He that is faithful in that which is least, is faithful also in much.— LuKB 1«;10. 



MYSELF AND MY NEIGHBORS. 



If any of you hn'k wi.sfloin, lot him aslf of God, 

 that g-iveth to all men lihcrally, ami upbiaidcth 

 not; and it siiall be ^jivon him.— .James 1 : 5. 



IIAT ;i grand thing is wisdom ! I 

 shall not take space this morning to 

 illustrate how true is our text, to 

 any great extent, but 1 shall eonline 

 niyseir mostly to showing you the ] 

 importanee of wisdom. Let me give you a 

 little sketch of my dealings with my neigh- 

 bois lor the i)ast twenty-tour hours. \\'liile 

 I was out in the liekl, a man came along 

 wajiting my name on a pai)er. The under- 

 taking was a grand one, and I could Avish it 

 (iod speed with all my heart. Jiut it was 

 something out of my line of work, and 1 

 asked why he wanted my name lirst. lie 

 said he wanted it started by a man univer- 

 sally known in our county, and one who is 

 known to be straight and upright in busi- 

 ness, etc. lie nrgeil that my nilluence miglit 

 help him greatly in getting the good cause 

 started. I hardly need tell you that I am 

 opposed to putting my name on any paper 

 carried by a stranger. He showed me simi- 

 lar papers that had lieen carried arountl in 

 other counties, and 1 pronounced the signa- 

 tures genuine, and as Ix'longing to the Ix'st 

 men I know of, many of them ; but 1 object- 

 ed, until 1 knew ni(ne about him and the 

 new movement. lie asked me what he 

 should do to remove my objections. Here 

 is where I wanted wisdom to answer. I 

 finally told him that, if the pastor of our 

 church, and the deacons of our church, 

 would give it their sanction, I would, if he 



wished, head the list. Was it a wise thing 

 to do? I thought so, and think so still. 

 The pastors of our churches, and the dea- 

 cons, are the l)est counselors I know of in 

 the world, especially in a matter like the 

 one presented. 



We have been having exceedingly wet and 

 rainy weather. Farmers all around are 

 worrying about their grain, and the thrash- 

 ing-machines have not yet got started, be- 

 cause, just as soon as tiie grain begins to be 

 so it would answer tolerably well to thrash, 

 it rains again. Thrashers were coming to- 

 morrow, and ray four acres of wheat and rye 

 would do pretty fairly. But just at dusk 

 one of my near neighbors, who has thirteen 

 acres of wheat, and who makes farming his 

 business, called in my absence to inquire if I 

 couldn't possibly let the thrashers do his 

 grain lirst. One of the boys said he would 

 present the matter to me wlien I came 

 home from the railroad meeting, and then 

 added : "• Now we will see whether Mr. 

 Koot loves his neighbors as himself." 



On the way home from the railroad meet- 

 ing my neighbor met me. The questicm 

 came as before, " What ought I to do?" 

 \\'hat would a wise man do under similar 

 circumstances? I told him to tell the 

 thrashers that they should do his first 

 (yon see I did not know they were watching 

 liie to see how^ my Chrifitvnnln would hold 

 out). He had a good deal moic than I had. 

 and he has been a very kind neighbor, and I 

 felt it a privilege to do him ;i favor. It is 

 true, it rained before the thrashers got 

 through with mine; but I have not been 



