“Very true; and it was better for him to be in a den of lions with God on his side, than a friend of the king with God against him. If you are like Daniel in moral courage, I shall be satisfied. The lions could not devour him so long as God was his friend; and God is always the friend of those who stand by the right.”

James never had other than royal lessons upon moral courage and kindred qualities. These things, which lie at the very foundation of stability of character and personal excellence, were ingrained into his early life. The Sabbath furnished a favourable opportunity for special efforts in this direction, though every day in the week bore witness in the same line.

We must not close this chapter without reference to one fact connected with the Garfield family that is worthy of particular attention. It was their “coat-of-arms.” A coat-of-arms formerly was a “habit worn by knights over their armour. It was a short-sleeved coat or tunic, reaching to the waist, and embroidered with their armorial ensigns and various devices.” The Garfield coat-of-arms consisted of a shield, with a gold ground, three horizontal crimson bars crossing it in one corner, over it a helmet with raised visor, together with a heart, and above the whole an arm wielding a sword, on which was inscribed the motto, In cruce vinco—

“Through Faith I Conquer.”

What we wish to say about this coat-of-arms relates to the motto. It tells of a courage that was born of faith in God, such as was found in the Ohio cabin, and without which the sorrows and hardships that invested its early history would have proved too much for flesh and blood. It is a grand spirit to brood over a human habitation, beneath whose roof childhood buds and blossoms into true life. It appropriates the Sabbath, Bible, and every other hallowed power that is accessible, to the “life that now is,” because of another “life that is to come.” It was this spirit that James nursed from his mother’s breast, and inhaled from the domestic atmosphere that wrapped his boyhood, to arouse heroic qualities, and bend them to victorious work.

When James was about ten years old, his uncle, Amos Boynton, organized a congregation in the school- house, and took charge of it himself, when no minister was on the ground. Mr. Boynton was a man of excellent abilities, and a very devoted Christian man. He was more familiar with the Bible than any man in the township, and could repeat large portions of it. A copy of the Scriptures was his constant companion. He carried it with him into the field. If he stopped to rest himself, or his cattle, the brief time was spent in reading the Book of books. His familiarity with the Bible qualified him to conduct Sabbath services in the log school-house; and they were of great moral and spiritual advantage to the people. To James they were of as much real value as to any one.

At that time religious controversy ran high in northern Ohio. The Disciples were a new sect, and all other sects denounced them; while they, in turn, expressed themselves freely concerning the errors and follies of their opponents. James often heard discussions at home upon these controverted religious questions, in which his mother engaged with others. It was not unusual for preachers to refer to them in their sermons; and always, when preachers stayed at his mother’s house, as they often did, these questions were discussed, and they made a deep impression upon the active mind of James. So bright a boy as he could scarcely fail to see that vast importance attached to subjects in which the ministers and his mother were so much interested. These controversies lent more or less importance to Sunday in the woods.

Among the topics discussed was Baptism, the Disciples being immersionists. The extent to which James’s mind was impressed by these discussions is learned from the following fact. Considerable political excitement prevailed in that part of Ohio in the “Harrison Campaign.” The neighbours were all for Harrison—Whigs —and James had heard his mother say that his father was a Whig, and a great admirer of Henry Clay, and voted for him when he was a candidate for President. One day some neighbours were discussing some politics in James’s presence, when one of them asked him, in a sportive way, “Jimmy, what are you, Democrat or Whig?”