The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-03-02

sect of that great Baptist communion,
which in different ecclesiastical estab-
liShments is so numerous and so infiuen-
tial throughout all parts of the United
States, but the broadening tendency of
his mind and his active spirit of inquiry
were early apparent, and carried him be-
yond the dOgmss of sect and the re
straints of association. In selecting a
ton, he rejected Bethany, though pre-
sided over by Alexander Campbell, the
greatest preacher of his church.
HIS reasons were charac-
terfstic; first; that Bethany
leaned too heavily toward slavery; and
second, that being himself q disciple
and the son of disciple parents, he had
little acquaintance with people of other
beliefs, and he thought il would make
him more liberal, quoting his own |
words, both in religious and general /
views, to go into q new circle and be un- |
der new influences. The liberal tenden- |
cy which he anticipated as the result of |
wider culture was fully realized. He |
was emancipBted from mere sectarian |
belief, and with eager interest pushed |
his Investigations in the direction of |
modern progressive thought. He fol |
lowed with quickening step in the paths |
of exploration and speculation so fear |
lessly tr0dden 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 |
formulated creed, but accepting the |
Old and New TesIaments as the word |
of God, with unbiased liberalIty of pri- |
vate Interpretation, favored, if it did not
stimulate, the spirit of invest CATION. |
It's members profess with sincerity and
profess only to be of one mind and one
faith with those who Immediately fol-
lowed the Master and were first called
Christians at Antioch. But however
high r>9-l -s.t -ts
GARFTELD REASONED
of "free fate, free will, foreknoWledge
absolute" he WAS never separated from
the church OF the disciples in his atfec-
tons and in his aspirations. 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 solecisms
and contradictions. A philOsophic OBJ
server declares that men by the thous-
and will die in the defense of a creed
whose doctrines they do not compre-
fhend, and whose tenets they habItually
violate. It is equally true that men by
the thousand will cling to church or
CARNATIONS with Instructive and indy
| ing fidelity, when their belief in matur-
er 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
4 the simpler instincts Of religious faith,
which earliest implanted longest sur
Yive. Not many weeks before his assas-
sination, walking ON the banks of
the Potomac With friend, and convers-
ing on those topics OF -
$50 PERSONAL RELIGION,
concerning which noble natures have an
unconquerable reserve, he said that he
bfound the Lords prayer and the simple
4 petitions learned in infancy, infinitely
restful to him, not merely in their repe-
I tition but in their casual and frequent
recall as he went about the daily duties
of life: Certain texts of the Scriptures
had very strong hold on his memory
and his heart. He heard, while in Ed
ingburg some years ago, an eminent
Scotch preacher who prefaeed his SER
mOu with reading the eighth chapter of
the Epistle of the Romans, which book
had been the subject of careful study
with Garfield during all his religious
life. He was greatly impressed by the
|. elOcutiOn of the preacher, and declared
!, that it had impaired a new and deeper
meaning to the majestic utterances of
st. Paul. He referred often in after
; years to that memorable service, and
dwelt with exaltation of feeling upon
the radiant promise and the assured
hope with which the great apostle to the
Gentiles was persuaded that neither
death nor life, nor angels, nor
municipalities, nor powers, nor things
: 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" .....r
The GROWING characteristics of Gen
Garf1eld's religious opinions as indeed
of all his opinions, was his hberality
In all things he had charity.
SO TOLERANCE WAS OF HIS NATURE.
He respected in others the qualities
conviction and frankness of expression
. With him the inquiry was not so much
what a man believes, but does he be-
lieve IT.? The lines of his friendship
and his confidence encircled men OF
every creed, and men of no creed, and,
TO the end of his life, on his ever length
ening list of friends were to be found the
names Of pious Catholic priest and OF
an honest-minded and generous-heaTted
free-thinker. On the morning of Satur'
: day, July 2, the President was happy
! and contented man; and in the ordinary
degree, but joyfully, almost boyishly
> happy. On his way to the railroad sta
5 ton, to which he drove slowly in con
l scious enjoyment of the beautiful
morning, with an unwonted sense
!. of leisure and keen anticipation
of pleasure, his talk was all
in the grateful and gratulatory VAIN. He
r felt that after four months of trial his
q administration was strong in its
/ grasp Of affairs, strong in popular favor
e and deserved TO grow stronger; that the
e grave difficulties confronting him at his
Inauguration had been safely passed thai
+ the trouble lay behind him and not be
i fore him that he was soon to meet the
\ wife whom he loved, now recoverin g
q from an illness which had but lately
f disquieted and almost unnerved him
: that he was going to his Alma Mater to
p review the most cherished associations
i of his young manhood, and to exchange
r greetings with those whose deepening
/ interest had followed every step of his
E upward progress from the day he en-
/ tered upon his college course until he
! had attained the Hottest elevation in the
gift of his countTymen. Much of hap
, piness can ever come from the honors
or triumphs of this world. On that
A quiet July morning James A
4 Garfield may have well been
! happy man. No forebOding
I of evil haunted him. Not the slightest
premonition OF danger cIouded his sky.
His terrible fate was upon him in an
instant. One moment he stood erect,
strong, confident in the years stretching
. peacefully out before him. The next he
!. lay wounded, bleeding, help1ess-doOm-
ed to many weeks of torture, to silence
and the grave. Great IN life he was
surprisingly great in death. For no
cause, in the very frenzy of wantonness
and Wickedness, by the red hand of a
murderer, he was thrust from the full tide
of the worlds interest; from its hopes,
its aspirations, its victories, into the
visible presence of death, and he did
not quail. Not alone for the one short
moment in which
Il STUNNED AND DAZED,
he could give up life, hardly aware OF
its REIMBURSEMENT, but through days of
deadly languor, through weeks of
agony that was not less agony
because silently borne, with clear
sight and calm courage he looked
into his open grave. What
blight and ruin met his anguished eyes;
whose lips may tell what brilliant,
broken plans; what baffied, high ambi-
tons; what sundering of strong, warm
manhood's friendships; what bitter