Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1883-07-05
New Series-Vol 23. No. 81

Did he hear above the 10 Triumphe of
that occasion knell of the dies ira
that was upon him. His grand imagi-
nation was tinged with something OF
superstition; did he see aught of the
vision of Mira on that fell day of his
nomination.
AS to his soldier life, | have this to say:
| never stood in the presence of the genera
tion of men of which the murdered President
was part, without feeling profound rever
ence for American patriotism and American
citizenship. There are men here who look
upon war with unforgiving and unutterable
adherence, and it is dreadful thing. But
say this morning, this generation of men are
nobler, better and grander in all the elements
of honorable manhood, because of that bap>
tism of fire through which they have passed.
Think of the fellowship of sacrifice, OF suffer
ing, of death, and Of martyrdom. Think of
the great ideas Of nationality and liberty
borne triumphantly upon million bayOnets.
Think Of the molstrons and destructive doc
trines of human slavery, the shadows of
whosedireful presence fell athwart the conti>
nent, who were the Catoliuian incarnation of
the grossness, oppression, and barbarism of
the cen, aries Of this new Republic. Think
of the myriads Of cleaning saber from this
great North-land that smote them: the thou>
sand batteries that belchcd forth their fires
of death upon them. snd finally shot to death
upon the field of battle by the million guns
OF the Republic. See this victorious Anglo
Saxon army, grander than the Greek, nObler
than the Roman, with patriotism as stain
less as the air, having fought for the nobility
of labor; that MOTH s might own their babes;
see these men march to the National Capital,
and in the presence of the civil authorities,
stack their arms, furl their bar Iers, melt
again into the vast sea Of American ci .zenship,
mOcking at poverty, glOrying in honest toll,
they put their shoulders to $4,000, 900 OF
q national debt, and placed 1t upon gu equal
ity with the coin currency of the wcIld. They
made it possible with the Anglo>Saxon race
to maintain Republic, and demonstrated
that when ten millions of votes were cast into
the urn, majority of one peacefully deter
mined future Presidents, policies and admin
istratiOns (and to~day In Ohio there is bat
tie of ideas, whether the grcssness, the CONS
munism, the brutality, the barbarism of soci-
ETY. shall everwhelm the liberty, law, order
and civilization of the country in delGge OF
alcOhol.)
The assassination of Garfield was the sad
dest assassination in history. The assassina>
tion of every other modern ruler seems TO
have been supplemented with the consolation
that their work was completed, or nearly so.
But Garfield was the beginner; he was the boy
President; he had scarcely got settled in his
quiet Office. The only place he had shown the
shadow OF weakness, or a suspicion of lack
of moral independence-wa in his conser~
vatiye address TO the ladies of the ". G. r.
Union-in all else he had been great. The
bitter denuncistion and calumny of the cam
paign had left him lacerated. The broadside
of the worlds wrath, augmented by the
fierce attacks of those of his own political
household, was upon him. The shadow of
DEATH mantliug those he loved, hung across
his palace OF power, the splendid plans of his
administration yet lay in embryo, the pOli>
cies he foreshadOwed in his inaugural, the
schemes of international commercial unity
among the States of the New World, the ele
vation of the colored race, the improvement
of the civil service, all lay in his great mind
and heart, only formulated, but never materi-
allied, 80 he fell; what baffled hopes, what
high ambitions, what splendid broken plans,
what brilliant possibilities of administration
fell with him, who can tell?
Mr.. Blaine, in his eloquent address upon
the life and services of Garfield, delivered be-
fore both houses of Congress, in February of
last year, seems to find it necessary to almost
half apologize for the connection OF this great
man with any religious society. And many
persons were anxious and fretted because the
President, owing to his illness, WAS not more
demonstrative in his expressions of religious
feeling and belief. not considering that the
nOblest, the tenderest, the most Ieverent ma
lures have, in matters of personal religion, an
uncomfortable reserve, but bis last Sunday in
Washington, preceding his assassination, as
usual, he attended the Vermont avenue Chris
tian Church. From the early years of his
youth the church had been sacred to him.
She found him a homeless, wandering boy,
buffetted by the rude world, and threw her
fond, cherishing notherly arms around him,
and took him unto herself. When he entered
apon the years of his student life, her light
and strength went with him, launching out
upon the tempestuous sea of this world, to
become part of it, amid its manifold temps
tations, her faith and prayers sustained him.
Stranding in forum, whose temptation had
bankrupted the religious life of hundreds of
men, In the Courts of the Lord, and under
the shadow of the Cross, he passed serenely
and safely through all. When the fierce
wrath and calumny of the world was heap
ed upon him, the church was to him, like the |
shadow of great rock in a weary land. !
When, in the midst of heated campaigns he |
was wont, on the Lords Day, to meet with |
mis- brethren in the house of God. In the |
hour of his supreme elevation, the church |
was his home; the tender and reverent love he |
gave to her as homeless boy, was no less
tender and raverent when he became the |
Chief Magistrate of the Nation. And as he |
lay bleeding and wounded through weeks of |
mortal combat with death, looking into his |
open grave, the prayersof the church werewith |
him. And at last, weak aud worn and dying
by the seaside, looking out upon its ever
changing wonders, how fades to his vision the |
pageIntry of his Inauguration, the more than
kingly majesty of his great Office, the splendOr
of cabinet councils, the charm of administers
tive authority, the exultation of power, and |
as he nears the end, passing through the dark
valley and shadow of death, borne upward |
upon the prayers of the church, the parting
folds opening to admit him to the immortal
life, standing in the fellowship Of the great
apostle, now glOrifed, he hears again the
words, always divinely dear to him, ''For
am persuaded that neither death Dor life, nor
angels, nor principalities, 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"