189o 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



189 



•on her hand, and ate the cake. Afterward 

 Constance did the same thing, thus proving 

 that it was not because it was some one they 

 had become acquainted with. We were told 

 they did this when a woman offered them food, 

 but they hadn't the same faith in mauliind. 



I should right here describe friend Marsh's 

 gardening, but a more extended description of 

 the same thing will be found in our visit to 

 friend Froscher's. 



For flesli and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, 

 but my Father wliich is in heaven.— Matt. ](i: 17. 



I have mentioned elsewhere (see page 18(1) the 

 Sunday-school at New Smyrna. That Sunday 

 morning I discovered our quarterly had been 

 mislaid or lost, and we were too far from any 

 one who had the lesson to tindout exactly where 

 it was, before going to the church. As soon as 

 I took my seat in the class I began looking over 

 the lesson hastily; but before I had hardly got- 

 ten a glimpse of it the superintendent of the 

 school asked me to give them a little talk in re- 

 gard to the lesson just before closing. For a 

 time it really seemed as if I couldn't collect my 

 thoughts or find a single point in the whole les- 

 son on which to base any remarks. I have 

 never been in the habit of refusing any such re- 

 quest; and, in fact, quite a number of bee-keep- 

 ing friends were present, and it would look a 

 little singular for ^4. I. Boot to refuse to speak 

 just a few words to them. I commenced pray- 

 ing to myself that God would give me of his 

 Holy Spirit that I might not disappoint the 

 friends who were looking to me, perhaps, for a 

 little portion of the '' bread of life," and that I 

 might have wise counsel and encouragement 

 for any who might be fainting by the wayside. 

 For a time it seemed almost as if I should be 

 obliged to ask to be excused. Satan suggested 

 that it was out of my line; that I was out of 

 health: that I was too hoarse to talk, any way. 

 ■etc. But I held fast to the Bible promises. I 

 had been through similar trials befoi'e, and had 

 faith to believe that my petition for help would 

 not remain unanswered. I thought of the text, 

 *' If ye. then, being evil, know how to give good 

 gifts unto your children, how much more shall 

 your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to 

 them that ask him '.'" 



Just before the lesson closed, and almost as 

 the superintendent began to introduce me, my 

 mind began to center upon the text at the head 

 of this talk, and for the first time in my life the 

 latter part of the 17th verse had a new— a won- 

 derfully new— meaning. All at once I began to 

 comprehend that the plainest evidence any mor- 

 tal ever had of the truths of the Christian reli- 

 gion was the evidence of the Holy Spirit, the 

 words that God the Father speaks to the heart 

 of each child of his. And this was my message 

 to the people, most of whom I had never seen 

 until that morning. As I stood before them I 

 told them of the Sunday-school away off in 

 Ohio, of the class of boys that gathered every 

 Sunday, to be taught by me. I told them of the 

 old mother who also was always present at that 

 Sunday-school, and of an experience in her life 

 she had told me of again and again. That ex- 

 perience was something like this: 



She united with the church when only twelve 

 or fourteen years old; but as there was a good 

 deal of gaiety, going to parties, etc., shortly 

 after, her religion began to seem to her a rath- 



er secondary matter, and she drifted away at 

 last, to a certain extent, as many an older Chris- 

 tian has often done. She was at that age unde- 

 cided as to what she ought to do about going to 

 dances. Her father rather preferred to have 

 her go, and his influence was of a somewhat 

 worldly character. She finally felt so uneasy 

 and unsatisfied that she prayed very earnestly 

 that God's Holy Spirit might guide and direct 

 her, and tell her what she ought to do. She 

 also prayed most earnestly for a plain and clear 

 evidence that she was a child of God, and that 

 the teachings of her Bible were true. You will 

 please consider that she was getting considera- 

 ably under the influence of those who led into 

 skepticism rather than toward a devoted Chris- 

 tian life. She says that her prayer was at once 

 and with wonderful distinciness answered. 

 The bright peace and joy that came with the 

 answer was so clear that never once since, in a 

 busy life of almost 70 years, has her mind so 

 much as wavered. That answer was the secret 

 of the bright clear faith that has shown from 

 her face and every act during all her life. I 

 have never, since I can remember, seen my 

 mother lose her faith. I have seen heron her 

 knees in earnest prayer, and I have heard her 

 voice in prayer for myself and every other 

 member of a family of seven children. The 

 fact that I stand here to-day with a like faith, 

 bright and clear. I owe to that mother's faith 

 and teachings and prayer more than to any 

 thing else in this world. 



Jesus tells us, in the words of our text, that 

 flesh and blood did not reveal unto Peter that 

 Christ was the Son of tlie living God. It wasn't 

 the testimony of friends; it wasn't the teach- 

 ings of the pastor; but it was God's Holy Spirit, 

 the Father in heaven, who revealed this won- 

 derful truth to Peter. 



And now. dear friends, for the personal ap- 

 plication. If there is any one whose eves are 

 resting on these words, and who doubts the di- 

 vinity of Christ, who feels undecided in regard 

 to the claims of Christianity, the very best evi- 

 dence that can be given in the whole wide uni- 

 verse is the testimony spoken, perhaps not in 

 words, but in some way still plainer — the testi- 

 mony of the Holy Spirit. Go to God in prayer; 

 go to Him who fashioned us after his own im- 

 age — the Father who created us and brought us 

 into the world— he who is the beginning and 

 end of all things, and ask him to make it plain 

 to you what you ought to do. He will guide 

 you and direct you. He will tell you what no 

 other being can tell, and he will tell you the 

 truth. The evidence that every Christian may 

 have, if he has not had it already — the evidence 

 straight from the Holy Spirit to the heart of the 

 inquirer — is the best evidence we can possibly 

 have. 



My experience was much like my mother's. I 

 shall never forget the time when I knelt alone 

 by myself and uttered my first prayer — at least, 

 the first prayersince I had arrived at the age of 

 manhood. It was a simple, honest petition for 

 help and guidance. Why, dear friends, I was in 

 so much doubt and uncertainty — in so much 

 distress because I was tossed about in the wild 

 sea of doubt — that my first words were, "O 

 God, if there be a (Jod, listen and hear the peti- 

 tions of thy poor unworthy child." I don't re- 

 member the rest of the prayer uttered in the 

 darkness of the night, alone by myself; but I 

 do remember the faith and peace and joy that 

 came upon me all at once — a faith that has 

 never deserted me — no, not for one brief instant. 

 I have been through trial and siiffering; I have 

 almost lost consciousness in the delirium of fe- 

 ver; I have been sorely tempted by the evil 

 one at such times of temptation; I have again 

 and again prayed for help, even as a child in 



