LIBRAR Y OF CONG RESS. 
 
 Shelf ^^J^J^.h. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
In KpniQpieni 
 
 JAMES A. GARFIELD 
 
 HARVARD CHURCH, 
 
 BROOKLINE, MASS. 
 
3^n i^emoriam 
 
 James A. Garfield, 
 
 BORN NOV. 19, 1831; /^SSASSIN^TED JULY 2. 1881. 
 
 DISCOUESES DELIVEEEl) 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. R. THOMAS, 
 
 Sunday, Sept. 25th, and Monday, Sept. 26th, 1881 
 
 IN THE 
 
 HARVARD CHURCH, BROOKLINE, MASS. 
 
 BcliicatclJ to t\)t Doung fHcn of Broolklinc. 
 
 BROOKLINE : ._ 
 
 PUBLISHED BY THE CHURCH. 
 
J.R.MARVINc^/SON 
 
 '^ill. ^^^ 
 
 ' PRINT ERS. \ 
 
 BOSTO N. "X 
 
SERMON. 
 
 3>a<oo- 
 
 FOR HE WAS A FAITHFUL MAN AND FEARED GOD ABOVE 
 MANY. — NEHEMIAH, VH : 2. 
 
 T is not for me to refer, with any regard to 
 ^J detail, to the recorded circumstances of the 
 last three months of suspense and fear. A 
 whole people has been watching by a sick bed. 
 The particulars of this sad episode in the life of 
 the nation are all known. Not for the sake of 
 communicating information do we mingle our 
 thoughts with yours to-day, but f©r a higher 
 purpose — that of looking at this event, which 
 has stirred the syjiipathies of the world, in the 
 clearer light of the revelation which has been 
 brought to us in Christ Jesus. 
 
 When thought is stirred and feeling will have 
 its way, then there is no choice left for those of 
 us who are called by the voice of the Church 
 to occupy its pulpit, but to bring the common 
 
thought and feeling, as far as we know it, into 
 judgment, and inquire whether it be good or 
 bad — whether it be intelligent or ignorant — 
 whether it be Christian or unchristian? 
 
 At the very outset I admit that irom the 
 skeptic's point of view, so very limited as it 
 is, there is no consolation to be had from such 
 an event as this of the late President's assassi- 
 nation. Much otherwise. If life begin with 
 birth and end with that we call death, then the 
 skeptic and infidel are entirely right when they 
 say that we are at the mercy of chance, fate, or 
 whatever 3'ou choose to call that power which 
 we cannot successfully resist, and which from 
 day to day we have to dodge. It is strange — 
 passing strange, that the pistol of a w^ily assassin 
 should have in it such power, that in the very 
 prime of his manhood, just entering on the day 
 of his highest and noblest opportunity, one of 
 the most trusted men among us, should be cut 
 off " with all his blushing honors thick upon 
 him," and when it seemed to us we needed his 
 courage and wisdom and experience to lead the 
 nation to a healthier and higher plane of national 
 life. 
 
 I am not at all surprised that skeptics should 
 ask, voliere is now your God? Have we not 
 ourselves groaned in spirit and asked, ^O Lord, 
 why dost Thou permit this? Wherefore is Thy 
 
hand so heavy upon ns?' Have not Christian 
 hearts lodged their objections against it in the 
 form of remonstrative prayer? There are times 
 in life when even the least rebellious and most 
 submissive of God's children are compelled to 
 confess their entire inability to understand the 
 divine permission. He who of old said, •■! was 
 dumb; I opened not my mouth because Thou 
 didst it " — was in the posture which oftentimes 
 it becomes us to occupy — the only attitude 
 possible to us — that of reverent silence; remem- 
 bering ever what our Lord said to His disciples 
 in the hour of their perplexity, " What I do 
 thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know 
 hereafter." 
 
 This much we know, that in the present order 
 of things we are all exposed to the worst deeds 
 of the worst men. And we have no ability of 
 seeing how it could be otherwise, and yet that 
 measure of human freedom which is inherent in 
 our manhood's existence, be granted. Unless 
 by a perpetual miracle, such deeds cannot be en- 
 tirely prevented. And perpetual miracle would 
 be the destruction of so many elements of char- 
 acter that the remedy would be worse than the 
 disease. As far as we can see, when miracle is 
 not necessary to revelation, it is not granted. 
 
