The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-09-20

must be His Will TO spare the IRE OF one
SO well beloved and so much needed. Thus
alternating between hope and fear the
weary hours passed on Then came the
news of defeated science, of the failure OK
love and prayer TO hold its object to the
earth. We seemed to hear the family NUT
tered words, Goodbye ALL goodbye; it's
Gods way; His Will be done and then
Nearer. my God to Thee So, nesting
near his God. he passed out into uncon-
seriousness, skirted the dark shores OF the
sea of death for time and then passed
ceased to beat. Our hearts are heavy with
sorrow
a voice is heard on earth of kinsfolk
The loss of one they love,
But he is gone where the redeemed are
keeping
A festival above
The mourners tread the way,
And from the steeples the funeral bells toll
slowly.
But on the lowly streets the holy people are
passing to and fro
And saying as they meet, Rejoice,
The long waited for is come.
The Savior's heart is glad,
A younger brother
Has reached the Fathers home
CAUSE OF THE MOURNING.
1.-THE cause of this universal mourning is
to be found in the man himself. The
inspired penman's picture Of Jonathan,
Iikening him unto the beauty of Israel
could not have been more appropriately
employed than in chanting the lamentable
death Of our dead chieftian. 1t does no
violence to human speech nor is it fulsome
eulogy to speak thus Of him, for who that
has seen his stately bearing. his grace and
manliness of demeanor, his kindness Of
aspect, but gives assent to this descrip-
ton of him.
1T was characteristic OF our beloved
President that men met him only to love
him. They might, indeed. differ with him,
but in the presence of such dignity OF
character and grace of manner none could
fail to love the man. The people confided
in him. believed in him. 1t was said OF
Lincoln that probably no man since the
imbeded and enshrined in the hearts of
the people, but it is true of Mckinley in
larger sense. Industrial and social con-
ditions are such that he was, even more
than his predecessors, the friend of the
whole people.
had closed The worshipers were gone to
their homes. Only few fingered to dis
cuss the sad event that brings us together
to-day. Three men in working garb of a
foreign race and unfamiliar tongue entered
the room. They approached the altar,
kneeling before it and before his picture
tears furrowed their cheeks They may
nave been thinking of their own King Hum
bert, and of his untimely death. Their
emotion was eloquent, eloquent beyond
speech, and 1t bore testimony TO their APP
probation of manly friendship and Of hon
est worth.
ut is a glorious thing to he able to say
In this presence, with our illustrious dead
before us, that he never betrayed the
confidence of his cOuntrymen. Not Tor
personal gain or pre-eminence would ne
mar the beauty of his soul. He kept IT
clean and white before God and man and
MS hands were unsullied by brides: HIS
straight before him. He was sincere, plain
and honest, just, benevolent and kind. lie
never disappointed those who believed IN
MIN, but measured up to every duty, ana
met every responsibility in life grandly and
unfiinchingly.
HE LOVED HIS WIFE.
Not only was our President brave,
heroic and honest; he was as gallant a
knight as ever rode the lists for his lady
love in the days when knighthood was in
flower. 1t is but few weeks since the
Nation looked on with tear-dimmed eyes,
as it saw with what tender conjugal devo-
ton he sat at the bedside of his beloved
wife, when all feared that fatal illness
was upon her. No public clamor that he
might show himself to the populace no de-
mand of a social function was sufficient to
draw the lover from the bedside of his wife.
He watched and waited while we all
prayed-and she lived This sweet and
tender story all the world knows, and the
world knows that his whole life had run in
q L
arm that she leaned upon and IT never
failed her. Her smile was more TO him
than the plaudits of the multitude, and for
her greeting his acknowledgements of them
must wait. After receiving the fatal wound
his first thought was that the terrible news
might be broken gently to her May God,
IN this hour of deep sorrow, comfort her.
May His grace be greater than her an
guish.
Another beauty in the character of our
President, that was a chaplet of grace
about mis- neck, was that he was a Chris
tan. In the broadest, noblest sense of the
word, that was true. His confidence in
God was strong and unwavering. 1t held
him steady in many a storm where others
were driven before the wind and loOscd.
He bell sved in the FatherhOod Of God and
in His sovereignty. His faith in the gospel
of Christ was deep and abiding. He had no
patience with any other theme of pulpit
discourse. Christ and Him crucifed,' was
TO his mind the only penacea for the worlds
disorders. He believed it TO be the supreme
duty Of the Christian minister to preach
the word. He said, We do not look for
great business men in the pulpit, but for
great preachers
1T is well known that his Cody mother
had hoped for him that he would become
minister of the gospel, and that she be-
lieved it to be the highest vocation in life.
IL was not, however, his mothers faith
that made him a Christian. He had gained
in early life a personal knowledge of Jesus
which guided him in the performance of
greater duties and vaster than have been
the lot of any other American President.
lie said at one time while bearing heavy
| burdens, that he could not discharge the
daily duties of his life but for the fact
that he had faith in God.
William Mckinley believed in prayer in
the beauty of 1T, in the potency of it. It's
language was not unfamiliar to him, and
his public addresses not infrequently evince
the fact 1t was perfectly consistent with
his lifelong convictions and his personal
experiences that he should say at the first
crucial moment after the assassin ap-
preached, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be
done, and that he should declare at the
last, 1t is Gods way; His will be done
He lived grandiy; il was fitting that he
should die grandly. And, now that the
majesty of death has touched and Gained
him, we find that in his supreme moment
he was still a conqueror.
A CRIME AGAINST THE WORLD.
My friends and countrymen, with what
language shall 1 attempt TO give express
sion to the deep horror OF our souls as 1
speak of the cause Of his death? When we
consider the magnitude OF the crime that
has plunged the country and the world
into unutterable grief. we are not surprised
that one nationality after another has has
tened TO repudiate the dreadful act. This
gentle spirit, who hated no one, to whom
every man was a brother, was suddenly
smitten by the cruel hand of an assassin,
and that, too while IN the very act OF
extending q kind and generous greeting
to one who approached him, under the
sacred guise of friendship Could the as
sailant have realized how awful the