Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1882-03-09
The liberal tendency which he an

was fully realized. He was emancipat-
Cd from mere sec arian belief, and with
eager interest pushed his investigations
IN the direction of modern thought.
He folio we'd with quickening step in
the paths of exploration and specul4-
ton So fearlessly trodden by Darwin,
oy Huxley, by Tyndall, and by other
living scientists of the radical and adj
Vanced type. His own church, binding
lis disciples hv 10 f.,rn3u lated creed
but accepting the old and new tesla
ments as the word of God with unbiased
liberty of private Interpretation, ia
vored, If 1t did not stimulate, the spirit
OF investigation. Its members profess
win sincerity, and profess only, to be
OF one mind and one faith with those
VINO immediately followed the Master,
and who were first called christians at
Antioch.
But however high Garfield reasoned
OF fixed fate, free will, fore-knowl-
edge absolute, !" he was never separated
from the Church of the Disciples in
his affections and in his associations.
For him it held the ark of the cove
nant. 10 him it was the gate of heaven.
The world of religious belief is full of
soleclsms and contradictions. A phil
osoph1c observer declares that men by
the thousand will die in defense of
creed whose doctrines they do not COM
prehend and whose tenets they hab
ltually violate. 1t is equally true that
men by the thousand will cling to
church organizations with instructive
and undying fidelity when their belief
IN maturer years is radically different
from that which inspired them as
neophytes.
But after this range Of speculation,
and this latitude of doubt, Garfield
came back always with freshness and
delight to the simpler instincts of relig-
ious faith, which, earliest implanted.
longest survive. Not many weeks be-
fore his assassination, walking on the
banks of the Potomac with friend,
and conversing on those topics of per-
sonal religion, concerning which noble
natures have an uncOnquerable reserve,
he said that he found the Lords Prayer
and the simple petitions learned in in
fancy infinitely restful to him, not
merely in their stated repetition, but in
their casual and frequent recall as he
went about the daily duties of life. Ger
tain texts Of scriptures had very
strong hold on his memory and on his
heart. He heard, while in Edinburgh
some years ago, an eminent Scotch
preacher who prefaced his sermon with
reading the eighth chapter of the Epis-
tie to the Romans, which book had
been the subject of careful study with
Garfield during all his religious life.
He was greatly impressed by the clocu-
ton of the preacher and declared that
1t had impaired a new and deeper
meaning to the majestic utterances of
| Saint Paul. He referred often in aftef
years to that memorable service, and
| dwelt with exaltation of feeling upon
the radiant promise and the assured
hope with which the great apostle of
the Gentiles was persuaded that Meth
| er death, nor life, nor angels, nor prin-
CAPABILITIES, nor powers, nor things pres
ent, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall
be able to separate us from the love of
God, which is in Christ Jesus our
Lord"
The GROWING characteristic of Gen
eral Gartield's religious opinions, as, in
deed of all his opinions, was his liber-
ality. In all things he had charity
| Tolerance was of his nature. He re-
| spected in others the quality he pos
sessed in himself-sincerity of copvic-
ton and frankness of expression. With
| him the inquiry was not so much
NH hol, Il he h.
lieve it? The lines of his friendship
and confidence encircled men of every
creed, and men of no creed, and to the
end of his life, on his ever-lengthening
+ list of friends, were to be found the
name of a pious Catholic priest, and of
an honest-minded and generous-heart-
ed free-thinker.
On the morning of July second, the
president was q contented and happy
! man-not in an ordinary degree, but
| ioyfully. almost boyishly happy. On
his way to the railroad station to which
he drove slowly, in conscious enjoy
ment Of the beautiful morning, with an
unwonted sense of leisure aud keen
anticipation of pleasure, his talk
was all in the grateful and
gratulatory vein. He felt that
after four months of trial his ad-
ministration was strong in its grasp Of
affairs, strong in popular favor and des.
tined to grow stronger; that grave
difficulties confronting him at his in
auguration had been safely passed;
that trouble lay behind him and not be-
fore him; that he was soon to meet the
wife whom he loved, now recovering
from an illness which had but lately
disquieted and at times almost un-
nerved him; that he was going to his. AL
ma Mater to renew the most cherished
associations OF his young manhood, and
to exchange greetings with those whose
deepening interest had followed every
step of his upward progress from the
day he entered! upon his college course
until he had attained the Hottest eleva-
ton in the gift of his countrymen.
Surely if happiness can ever come
from the honors or triumph of this
world, on that quiet July morning
James A. Garfield may well have been
happy man. No foreboding of evil
haunted him; no slightest promotion
of danger clou6ed his sky. His terrible
fate was upon him in an instant. One
moment he stood erect, strong, conf
dent in the years stretching peacefully
out before him. The next he lay
wounded, bleeding, helpless, doomed
to weary weeks of torture, to silence,
and the grave.
Great In life, he was surprisingly
Il r Al.