 Iliere can be no reasonable doubt that the 
 God revealed to us in creation and revelation. 
 
could in some way have hindei'ed this assassin, 
 and have tm-iuHl liim from his purpose. But no 
 such restraining power was exercised. The man 
 was allowed his full liherty. And we may he 
 sure that there was, in some needs of the nation, 
 or of the divine government, good reason why 
 he should 'he left to the impulse of his own evil 
 nature. Not that his crime is diminished one 
 iota. Judas was not the less an odious wretch 
 of a man, because the betrayal and crucifixion of 
 our Lord were on a line with the divine pur- 
 poses. Pharaoh was not one whit less a tyrant 
 because through his overthrow the divine power 
 should be illustrated in a day when men thought 
 that the Pharaoh power was supreme and unsub- 
 duable. Grod allowed such a man to be raised 
 up to be the despot of Egypt, in order that He 
 might " show on him His powei*," as the Scrip- 
 tures put it. 
 
 And whatever good may come to this nation 
 out of this great crime, followed by this great 
 loss, we may be suie that it is not all evil, and 
 not all loss. To my ow^n mind it w^as most 
 impressive and startling that, wiien leadei's of 
 thought and speech among us were beginning 
 to talk flippantly about this most hateful of all 
 methods of revenge — assassination; when apolo- 
 gies were beginning to be made for it; when in 
 some parts of the country resolutions of sym- 
 
pathy were being passed with successful assas- 
 sins, and we all of us were rather inclined to 
 be lenient and apologetic in speech under the 
 force of the idea that anything which will 
 wrench liberty from unwilling hands is to be 
 tolerated— that then, m that hour, the crack of 
 the assassin's pistol was heard in Washington, 
 and our own Chief Magistrate fell before it. 
 
 That such a man as Garfield should be assas- 
 sinated — confessedly one of our noblest and 
 best, the flower and fruit of all that is character- 
 istic in American civilization; whose election to 
 the Presidency was so auspicious, hailed by 
 almost everybody with satisfaction, — that he of 
 all men should be shot as though he were the 
 worst of men, — with all our musing during 
 these sad summer weeks, I think that we have 
 scarcely yet had any adequate apprehension of 
 how much it means. If a man of the late Presi- 
 dent's high character is not safe from the assas- 
 sin's bullet, no one is safe. 
 
 I think that we are not free from blame if we 
 do not look at this matter in its broadest rela- 
 tions. We do not like to confess that there is 
 anything in it which connects it, even indirectly, 
 with any evil habits in our socialism. But if we 
 regard the deed simply as the act of a half- 
 crazed, ambitious, disappointed man who wanted 
 to revenge his ill-fortune on some one, and so 
 
went for the most prominent man in the country 
 — if that to us is the whole storv, it is not likely 
 that a very deep impression will be produced on 
 our minds, even by an event so sad. Of course, 
 every man who temporarily or permanently lets 
 any passion or evil tenij^er rule him, instead of 
 being guided by reason, is in a sense insane, but 
 in no such sense of the word as deprives him of 
 responsibility. There is a motive for his mad- 
 ness, a purpose, a plan, a method in his madness. 
 He knows what he is doing, and does it. The 
 motive, the means and the end ai'e connected. 
 And there is no room for any apology for such 
 deeds done in the heat of passion; no apology to 
 be made for them even if, as is reported, this 
 wretched man is trying to make jjeople believe 
 that he did what he did conscitrutiously. For if 
 a man can assassinate another conscientiously, 
 he is at the deepest depth of degradation, at the 
 very lowest point of human depravity. 
 
 "It is not denied, (says Bushnell, who had an 
 insight into human nature that was wonderful 
 for its accuracy and its de|)th), that all men, 
 taken as being simply men, have consciences; 
 they would not be men without consciences. 
 But there is a very ^rreat diffei-ence in the de- 
 grees of consciences and the kind of timber 
 they are made of. Some conscien(*es seem to be 
 wholly insignificant and weak till they are tem- 
 
pest vStriuig, or get mounted somehow on the 
 back of passion. Then there is no hydrophobia 
 so incurably mad; and there is in fact no hinnan 
 creature so thorou2:hlv wicked and diabolical 
 as he that is protesting in the heat of his will 
 or the fume of his grudges and resentments, 
 how conscientious he is." And so any religious 
 talk on the part of this man who has done the 
 most hateful of all depraved deeds but shows 
 how bad he is. 
 
 Xow, in this and all nations, there are scores 
 of men just as wicked, just as revengeful, just 
 as bad as this assassin. They have no control 
 over themselves. And such speech as that we 
 hear too often against men in high place and 
 high office, influences their passions, and sup- 
 plies them with arguments and reasons why they 
 should i-evenge their own disappointments in 
 life on men who, as they say, could help them if 
 they would. This class of persons is inci'casing 
 in numbers, and if the most powerful rebuke 
 which can be given them is not given, — if the 
 human mind is not schooled into a healthy ab- 
 horrence of such crimes as that from which we 
 sufler to-day, no man in high office is safe. 
 And that is one reason why this wretched "spoils 
 system," as it has come to be called, ought to be 
 abolished, and some juster and better system 
 take its place. It is not simply that it is waste- 
 
10 
 
 fill of money, — it is ruinous to manhood, raising 
 as it does a crop of men spoiled for everything 
 but otRce-seeking, and hungry as dogs for the 
 crumbs which fall from the rich man's table. 
 
