News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-07-16

Is a sea captain VINO SWOr6 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-
families, 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
a water lily is nightshade, or a morn
ing lark is vulture, or day is night.
Now, if I 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, 1--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 depend?
No! When blush, be this my shame
| That no more revere MS name.
Again, I 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 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 it, They
might as well advise you to stop think
ing, and you cannot stop thinking in
| that direction. Take O. 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 you have no ambi-
ton left. Oh, this is clumsy world
when it tries to comfort broken heart!
I can build Corliss engine, | can
paint Raphaers Madonna" l can
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 come to you and say, "Get your
mind off this; go out and breathe the
fresh air; plunge deeper into business|
No. 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
ewes and the face of the dead one and
say: ''It is all right, she is better off; |
would not call her back. Lord, l thank
thee that thou hast comforted my poor
| heart"
COMFORT FOR THE SORROWING.
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
l
| Lord took him Or your daughter had
Just graduated from the young ladies'
seminary, and you thought she was go
ing to be u useful woman, and of long
life; but the Lord took her. and you
were tempted to say, ''All this culture
of twenty years for nothingp Or the
! little child came home from school with
| the hot fever that stopped not for the
agonized prayer or for the skillful ply
stefan, 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 en-
abled you to stand all the trial2
ooh, you say, 81 took the medicine
that God gave my sick soul. In my
distress 1 threw myself at the feet of
sympathizing 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 heaven where
/
nor grave" Come, all ye who have
been out to the grave to weep there
come all We comforted souls, get up off
your knees. Is there no power in this
! Gospel to soothe the hearth Is there
no power in this religion to quiet the
worst paroxysm of griefl There comes
up an answer from comforted widow
hood and orphanage and childlessness,
saying, AYE, aye, we are witnessesp
Again, / remark that we are wit
nesses of the fact that religion has
power to give composure in the last
moment. l shall never forget the first
time l confronted death. We went
across the cornfields in the country. ]
was led by my fathers hand, and we
came to the farmhouse where the be
reaveInent had come, and we saw the
crowd of wagons and carriages, but
} there was one carriage that especially
attracted my boyish attention, and i
had black plumes. 1 said: what!
that? what's that2 Why those blacE
tassels at the top?" And after it wa
explained to me l was lifted up t.
; look upon the bright face of an aged
: Christian woman, who three days be
fore had departed in triumph. The
whole scene made an impression
| never forgot.
TESTIMONY OF DYING CHRISTIANS.
In our sermons and in our lay exhor
tations we are very apt, when we wan
to bring Illustrations of dying triumph
to go back to some distinguished per
sonage-to John Knox or Harriet
Newell. But want you for witnesses
/ want to know if you have ever seer
anything to make you believe that the
religion of Christ can give composure il
the final hour Now, in the courts, at
torney, jury and judge will never ad
NIT mere hearsay. They demand tina
the witness must have seen with hi
own eyes or heard with his own ears
and so l am critical in my examination
of you now; and l want to know
whether you have seen or heard any
thing that makes you believe that the
religion of Christ gives composure il
the final hour
'Oh, yes, " you say, Il saw my fathe
and mother depart There was grea
difference in their deathbeds. Stand
ing by the one we felt more veneration
By the other there was more tender
ness" Before the one you bowed per
haps in awe. In the other case yor
felt as if you would like to go alons
with her. How did they feel in tina
last hour? How did they seem to act