The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1891-07-24

al Bua6iOn~ Conversion did It. why,
said one upon whom the great change
had come, ''sir, ! feel just as though /
were somebody else" There is a sea
captain who swore all the way from
New York to Havana, and from Ha-.
vana to San Francisco, and when he
was in port he was worse than when he
was on the sea- What power was it
that washed his tongue clean Of pro-
families and made him a psalm-singer?
Conversion by the Holy Spirit. There
are thousands of people here to-day
who are no more what they once were
than a water lily is a nightshade, or a
morning lark is a vulture, or day is
night.
Now, if / should demand that all
those people here present who have felt
the converting power of religion should
rise, SO far from being ashamed, they
would spring to their feet with more
alacrity than they ever sprang to the
dance, the tears mingling with their ex-
hilaration as they cried: 'We are wit
nessesl" And if they tried tx sing the
old Gospel hymn. they would break
down with emotion by the time they got
to the second line:
Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend
On whom my hopes of Heaven depend?
Not When i blush, be this my shame:
That / no more revere His name.
Again, l remark that 1--WE are wit
nesses" of the Gospels power to COM
fort. When a man has trouble the
world comes in and says: "Now get
your mind off this; go out and breathe
the fresh air; plunge deeper into bust
ness" What poor advicei Get your
mind off it! when everything is up
turned with the bereavement, and
everything reminds you of what you
have lost Get your mind off it! They
might as well advise you to stop think
ing, andyou ear not stop thinking in that
direction. Take a walk in the fresh air!
Why, along that very street, or that
very road. she once accompanied you.
Out of that grass-plot she plucked flow
ers, or into that show-window she
looked fascinated, saying: Come see
the pictures" Go deeper into bust
nessl Why, she was associated with
all your business ambition, and
since she has gone you nave no ambi-
ton left. Oh, this is a clumsy world
when it tries to comfort a 1broken
heart! / can build a Corliss engine, /
can paint a Raphael's Madonna" /
a play a Beethoven's symphony" as
easily as this world can comfort a
broken heart. And yet you have been
comforted. How was it done? Did
Christ to come to you and say: sect
your mind off this; go out and breathe
the fresh air; plunge deeper into bust
nessl' No. There was a minute when
lie came to you-perhaps in the watches
of the night, perhaps in your place of
business, perhaps along the street
and He breathed something into your
soul that gave peace, rest, infinite quiet,
so that you could take out the photo
graph of the departed one and look into
the eyes and the face of the dear one
and say: 1T is all right; she is better
off; / would not call her back. Lord,
l thank Thee hat Thou hast comforted
my poor heart"
There are Christian parents mere who
are willing to testify to the power of
the Gospel to comfort. Your son had
and was going into business, and the
Lord took him. Or your daughter had
just graduated from the young ladies'
seminary, and you thought she was go.
ing to be a useful woman, and of long
life; but the Lord took her. and you
were tempted to say: '-All the culture
of twenty years for nothing!' Or the
little child came home from school with
the hot fever that stopped not for the
agonized prayer or for the skillful
physician, and the little child was
taken. Or the babe was lifted out of
your arms by some quick epidemic, and
you stood wondering why God ever
gave you hat child at all, if so soon He
was to take it away. And yet,you are
repining, you are not fretful, you are
not fighting against God. What ma
bled you to stand all the trial? ''Oh,'
you say, II took the medicine that
God gave my sick soul. In my
distress 1 threw myself at the
feet of a sympathizing God; and when
l was too weak to pray, or to
look up, He breathed into me a peace
hat i think must be the foretaste of
that Heaven where there is neither a
tear nor a farewell nor a grave" Come,
all We who have been out to the grave
to weep there-come all We comforted
souls, get up on your knees. Is there
no power in the Gospel to soothe the
heart? Is there no power in this re-
ligion to quiet the worst paroxysm of
griefT There ome up an answer from
comforted widowhood, and orphanage,
and childlessness, saying: "Ay, ny, we
are witnessesl''
Again,sI remark that we are witnesses
of the fact that religion has power to
give composure in the last moment. /
shall never forget the time I confronted
death. We went across the corn fields
in the country. / was lead by my
fathers hand, and we came to the farm
house where the bereavement had came
and we saw the crowd of wagons and
carriages; but there was carriage
that especially attracted my attention,
and it had black plumes, / said: What's
that? Why those black tassels on the
top?" And after it was explained to
me, I was lifted up to look upon the
brightface of an aged Christian woman,
who three days before had departed in
triumph. The whole scene made an
impression / never forgot.
In our sermon and in our lay ex-
hortations we are very apt, when we
want to bring illustrations of dying tri-
umph. to go back to some distinguished
personage-to John Knox or a Harriet
Newell. But / want you for witnesses
l want to know if you have ever seen
anything to make you believe that the
religion of Christ can give composure in
the final hour. Now, in the courts at
u