 We may fight the fact as much as we will, but 
 it remains a fact, that indirectly, if not directly, 
 we owe the loss w^e mourn to-day to this system 
 and its wretched involvements. ' Government 
 ought to find me a place, and if it does not, so 
 much the worse for government/ That, on his 
 own confession, Avas the feeling in the mind of 
 the assassin. And I fear that he but represents 
 the feeling of hundreds in all parts of the land. 
 But government is not a father to provide bread 
 for his children. It is only a guardian to defend 
 them in the possession and right use of life and 
 property. 
 
 Turning, however, from the darker to the 
 brighter side of this event, while we mourn the 
 loss of one whose life and opportunity seemed so 
 full of promise of blessing to us, yet the unify- 
 ing influPMce of this event on the nation^ cannot 
 but be fruitful in good wishes and in brotherly 
 confidences in the time to come. 
 
 Xot for nothing have we all been watching 
 by this sick bed. Not for nothing has the sym- 
 pathy of the world been turned to this nation. 
 Deep down in the hearts of the people there is 
 
11 
 
 a use and a service for such an event. And 
 though in a few brief weeks our attention will be 
 turned to new men, and it may be new measures, 
 and the tender pathos of the last few weeks will 
 have but slight traces of it left, and the old 
 common-place life will run on in its old channel, 
 yet T do not think we can be quite as far apart 
 as before. A common trial and common sorrow 
 bring men nearer together. They deepen the 
 relations between them. And so, North and 
 South, East and West, bendin^' together over 
 Garfield's death-bed, and togethei* dropping 
 tears over his grave, will feel more tender to one 
 another. 
 
 But sympathy has not been confined within 
 national limits wide as they are. The flag half- 
 mast high is seen not simply o'er the territory 
 where the "Stars and Stripes'' float; but enfolded 
 with it another flag — ^'the flag that braved a 
 thousand years, the battle and the breeze," the 
 flag beneath which, ere this land had risen from 
 the tempestuous main, the battles of Crecy and 
 Poiciiers and Agincourt were fought and won — 
 the flag beneath which Richard and his Cru- 
 sadei's fought in the Holy Land, the flag 
 which waved o'er Nelson's ship and was borne 
 aloft at the head of the armies under Marlboro 
 and Wellington; that flag, too, is half-mast 
 high to-day — in the docks of Liverpool, in the 
 
12 
 
 streets of London and Dublin, in the navy 
 yards of Chatham and Portsmouth, on the castle 
 of Edinboro, o'er the palace at Windsor, and 
 wherever Englishmen live and love and labor — 
 to use Daniel AVebster's words, wherever ^' the 
 morning drum-beat, following the sun and keep- 
 ing company with the hours, circles the earth 
 with one continuous and unbroken strain of the 
 martial airs of En^'land " — there to-dav the flao: 
 is half-mast high; the ocean is dried up; there 
 is no more sea between us; prosperity divided 
 us, but sorrow has made us one. The choicest 
 wreath on Garfield's coffin is that of England's 
 Queen; and for the first time in history, the 
 most aristocratic and exclusive court in the 
 world goes into mourning for a man in whose 
 veins not one drop of royal blood flows, and 
 the true kingship of kingly character is freely 
 and fully recognized. 
 
 Trulv "It is better to «'o to the house of 
 mourning than to the house of feasting.'' 
 
 And so while we mourn, we sorrow not as 
 those who sec no l)right light in the cloud. 
 The silver edges of the cloud that is dark 
 in its aspect towards us, show that the sun is 
 shining behind it, and that the ui)per surface 
 of it is all light. Yea, I cannot but feel that 
 these fingering weeks have been rich in mercy. 
 Though they have for the sufferer been weeks 
 
13 
 
 of pain, and though some have hastily said that 
 if he must die, was it not better for him to die 
 at once and be spared the suffering so far as 
 he JnmseJf \yas concerned, and the suspense so 
 far as others were involved ; yet I believe that to 
 the most of those who think at all, it will be 
 evident that we should have lost a great deal if 
 the death had followed suddenly upon the deed. 
 
