p. 450 | ALL IN MOURNING by Editor

Seventh-day Adventist Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Oct 6, 1881

ALL IN MOURNING.

By Editor

IN this one thing the North and the South are in harmony: all are mourning the loss of President Garfield. The crime of the assassin was not against a State or a party; it was against the nation. James A. Garfield, while a candidate for the Presidency, belonged only to the party which put him in nomination. But President Garfield belonged to the United States. When a president is inaugurated, all good citizens have an equal interest in preserving his life and maintaining his authority, without regard to his political affiliations before election. The honor and the safety of the Government alike require it. Besides this, there is a very general concession that President Garfield was not only an able man, but a conscientious man and a Christian. Many incidents in his life are now being related, which show his generosity and goodness of heart. One of the most striking was that related by Congressman Hurd, of the Toledo district, who acknowledged such a favor at the hands of Mr. Garfield as is seldom accorded by a political opponent.

No stronger evidence could be given of the high regard in which the United States is held by the nations of the earth, than this general mourning for our President. The Queen of Great Britain, besides other tokens of respect and grief, issued the unexpected order for her Court to go into mourning seven days. The officers of the Russian men-of-war in San Francisco Bay had determined to give a ball to their friends in the city, but the Admiral would not permit it on account of the recent death of President Garfield. It is true, however, that he was very highly respected by all these parties, as a man, as well as President.

It gives pleasure to the friends of order and law to learn that there is a general disposition to receive President Arthur kindly, and to give him a fair chance to act without embarrassment in opening his administration. There is no doubt that he injured himself in his connection with the Conkling difficulty, in which he acted as a politician, and not at all becoming the dignity of the position to which the people had elevated him by their suffrages. But his course since the assassination of the President has done much to remove the unfavorable impression which he had created. The folly of Mr. Conkling's act is becoming more and more evident, as it now leaves only the life of Mr. Arthur between us and a change of administration, and it is to be feared the people would not take kindly to a change under such circumstances. The party which was so very successful last year might claim it as a clear right to have control of the administration during this term, while many of the opposing party still claim that they were deprived of their right in the preceding election. The apparent unity of feeling now prevailing, after the death of President Garfield, might be swept away in a day, and be succeeded by the bitterness of party strife, if the issue should be raised. And all are aware that it may be raised. Of all things in the world, we should be most slow to predict what a day may bring forth in American politics.

However this may turn, we have no faith in permanent peace among the nations. Crimes and plottings against the heads of governments are painfully prevalent. Standing armies and official vigilance afford no security. Peace has departed from the earth, for all the nations have rebelled against the authority of Jehovah. His law is disregarded, and the precepts of men are accepted in its place. The Scripture rule is: "First pure, then peaceable." By this rule we have no right to look for universal peace on earth until "He come whose right it is" to reign, and "shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." "The meek shall inherit the earth, and delight themselves in the abundance of peace;" while "there is no peace to the wicked." Our own government can plead no exemption. American politics are lamentably corrupt. Selfishness of office-holders is almost all-prevailing. It has ceased to be a crime, in the eyes of most politicians and public men, to steal from the public treasury. The standard of morality is low in nearly all classes of society. And even in the professed churches of Christ, convenience and popularity are accepted as sufficient to regulate the life, while a full pocket covers a multitude of sins.

No one who believes the Bible can believe that these things can exist, and the God of justice keep silence. No one who studies the prophecies of the Bible believes that these things will long be suffered. We are not a people who fear God, or hate sin. We mourn, but it is for the man, and not for the nation. Our sins are hiding the face of God from us, and it never will shine upon us until we respect his authority, and do justice and judgment. Will this ever be?

Some, in an excess of blindness, think if we would "acknowledge God in the Constitution," our case would be better. It would make no one better, but would lead to still more hypocrisy and oppression. Unless the people acknowledge God in their hearts and lives, professions and votes of recognition are only mockery. A revival of religion and morality—religion that carries lasting reform with it—is what is needed; but that, we must confess, we have ceased to look for, except in individual cases.