The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-01-20


insight and marked craftsmanship, which
made him the most needed man OF our
age? What OF all these and a hundred other
things Of worth2 Nothing. All must be
trampeled upon, slaughtered, assassinated,
that the 1end may strike at the power.
This truly shall stand to the present and
coming generations, loud, national warn
ing against the encroachments of law
1essness and anarchy; that is, defiance of
the powers that be in any part of our broad
land.
GOD IN HIS LIFE.
81 am to speak to you for few minutes
this morning upon the assassination of
President Mckinley, the devoted husband,
the noble Christian. the true patriot and
the faithful and beloved President IN
each of these respects, A great man and
a prince hath fallen this day in Israel
First, as a devoted husband. In no part
of his life, does William Mckinley stand
out with a nObler grandeur than as a de
voted husband 1 ought perhaps TO have
said, in passing, that no man can be great
and good only in proportion as the divine
comes into his life. This may be under the
inspiration of the divine teaching; in the
acceptance of divine principles and truths,
or, and more specifically, in the personal
incoming of the divine into ones life, IN
the experience call conversion, or saw
ing grace. In each Of these respects, GOD
came slgnally into the life or this prlncely
man. and manifested himself markedly
throughout his latter life. The nrst OF
divine institutions among men is the fam
lily, before either the church or the Nation,
and is indeed, basal thereto. In the family
relation, William Mckinley was a prince.
How often We have been told by a far-see-
ing and discriminating press, how, that
when he receiving the ovation of I'M
counted thousands OF his fellow-citizens,
out from the great throng, he would lift
his eye until he caught the eye OF little
woman IN the gallery, and recognition from
her was first, and more satisfying tnan
from all the rest. He was a duttful son and
tender TO his mother. down TO old age; TO a
praiseworthy degree, was exemplary in his
fidelity TO his wife. And let Ii be distinctly
understood that no man can be truly and
pre-eminenuy great. who is Indifferent to
the Feelings of his own household; parti-
cularly OF his own wife. The nobility OF
this great man and prince in our Israel
surely comes as a national Gliding and
rebuke to the Self-gratifying, calouS and
divorce-Seeking society OF our time. Shall
l insult you If i suggest a comparison
between this marked Christian fdel-
ity, OF husband to wife, and
the reprehensible conduct of one Emma
Goldman, a teacher Anarchist, who, In
harmony with her nefarious doctrines, can
take up here and there with lover or spouse
at her whim, and drop them again with
criminal facility. And what shall the hdel-
ity OF this princely man say to the court
and those OF this Republic, who have made
physical weakness and irritabiity of tenn
per and other shameful causes a supposed
reason for their breaking of the marriage
ties and go out into society, in many cases
not less than licensed libertineS. Ia cur
sorrow to-day can but rejoice that the
fidelity of this princely man lifts the truly
American and Christian standard OF family
life.
Second, Mckinley, the noble Christian
From the earlier years of his life until the
hour that he desired to depart and be at
rest, he knew, in personal experience, the
need and the worth of most of the doctrines
of the Christian religion. With a personal
faith in Christ an unbrOken alliance with
the church-that branch of it we have the
privilege to belong to, the great Methodist
Church-and with a loyalty TO his doctrines
and principles which have been known
throughout all his public life, as faithful
Christian man. Let il be further remarked
that ii was the reality of Christian doctrine
IN his life, teaching him the real father
hood of God and the true brotherhood of
the race, which nutured his belief and view
of life beyond all national and race boun-
diaries until the weakest and the worst OF
the earthS population had some share In
his sympathies and concern. There is moth
ing that can make far-seeing, large-hearted,
noble-purpOsed craftsmanship more than
the Christian conception of life. 1t was this
conception which gave us Lincoln, whose
picture stands to my right; it was this
same conception that gave us Garfield,
whose picture is here at my left; it was
this same conception which gave us Nc
kinley, whose picture you all gaze upon,
teaching our martyred Presidents, three
noble. far-sighted, GOd-fearing men, the
Christian conception of life an inspira-
ton to large deeds.
Third, the true patriot. Not only was
William Mckinley a true patriot in the
early sixties, when, with thousands OF the
true nobility of his country, he went out for
the defense of the flag and the maintenance
OF the Nation, and there gained such recog-
milton and honor made him, through all of
those years and since, well-known patriot
of his State; but before then and since, in
his own State of Ohio, the recognized cham
pion of public morality in state life, and
Oft-timeS Its chosen or voluntary advocate.
And now also, in the later days of his too
short life, we hear him saying in his last
public address at Buffalo: Gentlemen, let
US ever remember that our interest is in
concord, not conflict, and that our real emf
nence rests in the victories of peace, not
those of war Here. indeed, is truest pa
triotism a patriotism which can be true
TO the call of war when war is a necessity,
but which sees, and publicly holds, that the
achievements and victories of peace are
those upon which the Nation should place
emphasis.
How fitting it is that in the coming days
history shall record that under the admins
tration OF this Christian patriot, for the
first time in the worlds history, the Nation
should be led out for the relief and deliver
ance of a burdened and oppressed people on
the high ground of human brotherhood. and
the stars that sprinkle our flag will shine
on with a luster from the days of the
administration of this great and princely
man in our Israel. Whatever viewpoint we
Gently assassnated and much beloved Pres
ident, the words of the text of this morn
ing stand pre-eminently true; for whether
viewed in his relation to the home to the
church, to the state, to the Nation, or to the
nations of the world, truly, we may say,
Know We not that a great man and a
prince in Israel hath fallen this day
And now brothers, that he has fallen
and that by wicked and cruel hands, shall
we ever forget, or allow our children to for
get, that in death, as in life, he was so con-
sciously one with the eternal that two
memory Of our Nation as pre-eminently a
Christian man: First, the instructive and
whole-hearted spirit of forgiveness, like
that of his Master-for when Jesus was
dying at the hands of cruel men, He cried
in tones growing richer with the centuries
Father, forgive them; they know not what
they do, and when William Mckinley was
also dying at the hands of wicked men,
and in very real sense dying also for his
Nation, he, too, cried, Forgive him. DC
him no harm. and as One, the Lord and
Master of US all. lives in eternal resur-
rectiOn, so the other, His true disciple and
servant, shall be had in abiding remem-
brance by his own; and, second, the spirit
of unwavering faith and trust in the All
Father, his God. Hear him as he says, II
is Gods way. His will be done and with
latest breath he peacefully repeats the
great prayer, Our Father who art in
heaven and the hymn. Nearer My God
to Thee, nearer to Thee
What sublime confidence and Christian
| hope. The memory of the just is blessed
and the name of William Mckinley should