1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



489 



answered me by using the very words you use. 

 Said he, " Mr. Root, some of us are not built as 

 you are." I replied, as I toolt him by the hand, 

 "Why, God bless you. / was not built that 

 way. With God's help I have been working 

 day and night all these years to build myself 

 differently." (Jod gave nie animal impulses, as 

 he gave them to the rest of mankind; but when 

 God did build us with our animal instincts 

 (and they aie all right and proper in their 

 place), he at the same time, we are told, breath- 

 ed into man the breath of life, and man became 

 a living soul. Even though we (ire built with 

 an unreasoning animal and physical nature, 

 there is at the same time a God part in us. 

 This God part says, plainer than words, "As 

 ye would that men should do unto you. do ye 

 even so unto them." Or, to paraphrase it a 

 little, I would say, "As ye would that all men 

 should treat your own daughter, even so treat 

 ye the daughters of all men." Now, friend K.. 

 the man has never yet lived who treated other 

 men's children in all respects as he would that 

 other men should treat his children. With all 

 our Christianity and all our faith in (Jod. we 

 are as yet too sinful to come up to this high 

 standard. Only om-. even Christ Jesus, has 

 ever yet given us a patt^'rn in this resi)rct that 

 is faultless. Our proof-reader has given me 

 another thought— no dying Christian has ever 

 yet rejected Christianity— at least, I never heard 

 of such a one. 



Our price list, a little unfortunately, seems to 

 carry the idea that I have amassed much mon- 

 ey because I have been e.xceedingly good. I 

 did not mean to say any thing of that sort; but 

 I did mean to say, and I want to keep saying it 

 as long as I live. " Honesty is the best policy." 

 1 believe you have faith enough in me, friend 

 K., to think I have tried to be honest and up- 

 right — at least. I judge so from your letter. 

 Well, being a Christian is nothing more nor less 

 than being honest and upright. I am sorry 

 there has been, and perhaps is even now, a 

 little of a sort of Christianity that is a good 

 deal of profession and not very much practical 

 work. At one time we had in our Medina 

 County infirmary a boy who could spell every 

 word that could be put out to him. He visited 

 spelling-schools, and demonstrated his wonder- 

 ful gift; but he could not write an intelligent 

 letter and spell the words correctly. I have 

 sometimes thought that there are Christians 

 who pray, and perhaps exhort, and quote 

 scripture texts, and yet when it comes to a bus- 

 iness religion they are like the boy in the poor- 

 house. Do not be prejudiced against square 

 manly Christians because of this kind of people. 

 Your text from the Psalms, about the prosperi- 

 ty of the wicked, is simply a warning. Satan 

 tempts us to look about the world and say that 

 people who do not control their evil impulses 

 at all have a better and easier time than those 

 who fear God and keep his commandments. 

 Very likdy they do not have as much fighting 

 to do, and they do sometimes increase in riches. 

 The highway robber who gets away with his 

 booty gets money faster than the man who 

 earns it by hard day's work. Would you there- 

 fore want to l)e a highway robber? Your last 

 text, from Jeremiah, is in the same line. We 

 must not be misled nor discouraged nor stum- 

 ialed because bad people seem to get along easier 

 than we do; and it is true now, I suppose, as it 

 was in old Eible time>, that now and then 

 somebody who deals "very treacherously" 

 seems to be happy. But I do not want any of 

 that kind of happiness. Dear friend K., I wish 

 I could take you to one of our Endeavor meet- 

 ings, and let you hear the testimony of some of 

 our manly young Christians who are fighting 

 against temptation. I think you would soon 



conclude that people who are " not built that 

 way" may be, by the grace of God, "built" 

 over. 



Another thought about this matter of " act- 

 ing as one is built." Jesus said to Nicodemus, 

 "Ye must be born agaiu." I think that was 

 his meaning. Why, if J should always act the 

 way I am built, I fear I should be the worst 

 man you ever knew or heard of. God forbid! 

 Now, do not be in haste; to lay this bad feeling 

 to God's part. The building was done by my- 

 self inoX> by God) in earlier years, when I yield- 

 ed to temptation. Yes. I once thought, or tried 

 to persuade myself, and I fear others too, there 

 was not any God whose all-seeing eye took in 

 every wicked and wrongful act. The man who 

 proposes to always act as he is built is hopeless; 

 that is, if you mean by the exi)r<«sion "built" 

 one who proposes to follow his low and selfish 

 desires. Why, the whole Christian religion is 

 based and founded on holding in subjection 

 these inherited passions of ours. No man can 

 think of being a Christian unless he exercises 

 self-restraint and self-sacrifice for the good of 

 others. And this is exactly what the Savior 

 meant when lie said, " If any man will come 

 after me, let him deny himself, and take up his 

 cross, and follow me." 



HOW DID EVIL, COME INTO THE WORLD? 



Since the above was in type, the following 

 letter, much in the same line, is at hand: 



Dear Brother Roo^:— The excellent lec^ture you 

 give under tlie title of Ourselves and our Nelgli- 

 bors, in Gleanings of June 1, is certainly one of 

 great merit; put in practice it would increase the 

 happiness of a majority of families. But I take ex- 

 ception to tlie use you make of one or two words; 

 viz., Satan and Devil. I should like to know what 

 you mean by tliose words. It .seems that you liold 

 that there is in the world a being invisible, in- 

 dependent, self-exlslent. ever present, and ever in 

 opposition to all good. Where did this Devil come 

 from ? You know the Bible tells us tliat God made 

 every thing that was made, and saw that it was 

 good. Now, then, If that Is true. God made your 

 Satan, or Devil, and he was a good Devil. Milton's 

 " Paradise Lost" inculcates tlie doctrine of a fallen 

 angel, based upon a misunderstanding of the Scrlp- 

 tuies, and lias made more infidels than all tlie infi- 

 del writers iiut together, though It Is prized as a 

 Sunday-school book by .some people. I should like 

 to hear from you on this subject. K. H. Kandall. 



Big Kock, la. 



You are right, friend R.; and I agree with 

 you that God did make the Devil, or Satan. As 

 you say, he was, when God made him. a good 

 devil, or, rather, a good being, and not a devil 

 at all. (iod made him good, and he made him- 

 self bad, just as you and I make ourselves bad 

 if we choose. In other words, the Dc^vil him- 

 self made himself just what he is. Vou may 

 ask why God created us with a poi^sibiiity of 

 our being devils instead of angels. He made us 

 intelligent, reasoning beings: and as such we 

 have the power to choose. The more intelli- 

 gence on(! has, the more wicked he can be if he 

 chooses to be wicked. When our parents or 

 teachers give us a high degree of education, 

 they do it knowing that this education with- 

 out godliness or principl(Mvill enable us to do 

 more harm in the world than if we were, left in 

 ignorance. Satan was endowed with a very 

 high degree of intelligence, judging from an 

 acquaintance of many years; and I am sorry to 

 say that he has b<'en, most of the time, nearer 

 than a next-door neighbor. esp(>cially since I 

 have been trying to " love righteousness and 

 hate iniquity." I should give him credit for 

 intelligence beyond any thing human. His 

 ways of working, his wijes, his schemes, and 

 subtilty, are at times beyond any thing else in 

 the universe. 



I confess that I do not agree with many peo- 



