1885 



GLEANINGS IN JJEE CULTURE. 



043 



0a^ pejiE^. 



I, even I only, <ini left, and tliey seek my life, to 

 take it awny.— 1. Kings 1!I:10. 



SUPPOSE most of the friends are farnil- 

 r iar witlt the circumstances under wiiicli 

 t p]|ijah spoke these words. Elijah was a 

 great propliet. (iod iionored liim in life. 

 and God honoied liim by translating 

 him that he should not see deatli. He com- 

 missioned liim to perform miracles such as 

 no human being ha<l leen permitted to per- 

 ioral ))elore. I'^lijah was a great reformer. 

 lie surely hungered aud Ihiisted after right- 

 eousness. IJut with all his Isravery. and 

 with all his devotion to the cause of right- 

 eousness, lie spems to have been human, like 

 oiirselvis. and was given to complaining and 

 faiilt-linding at times, it would seem. James 

 mentions this where he says: — 



Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we 

 are. and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain; 

 and it rained not on the earth by the space of three 

 years and six months. — .J.\.Mt:s .5: IT. 



lie was just the man for the i)lace and the 

 times : aud when God commissioned him to 

 meet Ahab. to tell him of the famine that 

 was to come on tiie nation, lie took up fear- 

 lessly the task that jierhaps no other man in 

 the kingdom would have dared to perform, i 



We know nothing of the early history of 

 Elijah. We only know that the general' im- 

 pression se-emed'to prevail that (hxI was ac- 

 customed to deal with him in n miraculous 

 mamr^r. Even as good a man as ()l)adiaii. 

 was afraid that (iod might take the i)roi)hct 

 away by some sort of ■^sleight of hand."" and 

 leave himself the victim of Ahab's ticiee 

 liassions. 



Elijah had a simph'. childlike faith in (iod 

 that "titted him for the work he was called 

 upon to do. There was nothing in his com- 

 position to indicate the least ]>articl(' of 

 pride or love of display. The historic man- | 

 tie. which has Ix en a synonym f<u- ages, was ; 

 l>robal)ly a simple garment made of sheep- ' 

 skin or leather; and whether he was alone 

 in the wiUlerness. or standing before the 

 king, his attire was probably just the same. ; 

 lie was one of the great minds of the age. [ 

 and eminently litted for calling down lire 

 from heaven, "or invoking the stcnms from 

 across the sea; and through it all we may { 

 readily believe there was not a spark of 

 pride ()r self-glory. It was <Jod"s honor he 

 was defending, anil (Jod's righteousness that 

 he wished to see yirevail : :ind because in- 

 stant reform among the chiidicu of nu-n was j 

 not a prompt result of his great miracles, he 

 became dissatislied and iniiiatient. and com- 

 plained even to the angel of the Lorit him- 

 self. 



How often we see the same spirit mani- 

 fested nowadays, even by some of God's 

 greatest servan'tsi and most of us, too. per- 

 haps, who have been hungering and thirst- 

 ing after righteousness have felt some of 

 Elijah's impatience and want of faitli, be- 

 cause (Jotl's work seems in our eyes to move 

 with unreasonable slowness. Every little 

 Mhile somebody says the cause of temper- 

 ance is not iiiovii'ig on a bit— we are just 

 where we were years and years ago. All 



the energy and zeal which has been put forth 

 amounts to just nothing, or, at least, the ef- 

 fect is so soon swallowed up in this gulf of 

 iniquity that we might as well give up and 

 let the thing go on. 



A friend of mine once said to me, '-The 

 men all drink— at least, there is hardly an 

 exception." I think of it sometimes when 

 it transpires tliat one whom we supposed 

 was almost the soul of honor and temper- 

 ance, has been taking stimulants for his 

 health because •• the doctor advised it."" or 

 something of that sort: and when after a 

 little time he turns out to be openly intem- 

 perate, I begin to wonder if there is really 

 (HH/'xr?// to be relied on. I feel ashamed of 

 myself, however, soon afterward; for if I 

 don"t remember the words of reproof that 

 (iod used in replying to Elijah, I at least re- 

 cover my own good common sense. In the 

 18th verse of the same chapter our text 

 comes from. God tells Elijah that there is 

 not only oik more like himself who is hun- 

 gering and thirsting after righteousness and 

 godliness, but that there are in Israel seven 

 lhou!«iud who.se knees have never been lient 

 for one moment to 15aal. and whose lips have 

 not touched the disgusting idol. And now, 

 then, the point of my talk to-day. dear 

 friends, is going to be" a good deal in the 

 same place where it has been so many times 

 liefore— more faith in (Jod. and more faith 

 in our fellow-men. 



A few weeks ago I wonderfully enjoyed 

 paying a visit to our friend Terry, of ]iotalo 

 notoriety. After 1 got home 1 wanted to 

 tell all about this visit, on about four pages 

 of (iLic.vxiXGs ; and as some would say it 

 was not bee culture, I concluded I wo"uld 

 l)ut in two extra leaves, making il gratui- 

 tous. It seemed to me that the amount of 

 good done by a minute account of friend 

 Terry's faini" and farming oi>erations would 

 warrant the outlav. Perhaps I shall do it 

 yet : but 1 think I 'could have done it better 

 "while the incidents of the visit were fresli 

 in my mind, and when I was full of enthusi- 

 asm on the subject. Why didn"t I do it 'r* 

 Well, because I began to he afraid it was 

 not best. 



A year or two ago, while our daughter 

 was in school, she felt greatly hurt because 

 the lady who had charge of her department 

 objected to her making occasional visits 

 home, even when she was terribly homesick. 

 1 wrote to the lady jirincipa] in regard to 

 the matter, and she replied that she knew it 

 seemed hard, but that she could speak pos- 

 itively from years of ex})erience. that, wlien 

 I)upils went" home, their mind was for the 

 time taken from their studies, their interests 

 were divided, and it was very undesirable. 

 j Where you wish to have a i)upilmake steady 

 and heidthful progress in her studies, her 

 interest must center all about these studies, 

 and we shottld aim to avoid any sort of di- 

 j version or a dividing of these interests. 

 i Well, 1 was led to think that even these two 

 i leaves, given gratuitously, might divide the 

 j interest of the readers, and that perhaps a 

 I little book about the size of the potato-book, 

 with projier illustrations, would be the bet- 

 ter way. then those who don"t care about 

 I Terry "and his success in agriculture need 



