Connecticut western news., 1891-07-16

O1 tHe UOSpelS power to save soul We are witnesses" We were so proud that no man could have humbled us we were so hard that no earthly power could have melted us Angels of God were all around about us; they could not overcome us. But one day, per haps at Methodist anxious seat, or at a Presbyterian catechetical lecture, or at burial, or on horseback, power seized us, and made us get down, and made us tremble, and made us kneel and made us cry for mercy, and we tried to wrench ourselves away from the grasp, but we could not. It flung us fiat. and when we arose we were as much changed as Gourgis. the heathen, who went into a prayer meeting, with dag ger and gun, to disturb the meeting and destroy it, but the next day was found crying "Oh, my great sins Oh, my great Saviourr' and for eleven years preached the Gospel of Christ to his fellow mountaineers, the last words on his dying lips being, Free grace!" Oh, it was free grace!
 TRANSFORMED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
 There isa man who was for ten years a hard drinker. The dreadful appetite had sent down it's roots around the palate, and the tongue, and on down until they were interlinked with the vitals of body, mind and soul; but he has not taken any stiInulants for two years What did that2 Not temper ance societies Not prohibition laws Not moral suasion. Conversion did it. ''Why," said one upon whom the great change had come, "sir, feel just as though I were somebody else" There is a sea captain who swore all the way from New York to Havana. and from Havana to San Francisco, and when he was in port he was worse than when he was on sea. What power was it that washed his tongue clean of pro fanities, and made him psalm singer? Conversion by the Holy Spirit. There are thousands of people here today who are no more what they once were than water lily is q nightshade, or morn ing lark is vulture, or day is night. Now, if l 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 exhilaration as they cried, We are witnessesl" And if they tried to 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 dependY
 Nol When I blush. be this my shame
 That no more revere bis name.
 Again, remark that i've 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 busi ness" What poor advice! Get your mind off it When everything is upturn ed with the bereavement, and every thing reminds you of what you have lost. Get your mind off itl They might as we'll advise you to stop think ing, and you cannot stop thinking in that direction. Take a walk in the fresh airl Why, along that very street, or that very road, she once Accom- panied you. Out of that grass plot she plucked flowers, or into that show window she looked fascinated, saying, "Come, see the pictures. Go deeper into business! Why, she was associated with all your business ambition, and since she has gone yol have no ambi- ton left. Oh, this is a clumsy world when it tries to comfort a broken heart
 can build Corliss engine, can paint a Raphael's Madonna" can play q Beethoven's Symphony as easily as this world can comfort a broken heart. And yet you have been comforted. How was it done2 Did Christ come to you and say, "Get your mind off this; go out and breathe the fresh air, plunge deeper into business?" Mo- There was a minute when he 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 photograph of the departed one and look into the eyes and the face of the dead one and say; Tt is all right, she is better off; would not call her back. Lord, thank thee that thou hast comforted my poor heart"
 COMFORT FOR THE BORROWING.
 There are Christian parents here who ure willing to testify to the power of this Gospel to comfort. Your son had just graduated from school or college and was going into business, and the Lord took him. Or your daughter had just graduate from the young ladies seminary and you thought she was go ing to be a ,iSerul wu.:I;l:l. alid of long life; but lh- Lord took her, and you were tempted to say All this culture of twenty years for nothingl' Or the little child came home from school with ,he hot fever that stopped not for the agonized prayer or for the skillful phy sician. and the little child was taken. Or the babe w;,s lifted out of your arms by some quick epidemic, and you stood wondering why God ever gave you that child at au if so soon he was to take it away And yet you are not repining you are not tretful, you are not fighting against God What en abled you to stand all the tral2
 "Oh," you say, "I took the medicine that God gave my sick soul In my distress threw myself at the feet of a sympathzing God. and when l was too weak to pray or to look up he breathed into me peace that l think must be the foretaste of that leaVen where