Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-02-28

with the phllosophlc compOsure OF Jeffer- |
son and the demonstrative confidence OF |
John Adams
The political events which disturbed the |
Presidents serenity for many weeks be- |
fore that Hateful day in July, form an i'm |
portant chapter in his career, and, in his |
own Judgment, involved questions of prn.
ciplefand of right which are vitality essential
to the constitutional administration of the |
Federal Government. 1t would be out of
place here and now 10 speak the language of
controversy; but the events referred to, |
however they may continue to be source OF
contention with others, have become. so
far as Garfield is concerned. rs much mat
ter of history AS his heroism at Chicamau.
ga or his illustricus service In the House.
Detail is not needIul, and personal antag.
onism shall not be rekindled by any word
uttered to-day. The motives of those OPP
posing him are not to be here adversely iD>
terpreted nor their course harshly charac-
terized. But of the dead President this is
to be said and said because his own speech
is fol ever silenced and he can be no more
heard except through the fidelity and the
love Of surviving friends: From the be-
ginning 0 the end of the controversy he SO
much deplored, the President was never
for one moment actuated by any motive of
gain to himself or of loss to others. Least
of all men did he harbor revenge, rarely
did he even show resentment, and malice
was not in his nature. He was Congenially
EN- Logged only in the exchange of good
offices and the doing kindly deeds.
There was not an hour. from the begin
ming OF the trouble till the fat4l shot en-.
tered his body, when the President would
| not gladly, for the sake of restoring har-
mony, have retraced any step he had taken
if SUCH retracing had merely involved con-
equences personal to himself. The pride
Of consistency. or any supposed sense OF
humiliation that might result from surren-
dering his position, mad not feathers
weight tn him. No man was ever less
subject to such influences from within or
from without. But after most anxious de-
| liberation and the coolest survey of all the
circumstances. he sOlemnly believed that
! the true prerogatives of the Executive were
| involved in the issue which had been
| raised, and that he would be nnfaithful to
| his supreme obligation if he failed TO main
| tain, in all their vigor, the constitutional
| rights and dignties of his great Cffice. he
| believed this in all the convictions of con-
| science when In sound and vigorous health,
and he believed it in his suffering and pros
| tration in the Iast conscious thought which
| his wearied mind bestowed on the transit
tory struggles of life.
| More than this need not be said. Less
| than this could not be said. Justice to the
dead, the highest obligation that devolves
| upon the living, demands the declaration
that IN all the bearings of the subject,
actual or possible, the President was con-
| tent in his mind, justified in his cons
science, immovable IN his conclusions.
| The religious element in Garfelds char
! acter was deep and earnest. In his early
| youth he espoused the faith of the DiscI-
| piles. sect Oh that great Baptist Commun-
| ion, which in different ecclesiastical estab-
| lishments is so numerous and so influential
| throughout all parts of the United States.
But the broadening ter dency of his mind
| and his active spirit of inquiry Ire early
| apparent and carried h IL beyond the dog
mas of sect and the restraints of associa,
| ton. In selecting college in which to
| continue his education he rejected Beth
! any, though presided over by Alexander
| Campbell, the greatest preacher of his
church. His reasons were characteristic
| first, that Bethany leaned too heavily TO-
ward slavery and, second, that being
himself Disciple and The son Of Disciple
parents, he had little acquaintance with
| people of other beliefs ana he thought it
would make him more liberal, quoting his
own words, both in his religious and gem
eral views, to go into new circle and be
under new Influences.
| The liberal tendency which he anticips
ted as the result of wider culture was fully
| Iealized He was emancipated from mere
sects rian belief, and with eager interest
pushed his Investigations in the direction
of modern progressive thought, He tol>
| lowed with quickening step in the paths
of explo alton and speculaticn SO fearless,
| y t-odden by Darwin, by Huxley, by
Tyndall. and by other living scientists of
| the radical and advanced type. His own
church, binding its disciples by no formu-
lated creed, but accepting the Old and
New Tesiaments as the word OF God with
unbiased liberty OF private interprets'
| ton, favored, if it did not slim ulate, TIE
| spirit OF investigation. Its members pros
| TESS with sincerity, 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 reasoned of
fixed fate. free will, foreknowledge sb-
solute," he was never separated from the
| Church of the Disciples in his affections
and in his associations For m it held
the ark of the covenant. To him it was
ne gate of Heaven. The world of relig-
ious belief is full of solecisms and contra>
dictions. A philosophic observer declares
tt i. men by the thousand will die in de-
| Tense OF q creed whose doctrines they do
net comprehend and whose tenets they
| babitually violate. 1t is equally true that
men by the thousand will cling to church
organizations with instructive and undying
fidelity :. hen their belief in maturer years
is radically different from that which in
| spired them as neophytes.
But af .er this range of speculate OF, and
this latitude of doubt Garfield came back
always with freshness and delight to the
simpler instincts of religious faith, which,
earliest implanted longest survive Not
| many weeks before his assassination, walk
ing on the banks of the Potomac with q
friend. and conversing on those topics of
personal religion, concerning which noble
natures have an unconquereble reserve, he
said that he found the Lords Prayer and
the simple petitions learned in infancy in>
fnitely restful to him, lot merely in their
stated repetition, but in the. casual and
frequent recall as be went about the daily
dules of lite. Certain texts of scriptures
had very strong hold on his memory and
his heart. He heard, while in Edinb burg
some years ago, an eminent Scotch preach
er who prefaced his sermon with reading
the eighth chapter of the Epistle to the
Romans, which book had been the subject
of careful study with Garfield during all
his religious life He was greatly impress
ed by the elot ution of the preacher and
declared that 1t had impaired a new and
deeper meaning to the ma este utterances
of Saint Paul. He referred often in after
years to that memorable service, aud
dwelt with exsltation of feeling upon the
radiant promise and the assured hope with
which the great apostle of the Gentiles was
persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
thiDgs present, 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 browning characteristic of General
Garfeld's religious opinions, as, indeed, of
all his opinions. was inerality. In all
things he had charity. Tolerance was of
his nature. He respected in others the
qualities which he possessed himself-sin-
cerity of conviction and frankness of ex-
preston. With him the inquiry was not
so much what man believes, but does he
believe it? The lines of his friendsh and
his confidence encircled men of every
creed, and men of no creed, and to the end
of his life on his ever-lengthenipg list of
friends, were to be found the names of a
pious Catholic priest and of an honest
minded and generous-hearted free thinker.
On the morning of Saturday. July sec.