191(1 



(U.EAXIXdS IX lil^F. ('ULTrUK 



273 



Our Homes 



n\ A. I. Root 



And out of the gioiind made the Lord ( iod to g:ro\v 

 every tree that is iileasaiit to the sight, and pood for 

 food; the tree of life al.so in tlie midst of tlie garden, 

 and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.— Gene- 

 sis. 2:9. 



And the Lord said unto Moses. Make thee a fiery 

 serpent, and set it udou a pole: and it shall come to 

 pass, that every one that is bitten, when he looketh 

 upon it, shall live.— Numbers, 21 :8. 



( 'ome unto me. all ye that labor and are heavy la- 

 ilen. and I will give you rest. 



Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me: for I am 

 meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto 

 .sour souls. 



For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.— 

 .Matt. 11:28. 29. :?0. 



If yoti have not recently read the second 

 and third chai)ters of (Jenesis I should like 

 to ask yoti to turn to them. Please read 

 with care esi)ecially the third chai)ter. If, 

 like myself, you are i)relty well along in 

 years, I think you will admit this is a won- 

 derful story of" the birth and childhood of 

 the human race. X^o matter what your be- 

 lief is, I think you will agree with me that 

 it touches humanity as nothing else has 

 ever touched our origin since the world be- 

 gan. When I was less than a dozen years 

 old I overheard an ungodly man censuring 

 ( ;od for having i)laced that "tree of life " in 

 the very center of that garden, and then 

 torbidding Adam to tt)uch it. For over 50 

 N'ears I ha\e in my mind considered this 

 thing: Why dkJ our heavenly Father i)lace 

 there that tree '"of the knowledge of good 

 and evil," and then forbid Adam to go near 

 it? J)oes not the story suggest humanity's 

 struggle even now? 



A little child, the baby, that is just learn- 

 ing to reach out its httle fiiigers to explore 

 tilings, notes how the mother says, " Burny, 

 l)urn!" as it comes near the hot stove. Is 

 it not so more or less, clear down to old age? 

 A man, like a locomotive, would be useless 

 uidess strong steel rails kept him in the 

 "straight and narrow i)ath." 



.Vdam deliberately broke (iod's holy law 

 almost as sooit as the law was laid down, 

 and in so doing set an example of disobedi- 

 ence for the whole human race, and ])ut the 

 slamj) of rebellion against i)roper authority 

 on all his jxjsterity, clear down to the pres- 

 ent time, ^^'ilen Closes, by (lod's command, 

 undertook to lead the peoi)le out of slavery 

 and bondage into the promised land he 

 found the "old Adam " rooted and ground- 

 ed in the whole gang. They were a set of 

 grumbling rebels; antl one of their griev- 

 ances was, they couldn't have the " Hesh " 

 and "onions and garlic" that they had 

 when in cai)tivity. The Bible doesn't real- 

 1\' say so, ))ut I shouldn't wonder if they 

 complained because they couldn't have 

 "three square meals a day;" but I expect to 

 touch on this later on. Their "mutiny " 

 linally got to be so great thatCiodsent "fiery 

 seri)ents " to discii>line them. Right here 



we have one of the first examples of (iod's 

 tender mercy and love for his rebellious 

 children. In order to extend free i)aidon 

 instantly to every penitent child he directed 

 Moses to make and carry aloft the " brazen 

 serpent" that every one who really was sor- 

 ry for his rebellion might "look and live,'" 

 as we have it in that beautiful hymn. 



Well, friends, although you may not have 

 thought of it, that brazen serpent is Htill uj) 

 before us, and, "glory to Cxod," we may 

 even yet look and live. 



Away down along the ages came one who 

 was commissioned to issue an "emancipa- 

 tion proclamation," and who has the power 

 and authority to "make good " his wonder- 

 ful and precious invitation. Since the world 

 began, just one, and ontij one, has been per- 

 mit ted to use these wonderful words, "Come 

 unto me, all ye that lalx)r and are heavy la- 

 den, and I will gi\'e you rest. Take my yoke 

 upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek 

 and lowly hi heart; and ye shall find rest 

 unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and 

 my burden is light." 



Some of you may nowol)ject to the way I 

 am going to use this beautiful and gracious 

 text; but I feel sure the Holy Spirit is back 

 of me when I try to tell >-ou of the wonder- 

 ful way in which many of you, at least, ma\ 

 find f mancipation from your troubles. 



The "yoke" Jesus mentions is the yoke 

 of self -sacrifice. You must give up think- 

 ing of self so much. If you want your bur- 

 dens to be lighter you must give \\\) and for- 

 get selfish api)etites and selfish notions. 

 You must commence following in the foot- 

 steps of him who "pleased not himself." 



With this long preface I am now almost 

 ready for my especial message to )/our otvn 

 self. ' X'ow, this is not for somebody else, 

 mind you; it is for the one whose eyes rest 

 on this printed page. The "revelation" 

 came to me in this way: 



I have just one brother living, who has 

 been for aliout 20 years in Arizona. He has 

 just (lone a most sensible thing in deciding 

 to come down here to Florida and make us 

 a visit. If you, my friend, have neglected 

 for many rears to visit your brothers and 

 sisters, get right at it (before (xod takes you 

 away) and see how much good you may do 

 by so doing. Well, this V)rother is no taller 

 than I am, and yet he weighs alxnit ISO lbs., 

 while I have seldom gone beyond i;'>0. Sev- 

 eral years ago he was in i)Oor health, and 

 had distressing night sweats. About three 

 \ears ago he discovered that when he ate 

 very light suppers this trouble was better; 

 and finally, when he ate nothing at all after 

 his noonday dinner, the sweats entirely dis- 

 ai)peared. I believe that, about the same 

 time, he took \\\^ having a s])onge bath with 

 cold water every morning. Isn't it funn\- 

 that he, without knowing it, has ado])ted 

 Terry, so far, almost to a dot — "« cold bath 

 every morning, and two meals a day'\* 

 Simple, isn't it? Well, Mrs. Root has trou- 

 ble about sleeping, more or less, and she 

 tried "nosup])er." Very soon she decided 

 she felt certainly as welU and perhai^s a lit- 