 For the man was as noble in suffering as he 
 was in action. We know him better now than 
 before. And if the character of individuals 
 deepens and broadens in affliction — if suffering 
 has in it, as it always has, something of vica- 
 riousness, so that they who suffer, suffer not 
 merely for themselves alone but for others, — 
 would it not betoken a terribly hardened condi- 
 tion of heart if w^e all were not something better 
 for this tender and protracted union of sympathy 
 and feeling? 
 
 And yet again, have not these weeks of suffer- 
 ing and pain — borne by this martyr of ours so 
 uncomplainingly, so bravely and so submissively 
 — made us all feel that it is worth while to 
 have a character free from reproach and stain? 
 Daring these weeks, men everywhere have been 
 reading the incidents of Garfield's life, and as 
 they have jend of him, of what he was and 
 what he did; as they have marked his deeds and 
 conned his words, their sympathy has grown 
 
14 
 
 warmei', their admii'ation has deepened. It did 
 seem too bad that such a man, with such a 
 record and snch a character, should be shot 
 down like a dog. 
 
 Pie was such a man as the nation would wish 
 to have in its highest place of duty and of honor; 
 such a man as the best of earthly fathers could 
 point his son's attention to and say, ^^ Be as he 
 was; copy his example, and you will do well;" 
 such a man as the aspiring collegian in the 
 halls of learning could take as his model, — 
 such a man as every right-hearted mother w^ould 
 wish her son to be, — such a man as the Christian 
 felt the freest liberty in praying for — that God 
 w^ould, if it w^ere possible, spare his life, that, 
 restored to us, he might do the Divine will in 
 the highest seat of honor the land knows. In 
 our prayers there has been no reserve; nothing 
 in his character holding us back from sincerest 
 truthfulness. 
 
 ^ever, perhaps, in its history, has the nation 
 gathered so lovingly and devoutly around the 
 couch of any one man; and we may be assured 
 that, though the desire of our heart has not been 
 granted, yet, as with Cornelius, ^- our prayers 
 and our alms have gone up as a memorial before 
 God." Xo Christian can i)ray absolutely and 
 dictatorially. Always and ever we pray in 
 Christ's name, (that is, as He would pray,) and 
 
we know how lie prayed, '■ Father, if it be 
 possible let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, 
 not as I will but as Thou wilt." 
 
 Much of very ignorant speech is uttered on 
 this subject of prayer; as though, because we 
 pi'ay, it must of necessity be that God will do 
 the precise thing we ask. A moment's reflection 
 would make it evident to us that this could not 
 be, unless that precise thing were the very best 
 possible. " We know not what to pray for as 
 we ought." We can only ask for that which 
 seems to us practicable and best. Presu7n2Jtion 
 would take the government of the world out of 
 the hands of God and put it into creature hands, 
 but faith would not. Faith says, " Though He 
 slay me, yet will I trust Him." Prayer is often 
 the effort of the soul to Tc7iow what the will of 
 God is. It asks in order to know. If the thino^ 
 asked is not granted, then Faith assents, and 
 
 smgs on : — 
 
 " Good when He gives, supremely good, 
 Nor less when He denies ; 
 E'en crosses from His gracious hand 
 Are blessino-s in dissfuise." 
 
 ^»" 
 
 The praying man may not have that for which 
 he asks, but he will have strength to bear his 
 disappointment without bitterness. As he of old 
 said: "I am a wonder unto many," so many 
 
16 
 
 since his day have said, " I am a wonder to 
 myself. That I eoiild ever have borne what I 
 have borne, I had no idea." We know how 
 the King of Israel prayed for the life of his 
 child — begged constantly of God that the child 
 might live. But it died. And how did he con- 
 duct himself? When God had taken his child, 
 he rose and put off his mourning apparel, and 
 called for food, and went into the house of the 
 Lord and worshi^Ded. His servants thought it 
 strange conduct, so different from what they 
 anticipated. But he replied: "Now that the 
 child is dead, whei'efore should I fast? Can I 
 bring him back again?" And then there came 
 upon his spirit the sweetest of all thoughts: "I 
 shall go to him, but he shall not return to me." 
 
 And in all bereavements that are deeply felt, 
 that thought is necessary to the quietude of the 
 soul, that it is not death to die; that" if our 
 earthly house of this tabernacle be dissolved, we 
 have a building of God, a house not made with 
 hands, eternal iVi the heavens;" that the service 
 here is only preparatory and preliminary to the 
 higher service elsewhere. 
 
 Be sure that that life which is no lonsfcr ours 
 was not given, and nurtured, trained, schooled 
 and developed into the strength and beauty that 
 were in it, in order that it might be blotted from 
 existence by the snap of an assassin's pistol. No 
 
17 
 
 heart but the most depraved can ever credit that, 
 no intellect but the meanest can ever make a 
 home for such an idea. Oh, no! elsewhere the 
 martyi*ed President serves his God and his coun- 
 tiy. So I cannot but believe. 
 
