104 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



May 



sincere and earnest wish for help, and with 

 a disposition to do right. When I try to tell 

 you in my earnest way that God's love is not 

 a thing that is to be talked of only on Sun- 

 day, and at arms length, as though it were a 

 subject that could not well be spoken of 

 without embarrassment, you know just what 

 I mean, and why I speak thus. When I talk 

 to husbands and wives as I am now going to 

 speak, you "will listen to me, because you 

 know that I am on familiar ground, and am 

 not speaking of things I know only by report. 

 I have written on temperance, and with 

 God's help have done good ; but you can now 

 see why it was that, all the time, I was 

 thinking of an evil that, since my conver- 

 sion has been regarded by me as Satan's 

 child, twin sister to intemperance ; it is the 

 Devil's work, in the one case as in the other, 

 and in both, he will persuade the poor victim 

 until the very last moment, if possible, that 

 he is doing right, and that there is in this 

 vast universe, an excuse for his wickedness, 

 and for his wrong doings. A short time a- 

 go, a reformed intemperate man confessed 

 to me that, after he had been a sober man 

 for years, he had allowed a feeling to get 

 possession of him, that he needed a little 

 stimulus to tone him up, because he was not 

 feeling quite well. He dwelt on it, until the 

 idea seemed reasonable and right, and the 

 poor man. might have gone down to ruin, 

 had he, not decided to tell his wife of this 

 notion before procuring anything. She, 

 poor woman, with her free and undimmed 

 faculties, recognized the cloven hoof at once, 

 and at her suggestion, they both went down 

 on then- knees, and implored the great God 

 who had saved him before, now to open his 

 eyes, that he himself might see the Evil One 

 tnrough this thin gauze so transparent to 

 every body except the poor victim. He told 

 me this himself, to illustrate the danger of 

 one who has once fallen. Well, within the 

 ' K eel i' *? m ?, n » 2 reat numbers of letters 

 in regard to these recent home papers 



W PhH e r r0m a married woman, a profess- 

 ing Christian, and a member of a church 

 confessing that although she had a family 

 mor?°t^n U »F c J iw K ren "she loved anotiK 

 wfi 0? n her husband, and more than she 

 npnln e > °^ We - She tola »»s, and la- 

 SSH? ™ th< V 8lf il ™s a misfortune, 

 PivftT^o/ 1 "- Glv , e me ' ° God, wisdom 

 Ski W? en W, aQ d above all, give me of 

 thy Holy Spirit, that I may induce thy peo- 

 ple to shake off the lethargy into which s£ 



see SSf"! V"-"' W J& they cannot 

 see me awful state in which thev are -in.i 



such fhiS 6 Kln $om of Heaven, while 



their t?ni 8 „ are r\°^ ( U° exist 'within 

 ineir bosoms Unrebuked. Rouse ve O ve 



hte ° C > h ' 13 foul 9i »> that Satan S tfe uS 

 Hetuu n ifern^ , ! < » lenCe aml ^router" would 

 52HUS?S; the very gates of Heaven., and 

 SJSKiJft v ' ct im alt the time that he is 

 m» ™,i ™ t0 th . e Ce \«*tiat City. Rouse ye 



wK ^hS?«l!L y f C< ?lT eraion » I never understood 

 why the first of the commandments was in 



regard to worshipping other gods. I did not 

 dream that it referxed to other gods than 

 those of the heathen, made of wood and 

 stone ; but when I asked God to show me, I 

 saw at once his wonderful wisdom in putting 

 this commandment before all others ; I saw, 

 too, how fearfully I had trampled clown this 

 first and most important commandment of 

 all. My friends, if you obey this one, if God 

 is first and foremost in all your thoughts, if 

 his Holy Spirit fills your being, you can be 

 happy anywhere. I can almost say it does 

 not matter who or what your husband or 

 wife is, the love that God gives will soften 

 and melt away the worst traits of character 

 a human being can possess, and if even one 

 of you has this love in your hearts, the other 

 must catch some of it, sooner or later. If 

 vour husband is unlovable, rejoice that God 

 has given to you the work of softening and 

 moulding him to better things. See that 

 your own heart is right in the sight of God. 

 and mountains can be moved, in the way of 

 reclaiming a companion. 



My wife and I were speaking this morning, 

 of how wonderfully God's love- cements and 

 holds together that of husband and wife, of 

 how powerfully it acts to drive out every 

 thing foreign, and every thing that tends to 

 break that happy harmony which Heaven it- 

 self seems to have instituted. My friend 

 who was tempted to drink went home and 

 told his wife, and was from that moment 

 safe. If you are tempted in any way, go and 

 tell your wife or husband as the case maybe, 

 and you are safe. Let there be no secrets 

 between you two. Have the charity for your 

 partner in life, that you would have for your 

 left hand, if it failed to perform the work 

 that the right does. I)o not lose sight for a 

 single second of the fact that God has brought 

 you together, and declare in your hearts, 

 day by day, that nothing earthlv shall come 

 between you. If you are conscious of having 

 been the least unkind in word or manner, as 

 you hope for happiness here on earth, go at 

 once and ask forgiveness. Many and many 

 a time, in the last four years, have I, at 

 night, knelt by my wife's side, and confessed 

 to her my shortcomings, not so much in 

 deeds, as in thoughts, and so humiliating 

 have been these confessions sometimes, that 

 I have asked her how she could have any re- 

 spect for such a man for a husband. Her 

 smile and her words of confidence and trust 

 have always made me strong, and after such 

 talks, I have always gone forth to my daily 

 duties stronger and better for the conscious- 

 ness that she was thinking of me all day 

 long,. and that she, too, was praying that! 

 might not stumble and falter. God nas pro- 

 nounced a blessing on the marriage relation, 

 and a blessing follows those who are faithful 

 to it, but a fearful curse hangs over him or 

 her, who, even in thought, would forget the 

 promise made before God. 



I do not care, I can almost say, what the 

 circumstances are; you are man and wife, 

 i .. -?: quicker you set about making the 

 best of it, the better for you. I can get the 

 I th' t sh to c °nvey before you in this way, 



Our children said yesterday that a family 

 was to move in next door to our home, hav- 



