Excerpt from In Memory of Abraham Lincoln: A Discourse Delivered in the First Congregational Unitarian Church in Detroit, Mich., Sunday, April 17th, 1865 It is befitting that in this solemn hour, when a nation's head is bowed with anguish and the sighs of afflicted millions are rolling up to heaven, that we should gird ourselves in the sable array of mourning, and pause for a moment and stand by the cold remains of him who was the greatest, best and wisest of our American statesmen, to consider his virtues, and mingle, over the dust of departed greatness, ours, with the tears of a na tion. There is something supremely solemn in the death of a great man, and when a national bereavement throws its dark shadows of disappointment upon the soul, and the chilling certainty that another harp whose tones have entranced thousands has been unstrung and hung upon the willows of death's cold river, a charm comes over us so holy and sacred that, spell-bound, we fain would sit in solemn silence, and call up before our Spirit's eye visions of the mighty dead. But it is fitting that we should give vent to our feeling, and proclaim to the world our attach ment to him who has fallen. It is fitting that we should chant a funeral requiem which shall be felt and remembered till after the funeral of this earth. We do not expect to add any new charm to the solemnity of the all-absorbing theme, but-simply to offer our tribute of praise to his memory. 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.