FUNERAL ADDRESS BY RABBI ISAAC M. WISE

Delivered at Lodge Street Temple, Cincinnati, O., April 19, 1865.

"And the Lord said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country; and out of thy
birth-place, and from thy father's house, unto the land that I will show
thee. And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and
make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing. And I will bless those
that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse; and in thee shall
all families of the earth be blessed. So Abram departed, as the Lord had
spoken to him."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN departed, as the Lord had spoken to him. Abraham Lincoln,
whose biography is too well known to be repeated here, the President of the
United States, from March 4, 1861, to the day of his assassination, April
14, 1865; the generous, genial and honest man, who stood at the head of our
people in this unprecedented struggle for national existence and popular
liberty; whose words and deeds speak alike and aloud of his unsophisticated
mind, purity of heart, honesty of purpose, confidence in the great cause,
and implicit faith in the justice of Providence, which inspired him to
consistency, courage and self-denial; this Abraham Lincoln, who endeared
himself to so many millions of hearts, and gained the admiration of other
millions of people, both at home and abroad; whom the myriads of freedmen
consider their savior, and tens of thousands esteem as high as George
Washington, and feel as sincerely and affectionately attached to as Israel
to her David, Rome to her Augustus, and France to her Napoleon I; this
Abraham Lincoln, whose greatness was in his goodness, and whose might was in
his unshaken faith, was assassinated.

Blush, humanity!-he was assassinated. This is the lamentable fact which
today bends so many stout hearts with sorrow and grief-speaks by the tears
of countless myriads, and the dark clouds of mourning which envelop the
great Republic.

Hark! listen to the voice of grievous lamentation, of woeful complaint,
filling the very air of this vast country. "The elders of the daughter of
Zion sit upon the ground; they are silent; they have thrown dust upon their
heads; they have girt themselves with sackcloth, the virgins of Jerusalem
have brought down low their head to the ground. My eyes do fail with tears,
my bowels are heated, my liver is poured upon the earth, because of the
breach of the daughter of my people. How shall I cheer thee, to whom compare
thee, O daughter of Jerusalem?-to what shall I liken thee, to console thee,
O virgin daughter of Zion?-for great like the sea is thy breach, who can
heal thee?"

Hark, listen to the doleful voice of woe, echoing from thousands of hearts:
"Fallen is the crown of our head; woe to us, for we have sinned; therefore
our heart is woe-stricken; therefore are our eyes dimmed." This is the
lamentable cause of our meeting today before God, to weep with the nation,
to mourn with our country, to show the last honors to Abraham Lincoln.

Why? Wherefore must it be so? you ask. Silence, mortals! Upon your knees,
sons of the dust! "And the Lord said unto Abram, get thee out of thy
country, out of thy birthplace, and from thy father's house, unto the land
that I will show thee. So Abram departed as the Lord had spoken to him." Who
of the finite and perishable creatures will unravel the mysterious ways of
infinite and everlasting Providence? The drop comprehends not the seas, the
mote understands not the sun; man, whose life is like a passing shadow, can
not penetrate the counsels of the eternal and allwise God. Worship with
humiliation, look down with awe at the throne of glory, and proclaim anew
the sacred words: "The Lord hath given, the Lord hath taken away, the name
of the Lord be blessed." We can only look in and about ourselves to find the
proper answer to the question: How can we honor best the memory of Abraham
Lincoln?

Repent your sins. "Return, Israel, to the Lord thy God, for thou hast
stumbled in thine iniquity," this deplorable event cries, with a loud voice.
God has punished us grievously. His mighty hand inflicted a deep and burning
wound upon the heart of the nation, and He is just. "The Rock, his work is
perfect, for all His ways are just. The God of truth and without iniquity,
just and upright is He." The Lord has revealed His powerful arm to remind us
of our iniquity, and move us to repentance.

Behold the man at whose command the mightiest armies of this world moved,
and whose name is associated with the dearest affections of so many millions
of men; the man upon whom the whole civilized world looked, and whom, to
protect and shield, a great nation was ready, was destroyed by one mad
villain. Must not this rouse us from our sinful lethargy to a consciousness
of our weakness? All the power, wisdom, goodness and affection of man can
not protect us when the Lord decrees to call us hence. Must not this rouse
us from our sinful lethargy to a consciousness of our guilt? Abraham Lincoln
was a good man; the millions testify, and history, with her impartial pencil
will record it. Not in his sins, in ours, he died; "for before wickedness,
the righteous is taken away." He is the sin-offering for our iniquities. His
death cries aloud, "Repent, repent your sins."

