The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-10-08 00:00:00

SERMON ON TETE LATE PRESIDENT
GARFIELD.

In Londor, on Sunday evening, a memorial sermon
on the life and character of the late President of the
United States was preached by Mr. W. T. Moore,
M. A., an American, in the Town-hall, Kensington.
The large hall was crowded in every part.
The preacher, premising that he had known Pres%
dent Garfield personally for at least twenty years,
passed rapidly over the now well-known events'of his
early life, and spoke more at length on the character
of the man. One thing remarkable in his life was
that he made a success of everything he undertook
to do. No one had better illustrated the advice
which Daniel Webster gave to a young man who
objected that a I rofession he was advised to enter
was already crowded and that there was no room
for him. "Young man," said Mr. Webster, "there
is always room at the top." In whatever sphere
James Abram Garfield undertook to labour he soon
got away from the multitude by going straight to the
top. He began his own education by sweeping the
floor and ringing the bell at tile college to which he
first went. On one occasion subsequently, a fellow
student remarked to him that his sweeping was as
well done as his recitation. "Why not? " said Mr.
Garfield; "sweeping in its place is just as important
as a lesson in Greek in its place, and both should be
done well.* The sight of a half-swept room would be
an eyesore all the time ; it would be all of a piece
with an ill-learnt lesson." When on the breaking out
of the civil war he joined the North, he showed that
he had within him the qualities of a great soldier—
courage, fine judgment, and extensive information.
His courteous manners soon made him a general
favourite.

Tracing his life to the time of his bceoming Presi-
dent, the preacher spoke of his heroic conduct in the
face of death. That death must surely exercise a
powerful influence upon his countrymen, to whose
interests his life had been devoted. Nor would this
influence end with the American people. In no
country had the impression made been deeper or more
universal than in that over which the noble Queen
presided whose tender and womanly message to Mrs.
Garfield had added a new lustre to her crown.
, Taking up, then, some of the characteristics of the
man, in order to see what lessons were taught by his
life, the preacher said General Garfield was an
honest man. This characteristic had manifested
itself through his whole career, and the knowledge
of this swelled the tide of sympathy when the news
of his attempted assassination was known through-
out the country. Undoubtedly American politics
needed purification. That purification which General
Garfield was labouring to effect might not go on
as rapidly as it would have done, hut there would
not be a going baek. His administration, though
short-lived,. was really in the nature of a revolution,
and revolutions did not roll back, especially when they
were sanctioned by the right-thinking majority of a
people. Whatever might be the opinion of General
Garfield's successor, it would be impossible for him to
carry out a policy adverse to that signalised by the
late President. Had Garfield lived, he would have
grappled with two of the most fatal evils which in-
fested American government and society—corruption
in the civil service and Mormonism.
Mr. Garfield's private life was also singularly pure,
and in his devotion to home and family lay another of
his strong characteristics. What was it that to this daymade every Englishmen reverence the name of the
late Prince Consoct? Could any one doubt that the
tender relations between the Prince Consort and
the Queen, the sacredness in which be held these,
the fidelity with which he met every family obliga-
tion, did much to enshrine him in the hearts of the
tender,people loving Ands, oit
faithfulwa s w
nt h
his G e n
homeeral G pee. d .F
r9Hme whr3
life rulers might learn that their high functions do
not raise them above or sink them below the pale of
common humanity. But above all, President Gay-
field was d Christian—a truly manly Christian. !Xis
was an intelligent faith; repudiating the superstitions
which too frequently supplant Divine teaching, he
looked reverently to the Word of God as a lamp to his
feet. It was his only rule of faith and practice.
Where it spoke, he spoke ; where it was silent, he was
silent. His character might be summed up in the one
word—manliness.
In conclusion, the preacher dealt with the questions
—What could be the meaning of such a fearful tragedy
as that which terminated the life of one so eminent
and so good; and why.should he have been allowed to
suffer so long, despite the prayers offered on his
behalf, and yet not recover? It might turn out that
President Garfield's death would be more effective in
the work which he had undertaken than his life would
have been. Again, had he died at once, the anger of
the nation would have been manifested rather than its
sorrow. In the first moments of excitement following
the attempt on his life attention was directed to
the amain; but when the people had time to

reflect their love had time to centre on their great
leader, and they almost forgot the name of the man who
had stricken him down. Thus the people had time to
prepare themselves for the next step in the train of
events. The long period of the late President's suffer-
ing had given time for a most important unifying of
the people, politically and religiously. One charac-
teristic of President Garfield which had been noted
was that he always went from the lowest to the highest.
Alight it not be hoped that in the last tragedy which
ended his life we had only one more illustration of
this peculiar chatacteristic, and that, in bidding fare-
well to earthly scenes, he had learnt the truth of that
saying of Christ, " kle that loseth his life for my sake
shall find it."

Saturday was known as "the Sabbath of Repent-
ance" with the Jews, and the occasion was marked
by the delivery of the customary lectures on repent•
ance at the various synagogues in the metropolis. At
the synagogue in Great Portland-street, London, a
discourse was delivered by the Rev. A. L. Green, in
which reference was made at considerable length to
the death of President Garfield, in whom he said
America had lost one of her greatest and noblest sells.
It was a peculiar circumstance that -Monday, when
the remains of the President were consigned to their
last resting-place, was also the anniversary ot the
assassination, 2,700 years ago, of Gedaliah,
who had been appointed President of the
Jewish community in Palestine by King Nebu-
chadnezzar. Gedaliah was a man of great probity
of character, and was universally beloved for the
upright and blameless nature of his life, and the
many public and priva. e virtues of which he was
possessed. The resemblance between the characters of
these twa distinguished men, who both met their deaths
at the hands of the assassin, was remarkable. The Jews,
ever a loyal and law-abiding people, regarded the assas-
sination of Gedaliah as a national calamity and disgrace;
and so great was the abhorrence with which the das-
tardly act was viewed, that the day on which the deed
was done had ever since been celebrated as a fast. Now,
in America, they found a great nation bowed down in
sorrow and grief at the untimely fate that had over-
taken the first citizen of the land, at the loss of a man
possessing so many noble qualities, and whose life, if he
had lived, was so full of promise. They joined their
lamentations with those of the fifty millions of people
who had thus suddenly been plunged into mourning,
and more especially did their sympathies go forth
across the broad Atlantic to that devoted wife, and the
sorrow-stricken family of the deceased President in
this their hour of trial and grief. It should not, too,
be forgotten that in America there were as many Jews
as there were in France and England combined; and,
therefore, they indeed had good reason to sympathise
with the American people in that national calamity
that had befallen them.

A neuter's telegram from Washington says that the offi-
cial report of the autopsy of the remains of the late Presi-
dent Garfield has been published. It states that the cranium
was not opened. The body was considerably emaciated, but
the face was much less wasted than the limbs. Previous to
finding the ball the abdominal viscera were carefully re-
moved, placed in suitable vessels and examined seriatim,
the ball being found in the course of the examination. It
was further discovered that the right twelfth rib was frac-
tured, a fact not known while the patient was living. The
rent in the main trunk of the splenic artery, which caused
the fatal hemorrhage, must have occurred several days
before the President's death.

Mrs. Garfield's fund has now reached 334,428 dols. She
has sent to the Queen of England from Cleveland a fine
photograph of the late President, in reponse to the Queen's
request.