680 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



vSept. 1. 



The report came, and I think it was fairly 

 given, thai he did not love his enemies, nor 

 even pay his debts, any better than the common 

 run of the members of our various churches. 

 Another point comes in right here: When I 

 was away from home four months on that long 

 California trip, I was for several weeks entirely 

 relieved from responsibility. The doctors in- 

 sisted that I must be free from care and worry. 

 Well, one day I was thinking it over and won- 

 dering what the matter was. For several 

 weeks I could not remember that I had had 

 even the least feeling of vexation. I was trav- 

 eling most of the time, and was exposed to all 

 the annoyances attendant upon travel. I 

 was sick, and laid up for many days: but my 

 mind was all tranquil and at peace. It was so 

 unlike my usual self that I began to wonder — 

 now, please do not think that 1 am irreverent if 

 I say something that seems almost like joking 

 on sacred subjects. What I started out to say 

 was this: I was so free from temptation of every 

 sort, and it was so easy to love everybody, that 

 I began to wonder whether the old self was not 

 sort o' fading away, and that, perhaps, I was 

 getting, as people sometimes express it, "too 

 good " to live very much longer. Now note the 

 rest I have to tell you. I came back home; 

 and gradually, as returning health permitted 

 (and the boys and the rest of the family), I 

 began to take up cares and responsibilities. 

 My friends, if you expect a man who has charge 

 of a hundred workmen to keep his tranquility 

 as does one who has nothing else to do in the 

 world but to please himself, you are making a 

 big mistake. When care and responsibilities 

 had adjusted themselves upon my shoulders, as 

 they were before my sickness, I was a little 

 saddened to tind that A. I. Root was just about 

 the A. I. Root of old— no more, no less. Other 

 temptations, that seemed to have faded, trooped 

 forward again, and I was fighting and praying 

 over life's battles as before. Now, then, where 

 does God want me? where does the world at 

 large want me — free from care and worry and 

 responsibility, with my spirit unruffled and 

 untried, or bearing my share of the burdens, 

 tempted and tried as before? In the one case I 

 should not be here to answer your letters or to 

 look over your needs and wants at all. In my 

 absence a good many would have to be out of 

 employment: and if I knew nothing of life's 

 trials. I could not write these papers of encour- 

 agement to those who have, perhaps, harder 

 trials than mine to bear. Jesus said of his dis- 

 ciples, when he prayed for them, just as he left 

 this world, "' I pray not that thou shouldest 

 take them out of the world, but that thou 

 shouldest kept them from the evil." I do not 

 mean to say that friend Pierce is wrong. He 

 is right, and I thank him for his brotherly 

 I'ebuke; but I hardly believe that a man can do 

 very much in this world — that is, very much 

 for his fellow-men — unless he meets trials and 

 conflicts. Let me give you one more illustra- 

 tion in closing, that seems to bring this matter 

 up in its proper light. The Savior once said, 

 you know, that he came into the world, not to 

 call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. 



There was once a man who. from childhood 

 up, seemed to have a special fondness for all 

 womankind. He was "built that way " some 

 of the friends would tell us. Well, in one 

 sense we all ought to be "built" that way, 

 especially when this trait, or whatever you 

 call it, is sanctified by the love of Christ Jesus. 

 In this case this peculiarity was not sanctified 

 until the man was well along in life. While 

 he was naturally honorable, upright, and fair 

 in every thing else, there seemed to be a sort of 

 looseness about him in this one direction — not 

 that he was vicious or bad, or meditated any 



sin or crime. Even in childhood he sought the 

 society of the opposite sex, in his plays; and as 

 he grew older, it seemed to be the most natural 

 thing in the world for him to single out some 

 special one and show a marked preference for 

 her above all of her sex. If he was away from 

 home, it seemed to make but little difference; 

 and his particular sin, or inconsistency, seemed 

 to be in the fact that he would give each new 

 favorite to understand that she alone was the 

 particular object of his i-egard. If he did not 

 say so in words, he said it in manner. It might 

 seem a little strange that such a man as this 

 should happen to unite himself with one of the 

 best of women; but so it was. and for a lime 

 he was loyal and true, as every man should be. 

 Without the grace of God in his heart, how- 

 ever, as a restraint, it is nothing strange that, 

 as years passed, his old fashion, or the way in 

 which he was "built " — if you will excuse me 

 for using the expression again— began asserting 

 itself. His sense of honor, however, and his 

 keen discrimination of what is ordinarily ex- 

 pected of a man with a family, kept him with- 

 in the bounds of propiiety at least. As he 

 moved about in the world, however, and espe- 

 cially when business called him from home and 

 into remote places where no one knew him, the 

 temptation was very great to let it appear, at 

 least for the time being, that he was not a man 

 of family. Satan seldom lets opportunities 

 slip. The Bible tells us that he \& constantly 

 going about, seeking whom he may devour; 

 and this individual ere long felt, as some of 

 the friends have expressed it, that the impel- 

 ling power to evil was so great that he was 

 hardly responsible. He was " built that way," 

 and he " couldn't help it." However, before he 

 had gone over to the adversary entirely his 

 early religious teachings, with other influences, 

 brought him fairly and squarely face to face 

 with the gospel of Jesus Christ. He prayed 

 that the image of his Savior might take the 

 place of all and every thing else that had 

 tempted him. Deliverance came to him. as it 

 has to thousands before, and, in spite of the 

 way he was " built." he was a new man. Yes, 

 he was literally " built over " again, and that, 

 too. when he was well along in life. For a 

 time, at least, his experience seemed to be like 

 that of many of our intemperate friends. No 

 trace remained of his former great and grievous 

 trials. Like a new-born child he had nothing 

 to do but to wait and watch for the " Lamb of 

 God who taketh away the sin of the world." to 

 lead him step by step in that path that leads 

 from earth to heaven. As the years passed, 

 however, God seemed to call him into new and 

 untried paths and experiences. Like the hum- 

 ble followers of Christ Jesus, it seemed to be 

 the divine will that he should not be taken out 

 of the world, but that he should mix a good 

 deal (■)( with the world. Need I tell you that, 

 little by little, temptations began to creep 

 back? For a time he was stumbled and was 

 perplexed. Was it God's will? was it right 

 that he should be obliged to fight day after day, 

 in season and out of season, against these pow- 

 ers of darkness that would pull him doNvn? 

 There was a time in Paul's life, you may 

 remember, when the reader of the sacred his- 

 tory would be tempted to say. "Why, Paul 

 must surely have been making a mistake and a 

 blunder. What earthly good could he accom- 

 plish by going to city after city, only to meet 

 with persecutions by mobs, only to stir up 

 bloodshed and crime. only to get himself stoned 

 and dragged out of the city, narrowly escaping 

 with his life at every crook and turn?" Ire- 

 member thinking of that very thing, and I 

 wondered why Paul did not get discouraged. 

 It was cheering to me, however, to find that, 