 But another thought comes, and it is a painful 
 one — Are ive loortliy of our best men? Is it not 
 possible that sometimes God calls away some of 
 the choicest and best, because those .for whom 
 they live and labor are not worthy of them? 
 Death is but removal. And such a removal as 
 this may have a reason deeper than we have 
 ever suspected. 
 
 At any rate, let us ask ourselves the question : 
 Are we worthy of our best men? For, be sure 
 that when the best man is in the place of sover- 
 eignty, he will be as the candle of the Lord in 
 the dark ])laces of the land. 
 
 I have not a doubt but that in the Mormon 
 temple to-day some such word as this will be 
 heard: — that God pei-mitted the late President 
 to be shot down because his life threatened the 
 very existence of Mormonism. And until the 
 whole people are ready for action in regard to 
 such evils as afflict and disgrace our socialism, 
 no man of high integrity and aggressive princi- 
 ples must expect quietude and safety. Still, 
 gloomy though this doubt be — whether w^e are 
 
18 
 
 worthy of our best men, whether we would not 
 prefer that men inferior to the best be in the 
 places of power, — yet no one can say of us in 
 this hour, "The righteous perisheth. and no 
 man layeth it to JieartP 
 
 Though to-day and to-morrow are days of 
 funeral services, and some of you probably may 
 wish them gone, yet be assured of this, — that w^e 
 need to face the calamities of life; that sorrow 
 will not harm us unless it harden us; that, while 
 there are so many by word and deed defying 
 Ood^ and asking: — "Who is the Lord, that T 
 should obey His voice — I know not the Lord, 
 neither will I let my evil habits go?" so long in 
 some form or other calamity will strike us. The 
 assassin's pistol will be here. Dynamite and the 
 da<2:"i>'er will be heard from. 
 
 And prone as we all are to go to the house of 
 feasting, there to sow the seeds of frivolity and 
 animalism, yet T pity the heart that does not per- 
 ceive that o'er this house of mourning there has 
 stretched the rainbow of mercy. "When I bring 
 a cloud over the earth then the bow shall be seen 
 in the cloud." It has been seen by all but the 
 blindest. The tears that have been shed o'er 
 Garfield's grave have been translucent with the 
 light of God's countenance, and thus the bow of 
 mercy has been formed. 
 
19 
 
 And who- of us in this hour does not pray 
 " God help this stricken wife — this aged mother 
 — these sorrowing orphans." Our loss is great; 
 theirs is irreparable. Th.e Lord have mercy 
 upon them and strengthen them. The Lord lift 
 up the light of His countenance upon them and 
 give them peace. 
 
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 E cannot all attend the last sad rites 
 at Cleveland to-day. Both duty and 
 inclination would prompt us thereto. And so 
 we assemble in our churches at the hour of 
 sepulture, there to put ourselves into the atti- 
 tude of fellow-mourners with those who at this 
 hour in the metropolis of northern Ohio — th^ 
 fair and beautiful city on the shores of that far- 
 stretching inland sea — consign to the dust 
 whence it came all that remains of President 
 Gai'field. We say, in customary phrase, " all 
 that remains," but much more remains, as we 
 feel and kuow, than the worn-out material 
 body. His example remains, and the more 
 minutely we examine into it the richer it 
 becomes. 
 
 There are instances of public men, and they 
 are too numerous, in which it is perilous to their 
 
21 
 
 reputation to lift the veil which is dt-awn over 
 the private and domestic life. Napoleon I. was 
 the most bi'illiant general of his time, but the 
 memoirs of Madame de Remusat and the Life 
 of Madame de Stael forever kill our lespect for 
 him as a man. Lord N^elson was the most 
 daring, skillful, and courageous of all naval 
 heroes, but one must not search too .piyingly 
 into his private life. And so, if the task were 
 not disagreeable and hateful, we might pursue 
 our investigation and show how often it has 
 been that, in order to command respect for the 
 brilliant career of prominent men, it has been 
 necessary to apologize for this and that, or to 
 preserve a discreet silence where speech would 
 only be accusation. 
 
 With nothing of this reserve do w^e stand by 
 President Garfield's tomb to-day. Search his 
 histor}^ through and through, and there is posi- 
 tively nothing that need be covered up from the 
 public gaze. Follow him from end to end of his 
 laborious and useful life, we detect nothing of 
 impurity, nothing of meanness, nothing of craft 
 or subtlety. 'No more exemplary life has been 
 before the public gaze since people mourned foi* 
 the great first President of this Republic. 
 
