The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-07-23

r0us Philip Sidney of the Confederate
army, was dying, Shot by the bullets
Of his own men at charlottesville
he had beautiful vision of heaven
He saw smooth flowing river. where
he could nloisten his parched and few
cred lips. Ee saw his loved ones on
the opposite bank waving to him in
salutation. And in rapture he raised
himself and cried out, Let us pass
over to the other side and rest under
the shadows of the trees and then
fell back dead. So Francis Murphy,
during his last days of earth, caught a
glimpse of the trees of life growing
by that river which Is clear as crystal.
proceeding ont of the throne Of God
and of the Lamb. He wanted to go
over and rest. He said: There are
so many dear ones beyond. o God,
if it be thy will, take me to them and
to thy glory" Yes, to.la." IS prayer
is answered. Thou art /; ;..y de-
parted kindred and friends. '#a.,u wilt
stay with them until the i.iie comes
for us to depart, and then t,iou wilt
come forth to greet us, as tncT came
to greet thee.
Now, today l am not going to preach
a funeral sermon. l am not going to
sound dirge or ring a death knell
But am going to strike up hallelu
iah chorus If the cold lips OF our
loved friend could speak. l know he
would have me do as | am doing.
There was not a minor key in all his
music. And so today, instead Of talk
ing about how bad we feel at his GO
power of this one Of the greatest
temperance workers of our time, so
that we may be encouraged in our
work for the same. Master and he
stimulated to more vigorous effort by
the example of this strenuous leader.
A Noble Man.
In the first place. I would place my
finger upon the greatest source of
Francis Murphy's power and tell you
that the chief reason why this success
trophies for the abstinence cause was
because he believed i'll the nobility Of
man. He believed that. no matter how
fragrant the sins Of the social OutcaSt.
no matter how low or vile a human
being had become, deep down in that
human heart were some remains of the
image of God. Murphy never despair
ed of any human being. however
drunken OF degraded he might he.
Here was Il man-one of the race
Christ came to save-and he believed
that Christ could save him. The dc
grading obstacle of his thirst for liquor
stood in the way and therefore Muir
ply tried to remove that. SD that the
power and influence of Christ could
reach the poor, helpless creature.
1t does not require very much genius
to find flaws in a mans nature. 1t
does not require wonderful erudition
to magnify the faults of mankind.
Any herd of swine can root out a flow
er garden. If it is possible for them
to squeeze through gap In the fence.
1t does not take much Of frost to kill
all the fair apple blossoms in the
springtime; neither does it take much
labor to develop field of Canada
thistles in the place where wheat and
corn and barley ought to grow. But
it does take the genius Of hOrticul
turist to find latent buds and develop
them. It does take agricultural acu
men to put the right kind of fertilizer
on the ground after the spring plow
ing. And it does take the marvellous
grace of God to find the latent buds Of
purity and truth and love and honor In
the corrupt heart Of man and to de-
velop them Alright for God. And this
is always the work of successful
evangelist of Christ This was the Sc
cret of Murphy's success. He believed
in Christ and he believed in men. Did
not Fanny Crosby, the Christian hym
nOlogist. have such a worker as this in
her mind when she wrote these i'm
pressive words
Down In the human heart. crushed by the
tempter.
Feelings lie buried that grace can re-
store:
Touched by loving heart, wakened by
kindness
Chords that were broken will vibrate
once more.
And parallel to this same line of
thought was another fact which i'll
spired Francis Murphy to seek the
most depraved of men. He knew that
The victim Of the intoxicating cup was
IN many cases a man worth saving |
The very characteristics of the man
that had led to his degradation his; |
geniality, his good fellowship, his |
the characteristics |
that would make him a successful |
worker if he was delivered from his |
-hraldom. The intensity and zeal that |
made Saul a prosecutor were traits |
which made him successful apostle |
when he was converted And Francis |
Murphy had arrived at this belief by |
ooking at the history Of his own life.
Have you ever heard him describe the |
tragedy Of his wrecked home? When |
he civil war broke out. he, like other |
[rishmen, was eager to take part in 1t.
At the bugle call to arms he shout! |
Tered the musket and went to the |