West Virginia freeman. (Parkersburg, W. Va.) 1881-1886, 1882-03-08

he solemnly believed that the true
prerogatives of the Executive were
involved in the issue which had
been raised, and that he wlHld be
unfaithtul to his supreme obligation
if he failed to maintain, in all their
vigor, the constitutional rights and
dignities of his great office. He be-
lieved this in all the convictions
of conscience when in sound and
vigorous health, and he believed 1t
in his suffering and prostration in
the last conscious thought which
his wearied mind bestowed on the
transitory struggles of life.
More than this need not be said.
Less than this could not be said.
Justice to the dead, the highest OBJ
legation that devolves upon the
living, demands the declaration
that in all the bearings of this sub
ject, actual or possible, the Presi-
dent was content in his mind, justi-
fed in his conscience, immovable
in his conclusions.
The religious clement in Gar
fields character was deep and ear
nest. In his early youth he espous-
ed the faith of the Disciples, sect
of that great Baptist communion,
which in different ecclesiastical es-
adjustments are so numerous and
so influential throughout all the
parts of the United States. But the
broadening tendency of his mind
and his active spirit of inquiry
were early apparent and carried
him beyond the dogmas Of sect and
the restraints of associations. In
selecting college in which to con-
tinue his education he rejected
Bethany, though presided over by
Alexander Campbell, the greatest
preacher of his church. His reasons
were characteristic; first, that
Bethany leaned too heavily toward
slavery ard, second, that being
himself a Disciple, son ofDisci pie
parents, he had little acquaintance
with people of other beliefs, and he
thought it would make him more
liberal, quoting his own words, both
in his religious and general views,
to 60 into a new circle and be I'M
der new influences.
The liberal tendency which he
anticipated as the result of wider
culture was fully realized. He was
emancipated from mere sectarian
belief, and with eager interest
pushed his Investigations in the
direction of modern progressive
thought. He followed with quick
ening step in the paths of exp lora-
ton and speculation so fearlessly
trodden by Darwin, by Huxley,
by Tyndall, and by other living
scientists of the radical and advanc-
ed type. His own church, binding
it's disciples by no formulated creed,
but accepting the Old and New
Testaments as the word of God with
unbiased liberality of private in
depreciation, favored, if it did not
stimulate the spirit of investiga-
ton. Its members profess with sin
cerity, and profess only, to be of one
mind and one faith with those who
Immediately followed the Master,
and who were first called Christians
at Antioch.
But however high Garfield rea-
soned Of "fxed fate, free will, fore
knowledge 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 covenant. To him it
was the gate of Heaven. The world
of religious belief is full of sole
cisms and contradictions. A philo-
sophie observer declares that men
by the thousand will die in defense
of creed whose doctrines they do
not comprehend and whose tenets
they habitually violate 1t is equal
ly true that by the thousand they
will cling to church organizations
with instructive and undying fdel-
ty when their belief in maturer
years is radically different from
that which inspired them as neo-
phytes.
But after this range of specula-
ton, and this latitude of doubt,
Garfield came back always with
freshness and DELIGHT to the sim