1865 ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The Nation's Wail. A Sermon on the Asssassination of the President

Exceptionally important sermon on the assassination of Lincoln by George Duffield. 

"The nation is deluged with woe. Our patriotic, virtuous and devoted President has fallen by the hand of the assassin. In the midst of our rejoicings over victories, and the crushing of the rebellion; from the loftiest pinnacle of our joy, we are hurled down into the depths of heart-breaking anguish. He, for whom the nation ha so long and ardently prayed, whose appeals to the hearts of all Christian people for their sympathy with him in the midst of his solemn and heavy responsibilities, and for their remembrance of him at the throne of grace - has gone forever beyond the reach or need of our supplication."

"In the providence of God, a delirious and madened conspiracy for overthrow of the Government of the United States, has made an open issue as to the religion professed; and, for four years, appealed to arms for the decision of the question of the moral right of Slavery, and the sanction of Christianity for the fanaticism that sought to make it the corner-stone of the Confederacy, whose history has been stained with crimes that astound the world, and, when fully written, will hand it down to coming generations, branded with indelible infamy. Developments of corruption, in the instigation and conduct of the rebellion by its leaders, have taken place, beyond description, beyond conception - which, when the proof already possessed shall blazon forth, will fill the nations with horror. We refer in part to the brutalities of their warfare - the 66,000 of our murdered prisoners of war, starved to death with deliberate intent; to the worse than savage ferocity  displayed in the cruelties inflicted on hundreds and thousands tortured and slain by their guerilla bands. But we refer more immediately to the spirit of demoniac malginity, and designed systematic assassination, adopted and pursued by the instigation and leaders of the rebellious conpsiracy. There is strong circumstantial evidence to prove, that the death of President Harrison, and of President Taylor, was secured by poison, administered slowly, in pursuance of a plan and purpose that no Northern man should ever be President of the United States. The abortive attempt to poison President Buchanan, and the failure of measures to muder President Lincoln, at or on his way to Washington, are events already recorded in history. And, during the the four years of the rebellion, facts have accumulated, showing that there was no deed of desperate, malignant crime, that could be perpetrated, which, found not its instruments, and was not stimulated by the promise of reward from men high in place and influence, connected with and supporters of the Confederate Government. It needed just such a hot-bed as Slavery to force the monstrous growths of corruption produced by the rebellion. "

Grandson of the First Great Awakening revivalist, George Duffield, George Duffield III [b.1794] was licensed to preach as a Presbyterian in April of 1815. In September 1816, he accepted the call to pastor at Carlisle. Inspired by his grandfather, Duffield took easily to the revivalist tendencies of the time and joined the “new light” Presbyterians. He was also used to lead a series of revivals at Dickinson College that led to a significant influx of students sensing the call to Christian ministry.

Duffield's "new light" revivalism caused him troubles repeatedly in Carlisle, ultimatley leading to his departure and acceptance of the pastorate of the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit, Michigan, where he remained for thirty years. 

Duffield's son, himself a revivalist, is the author of the famed hymn, "Stand up for Jesus," written after the death of his co-laborer in a farming accident. As his friend lay dying, he looked at Duffield and uttered his last words, "Tell them to stand up for Jesus." 

Duffield, George. The Nation's Wail. A Discourse Delivered in the Presbyterian Church of Detroit. On Sabbath, the 16th of April, 1865, the day after Receiving the Intelligence of the Brutal Murder of President Abraham Lincoln by a Brutal Assassin. Detroit. Advertiser and Tribune Print. 1865. 18pp.

Textually complete and clean; removed from a sammelband and thus weakened. No copies we could locate at any price.