Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1891-07-16

WnaG QlQ Judt! NOO uou "hSO %
cieties. Not prohibition laws Not
moral suasion. Conversion did it.
ssWhy," said one upon whom the great
change had come, ''sir, | feel just as
though I were somebody else" There
is sea captain who swore all the way
foom 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 1t that
washed his tongue clean of profanlties,
and made him psalm singer? Con-
version by the Holy Spirit. There are
thousands of people here to-day who are
no more what they once were than
water lily is nightshade, or morning
lark is vulture, or day is night.
Now, if l should demand that all those
people here present who have telt the
converting power of religion should rise,
so far from being ashamed they would
spring to their feet with more alacrlty
than they ever sprang to the dance, the
tears mingling with their exhilaratlon as
they cried, "We are witnesses" 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 depend?
No! When blush, be this my shame
That no more revere his name.
Again, l remark that ''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 business. !"
What poor advice! Get your mind off
it! When everything is upturned with
the bereavment, and everything reminds
you of what you have lost. Get your
mind off it! They might as we'll advise
you to stop thinking, and you cannot stop
thinking in that direction. Take walk
in the fresh air! Why, along that very
street, or that very road, she once &C
companied 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 you have no ambition
left Oh, this is clumsy world when it
tries to comfort a broken heart!
[ can build Corliss engine, | can
paint a Raphael's ''MadoEna," l can
play Beethoven'S ''SYmphOnY" as easily
as this world can comfort broken
heart. And yet you have been COM
forted How was it done? Did Christ
come to you and say, Get your mind Off
this; go out and breathe the fresh air;
plunge deeper into business"' No. There
was minute when he came to you-per-
haps in the watches of the night, per-
haps in your place Of business, perhaps
along the strickland he breathed some
thing 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 lace OF
the dead one and say: cit is all right,
she is better off; l would not call her
back. Lord, l thank thee thou hast
comfOrted my poor heart"
There are Christian parents here who
are 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 gradu-
ated from the young ladies' seminary,
and you thought she was going to be
useful woman, and of long life; but the
Lord took her, and you were tempted to
say, GAIL this culture of twenty years for
nothingv' 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 that child at all, if so soon He
was to take it away. And yet you are
not repining, you are not fretful, you are
not fighting against God. What enabled
you to stand all the trial?
''Oh,' you say, 81 took the medicine
that God gave my sick soul. In my
distress threw myself at the feet of a
sympathizing God, and when I was too
weak to pray or to look up he breathed
into me peace that think must be the
foretaste of that Heaven where there is
neither tear nor farewell nor grave"
Come, all We who have been out to the
grave to weep there-come all ye COM
forted souls, get up off your knees. Is
there no power in this Gospel to soothe
the heart? Is there no power in this re-
ligion to quiet the worst paroXysm of
grief? There comes up an answer from
comforted widowhood and orphanage
and childlessness, saying, AYE, aye, we
are witnesses!''
Again, I remark that we are witnesses
of the fact that religion has power to give
composure in the last moment. / shall
never forget the first time | confronted
death. We went across the corntields in
the country. / was led by my fathers
hand, and we came to the farmhouse
where the bereavement had come, and
we saw the crowd of wagons and car
riages, but there was one carriage that
especially attracted my boyish attention,
and it had black plumes. said: ''Whats
that? what's that? Why those black
tassels at the top?" And after it was ex-
planned to me was lifted up to look
upon the bright face of an aged Chris
tian woman, who three days before had
departed in triumph. The whole scene
made an impression I never forgot.