The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1901-09-25
TRIBUTE BY HIS PASTOR.
Sermon Preached at the Funeral Of
President Mckinley.


The funeral sermon of the Rev. DR..
G. Il. Manchester over the remains
of the late President was as follows:
Our President is dead.
I'VE can hardly believe II. We had
hoped and prayed and IT seemed that
our hopes were to be realized and our
prayers answered, when the emotion
of joy was turned to one of grave ap-
prehension. Still we waited. for we
said: 1t may be that God will be gra.
cious and merciful to us II seemed
to us that IL must be His will to spare
the life of one so well beloved and so
much needed. Thus. alternating be-
tween hope and fear the weary hours
passed on. Then came the tidings of
defeated science, and of the failure of
love and prayer to hold its object to
the earth. We seemed to hear the
family muttered words: Good by, all.
Good by. It is Gods way. His will
be done and then, Nearer, My God,
to Thee" So. nesting nearer to his
God he passed out into unconscious.
ness skirted the dark shores of the
sea of death for time and then
passed on to be at rest. His great
heart had ceased to beat.
Our hearts are heavy with sorrow
"a voice is heard on earth of kins-
folk weeping.
The loss of one they love;
But he has gone where the redeemed
are keeping
A festival above"
Friend of the People.
The cause of this universal mourn
ing is to be found in the man him
self. The inspired penman's picture
of Jonathan, likening him unto the
beauty of Israel, could not be more
appropriately employed than chanting
the lament over our fallen chieftain.
1t does no violence to human speech,
nor is it fulsome enlogy to speak thus
of him. for who that has seen his
stately bearing. his grace and manli
ness of demeanor, his kindness of
aspect. but gives assent to this de-
scription of him? 1t was characters
tic of our beloved President that men
met him only to love him. They
might indeed differ from him, but in
the presence of such dignity of char.
acter and grace of manner none could
fail to love the man.
THE people confided in him, be.
lieved in him. II was said of Lin
coin that probably no man since the
days of Washington was ever so
deeply embedded and enshrined in the
hearts of the people but it is true of
Mckinley in a larger sense. Industri.
al and social conditions are such that
he was even more than his prede.
cessors, the friend of the whole peo-
pie.
1T is a glorious thing to be able
to say in this presence, with our illus
trious dead before us, that he never
betrayed the confidence of his coun-
trymen. Not for personal gain or pre-.
eminence would he mar the beauty
of the soul. He kept 1t clear and
white before God and man, and his
hands were unsullied by bribes. He
was sincere. plain and honest, just,
benevolent and kind. He never disap.
pointed those who believed in him, but
measured up to every duty and met
every responsibility in life grandly and
| unfiinchingly.
Brave, Honest and Gallant.
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 a few weeks
since the nation looked on with tear.
dimmed eyes as it saw with what ten
der conjugal devotion he sat at the
bedside of his beloved wife, when all
feared that a fatal illness was upon
her. No public clamor that he might
show himself to the populace, no de-
mand of 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 the world
all knows, and the world knows that
his whole life had run in this one
groove of love. 1t was strong arm
that she leaned upon, and it never
failed her. Her smile was more to
him than the plaudits of the multi
tude, and for her greeting his ac'
acknowledgements of them must wait.
After receiving the fatal wound
his first thought was that the terri.
BILE news might be broken to her gen.
tly. May God in this deep hour of sor-
row comfort her. May His grace be
greater than her anguish. May the
widows God be her God.
Another beauty in the character OF
our President that was chaplet OF
grace about his neck was that he was
a Christian. In the broadest, no
blest 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 tossed
His faith in the Gospel and Christ
were deep and abiding. He had nc
patience with any other theme of pull
pit discourse. He believed it to be
the supreme duty of the Christian min
lister to preach the Word. He said;
we do not look for great business
men in the pulpit. but for great
preachers
Still a Conqueror.
1T was perfectly consistent with the
lifelong conviction, and his personal
experiences that he should say at the
first critical moment after the assas
sination approached; Thy kingdom
come; Thy will be done and that he
| oh at hn los 10 Cn1ie