The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1891-07-22

day was fouud crying: "Oh, my great
sius. On, my great Saviour" aud tuI
eleven Years preached the Gospel .!
Christ to his fellow mounlaineerS, the
last wods on his dying lips being Free
race!p Oh, it was tree grace!
MILLIONS CoMFoRTED BI THE GOSPEL.
There is NAL who was or ten years
u hard drinker. The dreadful appetite
had sent down its roots around the pal
axe and The tongue, and on down until
they were interlinked with the vitals OF
the body, mind and soul, but he has not
taken any stimulants for two years.
What did that: Not temperance socle-
ties. Not prohibition laws. Not moral
suasion. Conversion did it. Why"
said one upon whom the great change
had come, sir, l feel just as though l
were somebody else" There is a sea
captain who swore all the way from New
York 70 Havana, and from Havana to
San Francisco, and when he was in port
he was worse than i" hen he was on sea.
What power was 1t that washed his
tongue clean OF protanities 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 a
nlehtshade, or a morning lark is vul-
ture, or day is night.
Nov, If should demand that all
those people here present who have felt
the converting power Of religion should
rise. so lar from being ashamed they
would spring to their feet with tar more
alacrity than they ever spraug to the
dance, the tears minsling with their eN-
hilaration as they cried, 1--WE are witnes-
ses!' And if they tried TO sing the old
Gospel hymn they would break down
With emt ton bv the time they got to the
second lire:
Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend
On whom my hopes of heaven depend?
No! When ! blush, be this my shame,
That ! 70 more revere his name.
Again, I remark that 1--WE are witues-
ses" CT the Gospels power TO comfort.
When a man has trouble the world
comes in and says: Now get ycur
mind ott this; 60 out and breathe the
fresh air; plunge deeper into business" T"
What poor advice! Get your mind off
it! when everything is upturned with the
bereavement, and everything reminds
you of what you have lost. Get your
mind of it! They might as well advise
you to stop thinking, and you canDot
stop thinking III 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 flowers, or into that
show window she looked fascinated. say
ing, Come see the pictures" Go deep
er into business! Why, she was asso-
ciated with all your business ambition,
and since she has gone you have no au-
bition left. Oh, this is a clumsy world
when it tries to comfort broken heart!
1 can build a Corllss engine, l can
paint Raphael's Madonna" 1 can
play a Beethoven's symphony as easily
as this world can comforts broken heart.
and vet 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 minute when he came ~ you-per-
haps iu the watches OF the night, per-
haps in your place of business, perhaps
along the streeL-anG he breathed some
thing into your soul that gave peace,
rest, infinite quiet, so that you could
take cut the photograph Of the departed
one and looS into The eyes and the face
Of the dear one and say: 1t is all right.
She is better off. I would not call her
back. Lord, thank thee that thou has
comtorted my poor heart"
DIVINE HEALING FOR THE SICK SOUL.
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
goiug into business, and the Lord took
him. Or your daughter had just gradu-
ated from the Iouns ladies' seminary,
and you thought she was going TO be a
useful woman and OF long life, but the
Lord took her, and you were tempted to
say, "All this culture Of twenty years
for nothingw Or the little child came
home from school with the hot fever
that stopped mol fer the agonlzed prayer
or tor the skilliul ply sician, and the lit
tie child was taken. Or the babe was
lifted out OF Your arms by some quick
epidemic, and you stood wondering why
Goa ever gave you that child at all # so
soon ne was to take it away. And yet
you are not reeining, you are not fret
tul, you are not fighting against God.
What enabled YOU TO stand all the trial?
Oh" you say, Il took the medicine
that God gave my sick soul. In my dis
tress threw my self at the feet ola SYM
pathizin. God; and when was too weak
10 pray or to look up be breathed into
me peace that | think must be the
toretaste of that heaven where there is
neither tear nora farewell nor grave"
Come, all ye who have been out to the
grave to weep ,lere-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-
ligiou 10 quiet :he WORST paroXysm OF
grief? There COMES up an answer from
comtorled widowhood and orphanase
and chlld!esspess, saying, "Ay, ay, we
are witnessesn
Again, remark that we are witness
ses OF the fact that religion has power to
give composure in the last moment. l
shall never forget the first time con-
tronted death. We went across the corn
fields in the country. l was led by my
fathers hand, and we came to the farm
house where the bereavement had come
and we saw the crowd Of wagons and
carriages; but there was one carriage
that especially attracted my boyish at
tentior, and ii had black plumes. /
said: What's that? what's thal2 Why
those black tassels at the top:" And
after it was explained to me l was lnted