Verily, we need not inquire deeply to find our sins, when we know that an
assassin was born and raised in our midst; the assassin of Abraham Lincoln
brooded over his diabolic schemes in the very capital of our country. Where
shall we begin to speak of the enormity of our sins? Must we speak first of
the precepts of revenge which poison so many hearts and pervert so many
minds to consider murder and assassination a matter of honor-assassination
for offensive words-murder in duels? Or must we mention first the barbarous
habit of bearing concealed arms to hide cowardice under the garb of crime?
Or must we speak of the mercenary passions, which know of no intrinsic value
of either persons or duties, honor or pride, art or science; which weigh or
measure all persons and things alike by the standard of the market? Or must
we mention the frigid hypocrisy which seeks refuge on the cushioned pews of
fashionable churches; the haughtiness of little creatures embellished in
costly garments and beglittered with gems, or such other dust; the scorn to
which religion is subjected, the smile of pity cast on old-fashioned virtue,
or the numerous and costly means to silence the crying conscience? There is
no necessity for mentioning either of them, which are the mere fountains of
our national sins, when we may look at once upon the broad and mad streams,
with their impetuous billows and thousand whirlpools. Remember the frauds
which were committed on the nation when hundred thousands of her noblest
sons rushed to arms and offered their lives in vindication of her holy
cause. Remember the legion of traitors and spies who surrounded our armies
and penetrated into the most secret recesses of our Government. Or if that
is too vast, too much to be remembered at once, then remember, simply, that
our very President, the chosen banner-bearer of our people, the Messiah of
this country, was slain by the assassin's hand in the midst of his people;
and we must cry with Cain, "Mine iniquity is greater than I can bear."

Repentance is the great lesson which this deplorable event should teach us.
Away with your idols of silver and your idols of gold; away with
haughtiness, selfishness, delusion, deception and barbarism; prostrate
yourselves with humble spirits and contrite hearts before God; confess and
repent your sins; be healed of your diseases, distill the Balm of Gilead in
the wounds of your conscience; cry for mercy and forgiveness to your God,
then rise better men, better citizens, true children of the living God-and
you have honored the memory of him who died in our national sins; you have
erected a durable and grand monument to that martyr of liberty whose
untimely departure we lament. Let him live in your virtues, resurrect in
your patriotism; let him glow and shine in your aspirations, for the benefit
of humanity, and the triumph of justice and liberty, of light over night,
and right over might; and Abraham Lincoln lives as he wished to live-the
benefactor of his people; and Abraham Lincoln departed as the Lord had
spoken unto him that God might fulfill his divine promise: "And I will make
of thee a great nation." So let us do honor to the memory of the departed
martyr of liberty.

Honor brethren, honor the deceased President of the United States, by
securing to him a perpetual reign, and a dominion everlasting. How? The dead
should reign, the deceased one have dominion everlasting? Yes, even so shall
you do.

The photographer or lithographer, the painter or sculptor, can not eternize
a man; he can not give you more of him than a faint delineation of the
outside, shape and features, the most unimportant portion, the mere case of
a person. Monuments, however lofty and extensive, crowded with inscriptions
and symbols, tell very little, after all, of the man himself, to whose honor
they may be erected. The passions, feelings, struggles, victories, motives
and thoughts of a great mind, and each of them is a real fraction of his
existence, are so innumerably manifold and change so often, that no artist
can represent a considerable portion of them. This is the case especially
with the deceased, Abraham Lincoln. The best representation of his figure
will not tell posterity who he was. His outside appearance bore no
resemblance even to his real nature. The most skillful philosopher will fail
in describing the man who stood at the head of affairs during this gigantic
struggle, his cares and troubles, his sleepless nights and days of anxiety,
his thoughts and his schemes, his triumphs and mortifications, his hopes and
fears, and ten thousand more sentiments, feelings and thoughts, which moved
his mind in the stormy period of his Presidential term. He will be obliged
to satisfy himself with the focus in which all these rays of the mind
centers, with the actions of the deceased. Let these actions be our
political creed, and Lincoln reigns perpetually; his is the "covenant of an
everlasting priesthood," he is immortal in his people.

"I will restore the Union," he promised us, and twice he took the solemn
oath to protect and enforce the Constitution of the United States. Let these
two points be forever the beginning and end of our political creed. He gave
liberty to an oppressed race, "And ye shall proclaim freedom to all the
inhabitants of the land." Let us adhere to this great principle. All shall
be free, all equal before the law. He was kind, charitable, and lenient
towards the enemies of his country, longed and hoped for peace.-Let also
these be cardinal points of our creed. Let us not be led astray by blind
passions, hatred, a spirit of revenge; let us act entirely and
conscientiously in the very spirit of the departed man, and we honor him. He
reigns in death, and holds his dominion as though he were living still.

