Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1891-07-13
sNyhv" said one upon whom the great


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 a 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 nightshade, or a morn
/ ing lark is vulture, or day is night
Now. if | 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
witnessesr 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?
mol When | blush, be this my shame
That no more revere his name.
Again, | remark that ''we are wit
nesses" of the Gospels power to com
/ fort. When man has trouble the
world comes in and says, Nov, 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 we'll advise you to stop think
ing, and you cannot stop thinking in
that direction. Take a walk in the
fresh air 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 a clumsy world
when it tries to comfort broken heart!
I can build q Corliss engine, [ can
paint a Raphael's Madonna" can
play q Beethoven's ''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 q 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: ''It is all right, she is better off; I
would not call her back. Lord, I 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
and was going into business, and the
Lord took him. Or your daughter had
just graduated from the young ladies'
seminary, and you thought she was go
ing to be a useful woman, and of long
life; but the Lord took her, and you
were tempted to say, ''AIl 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 slillful 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, Il took the medicine
that God gave my sick soul In my
distress [ threw myself at the feet of a
sympathizing God, and when [ was too
weak to pray or to look up he breathed
into me a peace that I think must be
the foretaste of that heaven where
there is neither a tear nor a farewell
nor a grave. F" Come, all We who have
been out to the grave to weep there
come all ye cOmforted souls, get up off
your knees. Is there no power in this
Gospel to sOothe the heart? Is there
no power in this religion to quiet the
worst paroxysm of grief? There comes
up an answer from comforted widow
hood and orphanage and childlessness,
saying, Aye, aye, we are witnesses"
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 | confronted death. We went
across the cOrnfields in the country. l
was led by my fathers hand, and we
came to the farmhouse where the be-
reavement had come, and we saw the
crowd of wagons and carriages, 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
explained to me | was lifted up to
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 want
to bring illustrations of dying triumph,
to go back to some distinguished per
sOnage-tO a John Knox or a 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, at
torney, jury and judge will never adj
init mere hearsay. They demand that
the witness must have seen with his
own eyes or heard with his own ears
and SO | am critical in my examination
of you now; and | want to know
whether you have seen or heard any
thing that makes you believe that the
religion of Christ gives composure in
the final hour
'iOh, yes, you say, Il saw my father
and mother depart. There was a great
difference IL 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-