1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



601 



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When a man's ways please the Lord, hemaketheven 

 his eueniies to be at peace with him.— Pkov. 16:7. 



IT is true, my friends, that we may some- 

 M t imps receive persecution for doing right, 

 in this day and age of the world ; but I 

 think the eases are very few and far between, 

 where one is persecuted for a persistent 

 course of rigid living before God and his 

 fellow-men. When I took the stand I did 

 against tobacco, I made a great many bitter 

 enemies ; or. at least, it seemed so 'for the 

 time being ; but as timepassed,one after an- 

 other, in his sober, quiet moments, would ac- 

 knowledge that I was right, in the main, 

 in the stand I had taken. Said one of our 

 hading business men. who does quite a large 

 trade in tobacco and cigars, " Boys, Root is 

 pretty nearly right about it; and the best 

 thing you can do is to stick to your places, 

 and throw away your tobacco." 



A kind friend, who has more than once 

 pointed out to me my faults, wrote the fol- 

 lowing soon after receiving our last num- 

 ber:— 



"Enemies arz more than the hairs of my head," and 

 " persecuted all my life." Why call them enemies? 

 Without doubt, they are perfectly sincere them- 

 selves—believe just what they say, and want to make 

 you and other people see yourself just as you look 

 to them. What difference does it all make to you? 

 Are you any different in God's sight? You may be a 

 great deal better if you can realize that there maybe 

 some truth in what each one says; and, instead of 

 defending yourself, accept it as a blessing. If you 

 are sincere and watchful, you will soon think they 

 might have said much more with truth if thi-y could 

 have seen into your heart. Seems to me, the Lord 

 has not yet succeeded in makingyou meek and hum- 

 hie habitually, if you have been persecuted all your 

 life. When y>>u cease entirely to feel them (the per- 

 secutions) as they affect you— won't that be blessed? 



Brocton,N. Y. "A." 



I accept the reproof, my friend ; and al- 

 though it is by no means often that I feel 

 that I have enemies, and am persecuted, I 

 know I get into the spirit oftener than I 

 should. I know there is truth in what peo- 

 ple say, even if they do say it unkindly, and 

 often in an exaggerated way ; but one can, 

 if he tries hard (by the help of his Savior), 

 live in such a way that there will be very 

 little ground for these things to start from. 

 1 know I am no different, and no better (and 

 I oftentimes think, in my better moments, 

 that I am not as blameless), as the average 

 about me. 



I once heard that young minister who 

 taught me the way to life say, in his prayer, 

 that he thanked God for his enemies, be- 

 cause they told him of his faults. I am try- 

 ing to do "this, my friend, and it oftentimes 

 seems to me as ir nobody else ever made such 

 blundering work of it as I do True. true, 

 the Lord has not yet succeeded in making 

 me meek and humide. or I should not have 

 had so much persecution; for persecution 

 seldom holds out long where one takes it 

 with a Christian-like spirit. I used the verse 



from David (about his enemies being more 

 than the hairs of his head) perhaps a little 

 unwisely. I found it in our morning Bible- 

 readings, and had a good laugh over it. I 

 wonder if David was not a little sour and de- 

 spondent when he wrote that? It gave me 

 comfort to think that even he had such 

 troubles; and when 1 got at my work, it was 

 running in my mind. You know 1 only said 

 I was sometimes almost tempted to think as 

 much. 1 do not really think I ever had so 

 many enemies as that, even if they were all 

 summed up. By the way, my wife savs I 

 should explain that the hairs on my head are 

 now getting so few and scattering, that I 

 should not have so very many enemies, even 

 if it were all true. 



By your concluding remark, my friend, I 

 am to understand, am I not, that it is not a 

 bad thing, after all, to feel that we are per- 

 secuted? The inebriate in the ditch feels no 

 persecution, because he does not care for 

 any thing that can be said. It follows, then, 

 that it is right to care, when we are wrongly 

 accused, providing we care in such a way as 

 to cherish no hard and revengeful feelings 

 toward the one who has wronged us. In a 

 book written by Holland, called Nicholas 

 Minturn, we are told what a task it is, and 

 how much hard labor is involved, in getting 

 those who have entirely lost self-respect to 

 once more regain it. After it is once re- 

 gained, then comes pride, and we have to be 

 careful about going the other way. It is well 

 that Ave have enough pride and energy so 

 that we can be stirred to the very depths of 

 our souls; but what a beautiful sight it is to 

 see one who, when thus stirred, preserve a 

 quiet and calm exterior! Suppose you are 

 trying hard to lead a Christian life, and have 

 got the better of most of your old sins, and 

 have nothing but kindness and good will for 

 everybody. Somebody asks a favor of you, 

 that seems but a little thing to him ; but you 

 have reasons you can not well explain for 

 knowing you would be doing wrong to grant 

 it. You refuse as pleasantly as you can, and 

 forget the matter; but the disappointed 

 brother does not, and pretty soon, by some 

 means, a. rumor is started, that you are guilty 

 of some of the sius of your old life,— say, that 

 you had got drunk or lost money gambling. 

 You do not trouble yourself about it until, 

 finally, some friend brings you a newspaper, 

 and, with his linger on the spot, shows you 

 just what all your friends and enemies are 

 commenting on. 



But a few years ago it would have been 

 the most lik>ly thins in the world, and there- 

 fore everybody accepts it, almost without a 

 thought. At first you are so stunned that 

 you hardly take in the whole matter; but 

 meanwhile your heart beats until you can 

 hardly speak, and the hot blood of anger suf- 

 fuses your face. What right has any editor 

 to print such a false statement as that, and, 

 too, without giving you even an intimation 

 of what lie is going to do? Why, there is A, 

 15. and C, who should have known better 

 than that; and yet, in some unaccountable 

 way, every friend you have in the world 

 seems, without the slightest scruple, to have 

 turned asrainst you. What is the right thing 

 to do? Shall you show how untruthful it all 



