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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Apr. 



Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he 

 shall have abundance; but from him that hath not 

 shall be taken away even that which he hath.— 

 Matt. 35 : 2.'). 



Friend Root:— In my lesson for the family wor- 

 ship a few nights ago, I read the following: "To 

 him that hath, more shall be given, but to him that 

 hath not, it shall be taken away what little he 

 hath." Is it really so, that God takes away every 

 thing we have, just to make object-lessons of us, so 

 as to fulfill the above words of our Savior? About 

 a year ago we met with some heavy losses in busi- 

 ness; and as one venture after another has failed, 

 and one thing after another has had to be sold to 

 pay some debt and keep the wolf from the door, it 

 seems as if truly in our case the above words are 

 being fulfilled. I could bear it myself; but when 

 the good wife gets discouraged, and wishes she had 

 married some one better able to support her, it is a 

 little hard to bear. I am willing to work hard, ear- 

 ly and late, to again get a foothold; but how can 

 we keep up the courage of those that are near and 

 dear to us? Thinking that perhaps you would have 

 a good word for me (as you seem to for every one) 

 is why I write. 



Dear friend, I am very much obliged to 

 you indeed for tlie compliment you pay me 

 in thinking that I may have a good word for 

 you. May God give me grace and wisdom 

 to answer you wisely. The text that you 

 quote follows immediately after the one 

 that has been through life one of my bright 

 and shining texts. I suppose that our 

 readers are well aware that it follows the 

 parable of the talents, given in the 25th 

 chapter of Matthew. The same thing is 

 also substantially given in the 19th of Luke, 

 although the details are a little different in 

 the two accounts. The main thought and 

 lesson to be gathered, as I understand it, is 

 faithfulness in service, or, in other words, 

 making a good use of that which is intrust- 

 ed to our care The text that has given me 

 so much comfort is in Matthew : " Thou 

 hast been faithful over a few things, I will 

 make thee ruler over many things.'' In 

 your lesson for family worship, you of 

 •course read the whole parable of the tal- 

 ents ; and in view of that, dear friend, I can 

 hardly understand how you could interpret 

 it as you do ; namely, that the Lord had 

 taken away these things from you just to 

 make an " object-lesson." I am afraid your 

 faith is waning, dear brother. God never 

 takes away any thing from us simply that 

 the Scriptures may be fulfilled. Far from 

 it ! On the contrary, we are told that God 

 will withhold no good thing from those who 

 love him. 



A few weeks ago at a farmers' institute, 

 friend Terry, in one of his talks about poor, 

 slipshod, heedless farming, made a remark 

 that such cases verified the Scripture text, 

 " Unto every one that hath shall be given ;" 

 " but unto every one that hath not, shall be 

 taken away that which he hath.'' Some one 

 in the audience called out : " Mr. Terry, do 

 you believe in that kind of doctrine?" 



His reply was, substantially : 



" Yes, my friends, I do ; that is, if you 

 put it in this sense : The man who lets his 



manure heap lie out in the rain so that the 

 drainings may go off into the highway will 

 surely lose what little he has. You may 

 say God will take it away from him, or, if 

 you choose, you may say that in the ordina- 

 ry course of events, or in the nature of 

 things, his poor run-down farm, that is 

 hardly worth taking as a gift, will go into 

 other hands. On the other hand, he who 

 takes proper care of his manure, and saves 

 every particle, both liquid and solid, and 

 handles it with economy, and judiciously 

 applies it to the very places where it will do 

 the most good, shall be prospered. God will 

 give him abundance, to be added to what he 

 already has. Or, to put it as before, in the 

 course of events, or nature of things, he will 

 continue to accumulate property to make his 

 farm more valuable, and comfort and peace 

 will be around him." 



If friend Terry is not satisfied with my 

 version of his remarks, I hope he will state 

 the matter himself. 



And now, dear brother, instead of its be- 

 ing true that God takes away the things you 

 mention, is it not just the reverse? You 

 may think that I am hard and unkind ; but, 

 dear friend, you have come to me, and I can 

 not shirk responsibility. The physician or 

 the surgeon who cures, oftentimes gives 

 pain ; and I feel constrained to speak plain- 

 ly, because others have written to me much 

 as you have done, and thousands in our land 

 are now complaining of their hard lot. Fore- 

 most among them are the farmers whom 

 friend Terry has been urging to better ways 

 and to better work. Is it God who afflicts, 

 and why does he afflict? 



You say you have met with some heavy 

 losses in' business ; and a little further on 

 you say, " One venture after another has 

 failed." Now, dear brother, perhaps you 

 did not mean to use that word " venture." 

 I gather that you are a Christian— one who 

 reads the Scriptures, and asks God to help 

 day by day. If so, is it not possible that 

 you have been depending on " ventures " 

 rather than on the hard faithful work that 

 you speak of further along? I do not be- 

 lieve that Christian people have a right to 

 make ventures. I say this, using the word 

 in the sense of speculation. A great many 

 of the so-called ventures are made by going 

 in debt ; and oftentimes if we listen to old 

 expeiienced business men they would say 

 emphatically, " Let it alone. Don't go into 

 any such speculation." I know a good 

 many young business men are in the habit 

 of doing their own thinking, and not con- 

 sulting the veterans around them. I am 

 sure, however, that it is wrong. A great 

 many heartaches would be saved if our 

 young business men would consult older 

 heads before making ventures. In your re- 

 spective churches you have old and success- 

 ful business men. I never knew of a church 

 that did not contain more or less such. Go 

 and consult them. A great many times the 

 pastors are in position to give wholesome 

 counsel. The deacons of the church are al- 

 most always capable of advising wisely. 

 Of course, it is not absolutely necessary that 

 you go to a member of the church ; but as a 

 rule I have found professing Christians con- 



