Evening star., 1901-09-19
of unbelief was a menace to the full devel-
opment of civic institutions.
REVEAL THE SOUL.


Eject Of sickness and SUFFERING and
Death.
At st. Marks Lutheran Church. c stree,
between 18th and 18th streets south vest
Rev. J. C. Bowers, pastor. services in mem.
ory Of the late President were held at II
o'clock. The speakers were the pastor and
Mr.. Cornelius Eckhardt, president of the
church council The latter. In the course
of his remarks, read extracts from a speech
delivered by Mr.. Mckinley when he was
governor of Ohio, the occasion being the
thirty-sixth biennial convention of the gen.
eral synod of the church. held In Canton
Ohio, May "a to June 1. 1893. He also read
President RoOsevelt's proclamation setting
apart this day for memorial services.
The services, which lasted about an hour
were well attended. The hymns, ASLEEP fr
Jesus" and Nearer. My God, to Thee" and
MY Jesus. as Thou Wilt were sung by
the congregation, and solo, sometime
Wen Understand"
menting upon the appropriateness and SOL
emnity of the occasion, said:
Sickness, suffering and death reveal the
soul. We never SO fully realize the worth
of loved ones as when they are taken
away. This Is what makes our beloved
President all the dearer to us today jie
is gone, but how his magnificent character
puts power into and lights up his dying
life enabled him to shrink not frori the
stroke which at once sundered so many
ties and touched so many hearts.
Men saw that his creed was embodied
in his life, therefore they were constrdin31
to say of him: I have all faith in Mckinley
because / believe he is good man. To-
day they estimate his life, and as they read
the purity Of his motives, the sincerity of
his profession, there kindles in many q
bosom the aspiration: Would that I could
die as he did. What mean these .ioquc n.
expressions of his character, these touch
ing tributes to his worth. but that the
nation mourns the loss of personal trieuG
and beloved brother?
His last words will so down to pos
terity as an eternal avowal of his faith in
God and the blessedness of his death lie
whose earthly home knew no shadow found
In his last hours that the dying chamber
was none other than the house Of God
and the gate of heaven
1t In Gods Way.
Mr. Eckhardt read extracts from a
speech of Mr.. Mckinley and then address
ed the audience as follows: "Tt Is God's S
way. His will be done There was per-
haps no time in the history of this gem
Grafton up to the time of the cruel assassi-
nation of President Mckinley when the
LORDS Prayer was SO prominently put be-
lore the masses. simple sentence from
that prayer from the lips of the dying
president of the United States has made
man and woman and child bow alike in
meek submission 1t brought forth many
tear as the true import of those few
words imbedded itself in the heart, The
days of miracles have passed, but still
God moves in mysterious way His won
ders to perform
ITO my mind there is an awful solemnity
ABOUT the whole affair which must stir
the heart of the unbeliever as well as that
OF the oeiieVer, and in way perhaps
never heard of since the days of Jesus
Christ With voice almost inaudibie the
PRESIDENT bravely resigns, and the words
OF that beautiful hymn are put forth by
him for the last time, Nearer NV God, to
Thee: Possessing that faith that will not
shrink all through life, he closes his earth
ly career steadfast in that faith. What an
example. What pleasure and profit may
we derive from this exhibition of his great
love for his Maker. Need we-need any
one-be ashamed to confess Christ when
the man who, exalted to the highest posi-
tion within the gift of the American peo-
pie, is not only not ashamed to confess
Him, but who delighted in the law of the
Lord and confessed Him in the same spirit
as that of the humblest of His confessors
Another and touching exhibition of his
deep-rooted Christianity was his plea for
mercy for the miserable wretch who
the words of the Savior when he said,
Father. forgive them, for they know not
what they do
IN the death or president Mckinley the
nation has lost one of if not the best Of her
Presidents-one of the best and most loyal
of her subjects. The church of which he
was a member cannot estimate the loss
sustained within her fold, and last, but
not least, that dear wife who but a few
weeks ago stood SO near deaths portals,
whom he SO faithfully and devotedly
watched over and cared for. and who all
through their years of married life saw
only happiness and contentment SO far as
their love for each other was concerned
by that dear wife an irreparable loss Is
sustained. which can only be repaired
when they meet above.
God grant that we may all emulate the
life of William Mckinley, and that when
We come to take leave of this world be as
ready as he was to say:
1T is Gods way. His will be DONE"
DEAD, YET sPEAkETH.
Theme of Rev. DIR. McKim at Church