 As a son how dutiful; as a boy how industri- 
 ous; as a student how diligent; as a young man 
 how persistent in his determination to excel; as 
 
09 
 
 a scholar how thoron<»^h; as a citizen how loyal; 
 as a soldier how conra<j^eous; as a politician how 
 patriotic, incorruptible, and pure; as a friend 
 how true; as a husband how loving and faithful; 
 as a father how careful of his children's welfare; 
 as a grown man how reverential towards that 
 aged mother whose charactei* was largely repro- 
 duced in him; as a man of aspiration and lawful 
 ambition how resolute in his I'esolve to rise only 
 by rectitude; as a Christian how simple in his 
 discipleship to his Lord. Set him in the fiercest 
 light you will, and there is next to nothing to 
 excuse. The life is singularly brave and clean 
 and pure. And so wonld we have it. 
 
 As we stand to-day by his grave and drop 
 there our handful of tiowers, our sorrow is as 
 real as our eulogy of him is fitting and candid. 
 We cannot do him good or harm by it. As far 
 as we know, (though really we do not know,) 
 he is beyond the influence of our praise or 
 blame. Yet such a pure and noble life gives us 
 a liberty of speech which, if it were less pure 
 and less noble, we could not have. 
 
 There are times when silence is ominous, — 
 times when a man, called to travel the I'oad of 
 eulogy, has to pick his way carefully, lest by an 
 indiscreet word he should cause some door, 
 garlanded with flowers, to fly open, behind which 
 a skeleton is hidden. We have no such fear 
 
23 
 
 haunting us to-day. It might be the grave of 
 an infant by which we stand, for of Garfield as 
 of the fairest child, we can dare to say, " Of 
 8uch is the kingdom of heaven.^' 
 
 I have neither the time nor the disposition to 
 offer you any biography of our departed Presi- 
 dent. Nor is it necessary. There are facilities 
 enouo'h for oettino: at all the facts of his life. 
 Bnt I am persuaded that very few indeed of our 
 j)eople knew how good a man had been nomi- 
 nated for the Presidency. The deed of the 
 assassin has revealed him to his own nation and 
 to the world as perhaps no deed less saddening 
 could have done. 
 
 It is not that by our words of eulogy to-day 
 we ai"e offei-ing a cheap kind of atonement to his 
 family for their and our great loss. He was a 
 better man than we knew. We knew that he 
 ranked high as a General; we knew that he was 
 one of the most skillful debaters on the floor of 
 the House of Representatives; we knew that he 
 was a force second to none in political cam- 
 paigns. 
 
 But not one in a thousand knew how he had 
 been drilled in the school of adversity in his 
 earliest days; how he had borne the yoke in his 
 youth; how self-denying he had been in order 
 to get an education which should fit him for any 
 position to which he might be called; how high 
 
24 
 
 a rank he had taken in college; how noble a 
 career he had run everywhere. We did not 
 know of his simple, manly religiousness; of his 
 consistent, Christian discipleshij), and how no 
 press of public duty had ever cooled his relig- 
 icnis fervor or altered his religious habits. We 
 did not know of this. Nor were we acquainted 
 with the high tone of that quiet home life which 
 he lived at Mentor. We did not know that in 
 his own home his wife was competent to give a 
 classical education to his sons, and that she 
 would be able at Washington, almost for the 
 first time in the history of the AVhite House, to 
 converse with foreign ambassadors in their own 
 languages. Ordinarily a man's home is his 
 castle, and its ])rivacy ought not to be invaded ; 
 but that which has become matter of public 
 notoriety can no longer be considered private. 
 
 Moreover, we knew so little of what may be 
 called his jprivate ^;4>Z^7/caZ life — so little of 
 how he came to be Representative of his State 
 in Congress, whether by virtue of real worth oi* 
 by subserviency to interests that were local and 
 uni)atriotic. We know now that nothing but 
 his sterling worth of character gave him his po- 
 sition; that instead of being slavish and obse- 
 quious, he was singularly independent. 
 
 When the Greenback idea had a strong hold 
 upon the public mind in his State, and he was 
 
25 
 
 urged not to commit himself in favor of hard 
 money, as " an indiscreet word might cost him 
 his nomination," he said: "Much as I vaUie your 
 opinion, I here denounce this theory that has 
 worked its way into this State, as dishonest, im- 
 moral, and un])atriotic, and if I were ottered a 
 nomination and election for the period of my 
 natural life on this i)latform, 1 should spurn it ; 
 if you should raise the question of I'enominating 
 me, let it be understood you can have my ser- 
 vices only on the ground of honest payment of 
 the debt in coin, according to the letter and 
 spirit of the contract." 
 
