the officers and men, with heads uncovered, gathered around him. The chaplain then prayed. He commended the little band, their cause, and the country, to God, the arbiter of nations. His petitions, his tones, bespoke the earnestness of one who felt that if saved it must be because man's extremity is God's opportunity. As the fervent, heaven-winged words of the speaker ceased, and the men responded a hearty "amen," the commander hauled up the flag to the top of the staff. The band saluted it with "Hail Columbia," the accents of supplication gave place to those of enthusiasm, and cheers after cheers broke from the lips of all present. Just at that moment, a boat arrived from Charleston, and the traitors whom it brought heard in those shouts the vows of men who resolved in their hearts that the old flag should suffer no dishonor while it remained in their hands. History will record how well they kept those vows during the four weary months they were imprisoned there without succor from the government, and the two fearful days in which the starved garrison held out against the concentric fire of so many batteries. A gifted writer1 has well represented the spirit of the transaction: "Who doth that flag defy, We challenge as our foe; Who will not for it die, Out from us he must go! 1 The late Dr. Bethune, of New York. |