Excerpt from The Assassination of President Lincoln: A Sermon Preached in St. James Church, Birmingham, Ct;, April 19th, 1865 You have heard it said, perhaps, in times past, (the grave has wisely silenced all criticism of him whatever, ) that he was responsible for the loss, the burden, and the agony, that for the last four years has crushed and smote the nation's heart. But how? National policy is by the national vote; and the nation voted to govern itself, and finally to save itself by war. He had but one vote among millions, and he obeyed the people when he prosecuted war. Was he a man of blood, rejoicing in battle? That cold, unmoving hand of our dead President, was worn by holding out the Olive breach of peace to the men who drew the sword against our nationality, beseeching them to have mercy on themselves and yield no; it is the men who smote against the flag; the men who would destroy our nationality the men who would overturn, by insurrection, the very foundations of our liberties; the men who repudiated our national tradi tions and glories; who insulted the graves of our mar tyrs, and declared before the world that equal rights were miasma and delusion, and popular liberty a myth; Who have made this nation blind with sorrow, and faint with the sacred offering of its reddest blood, that the Republic might live in peace. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.