The Osceola times. [volume] (Osceola, Ark.) 1870-current, 1888-07-21


singularly useful, fortunate and hap
py. at the age of twen;y-four, ne
married Miss Annie Christy Brooks.
Their married life was such as in
their old age to bring to mind the
ballad o. I" John Anderson,
my Jo." The future hides in it gen
orally, much more Of sorrow than of
gladness; but the rule seems to have
been reversed in the case Of this
pair. The life of a true minister, onu
who has not mistaken his vocation,
has always been described as one
full OF beauty and felicity. Once
fairly embarked, our young minister
threw his whole soul into his work.
A more busy. Industrious man did
not live. Yielding to no traiterous
doubts, if any such ever haunted his
mind, from the hour of his or,lina-
ton he worked as if conscious that
he was 'ever in his great task masters
eye.' His labors were among the
hearty, hardy. liberal and high-spir.
tied people Of West tennessee, of
whom Davy Crockett was a true rep.
resentativc. 1t was not his business
to make money, to become eminent
in politics, but to preach the gospel;
and all through long life, the Cos
pei fed, clothed and housed him and
hi; family, and secured to him the
love and confidence of troops of
friends. Hosts of converts and many
churches a,tested the fact that he
had not mistaken his call to the
ministry.
The secret of his great success as
a minister will be found IN the fact
that he believed in his religion, and
entered the ministry in obedience to
what he ielt in his heart to be an
emphatic call. This belief made
hm, when in his prime, a powerful
preacher. He always knew inst
what he wanted to say before he be-
gan to speak, and as he believed in
its truth and importance himself, the
natural earnestness of his manner
was enhanced by his own deep-seat-
ed convictions. 1t is the earnest
speaker, whose words come from his
heart, who influences the will, and
changes the opinions of people, aud
causes them to think and act. Jo-
seph II. Borum was an earnest man,
and being pbedicnt to the inward,
divine light, which disclosed to HIM
his business in tins life, he was bold,
confident and fearless in the cause
he advoc ated.
1t has been written of him, that no
man in West Tennessee had been so
universally successful. The cause
of this success will be found IN the
fact that his lite had been laborious
and self-sacriicing. That success
which is founded on labor and self
sacrifice, will stand as an enduring
monument to the memory Of the
brave heart that reared it. When not
standing in his pulpit, the fearless
and eloquent advocate of the chris
tan religion was busy with his pen,
working IN the same cause. His hi.
ographical Sketch of Tennessee Bap-
fist Ministers, is a faithful record of
the lives of devoted, faithful men
who by their works lett the world
better than thev found it.
One so feeble and frail, suffering
at intervals through life with bleed
ing lungs, could not have lived so
long, if labor and self-sacrifce were
not conducive to longevity. The
recollection of such a life would dis
pei the clouds ofhoror, fear, sorrow,
despair, and keep the mind in state
of serenity. Disquieting thoughts
kill more than the diseases of the
body. He was slight, delicate
man; of late years, very feeble in
but prompt and quick
in all his movements, stately in bear
ing, kind, courteous and cmciliating
IN his intercourse with the world.
In fact, his unstudied grace and
courtliness of manner, originating in
due Difference to the rights of others,
made him welcome companion and
guest at all times. One so kind, so
genial, must have been blessed with
inward peace, than which Heaven
grants no greater blessedness to
mankind. Hence, the presence of
this wrinkled, time-worn old gentle
man in any home circle he visited,
was like bencdiction. The chill
drcn did not look at him as an aw-
ful man of God, suggestive of hell
and the devil, but seen at his APP
preach, with gentle smile, the old
man could have them all at his knee.
That any man should for fifty
years sustain himself as a christian
minister unspotted from the world,
enduring its trials, resisting its temp
tations, and by precept and exam
pie training men and women to a
higher life, is fact remarkable in
itself. Such life could have had
but one motive-obedience to the
true light, that lighteth every man
that comcth into the world.
For the last few months his health
began rapidly to decline, and it was
plain the end was not distant; and