Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-07-13
lily is nightshade, or morning lark is
or DAY Is NIGHT.

verting 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 ming
ling with their exhilaration 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 l blush. be this NY shame
That 1 no more revere his uaIne.
Again, remark thai 1--WE are witnesses
of the gospels power TO comfort. When
man has trouble the world comes in and
saws: Now get your mind of 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 bereavement, and everything re
minds You of what you have lost. Get your
mind off It. They might as well advise
YOU to stop thinking in that direction.
Take Il 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, saying:
Come and see the pictures" Co deeper
into business, Why, she was associated
with all Your business ambition, aud since
she has gone you have no ambition left.
Oh, this is clumsy world when it tries TO
comfort a broken heart l can build
COrliSS engine, | can paint a RaphaelS
Madonna | can play Beethoven 5
SYMPHONY as easily as this world can
comfort 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 minute when ne came to you
perhaps IN the watches Of the night, per
haps il your place Of business; perhaps
along the street-and he breathed some
thing into your soul that gave
PEACE, REST. INFINITE QUIET,
so that you could take out the photograph
o. the departed one and look into the eyes
and the face Of the dear one and say: ~ is
all right; she IS better off; l would not call
her back. Lord, l thank thee that thou
hast comforted my poor heart. p"
There are Christian parents here who are
willing to testify to the power OF this Cos
pei to comfort. Your son had just gradU-
ated from school or college and was going
into business, and the Lord took him. Or
your daughter had lust graduated from the
young 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 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 cpl
demic, aud you stood wondering why God
ever gave YOU that child at all. ii so soon he
was TO take it away. And yet you are nOJ
repining. YOU are not fTGtful, you are not
fighting against God. What enabled YOU to
stand all the triall 'Oh," you say, i took
the medicine that God gave my sick soul.
In m | throw r0Ersaif no foot Of
sympathizing God; and when l was too
weak TO pray, or to look up, he breathed
into me a 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 We COmfOrted souls,
TeE on your knees. Is there no power III
this gospel to soOthe the heart, Is there
no power in this religion to quiet the worst
parOXysm of grief? There comes up an an
swer from comforted widowhood, and OF
phanage, and childleSsness, saying,
LAY, AY, WE ARE wITNEssEsn'
Again, / remark that we are witnesses of
the fact that religion has power 10 give
compOsure in the last moment ] shall
never forget the first time I confronted
death. We went across the corn-fcldS 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 carriages;
but there was one carriage that especially
attracted my boyish attention, and it mad
black plumes. | said: Whats that!
what's that, Why those black tassels at
the tOp2' And after ii was explained to
me, was lifted up TO look upon the bright
face of an aged Christian woman, who three
days before had departed in triumph. The
whole scene made an impression l never
forgot
In our sermons and in our lay exhorta-
tons we are very apt, when re want TO
bring illustrations of dying triumph, 10 go
back to some distinguished personage-to
John Knox or HARRIET Newell. But |
want you for witnesses. | 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. attorney. jury and judge will never
admit mere hcarSay. They demand that
the witness must have seen with his own
eyes, or heard with his own ears, and so |
am critical in my eXamin alton of YOU row
and 1 want 10 know whether you have seen
or heard anything that makes YOU believe
that the religion of Chris gives compoSurc
~ THE FINAL HOUR.
"Oh, res" You say, Il saw my father
and mother depart. There was a great
difference in their death-beds. Standing
by the one we felt more generation. BY the
other, there was more tenderness" Before
the one, you bowed, perhaps, in awe. In
the other case, you felt as if you would like
to 20 along with her. How did they feel in
that last hour? How did they seem to act!
Were they very much frightened Did
they take hold of this world with both
hands, as though they did not want TO give
1t up3 ''Oh, no." you say, no; | remember
as though it were yesterday; she had a
kind word for ps all, and there were a few
mementoes distributed among the children,
and then she told US how kind we must be
10 our father in his loneliness, and then she
kissed Us good-by and went asleep as
child in Il cradle" What made her so com
poSed2 Natural couragel No" you say,
mother was very nervous; when the car
rage inclined to the side of the road, she
would cry out; she was always rather
weakly" What gave her composure, Was
II because she did not care much for you,
and the pang of parting was not great
'Oh, you say, ''She ShOwered upon US |
wealth of affection; no mother ever loved |
her children more than mother loved US:
she showed 1t By the way she nurscd Us
when we were sick. and she toiled for US
until her strength gave out" What, then,
was il, that gave her ccmposure in the last |
hour Do not hide it. Be frank, and let |
me know Oh YOU say, 1t was because |
she was so good; she made the Lord her |
portion and she had faith that she would |
go straight TO glory, and that we should all |
meet her at last
AT THE FOOT OF THE THRONE.
Here are people who say. Il saw a ChrTsfsi
tan brother die, and he triumphed'' Ard |