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{Delivered at the memorial service for President Garfield Sept 26th 1881. It was published in the Jewish Record}
Heavenly Father! Our minds are troubled, and our hearts unutterably grieved. We had prayed and ardently hoped for a cause of thanksgivings, but amidst universal gloom, lamentations resound through the land. At this hour of national anguish, we fly unto Thee for relief. Oh! teuch us to understand how the distressing bereavement forced upon us by a loathsome wretch is made to agree with Thy paternal design. A rag of Thy infinite wisdom willmay chase away the cloud that hangs over our spirits.
Not because Garfield was eminently virtuous do we sigh and mourn at his departure. Surely. his righteousness has walked before him and prepared the way to the glories in wh[ich]ereto Thou hast uplifted his soul. The loss we deplore is the deprivation of a Chief under whose lead the Republic of Thy godly Washington, would have been cleansed from dross, and have reached a higher standard of public morality.
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No more will America profit by the counsel of Thy upright servant. The lips which a live coal from the altar of Purity had touched, are sealed for ever in death. Bent with sorrow we have this day accompanyied to its final home the body whose restoration would have been our joy. The tears of Thy afflicted children flow;bedew their countenances; their blessings are wreaths of unfading flowers crowning yonderthat sepulchre. May we, O heavenly Father! often turn our thoughts thereunto, and, remembering the foul sin of dishonesty which causedoccasioned the opening of that untimely grave, may we vow to carry out the principles of rectitude which the dear dead has left as a legacy. Grant that our brel solves may receive a complete realization through the unswerving adherence of Chester Allenan Arthur to the solemn oath he solemnly took in Thy divine presence. Then time will soothe the oppressive feelings which so distress us now find relief.
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Heavenly Father! We commend to Thy grace her whose cheeks, furrowed with age, have more deeply sunk in by reason of the trials and decease of her great son, and with her take also in Thy merciful care the woman whose tenderness of wifely devotion illustrates a character sublimely pious. May the respectful love which millions bear them bring alleviation to their anguish, and Thy signal protection to the surviving offspring of our sainted President prove to them both a sweet and lasting consolation.
Oh! DeliverShield America from calamities, exalt her in righteousness, and Keep her as ensign to the world of national probity and of universal freedom until time shall be no more. Amen.
