Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1881-09-26
TIE FALLEN CHlEFTAIN
WHOSE DeATH-BED WAS LIGHTER
THAN his LIFE. Z
Effects of His Death-christianty Eulo-
gized-SeetionaIism Annihilated-We
Must Go When Our Time Comes
Poor Mrs. Garheld-Ihe
Lessons Taught. -
MARCH 4,h AND SEPTEMBER 23rd.

mage re0Q the story Ol NsOihl . iesoiA
after the death OF her husband, to Beth
lehem, her early home, her desolation
wonderfully descriptive Of the return OF
the return OF our late Presidents wife
to her country home after hei great
affection.
Subject: "Mightier dead than Alive"
Text-Judsss xvi 20, so the dead, which he
slow a his Death were more than they Whicn
he slew In MS lie"
Sampson in the text was deified and
became the Hercules OF Greece. He
was a giant warrior born to be q leader,
and Paul applauds him as man who
Through faith subdued kingdoms" he
was friend OF God and an enemy OF
uprishteousness. But the most memor-
able scene in his lite was the death scene.
The Philistines, his enemies, gathered
round him in great building to mock
him. With supernatural strength he
laid hold Of the pillar and flung every
thing into ruin, destroying the lives OF
the 5000 scoffers, among them the lords
of Philistine. He had slain many of the
enemies OF God during his life, but my
text says his last achievement was the
mightiest, $50 the dead which he slew
at his death were more than they which
he slew in his life." 1t is sometimes the
case that after most industrious, use
full and eminent life the last hours are
more potent than the long years that
went before. In the oversladowing
event of this day we find illustration OF
nv tax. President Garfield, as many
orators will say, was all his life the ene-
my of sin, the enemy OF sectionalism,
the enemy OF everything smatl-hearted
and impure aud debasing, and he made
many crashing blow against those
moral and political Philistines, but in
his death he made mightier conquest.
First our Presidents death, more than
his life, eulogizes the Christian religion.
We ali talk about hope OF the Christian
and the courage of the Christian and
the patience of the Christian. Put all
the sermons on these subjects for the
last twenty years together and they
would not make such an impression as
the
Magnificent Dsmeauor Of this Dying Chief
He was no more afraid to die than you
ara to 90 home this morning Without
one word OF complaint he endures an
anguish that his autopsy alone could re-
veal to the astonished world. For
eighty days in an inqustion OF pain, yet
often smiling, often fscetious, always
calm, bowing military salute to soldier
who happened to look in at the window,
talking with Cabinet officers about the
affairs of state, readingithe public bulle-
tins in regard to his condition, watching
his own pulse and so undisturbed OF
soul that warrant you il it had not
been for his dependent family and the
nation which he wanted to serve, he
would have been glad to depart any
time. o, srs! all he ever did in contir.
nation OF religion in days OF health was
nothing compared with what
he did for it in this last crisis.
James A. Garfield learned his
religion from his mother in the days
when she was trying in widowhood and
poverty to bring up her boys Alright;
from that same old mother who sat with
her Bible in her lap in her bed room
last Tuesday morning when the dread
ful news came that her son was dead.
James A. Garfield had no new reli-
gion to experiment with in his last
hours. 1t was the same gospel into the
faith OF which he was baptized when in
early manhood he was immersed in the
river in the name OF the Father, and of
the Son, and OF the Holy Ghost. That
religion had stood the test through all
the butfetings and prosecutions, through
the hard work of life, and did not for
sake him in the tremendous close.
There have been thousands OF death.
beds as calm and beautiful as this, but
they were not 80 conspicuous. This
electrifies christendom. This encour.
ages all the pain-struck in hospitals and
scattered all up and down the world to
suffer patiently. The consumptive, the
csncered and the palsied and the
lowered and the dying OF all nations to
lift their heads from their hot pillows
and bless this heroic, this triumphant,
this illastrious sufferer. The religion
that upheld him under the surgeons
knife and amid the appalling days and
nights at Long Branch and at Washing
ton is a good religion to have. Show us
10 all the ages among the enemies Of
q uCdlll bCu bAdN "lii NOAAi
pare with this radiant sunset.
Again our Presidents death will do
more for the cOnsummation OF
Right Feeling Between North and South
than all O. his administration OF four
years could have accomplished. This is
not Shaking hands over the bloody
chasm" according to the rhetoric OF
campaign documents. This is shaking
hands over the palpitating heart that
was large enough to take in both sec
tions This suffering man took the
hand OF the North, the hand OF the
South and joined them Together an i
practically said with dying pathos
that can never be forgotten: "Be broth.
ers." Where now are the flags at half
mast? At New Orleans and, Boston,
Chicago and Charleston. There is abso-
lutely to-day no Republican party and
no Democratic party. A new party has
swallowed up ala party OF National
sympathy. The bulletins on
the south side of Mason and Dixon's
line have been as carefully watched as
on the north side. We have been try
ing to arbitrate old difficulties, and set
tie old grudges, yet the old quarrel has
ever and anon broken out in new
place. But this requiem which shakes
the land, forever drOwns out all section
al discords. After all that has been done
and said during the past eleven weeks,
the people OF the South will be welcome
in all our homes, as We shall be welcome
in theirs. He who tries hereafter to
kindle the old fires OF hatred, will find
little fuel and no sulphurous match.
Alabama and Massachusetts, stand up
and be married! South Carolina and
New York join hands in betrothal.
Georgia and Ohio, pronounce you one.
Whom God hath joined together, let no
man put asunder. The seal is set by
the cold, emaciated hand OF our dead
President. No living man could have
accomplished it. More OF the sectional
prejudires and the misinterpretations
and the bitterness of old war times
have perished within the last eleven
weeks than in all the seventeen years
since the war began, and 30 the dead
which Garfield slew at his death, were
more than they which he slew in his
whole life.
Again these last scenes NUT impress