1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



755 



"Mr. Root, I have bothered you a great deal 

 ah'eady, and I feel a little bit ashamed for hav- 

 ing made you so much trouble. I hope you will 

 not think unkindly, but I think I should pre- 

 fer the other set at the price." 



By this time I had so far overcome self that I 

 made up my mind that I would finish up the 

 transaction " for Christ Jesus, even if the goods 

 did remain on my hands. I answered promptly 

 something as follows: 



" Why. my good friend, we are both anxious 

 to sell, and I confess I rather need the money; 



but my friend has not been as long "in 



business as I have, and I sujjpose he needs the 

 trade more than I do. What is my loss will be 

 his gain, and on the whole I shall feel quite well 

 satisfied to have him make the sale." 



I put the teaset back in its glass case, and my 

 customer went away. For several days I lost 

 the sale of article after article, turning the 

 trade right over to him. But a new peace and 

 joy had begun to till my soul. There were 

 times when I felt a little doubt about the out- 

 come: but it was not long. Pretty soon my 

 rival in business came down to inquire what 

 had happened. Perhaps I should tell you, that, 

 for weeks or months before, we had been assail- 

 ing each other through our county paper. Both 

 of us bragged of our acuteness, and sixjke siicer- 

 ingly of tl\e other. The change was so sudden, 

 however, on my part, that it startled folks just 

 a little. When he came down to see me he was 

 changed too. Said he, " Mr. Root, if this is 

 religion. I. too. want to be a Christian." 



Is it any thing suiprising. dear fiiends ? It 

 was not many tiays lieforc it was my pleasure 

 to kneel with him in jn'ayer. and to hear him 

 ask the dear Savior for mercy and pardon. Our 

 relations from that time to this have always 

 been pleasant. How could they be otherwise? 



Now for the other part of the ti-ansaction. 

 Did I really lose? Why, bless your heart, no. 

 From the moment I took that stand, and began 

 to make the little text at the head of our chap- 

 ter my motto in life, my whole life was changed. 

 I not only rose up out of the miry clay in spirit- 

 ual matters, but it was the same in business. 

 Please, now, do not think that I wish to exalt 

 A. I. Root in what I am going to say. for you 

 who have known me long and known me better 

 will believe me when I say that I wish Christ 

 Jesus, whom I try to serve, to have the glory 

 and honor, and by no manner of means my poor 

 self. Well, this is what I want to say: From 

 the moment I stopped this little petty quarrel- 

 ing over who should be first, or who should have 

 the trade, my reputation as a business man be- 

 gan to extend over a wider field. Every thing 

 grew and prospered on my hands. God seemed 

 pleased to verify his many promises in blessing 

 all my undertakings. 



In times past I have told you about answers 

 to prayer, in the line of pecuniary matters. 

 Don't imagine that, because I have ceased to 

 speak of these things, such experiences come 

 no more. I have thought best not to speak of 

 them, because there is great danger of being 

 misunderstood. But I want to speak of one 

 right here. When I began giving employment 

 to women and children who were left destitute 

 of husband or parents, a great many times I 

 undertook to give more work than I had work 

 for them to do. In this dilemma I prayed that 

 God would sharpen my business perceptions and 

 abilities. I prayed, too, that he would send me 

 the money, or tell me how I could get it. Let 

 me tell you of one marked answer to such 

 prayers. A hundred-dollar bill came in a plain 

 envelope — no scrap of wiiting with it. It came 

 just after I had been asking God for means. I 

 was startled somewhat, but I told the clerk who 

 opened the mails that somebody had sent it in 



a hurry, and that the order would probably 

 come in the next mail. The next mail, how- 

 ever, did not bring any order, nor did it come 

 for a week or two. It began to look very 

 strange and unaccountable. Finally one of the 

 good be e-friends wrote something like this: 



•• By the way, Mr. Root, I suppose you got 

 that hundred-dollar bill I mailed you some days 

 ago. I took it in a trade, when I was away 

 from home, and I did not want to carry it 

 around with me, so I just put it in an envelope 

 and mailed it to you. I wanted it somewhere 

 whei-e it would be safe, and I knew that, if it 

 got into A. I. Root's hands, it would be all right 

 until I called for it." 



There, friends, is a lesson for you. In holding 

 fast to the Bible promise in carrying out my 

 queer ways and fasiiions, as some called them, 

 I was unconsciously laying the foundation of 

 the great business that has been built up around 

 me. Some called it a sharp trick of mine to ad- 

 vertise. Dear friends, it was no shai'p trick at 

 all. I had no idea of the outcome. ISIy course 

 of action sprang from a simple, honest determi- 

 nation to serve Christ Jesus by letting him come 

 first, and self second. My experience has only 

 verified the beautiful little text where Christ 

 says, '' Then shall the righteous answer him, 

 saying. Lord, when saw we thee a hungered, 

 and gave thee no meat? or thirsty, and gave 

 thee no drink?" It was just so in my case. I 

 built up a reputation without knowing it. Now, 

 friends, you can do the same thing. If you are 

 constantly straining every nerve and faculty 

 for self, you will miserably and utterly fail. If, 

 however, you are constantly and honestly seek- 

 ing to piit down self and exalt Christ Jesus, 

 even in business matters, then shall you be built 

 up. The above, you see, is put in my own words. 

 Read how Jesus put the same thought about 

 being exalted: "For whosoever will save his 

 life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his 

 life, for my sake and the gospel's, shall save it." 



Perhaps some one may say, " Then there was 

 no answerto prayer about it. The money came 

 because this friend had confidence in you, and 

 not because of your prayer." Not so, my good 

 friend. God heard the prayer, and answered it, 

 but he would not have heard it and answered it 

 liad I not been in that attitude of heart so that 

 he could consistently hear and answer. A 

 beautiful little text in the Psalms strikes the 

 whole matter: •' If I regard iniquity in my 

 heart, the Lord will not hear me." You know 

 the promise is, " Whatsoever ye shall ask in my 

 name it shall be given you." The thing asked 

 for or prayed for must be in Christ's name; and 

 he who expects answei-s to his prayers must in 

 his daily life strive to follow Jesus Christ. 



I now wish to give you a letter which came 

 to me just a few days ago. Without the preface 

 of a talk I have just given you, I should hardly 

 dare put it in print. The good friend who 

 penned it exaggerates in his kind comments on 

 my poor self, or he does not know me very well. 

 He has, perhaps, had only glimpses of that 

 better spirit which occasionally shows itself 

 through my actions. I only wish I deserved 

 half of what he says. As he pictures forth in 

 his letter what a good man and a follower of 

 Jesus Christ ought to be. I have thought best to 

 give it. When you read it, please do not think 

 it belongs to me, but think of it as a beautiful 

 sketch of what any Christian man or woman 

 may />c if really hungering and thirsting after 

 righteousness. 



Friend Root:— I wish to say tliat I have deiilt with 

 you during the past eight or ten years, and during 

 all those years 1 have ever found you the same- 

 obliging and accommodating, almcst to a fault. If 

 you made a mistake, you have always stood ready t« 

 correct it. If I made one, you kindly caUed my at- 