Let us carry into effect and perpetuate the great desires which heaved the
breast of Abraham Lincoln; let us be one people, one, free, just and
enlightened; let us be the chosen people to perpetuate and promulgate
liberty and righteousness, the union and freedom of the human family; let us
break asunder, wherever we can, the chains of the bondsman, the fetters of
the slave, the iron rod of despotism, the oppressive yoke of tyranny; let us
banish strife, discord, hatred, injustice, oppression from the domain of
man, as far as our hands do reach, and we secure to Abraham Lincoln a
perpetual reign and dominion everlasting; we set him the most durable
monument in the hearts of the human family; then he is not dead, not removed
even, from our midst, and will live forever. If his person was called from
our midst, that we be guarded against the follies of apotheosis, which
numerous admirers already approximated, to teach us again the great lesson,
"Trust not in the noblest ones, in the son of man with whom there is no
salvation," or as the prophet Isaiah expressed it, "Withdraw yourself from
man, whose breath is in his nostrils; because, for what is he to be
esteemed?" If God permitted it that we learn the great lesson of the
firmness and fitness of our Government, which is the people's Government,
depending on no man or party; or to wake us to a sense of duty to our
Government, to unite and fraternize us more in mourning and the common
sympathy with the deceased President and his mourning family, the abused and
ill-treated Secretary of State and his sons; if God has permitted the sudden
removal of THE PERSON of Abraham Lincoln from our midst, for any or all of
these reasons, or for reasons unknown to us, (but just and wise they
certainly must be); his personality, his essence and substance, his mind,
his soul, his principles, may forever remain with us and be our guiding
stars. So we may secure to him a perpetual reign, and a dominion
everlasting; for the ideas of union, justice, liberty, peace, kindness,
charity, forbearance and goodness are everlasting, like God himself.

Murmur not against the justice and wisdom of Providence. God is just.
Abraham Lincoln fought the battles for great ideas, and his enemies, of
necessity, must be numerous and violent. He was a man, and where is the
mortal one without his measure of faults and infirmities; with a great man,
in a great period of time, they only become, with his virtues, more
conspicuous. Every man has his mission, his destiny on earth; with men of
eminent positions it only becomes more conspicuous. Whenever our mission is
fulfilled God calls us hence. Abraham Lincoln fulfilled a great mission; he
led the country through this glorious struggle to glorious victory, and
bequeathed to us the ideas which, when fully developed and realized, not
only will bring upon us the great blessing, "And I will make of thee a great
nation," but will also fulfill that sacred and most glorious promise, "And
in thee all families of the earth shall be blessed." All families of the
earth shall be blessed by freedom, as the chain of the negro was broken; by
union, peace, justice, equality, charity and kindness. So Abraham Lincoln
shall reign perpetually and have an everlasting dominion. Therefore, "Abram
departed, as the Lord had spoken to him."

Brethren, the lamented Abraham Lincoln believed himself to be bone from our
bone and flesh from our flesh. He supposed himself to be a descendant of
Hebrew parentage. He said so in my presence. And, indeed, he preserved
numerous features of the Hebrew race, both in countenance and character.

He was a man of many noble virtues, which may be our heritage; and God may
forgive him his sins, and accept his soul in grace among the righteous men
of all nations, and the martyrs of every sacred cause. May the Lord send
consolation to his bereft widow and children, and heal the burning wound of
this country which his departure afflicted on her. Brethren, let us read the
funeral service for the soul of departed Abraham Lincoln.

PRAYER

O, God and father! with bleeding hearts we submit to Thy paternal decrees,
and acknowledge the justice and wisdom of Thy providence, although our eyes
are too dim to penetrate the designs of Thy paternal goodness. Thou art God,
and we are dust and ashes. Thou art the Great Cause of all causes, the
Eternal Reality, the Infinite Substance, and we are small and perishable
effects, whose life lasts but a few hours, and whose wisdom is too
insignificant to be brought in account before Thee. Thou art the Father-the
benign, merciful and gracious Father-and we are Thy children, Thine image;
we submit with childlike confidence and faith, to the decrees of Thy holy
will. O, God! turn Thy correcting hand from us, consume us not in our
sinfulness; let us behold days of joy and happiness, as we have seen time of
calamity, affliction and distress. Behold, O Lord! this bleeding, mourning,
weeping land; heal us, for we are wounded; sustain us with Thy heavenly
manna, for we are sick and woe-stricken. Guard us, that we may see war and
rebellion no more; let us behold Thy blessing of peace. Protect us and
preserve our Union, our Government, our freedom, to the blessing of all Thy
children. Shield the administrators of our Government, inspire them with Thy
wisdom, justice and goodness, that Thy will be done on earth.

We beseech Thee, O Lord, to heal the wounds of Thy servant, William H.
Seward, and bless him with many years of prosperity and happiness. We
entreat thee, O Father, to console the widow and children of Thy deceased
servant, Abraham Lincoln. Thou art the Father of orphans and the Protector
of widows; with mercy Thou regardest the helpless and feeble ones. We pray
Thee, O Lord, to vouchsafe Thy blessing to this city, this country, and to
all lands where Thy children abide. Grant peace, justice, freedom and truth
to all the sons of man.
Blessed Father, bless this congregation; fulfill upon us Thy sacred promise:
"For if the mountains move and the hills totter, My grace shall not be moved
from thee, and the covenant of My peace shall not change, with Thy merciful
God." Amen.
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