 This is only one of many illustrations that 
 might be given, all tending to show that he 
 owed his position as a representative man to 
 his integrity as much as to his intelligence. It 
 is true- that he was dowered wnth no little of 
 attability and urbanity. Xo one who saw him 
 for live minutes in intercourse with men, but 
 perceived that. Yet it came evidently from 
 sim])le good nature, and not from effort and 
 policy. The present minister at the Court of 
 St. James testified before a crowded meeting in 
 London, held on Saturday last, that President 
 Garfield once said to him, "It may be a de- 
 fect in my character, but I never could hate 
 anybody." 
 
26 
 
 The more searchingly we inquire into this 
 man's character and conduct, the more does the 
 idea shape itself into clear aud impressive form, 
 that Qod intended him to he, to the rising 
 young men of to-day^ an illustratice example of 
 a righteous successful man, —3. man who attained 
 to the highest seat of power b}^ no arts that 
 were unworthy, by no methods- that were im- 
 peachable. And this high mission is made more 
 impressive than it ever could otherwise be, by 
 the sad event which has ended the natural life 
 of this great and good man. 
 
 Lincoln was our war-martyr. Garfield is our 
 martyr in times of peace, a peace, alas! which 
 will be little better than a bloodless civil war so 
 long as this wretched spoils-system continues. 
 The end of that system would be, that where 
 now we have one Garfield in Congress, we 
 should have fifty; that the worthiest and best 
 men in the country wotild not be above politics, 
 when they shall be untainted with the corrupt- 
 ing idea of seeking place for the sake of the 
 patronage belonging to it, or for the sake of the 
 lucre directly or indirectly accruing. 
 
 They have a very low and poor, and unjust 
 idea of manhood, who say that if powe-i- and 
 patronage were abolished, and there were no 
 spoils to be controlled, men would not be found 
 to interest themselves in the government of 
 
27 
 
 the country. The very opposite would be the 
 result. The positions of Senator and Repre- 
 sentative of the United States must ever be 
 of such high honor that if there were not a cent 
 of emolument attached to either, they would 
 have an attraction for men beyond anything else 
 that the country can offer. Men who to-day will 
 not allow themselves to be put in nomination, 
 -who will not be classed with politicians, would 
 hear the bugle call of duty, and would obey the 
 summons to serve their counti*y, when nothing 
 but honor was the reward. We need never fear 
 that the abolition of the spoils system would 
 mean empty chairs in the House of Representa- 
 tives and in the Senate chamber at Washington. 
 However, I must not d^vell on that theme to-day. 
 Yet, standing by the' side of Garfield's grave, 
 how can we avoid the reference? 
 
 I think that at this juncture, if we must have 
 another Presidential martyr, it is matter of con- 
 gratulation that he is such an one as him we 
 mourn. We live in an age when the word "suc- 
 cess " is beginning to be tainted — when to 
 speak, of a successful man is so sadly often to 
 speak of a corrupted man. We live in an age 
 when the man of many acres is likely to be the 
 man of much influence ; when, providing a man 
 becomes wealthy, very many will say to their 
 sons: "Do as he did; adopt his principles and 
 
28 
 
 you will succeed. Never mind how you become 
 wealthy, or achieve success, only get it, and peo- 
 ple will not much inquire into your methods." 
 
 While this kind of speech is too general, yet, 
 thank God, it is not universal. For there are 
 successful men within one hundred miles of this 
 place whom nobody esteems; who, if I am to 
 judge from the speech I hear, are despised, for 
 their success blesses no one, not even their own 
 families; their names are never found on the 
 lists which relieve calamity; the widow's heart 
 does not sing for joy because of them, nor do 
 they dry the orphan's tear. Xot bad men, but 
 right-feeling men despise them while they live, 
 wrangle over them when they die, and curse 
 them even after death. Oh, it is terrible to live 
 such a life! 
 
 How different the feeling we all have as to- 
 day we stand by President Garfield's grave! 
 Occupying the highest seat the nation can give, 
 his name is to live in our history forevermore. 
 His success was the crown of faithfulness to 
 duty in every stage of life, from the first poor 
 place he filled to the last dizzy height on which 
 he stood. 
 
 As a writer in one of our daily pap^M-s so 
 well puts it: — "He was called to higher places 
 because he was faithful in humble ones. He 
 was called to a Professorshi[) in Hiram College, 
 
29 
 
 because he had been a good student. He was 
 called from grade to grade in the army, because 
 of his recognized fitness. He was called to Con- 
 gress, because one of the most intelligent con- 
 stituencies in the country recognized by his 
 worh his fitness for the place. He was re- 
 elected time and again because of his faithful- 
 ness, his industry, his nobleness. He was finally 
 called to the Presidency, not because he was an 
 aspirant, but because the people knew that he of 
 all men, was the man for the hour." 
 
