hen the civil war broke out, that man was in one of the far
Southern States, and he enlisted into the Southern army. He was
selected by the Southern General as a spy, and sent to spy out the
Northern army. As you know, armies have no mercy on spies, if they
can catch them. This man was caught. He was tried by court-martial,
and ordered to be shot. While he was in the guard-room, previous to
the time of execution, the Northern soldiers used to bring him his
rations. Every time they came to his cell he would call Abraham
Lincoln by every vile epithet he could think of. It seemed as though
he "lay awake nights" trying to study such names. At last the
soldiers got so angry that they said they would be glad when the
bullet went through his heart. Some of them even said they would
like to put a bullet through him; and if they were not obliged by
military order to feed him, they would let him starve in the prison.
They thought that was what he deserved for talking so unjustly of
Lincoln.

One day while he was in the prison, waiting to be led out to
execution, a Northern officer came to the cell. The prisoner, full
of rage, thought his time was come to be shot. The officer opened
the prison door, and handed him a free pardon from Abraham Lincoln!
He told him he was at liberty; he could go to his wife and children!
The man who had before been so full of bitterness, and malice, and
rage, suddenly quieted down, and said, "What! has Abraham Lincoln
pardoned me? For what? I never said a good word about him." The
officer said, "If you had what you deserved you would be shot. But
some one interceded for you at Washington and obtained your pardon;
you are now at liberty." The minister, as he told me, said that this
act of undeserved kindness quite broke the man's heart and led to
his conversion. Said the minister, "You let any man speak one word
against Abraham Lincoln now in the hearing of that man, and see what
will happen. There is not a man in all the Republic of America, I
believe, who has a kinder feeling towards our late President than
he."

Now that is grace. The man did not _deserve_ a pardon. But this is
exactly what grace is: _undeserved mercy_. You may have been a rebel
against God up to this very hour; but if you acknowledge your
rebellion, and are willing to take the mercy that God offers, you
can have it freely. It is there for every soul on the face of the
earth. "The grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men h