Los Angeles herald., 1907-07-04

hero, led in short prayer. linen dl.el
1 had finished, with his weak voice ne
continued my prayer as follows; On,
God, 1 thank thee that have not an
enemy in all the world. 1 thank thee
that the world is filled with good peo-
pie. If it be thy will let me go back
to my work. But If not, have so many
dear ones on the other side, take me TO
them and to thy glory
"Yes, Francis Murphy, we know wnat
was in thy heart. Lying upon thy
sickbed thou couldst see the dear ones
coming out to greet thee. Thou
couldst hear the heavenly chorus chant
ing a welcome for thy celestial advent.
Thy death was not to be an oblitera-
tion. 1t was to be an ascension,
coronation, an enthronement. Hail,
thou ascended spirit! We today re-
joice With thee in thy heavenly rap
ture. Hail, O thou enthroned warrior!
Hail, hail, hail!
Now, today I am not going to
preach a funeral sermon. l am not
going to ;0und a dirge or ring death
knell But 1 am going to strike up a
halleujah chorus. If the cold lips OF
our loved friend could speak / know
he would have me do as l 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
ing, l am going to try to analyze the
power of this, one of the greatest soul
winners of the ages, so that we may
pattern our life after his life and win
multitudes of souls for the Master as
he has so nobly and self-sacrificingly
done.
Believed in Man
"In the first place, L would put my
finger upon the greatest of Francis
Murphys power and declare that the
chief reason why this mighty hero won
so many souls for the Master was be-
cause he believed in the nobility of
man. He believed that no matter how
blatant the sins of a social outcast,
that no matter how low or vile hu-
man being by sin could become, that
deep down in that human heart was
some good. And If you could only touch
the good with Christ's love and develop
this good,s that the sinner could be
lifted out of his sins and through the
influence of the atoning cross of Jesus
Christ started on the straight and mar
row path for God and for heaven. And
because he had this belief he literally
by love won hundreds of thousands of
we have a holy, an inspired vision like
this noble man of God and seek the
good in man rather than the evil?
Danger for the Soldier
"Francis Murphy knew that the
stronger the personality of man the
faster he went to destruction when
he got off the right paths. And he
also knew that if you could only get
the grace Of God into that mans heart
Saul, the chief of sinners, would be-
come Paul, the triumphant martyr.
And Francis Murphy had a. right to
this belief by looking at the past his
tory of his own life. Have you ever
heard him describe the tragedy of his
wrecked home?
when the Civil war broke out he
was a great. big hearted Irishman. He
loved everybody and everybody loved
him. At the bugle call to arms he
shouldered the musket and went to the
front to save his adopted country. He
was not struck by the enemy's bullets,
but, like Alexander the Great, he was
overthrown by the temptations of the
camp.
"Then after the war was ended, in
order to make living for his little
family, he took charge of hotel in
Maine. In other words, the devil, in
order to destroy him, said, L cannot
fight this man. If I fight him openly
he will fight me to a standstill. But
1 will destroy through love. In order
to buy bread for his BARNS L will make
him run a country hotel. 1 will put a
whisky bottle in his hand and say,
Drink, drink, drink, until your man
hood is gone. Drink until as brute
you come home to your wife and babies
Drink until the vilest sot in the gutter
is no viler than thee."'
THANK God" His Greeting
"And with that strong personality Of
his he never did anything half way.
He drank until he went down, down,
down into the lowest depths of despair
But when God touched him Richard
Newton, the blasphemer, became Rich
ard Newton. the purified saint of re-
ligious leadership. So when Francis
Murphy looked upon the vilest of sim
ners he said There is Francis Murphy
enchained of sin; by the grace of God
1 will reach out a hand to lift that
dying soul to Christ
But there was another fact about
this wonderful life which has made
Francis Murphy one of the greatest
soul winners OF the past century. He
not only believed in men but he was
ready to thank God for all the divine
blessings with which he was surround
ed His whole life after his CONVEX
sion and conservation to the divine
Master was a continual service of
praises to God. He always commenced
his public services with the Coronation
hymn, and he always closed his serv-
ices with the doxology of Praise God
From Whom All Blessings Flow
Wherever you met him on the street,
or in the home, or in the church, or
anywhere, the two words which were
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