866 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



The matter, before being put in type, was 

 submitted to the two women, and with the 

 exception of one or two points, nothing was 

 put in type, without their assent. I do not 

 mean to say the papers had their approval, 

 but that in view of my convictions that I 

 ought to write thus, they reviewed the pa- 

 pers before they went into the compositors 

 hands. 



Of course, I was aware that a part of my 

 readers would object most emphatically, to 

 a course which to them seemed uncalled for, 

 and so much out of the common order of 

 things ; but 1 knew or thought I knew, that 

 there was among my readers a much larger 

 class, whose lives would be made happier 

 and better, from having known of my strug- 

 gles with evil, and my final triumph over it, 

 by the help of a power beyond anything in 

 the shape of human strength. Of course, I 

 kept the whole matter to myself with the 

 exception of my wife, and the two men- 

 tioned. The compositors and pressman had 

 been desired to take care that no loose sheets 

 were left about, and when the sheets con- 

 taining the two pages of the chapter in the 

 March number were off the press, the whole 

 matter, so far as I knew, was unknown to 

 any except those mentioned. At this time, 

 a very prominent divine who has charge 

 of the churches of a large denomination in 

 our state and adjoining states, came to 

 preach in our town, during a temporary ab- 

 sence of our minister. He stayed with me 

 over Sunday, and we became quite well ac- 

 quainted. It was quite a treat to me, to 

 talk with one who had so large an expe- 

 rience and acquaintance with the religious 

 people of our nation, and one who had an 

 education so comprehensive and complete, 

 as had he in all theological matters, and he, 

 too, seemed much taken up with a history of 

 my conversion, and the work that had fol- 

 lowed, lie attended our Sabbath morning 

 Bible class, and gave us much help, and, at 

 its conclusion, asked to see a copy of the 

 bee journal. He soon found these Home Pa- 

 pers, and, while I was absent at Abbeyville 

 in the afternoon, he asked my wife for the 

 back numbers : by the time I had returned, 

 he knew pretty well what my work had 

 been. Well, during that Sabbath afternoon, 

 my wife told him of my paper that was just 

 coming out, and asked his advice in the 

 matter. That evening, after meeting, he 

 asked to see me alone, and questioned me 

 about my course and motives for it. I 

 answered him freely. He assured me with 

 such earnestness that I was misled by Satan, 

 and on the brink of a yawning precipice, 

 that I was in truth frightened. The matter, 

 as he presented it, assumed quite a different 

 phase, and I at once promised to destroy the 

 sheets already printed, even though the la- 

 bor on them should cost me several hundred 

 dollars, and I told him that I thought God 

 had sent him, on purpose to rescue me from 

 one of Satan's wily snares. I told my wife, 

 and we two knelt and thanked God for hav- 

 ing sent us this good friend just in time. I 

 slept soundly, and awoke with an untroub- 

 led conscience, ready to follow God's bid- 

 ding where ever it might lead. 



My wife soon came to me, however, saying 



that she had just been told, by one who re- 

 sided with us, that a report was abroad in 

 our town, that I was going to make a con- 

 fession in my next journal, and that every 

 body was anxious to see it. I went in to see 

 the Doctor, when he was up, and he seemed 

 more troubled than I was. He said that the 

 very fact of my having yielded to him so 

 easily made him feel that it was possible that 

 I was right and he wrong. People who are 

 influenced by Satan, said he, are always 

 headstrong and determined on any course 

 they have undertaken ; but, to his surprise, 

 I gave way to him at once, even though it 

 incurred the loss, to me, of considerable 

 money, and my willingness to be guided by 

 him, without even a moments hesitation, 

 was what made him feel uneasy. After I 

 told him of the report that had got abroad, 

 he seemed more troubled, and remarked that 

 it looked as if God had brought this about, 

 to oblige me to go on ; for, if a report was 

 abroad and the sheet should be suppressed, 

 the general verdict would be that the matter 

 was connected with crime, while, in fact, 

 there was none. After breakfast he went 

 down to the factory, and read what was 

 printed. He did not approve of it at all; 

 not a single portion of it. Said he, 



u Mr. Root, if that article does notkill your 

 bee journal, it certainly ovght to kill it." 



He finally settled the matter by getting a 

 promise from me, that I would hold back 

 the printing of any further portions of it, 

 until my own pastor returned, which would 

 be in about a week. Of course, my pastor 

 knew nothing of it, for I had not even men- 

 tioned it to him. Before he went away, he 

 came back to say that he was very loth to 

 take the responsibility of deciding on a 

 course for any one to take, who feels that he 

 is led by God to a certain course of action. 



I am coming now to the whole point of 

 this chapter, and the question to be consid- 

 ered is this : 



Hoes God, in answer to prayer, guide us 

 safely, in all matters in life? In going to 

 him, on bended knees, with Bible in hand, 

 are we absolutely sure of never making any 

 great mistakes, and doing more harm than 

 good? Nay, farther; are we sure he will not 

 let us get off into delusion, monomania, re- 

 ligious insanity, etc. Is religion, pure and 

 undefiled, a perfect safeguard against mad- 

 ness, suicide, and the like? 



The Doctor had a powerful intellect, and 

 was learned both in men and books far be- 

 yond any thing I could ever hope to be. In 

 my talk with him, I had told him that I felt 

 that God had guided me to this work, in all 

 these four years, and I cited to him the an- 

 swers to prayer narrated in the ''Home Pa- 

 pers" he had just been reading. At one 

 point in the conversation, he made a remark 

 like this, although in the morning, he vir- 

 tually recalled it. 



"Mr. Root, perhaps there has been no an- 

 swer to prayer at all, and all the events you 

 have mentioned are only wonderful coinci- 

 dences." • 



"And all my religious life a delusion?" 



"Yes ; all your religious life a delusion. 

 God does not work miracles as he once did ; 

 have you a right to suppose the laws of na- 