 Everywhere it was character that gave him 
 intiuence. Why he was called to be a martyr, 
 that we only know in part. The deepest reason 
 for it is in the secrets of the Divine government. 
 But even this — his martyrdom — has left him 
 only greater. As Minister Lowell said at the 
 great meeting held in London on Saturday: — 
 " Though there were few from whom death 
 wrenched a richer heritage, there w^ere few who 
 would, like Garfield, die well daily for eleven 
 weeks. The fibre that could stand such a strain 
 is onlv used in the makino^ of heroic natures. 
 General Garfield, twenty years ago, offered his 
 life for his country. He has now died for her as 
 truly as if he had fallen dead then. His blood 
 has cemented the fabric of the Union; his 
 example is a stimulus to his countrymen forever." 
 
30 
 
 And that is the great use of this sad event, so 
 far as we can employ it. In these days of awful 
 looseness of morals among our young men, we 
 must hold up Garfield's purity. In these days 
 when so many homes are blasted by reckless 
 thought and more reckless living, we must call 
 attention to that pure, bright home at Mentor as 
 illustrating our typical American idea. 
 
 In these days, when duty is not too often a 
 word to inspire, we must remind our young men 
 that the deceased was a man who, always and 
 everywhere, listened reverently to the sacred 
 voice of duty. In these days o^ political tricJcery, 
 it is at our peril that we decline to make much of 
 his perfect political honesty. In these days of 
 a shallow, thoughtless, flippant skepticism, we 
 cannot refrain from pointing to the undisputed 
 fact that the springs of this man's integrity were 
 in the simple allegiance of his heart to Jesus 
 Christ our Lord. In these days when so many 
 forces divide us, we must note well how sorrow 
 makes us one; and oh, I would that, standing 
 by Garfield's grave, the two great Protestant 
 English-speaking peoples could forget that there 
 had ever been anything to divide us. 
 
 The genuine sympathy of a true woman's 
 heart — Queen by birth and queen by nature — 
 has done enough in this hour by her unstinted 
 sympathy to make us feel that all differences are 
 
31 
 
 on the surface; differences that arise out of the 
 competitions of commerce for the markets of the 
 world — but that blood is thicker than water — 
 that there should be no sti'ife between us, for we 
 are brethren. When, in Exeter Hall, on Satur- 
 day last. Minister Lowell said: — "I should do 
 injustice to your feelings no less than to my 
 own, if I did not oifer here our grateful acknow- 
 ledgments to the august lady who, herself not 
 unacquainted with grief, has shown so repeat- 
 edly and touchingly how a true woman's heart 
 can beat under the royal purple,'' — the irre- 
 pressible enthusiasm indicated how the people 
 felt. 
 
 " Seest thou a man diligent in business. He 
 shall stand before kings; he shall not stand 
 before mean men." We owe to the departed 
 Pi-esident this tribute. If any one elsewhere 
 asks from us a name that shall stand as typical 
 of the ripest fruit of our American culture and 
 life — without reserve and without shame, yea, 
 proudly and sympathetically we can point them 
 to James Abram Garfield. 
 
 " As some divinely gifted man 
 Whose life in low estate began, 
 And on a simple village green ; 
 
 " Who breaks his birth's invidious bar, 
 And grasps the skirts of happy chance. 
 And breasts the blows of circumstance 
 And grapples with his evil star. 
 
'' Who makes by fuicc liis iiu'iit known, 
 And lives to clutch the golden keys — 
 To mould a mighty State's decrees 
 And shajic the \vhis])cr of the throne. 
 
 "•And moving uj» from liigli to higher 
 
 Becomes on fortune's crowning slope — 
 The ]iillar of a ))eople's hope — 
 The centre of a world's desire." 
 
 Such an one was Garfield. '• I heard a voice 
 from heaven, saying unto me, AVrite, blessed are 
 the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth, 
 yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from theii* 
 labors." 
 
 And so, while the mortal remains of our 
 martyred President are at this hour being con- 
 siirned to the tomb, other " remains " can never 
 be consigned to any tomb. There i-emains the 
 purity of his life, the courage of his convictions, 
 the chaste love of his natm-e, the integrity of his 
 action, the unsullied brightness of his example; 
 and we would say, with all the emphasis we can 
 command, to everj^ rising young American man: 
 Be as he w^as; let his principles and his practice 
 be yours, and then the America of the future 
 will be the most glorious of all lands, and the 
 government " of the people, by the people, and 
 for the people," will not ])ei-ish from the earth. 
 Garfield is President no longer, but " God 
 rei<rns, and the Government at Washinsfton still 
 
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