The Dalles daily chronicle. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1890-1948, 1891-08-01

laws. Not moral suasion. Conversion did |
it., Why said one upon whom the great |
change had come, .tsir, feel just as though
I were somebody else" There is sea cap
tain who. swore 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 profanities and made him a psalm
singerf 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 morning
lark is vulture, or day is night.
Now, If l should demand that all those
people here present who have felt the con-
verting power of religion should rise, SO
far from being ashamed theyWould spring
to their feet with far more alacrity than
they, ever sprang to the dance, the tears
mingling with their exhilaration as they
cried, 1--WE are witnessesP' 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 1--WE are witnesses"
of the Gospels power to comforts When
man has trouble the world comes in aud
says. NOW RGbsyOuT Iuluu OH LulSs RO Oub
and breathe the fresh air; plunge deeper into
business = What, poor ;adviceit Get your
mind off It'll when everything is upturned
with the bereavement, and everything re-
minds you of what you have lost. Get
your mind off it'll They might as well ad-
wise you to stop thinking and you cannot
stop thinking in that direction. Take
walk in the fresh ART Why, along that
very street, or that very road, she once ac-
companied you Out of that grass plot she
| plucked flowers, or into that show window
she looked fascinated, saying. .Come see
| the pictures.', 60 deeper into sbusinessl
Why, she was associated with all your
business ambition, and since she has gone
you have no, ambition left Oh, this is
clumsy yworld when it tries to comfort
/ broken hearth -. Z. f9t... r.a fs.yfi NJ :.
In L can build a Corliss engine, can paint
Raphael's Madonna" l can play
Beethoven's symphony as easily as this
| world can comfort a broken heart. And
j yet you have been comforted. How was it
done? Did Christ come ito you. and say:
4 SECT your mind off this Go out and
breathe the fresh air. Plunge deeper into
business?'' No. There was minute when
he came to you-perhaps in the watches of
I the night, perhaps in your place of bust
ness. 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 de
parted one and look into the eyes and the
face of the@dear; one and say: ut is all
right. She is better off. would not call
her back. Lord, thank thee that thou
has comforted my poor heart"
4 DIVINE HEALING FOR THE SICK SOUL.
] There are Christian parents here who are
4 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
4 into bushels. and the Lord took him. Or
4 your daughter had just graduated from
the young. ladies' seminary, and you
thought she was going to be useful wo-
) man and of long life, but the Lord took
her, and you were tempted to say, 9All
this culture of twenty years for nothingP'
i or the little child came home from school
with the hot fever that stopped not for the
agonized prayer or for the skillful physi-
clan, and the little child was taken Or
the babe was lifted out. of your arms by
some quick epidemic, and you stood won
dering why God ever gave You that child
at all if so soon he was to take it away.
4 And yet you are not repining, you are not
fretful, you are not fighting against God.
What enabled you to stand all the trialS
"Oh," you say, 81 took the medicine that
God gave my; sick soul. In my distress
threw myself at the feet of q sympathizin ng
God; and when I was too weak to pray OF
to look up he breathed into me a peace
that / think must be the foretaste. of that
heaven1where there is neither a tear nor q
farewell nor a grave" Come. all ye 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 nc
! power in this religion to quiet the worst
: | paroXysm of grief? There comes up an an
swer from comforted widowhood and or.
phanage and childlessness. saying, "Ay. ay
, we are witnessesi'
Again, l remark that witnesses
. \ of the fact that religion has power to give
, composure in the last moment / shal
. never forget the first time I confronted
81 death. We. went across the cernfields il
p the country. i Twas led by my fathers
hand, and we came to the farmhouse where
] the bereavement had come and we saw tn,
crowd of wagons. and carriages; but ther,
Il was one carriage that especially attracted
q my boyish attention. and it had blacl
plumes. / said: whats thatf what
!, that2 Why those black tassels at the top2,
, And after it was explained to me l wa
. lifted up to look upon The bright face of al
. aged Christian woman, who three days be
fore had departed in triumph. The who'll
y scene made an impression l never forgot
|, IT IS NO HEARsAY EVIDENCE.
v In our sermons and our lay exhortation
2 we are very apt, when we want to bring il
a Illustrations, of dying triumph, to go bacl
a to some distinguished personage-to a Joh
Y Knox or HARRIET Newell. But / wan
:. you for witnesses. / want to know If yol
II have ever seen anything to make you be
l. heve that the religion of Christ can Civ
) composure in the final hour. Now, in th
l. courts. attorney, jury and judge will neve
,t admit mere heresay. They demand tha
If the witness must have seen with his ow
1 eyes, or heard with his own ears, and so
If am critical in my examination Ci you nov
e and Iwant TO know whether you have see