Morning journal and courier., 1882-02-28
SSournal anb Courier.
Tuesday Morning. Feb. 29. 1882.
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lueSuay MGfAlnSs Eens Aos ISSAs
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 numerous and so influential throughout all parts of the United States. But the broad ening tendency of his mind and his active spirit of inquiry were early apparent and car ried him beyond the dogmas of sect and the restraints of association. In selecting col lege in which to continue his education he rejected Bethany, though presided over by Alexander Campbell, the greatest preacher of his church. His reasons were characteristic j; first, that Bethany leaned too heavily toward slavery; and, second, that being himself Disciple and the son of Disciple parents, he had little acquaintance with people of other beliefs and he thought that it would make him more liberal, quoting his own words, both in his religious and general views, to go into new circle and be under new inf1u- ences.
 The liberal tendency which he anticipated as the result of wider culture was fully real ized He was emancipated from mere sec- tartan belief, and with eager interest pushed his investigations in the direction of modern progressive thought. He followed the quick ening step in the paths of exploration and speculation so fearlessly trodden by Darwin, by Huxley, by Tyndall, and by other living scientists of the radical and advanced 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 un- biased Gberaltiy of private interpretation, ia vored, if it did not stimulate the spirit of in vestigation. 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.
 'sixed fate, free will, fore-knowledge abso- 1 lute,'' 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 ot heaven. The world of religious belief is full | of solecisms and contradictions. phllo' 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. It is equally l true that men by the thousand will cling tc | church organization with instinctive and un | dying fidelity when their belief in maturel l years is radically different from that whicE l inspired them as neophytes.
 l But after this range of speculation, and l this latitude of doubt, Garfield came back al l ways with freshness and delight to the sim pier instincts of religious faith, which, ear Hest implanted, longest survive. Not many l weeks before his assassination, walking or l the banks of the Potomac with friend, anC 1 conversing on those topics of personal re | ligion concerning which noble natures have an unconquerable reserve, he said that ht 1 found the Lords Prayer and the simple petl I tions learned in infancy infinitely restful tc l him. not merely in their stated repetition but in their casual and frequent recall as he 1 went about the daily duties of life. Certain | texts of scriptures had a very strong hold or I his memory and his heart. He heard, while l in Edinburgh some years ago, an eminent Scotch preacher 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 i'm pressed by the elocution of the preacher and | declared that it had imparted new ano deeper meaning to the majestic utterances o1 | Saint 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 of the Gentiles was ''persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels nor prin cipalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth nor any other creature, shall be able to sep arate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord"
 The crowning characteristic of General Gar fields religious opinions as indeed, of all hi opinions, was his iberality. In all things he had charity. Tolerance was of his nature I possessed himseH-sincerity of conviction and frankness of expression. With him tht inquiry was not so much what man believes but does he believe it? The lines of hi friendship and his confidence encircled mel | of every creed, and men of no creed, and tt l the end of his life, on his ever-lengthenint list of friends, were to be found the name of pious Catholic priest and of an honest minded and generous hearted free-thinker. Y On ha nf T17Iu the President was contented and happy mal l-not in an ordinary degree, but joyfully, al most boyishly happy. On his way to tn railroad station to which he drove slowly, il conscious enjoyment of the beautiful morn ing, with an unwonted sense of leisure and 1 keen anticipation of pleasure, his talk was al in the grateful and gratulatory vein. He fel that after four months of trial his admins
 tration was strong in it's grasp of affairs strong in popular favor and destined to groy stronger that grave difficulties confronting
 him at his inauguration had been safel. passed; that trouble lay behind him and no before him; that he was soon to meet tn
 wife whom he loved, now recovering iron an illness which had but lately disquieted and at times almost unnerved him; that h was going to his Alma Mater to renew tn
 most cherished associations of his youn
 manhood, and to exchange greetings witt those whose deepening interest had followed
 every step of his upward progress from tn day he entered upon his college course unti
 he had attained the loftiest elevation in tn
 gift of his countrymen.
 Surely if happiness can ever come iron
 the honors or triumphs of this world, on tha
 quiet July morning James A. Garfield ma,
 well have been happy man. No forebodin!
 of evil haunted him no slightest premoni
 tion of danger clouded his sky. His terribl fate was upon him in an instant. One mo ment he stood erect, strong, confident in tn years stretching peacefully out before him
 The next he lay wounded, bleeding, helpless
 doomed to weary weeks of torture, to silence
 and the grave.
 gs Great in life, he was surprisingly great il
 death. For no cause, in the very frenzy 0
 wantonness and wickedness, by the red han'
 of murder, he was thrust from the full tid
 of this worlds interest, from it hopes, it
 aspirations it's victories, into the visibl
 presence of death-and he did not quail. No alone for the one short moment in which
 stunned and dazed he could give up life
 hardly aware of it's relinquishment, bu
 through days of deadly languor, througl
 weeks of agony, that was not less agony be
 cause silently borne, with clear sight ans
 calm courage, he looked into his open grave
 What blight and ruin met his anguished eyes
 whose lips may tell-what brilliant, broker
 plans, what baff1ed, high ambitions, wha
 sundering of strong, warm, manhood s friend
 ships, what bitter rending of sweet house
 hold ties! Behind him proud, expeotan
 nation, 8 great host of sustaining
 friends, cherished and happy mother
 wearing the full, rich honers O
 her early toll and tears the wife of hi
 youth whose whole life lay in his; the littl
 boys not yet emerged from childhood's da.
 of frolic; the fair young daughter; thu
 sturdy sons just springing into closest com
 panionship, claiming every day and every
 day rewarding fathers love and care; anc
 in his heart the eager, rejoicing power te meet all demand. Before him, desolatio1 and great darkness And his soul was moi
 shaken. His countrymen were thrilled witt instant, profound and universal sympathy
 Masterful in his mortal weakness, he became the center of nations love, enshrined ir the prayers of world. But all the love