The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-02-22

, 80 close not any pulse may stir
The garments of her sepulchre.
LO, life hath been so sad to her!
Okindest Death.
: Within thy safest shelterfng
No pain nor sorrow endureth-
Death, sweet Death!
Reported for the Methodist
THE RNGINRER on THE LOCONO,
TIVE.
ALeeture Room Talk BY the Rev. Henri
Ward Beeeher, Friday Evening, Jan.
25th.
Some time ago gave q narrative OF
a short journey had on a locomotive,
in christian conversation with the
engineer. / had another ride with
him, and it was even more satisfying
and delightful than the first one. Our
Christian brother, Norbert, runs the
engine of the morning express-train
out of Boston. When he became a
christian he became one all over, all
through, for all time, and in every
thing, so that you can't be with him
t1ve minutes, or one minute, but YOU
feel the purpose of his whole life is to
honor the Savior and do good to men.
He has had no literary culture, but It
| pleased God to give him a big heart,
and in the new birth the size of that
important organ was not diminished.
/ was cOuversan6 with his early ex-
perience when he came into the new
life. As l walked forward in the sta
tlon-hOuse, he was sitting on his ell
gine. As soon as he saw me, he beck
oned to me to come up there. He put
me on the cushioned seat, then watch
ed the road and his engine, and talk
ed with me all at the same time show
ing in spite Of the old proverb, that
men can do several things at one
time.
81 never had so much to do in my
life. God is blessing me beyond meas
ure. One man by the name Of s.,
some years ago, owned eighteen
horses with drays. He had $4,000 in
the bank besides his movable proper
ty. Now he has only three horses
left, and they are fit for earriOn; there
is mortgage on them, and he has
drank up the 81, 600 I talked to the
Lord about that man, and my heart
was moved to do something for him
l prayed for him every day. One day
l met him: Is, you are the very
man want to see; want to talk
| five minutes with you about yourself.
L am your friend. For fifty-five min.
utes talked with him, and he asked
me to talk with him again; but he
went right to drinking. There were
twenty of them; the one that drank
the most was called Captain s.,
was their captain. The one that could
drink most next to the captain was
called Lieutenant. One of them had
made fortune and drank it up, so that
he was reduced to the very boards. L
used to go up and talk TO them every
day after had got through work, and
had washed up and got dressed up
One day when they had been drinking,
there was a watch missed. The lieu
! tenant, who was a fighting character,
was stationed to keep the door. The
man gave up the watch, and then
went to the door 10 90 out The lieu
tenant was loading his pipe and cut
ing his tobacco into strips with the
knife When the man insisted on 90
ing out there was q scuff1e; he cut
him with the knife and almost cut
his arm off, and in consequence of
that the lieutenant was taken by the
officers to Jail. The rest of the COM
pany came down to me to have me
try to get him out. I said: "Now
tell me the facts, the whole truth, you
must not deceive me-" / knew the
judge and told the whole case to him,
and he let the man 90.
"Nhen i went TO see them next day
they sang ont, 'aThere he is. Where's
your pledge? We want to sign the
pledge" 81 haven't got any pledge,
II sent down to get one, but want
to have you come down to the prayer
meeting at the Baptist Church you
can't do anything unless you go to
God for help. The pastor was gone,
and there was no deacon at home. l
thought itwOuId not do to have a bal
meeting, aud those nineteen or twen-
ty men going. l said to the good
brother, who was at home, "You pre-
side, and I'll sit back and pray as
hard as I can" So he did, and then
he called on me Pm not great at
making a talk, but | did the best /
could, and I told them what those
gnCAAJJ AnGn AAftu GtAluC AUE-bJ 6lkAA IllH
pledge. / said I would sign first, but
the captain said he would sign first, so
let him. Then the lieutenant and
the captain wanted me to sign in be-
tween them, and the the twenty sign
ed, and all are doing well but one or
two. We are going to bring them all
in, Brother Beecher."
So the locomotive preacher went af-
ter his little flock 81 gathered mon
ey here and there to get them some
thing to eat. All those men must be
saved. Work is multiplying on my
hands, so don't know what TO do"
saw paper in his pocket, and as
looked at it, he said, ''That is my
praying list-all those / pray for, and
| when one is converted / rub him off,
when men are converted, the Lord
rubs them in"
He told me four or five such histO-
ries. Somebody came TO me and
asked IL / would 90 to see a hard
drinking case. Sunday came round
dressed up and started to 20. found
the man was one OF your intellectual
gladiatOrs, and that he wanted to trip
me up; but kept telling him about
Jesus. poured my whole heart out
to him, and talked a good spell. His
wife sat by; she had a heart disease
1 kept praying, and by and by he got
little angry, and said: 81 suppose
you know that own this house and
am master here? It's time you 90 and
preach to your congregation, you have
talked nnniIQh - "YOu'Fe very much
mistaken said I: sfpm not a minis
! engine is the Jonh L. 50 0iss'--
/ the express-train every morning ~
| When he found I was wOrkingman,
what I had said sank down deep IN
hir heart: They, he and his wife were
converted, and are both doing well,
and as happy as you eyer saw.
'aThe other day brother came anu
wanted me to speak in meeting DO
you think I'd better fix up and read,
so 1 could make a respectable speeehZ
scSO! II the Lord had wanted you 70
speak, he'd have called you earlier
and through a asehOOl-hOuse. Sanet1fy
what YOU have got" 1t would ruin
him to polish nim up; there IS some
/, thing in the vernaeular that comes
from the heart. There are some points
of application in this mans history
There are none of Us but would fee
condemned, when we hear him speal
in regard to the use Of ourselves in tn
cause Of the Lord. What was IL tina
, made me feel called to DO this work
/, He is a hard working man, up earl!
! and late; but when hs was redeeme'
he felt gratitude to God and sympath,
I for other men. His desire to saw
men begat him the opportunity. II
. did not say, "WhO'd care for loen
motive engineer ?'' He kept pushing
! and one door opened after another
: till through his sympathy, love an
: and prayer, he had power over los
: men. This gave him strength an
= courage he could not have got IN an
= other way. He is doing more goo
than one out Of twenty clergymen.-
1, With this great atmosphere and Gu
= rent Of love and payer there IS
. end to what we can do. God bless
:, gifts Just as they are. Men do M
a need for this any particular eloquenC
= or knowledge. He is as hOmely an
: plain man as you could find but ov
]. il all he IL made an instrument Of gre
good.
: He might have said, "pm a me
~ working man; nobody would list
to a person in my situation % LO