The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-04-23

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FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, WASHING
TON.
! Where many presidents have vorshiped, MIR.
Cleveland among the1nl
cy held its two hundredth anniversary
in 1883 John Quincy Adams wrote a
special hymn for the occasion, and we
get some idea both Of his quality as a
poet and his faith as Christian from
its lines:
"Alas, how swift the moments fly,
How fG5G the years along
Scarce here. yet gone already by
The burden Of a song.
See childhood, youth aud manhood pass,
Ana age with furrowed brow;
Time was, time shall be-rurn the glass
But where IN time IS aowf
lime is the measure but of change
No present hour is found;
The past the future FIJI the range
OF hi11t's unceasng round
Where then, IS n9wi In realms above
With Gods atoniEg Lamb
In regions of eternal love,
Where sits enthroned AN
Then pilgrim let thy Joys and tears
On time no longer lean,
But neIfcetortA al thy hopes and fears
From carth'S affections gean-
To COD let votiye accents rise3
With truth, with virtue live,
So all the bliss that time denies
Eternity shall give
1t is said of President John Quincy
Adams that when his hair had been
whitened by the frostS of four score
winters he was still accustomed to re-
peat every night before he slept the
prayer which his mother had taught
him in infancy, the familiar Now |
lay ne down to sleep" He died, like
England's great earl of Chatham, from
stroke of paralysis while he was
speaking from his place in the nation
al legislature.
A far different figure in tho presi-
Dental panorama is that of Andrew
Jackson, whose wild boyhood filed his
good Presbyterian mother with the
darkest fears both for his temporal
and spiritual welfare. His early man
hood and his matUSe life were admit
teddy unchristian. His profanity was
marvellous. He swore great, strange
oaths, such as were never heard before
or since, and he kept it up until he
was quite an old man. At Salisbury,
\. c., where he lived as a youth. it is
recorded that he was the most roar
ing, rolliciling, game cooking, horse
racing. card playing, mlscillevous fei-
low that ever lived ID the town"
At series of revival meetings held
near THE Hermitage after his retire
ment from the presidency Gen. Jackson
was converted and made public profess
sion of repentance and faith in Christ
In the modest little church near his
mansion, buried in the forests of Ten
nessec, Old Hickory knelt humbly at
the altar and was baptized and became
q member OF the Presbyterian church.
After that he conducted family prayers
in his home every day. On june 8,
1915, he felt that death was near and
summoned his family around him. He
took leave Of each member of it separ-
ateiy and then spoke for nearly half an
hour with great earnestness on the
subject of religion, closing with these
words: My dear children and friends
and servants, l hope and trust to meet
you all in Heaven, both white and
black"
As to President Martin Van Buren's
religious status his biographcrs are
singularly silent. They all say Of him,
however, that ne was man of ire
proachable morality. President VIII
liam Henry Harrison was of the old
aristocratic stock of Virginia and an
Eplscopalian. On sundry occasions he
placed himself upon record as man of
strong Christian convictions. He de-
clined to fight duel because, he said
"a sense of higher obligations than
human laws or human opinions can i'm
pose" had determined him never to
do so.
President John Tyler was another Of
the old Virginia school of statesmen,
and he, too, was an Episcopalian.
Then came President James X Polk
He made no profession Of faith until
he was stricken with death. On his
way to his home in Nashville, Tenn,
he was seized with the cholera and
rapidly sank. Before the end came he
received the rite of baptism at the
hands of Methodist clergyman o.
his successor, President Zachary Tay-
Tor, nothing definite is said by his
biographerS, and it seems tOlera bly,
certain that he was not regular com
municant of any church. His wife was
a devout Episcopalian. and II seems
that he gave general assent and sup
port to the same faith He was. Is IS
well known, 4 thoroughly illiterate
man, and it is not likely that he ever
troubled his mind to inquire into the
difference between the creeds of the
various religious sects. Gen. Scott
says Of MIN that ''he had contempt
for learning of every kind. but never
theless had the true basis OF great
character-pure, interrupted morals,
combined with indomitabIe courage"
When he came 70 die. after brief
sickness Of only five days, he had no
misgivinEs. but calmly said: Il am not
afraid to die. am ready. have en-
deavored to DO my duty" What more
than this can any Christian say?
President Willard Fillmore. who fol.
lowed him, was a man OF unostenta-
tious piety. lie always showed great
reverence for The Bible. and by atflia-
ton, ii not or actual membership. was
a Baptist His wife was the daughter
Of Baptist clergyman. President
Franklin Pierce, who followed FIJI
more, was communist of the Episco-
pal church, and Nathanie! Hawthorne.
in his biography OF him. saws that he
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