1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



487 



Ourselves and our neighbors. 



Thou hast loved rig:hteousiu>ssand hated iniquity. 

 — Heb. 1:9. 

 Mr. A. I. Root:— 



I received your catalogue all I'ijil't. and see that 

 the g:ood Lord lias wonderfully blessed you. It is 

 strange that he is so |)artial in dealing' out his bless- 

 ings. Don't you know that there are thousands of 

 human beings that would gratefully accept sucli 

 blessings if they were bestowed upon them in tlie 

 way you claim they were bi stowed upon you V For 

 tliose same blessings there are tliousande who would 

 bow and. cringe to his heart's content; yes, they 

 would do as much of that as you ever have done or 

 ever will do, and, like you, in God they do and would 

 trust. But for tliein, too much of thai kind of trust 

 means " bust." It is very strange indeed that a bus- 

 iness man like you can lay his prosperity to iliat 

 mental disease commonly called the Christian re- 

 ligion. Will you be kind enough to satisfactorily 

 inform me wliat is the matter with your God-loving 

 and God-trusting brethren, that they are not pros- 

 perous as you are'? Is your God a respecter of 

 persons ? The old scrap-hook says he is not ; but 

 in the still older scrap-book they make him act like 

 it, and acts speak louder than words, for they make 

 him say, "Esau have I hated, and Jacob have I 

 loved." What was there about Jacob that he 

 loved '? and what was there about Esau that lie 

 hated'? If he made them both, who was to blame 

 that Esau was not loval)le '? I should think the 

 maker and not the object he made. Did he love 

 Jacob because he was such a notorious liar and 

 swindler, and such a good wrestler"? I tell you, mj- 

 friend Root, the blood-stained Christian religion is 

 not the cause of your prosperity; but every breath 

 you spend in sending flattery into empty space Is a 

 dead lo.ss to you; and every effort that you have be- 

 stowed so far in defense of that old dogma has been 

 a loss to your business. No one can tell how mucli 

 more prosperous jou would be if you were r.ot 

 cursed with that stupid mental disease that afflicts 

 so many. I must say again, it was not blood-stain- 

 ed Christianity that made you honest; you deserve 

 no more honor for being upright and honest than 

 does the stupid, dishonest wretch deserve condem- 

 nation. A man must always act the way he is built. 

 An independent act was never performed by any 

 man. But I must close, and hope you will not get 

 offended at this. I would rather have a chat with 

 you face to face. "I was envious at the foolish when 

 I saw the prosperity of the wicked. They are not 

 in trouble as other men. Behold, these are the 

 ungodly who prosper in the world; they increase in 

 riches."— Ps. 73:3, .'S, 13. According to the above, a 

 man need not work for the church, or the kingdom 

 of God, as you call it, in order to be prosperous. 

 " Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? 

 Wherefore are all they happy that deal very treach- 

 erously? "—Jer. 13:1. How does this agree with 

 your assertions? Please accept my best wishes. 



Grant City, Mo. J. D. Kaufman. 



My good friend K., if you are so embittered 

 against the Christian religion that nothing can 

 change yopr views, It would, of course, be a 

 waste of time for me to attempt to reply; but 

 on the other hand, if you are really seeking 

 light and truth. I shall be very glad indeed to 

 help you all I can. Your concluding words 

 make me feel that the latter is at least partly 

 true. The part of our catalogue to which you 

 object. I have also objected to. I wrote it some 

 years ago for our A I> C book; and while it 

 might do very well there, it seems to me hai'dly 

 in place in a business catalogue. It looks too 

 much like boasting of what I have done, or. as 

 you put it, of how God hap favored me above 

 other people. The boys got hold of the con- 

 cluding paragraph,. and added it on to the his- 

 tory of the way our business was built up. If 

 somebody, in looking through our catalogue, 

 should become convinced by this little bit of 

 history that godliness is prolitable, it would be 

 all right; I fear that some, ho>yever, have 

 taken it as you do, although no one has ever 

 •written us except yourself, so far as I know. 

 You say there are thousands who would "bow 



and cringe " providing it would bring worldly 

 prosperity, etc. Of course, you know, dear 

 friend, that God never wants anybody to bow 

 and cringe for the sake of getting favors; and I 

 hope you know, too, that neither myself nor 

 our boys had such a thought in mind when 

 they planned our catalogue. Yes, I agree with 

 you that that sort of trusting — that is. bowing 

 and cringing — would, as you express it, "bust 

 up any man," and it ought to do so. If, how- 

 ever, you substitute, in place of bowing and 

 cringing, " loving righteousness and hating 

 iniquity," then the whole thing assumes a dif- 

 ferent phase. You are right in saying there 

 are thousands of people who will beg and do a 

 great many things — in fact, they will work 

 hard to get money without an equivalent — but 

 they do not succeed. What is it that God wants 

 us to do. and how shall we please him? Our 

 text tells the story. To make it a little plainer, 

 let me cite the story of Joseph, in olden time. 

 He had the right kind of trust in God. It was 

 not of the bowing and cringing sort, by any 

 means. His faith in God was, however, of the 

 kind that made him hopeful and trusting, even 

 when his bi'ethren put him into the pit and 

 afterward sold him down into Egypt. He must 

 have lost faith in his own brethren, without 

 doubt; but he did not lose faith in God. He 

 set about doing good at the very first oppor- 

 tunity. He did not lament nor grumble nor 

 complain. He took up cheerfully with mis- 

 fortunes that would have staggered you or me 

 or anybody else. Then when a great tempta- 

 tion was thrown in his way, instead of doing as 

 thousands would have done, and yielding to 

 temptation and flattery, or to the " force of 

 circumstances and surroundings," as some 

 would put it. he said, " Behold, my master 

 wotteth not what is with me in the house, and 

 he hath committed all that he hath to my 

 hand." He said this in explanation of the fact 

 that his master had perfect trust and confi- 

 dence in him. He had been exceedingly kind 

 in promoting him. and in trusting him with 

 important offices. He adds further: "There is 

 none greater in this house than I; neither hath 

 he kept back any thing from me but thee, be- 

 cause thou art his wife. How. then, can I do 

 this great wickedness, and sin against God?'" 

 Joseph was too honorable and manly, even 

 though he ivas a handsome and accomplished 

 youth, to be unf&,ithful to the sacred trust put 

 upon him. He could not stoop to wrong his 

 master, who had trusted him so much and 

 depended upon him so implicitly. But more 

 than all this— yes. far more— he recognizes the 

 terrible sin and crime he should be committing 

 against the great God above. Joseph was one 

 of the heroes of olden times, who would prob- 

 ably have suffered death rather than dishonor 

 the God he reverenced and looked up to. There 

 was nothing cringing about Joseph. He was a 

 man — every inch of him — though he was a boy 

 in years. (?of? honored his integrity; his em- 

 ployer honored his integrity when it came out 

 10 the light of day, and the whole world honors 

 his integrity, and has done so ever since. Pris- 

 ons and foul slander could not crowd Joseph 

 down nor hide him very long. His purity and 

 his righteousness broke through circumstances, 

 and he rose aboye all his enemies. You may 

 say that God was partial to Joseph. If you 

 mean by this that God is partial to those who 

 love rigliteoiisiiexs and hntr Inviultji. I agree; 

 but if you mean that God gave Joseph a better 

 chance than he did other people, I do /lof agree. 

 God is just and fair, or he would not be God. 



I have given you one illustration of tempta- 

 tion and sin in the human heart; but this is 

 only one in a thousand. Lest you fall into the 

 mistake of thinking that I claim to be more 



