446 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



give two Bounds for the preaching- house, but as I 

 was coming- down the hill on yesterday morning-, 

 something said to me, ' If you give one pound it 

 will be handsome;' then I thought T would give only 

 half a sovereign; and then that I would give noth- 

 ing. Why should I? But the Lord laid it on my 

 mind again last night that I must give you two 

 pounds. There it is!" 



"Thank the Lord !" said Billy, and proceeded im- 

 mediately to get the required timber. In answer to 

 prayer he also obtained "reed" for thatching the 

 roof, and by the same means timber for the forms 

 and seats. 



It was all done in a humble manner, so that he did 

 not dream of buying- any pulpit; but one day, as he 

 was passing along- th^ road, he saw that they were 

 going- to have a sale at the "count house" of an old 

 mine. He went in, and the first thing which met 

 his eye was a strong oak cupboard, with a cornice 

 round the top. It struck him that it would make a 

 grand pulpit, if only it was strong enough; on ex- 

 amination, he found it all he could desire in this 

 respect. He thought if he could take off the top 

 and make a " plat " to stand upon, it would do '"first- 

 rate." He told "Father" so, and wondered how he 

 could get it. He asked a stranger who was there, 

 walking about, what he thought that old cupboard 

 would go for? "Oh, for about five or six shillings." 

 was the reply. And while Billy was pondering- how 

 to "rise" six shillings, the same man came up and 

 said, " What do you want that cupboard for, Billy?" 

 He did not care to tell him, for he was thinking and 

 praving about it. The man said, "There are six 

 shillings for you; buy it, if you will." Billy took 

 the money, thanking the Lord, and impatiently wait- 

 ed for the sale. No sooner was the cupboard put up, 

 than he called out, "Here, maister, here's six shil- 

 lin's for uh," and he put the money down on the ta- 

 ble. "Six shilling's bid," said the auctioneer— " six 

 shillings— thank you; seven shillings: any more for 

 that good old cupboard? Seven shillings. Going- 

 going-— gone!" And it was knocked down to anoth- 

 er man. 



Poor Billy was much disappointed and perplexed 

 at this, and could not understand it at all. He 

 looked about for the man who had Given him the six 

 shillings, but in vain— he was not there. The auc- 

 tioneer told him to take up his money out of the 

 way. He complied, but did not know what to do 

 with it. He went over a hedge into a field l>v him- 

 self, and told "Father" about it; but it was all clear 

 — "Father " was not angry about anything. He re- 

 mained there an hour, and then went homeward*. 



As he was going along, much troubled in his mind 

 as to this experience (for he still felt so sure he was 

 to have that cupboard for a pulpit), he came upon a 

 cart standing- outside a public-house, with the very 

 cupboard upon it, and some men were measuring it 

 with a foot rule. As he came up, he heard ihcm 

 say, " It is too large to go in at the door or the win- 

 dow either." The publican who had bought it said, 

 "I wish I had not bid for the old thing at all; it is 

 too good to 'scat' up for firewood." At that instant 

 it came to Billy's mind to say, " Here, I'll give you 

 six shillings for un." "Very well," said the man, 

 taking the money; "you can have him." Then 

 Billy began to praise the Lord, and went on to say, 

 "'Father' as good as told me that I was to have 

 that cupboard, and He knew I could not carry him 

 home on my back, so He has found a horse and cart 

 forme. Bless. the Lord!" Promising to bring it 

 back very soon, he led the horse down the hill, and 

 put the old cupboard into the preaching-house. 

 "There it is!" he exclaimed, "and a fine pulpit he 

 does make, sure enough I Now." said Billy. "I 

 want to see thee in it. When will you come ?" I 

 could not fix for that day, or the next, but made ar- 

 rangements to conduct a series of services the next 

 week, and promised to have them in that place. 



One of the points that impressed me in the 

 ahove was Billy's constant attitude of heart 

 toward God. You will remember what I said 

 about this last month. If I get a correct 

 idea of his life, it was one of humble thank- 

 fulness and confidence all the day long. 

 "Praise the Lord." Dear reader, how many 

 hours in the day, can you truthfully say the 

 same in your heart? When we look cross, 

 or are in a complaining attitude, or are dis- 

 satisfied, or despondent, are we not getting 

 out of the humble and meek frame of mind 



that would be most fitting and consistent in 

 man toward his creator? 



Did you ever notice a mother while trying 

 to pacify a spoiled and ungrateful child? 

 How she would, with much patience, first 

 get one article of food and then another, tak- 

 ing all the pains possible to fix and season it 

 just according to the child's taste? Suppose 

 now, as soon as it is presented, the child, 

 with expressions of rage, dashes the plate 

 and spoon away from him, and with screams 

 declares that it is not what he wanted at all, 

 and that he will not have it. Perhaps he has 

 spattered and soiled his clothes, and may be 

 his mother's dress, but what does he care? 

 His attitude is certainly not suggestive of 

 meekness, is it? And would it not be a sad 

 thing i f such as he should "inherit the earth? 1 ' 

 Has his behavior not a good deal that is hu- 

 man in it? even though we feel, for the time, 

 as if it would be soothing to our feelings to 

 see the mother carry him away and give him 

 such a spanking as to take the "ugly" com- 

 pletely out of him, and make it give'way to a 

 proper and respectful attitude. I do not 

 mean to say that whipping alone will do it, 

 for it most assuredly will not, if administer- 

 ed by one with the same unbroken and un- 

 grateful spirit as his own. but I have drawn 

 the picture to illustrate what the opposite of 

 meekness is in the human heart. The 

 young men who frequent our saloons, and 

 whom I meet in our jails almost every Sun- 

 day afternoon, are children such as I have 

 pictured, after they have grown up. How 

 widely does the spirit and disposition differ 

 from that exhibited by our friend Billy, when 

 his longed for "cupboard" almost within his 

 reach, and directly in answer to prayer too, 

 was suddenly snatched away from him, by 

 one who wanted it for a barroom? It seems 

 he did not doubt the "Father," but he was a 

 little surprised and perhaps somewhat dis- 

 appointed. He had faith and sense enough 

 to climb over the hedge and go off by him- 

 selfe, just exactly the proper thing to do, and 

 ask God all about it. God was not displeas- 

 ed about anything. How cpiickly one who is 

 acquainted with him in prayer can tell that. 

 He could not see where he had been in any 

 way remiss, and God had really given him 

 the "six shillings". To be sure, it was all 

 right. It must be all right. Therefore it was 

 the most sensible thing in the world, to go 

 along home singing "Praise the Lord," as 

 usual. Now different is this, from the dis- 

 position to complain and be vexed with the 

 weather, or with the way in which things 

 turn out in this world. Meekness indicates 

 trust and faith in God. 



Let me caution you again, my friends, that 

 meekness does not, by any means, mean an 

 idle life. You are to have a faith that pre- 

 cludes the possibility of supposing that 

 things ever happen in this world, but rather 

 supposes that God is constantly managing 

 them for your own goorl, when you will let 

 him do so. If you get into the attitude of 

 the child at the table, he cannot manage 

 them for your own good, for you will not ac- 

 cept of such things as are offered. If you 

 sit still, in one sense, God stops too; if you 

 are active and full of energy, so is he in your 

 behalf; or at least so it would appear to you. 



