6 AG 



GLEANINGS IN liEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



where we pUico it plainly before their eyes." 

 Do.s il Jitrlp one along in life to get into this 

 frame of mind V and does it help him on in 

 the pathway to eternal life V 



Such a spirit of complaining, and rushing 

 to the conclusion that somebody is false 

 wliile we alone are true, grows on one. It is 

 like intemperance and other terrible sins. If 

 you rush to the conclusion that one of your 

 lieighbois is dishonest, in a few dajs yon 

 will discover tiiat another one is more dis- 

 honest, and so on. Tretty soon you become 

 a misanthrope, hating your fellow-men ; then 

 you hale (iod.tlien creeps in Iht^ liideous de- 

 inon of suicide, and the end is— where ? The 

 direct opposite of this is a bright faitli in 

 God and in man. A few days ago a difli- 

 culty was laid before me. between a pur- 

 chas'er and a shipper of queens. Uecause of 

 some trilling misunderstanding, one called 

 the other a liar. \Vhy. my friends, such 

 words are awful. No doubt the man who 

 sent out the queens was in the wrong ; but 

 what he said was nothing near what might 

 be called a delil^erate lie. It is a feaiful 

 thing to get into such a state of mind over 

 business matters that you feel like calling 

 one of your fellow-men a liar, and still worse 

 when you do so far forget yourself as to put 

 it in Avords. When you get into such an at- 

 titude of mind that you feel like being cross 

 at every thing and everybody, please remem- 

 ber the words of the angel of the Lord to 

 Elijali— '■ Vet I have left me seven thou- 

 sand." Since that history was written, th.e 

 world has improved in godliness and right- 

 eousness. I tliiiik tliere is no question of 

 that. There is iniiputy abroad in our land, 

 it is true ; but we can always rest assured of 

 this, when we feel tempted to give way to 

 uncharitable thoughts and feelings : As we 

 are. so is the world. The generality of your 

 fellow-men average, in God's sight, about as 

 you do. You have no right for a moment to 

 insist, or to allow yom'self to get into a way 

 of thinking, that "the rest are corrupt, and 

 tliat you alone are pure. In fact, the truest 

 indic'atiov! that a man is getting to be low 

 down in the scale of godliness is Ids inclina- 

 tion to exalt liimself and to decry others. 

 Find a really godly man— one whom the 

 world unites in reverencing and respecting, 

 and watch his coversation, and see if you 

 can get him to denouncing people as a class, 

 corporations as a class, or e^■en political l)od- 

 ies. I tried the experiment only yesterday. 

 An old friend who is known because of his 

 Christian spirit and faultless life, took sup- 

 per with us. I ho[)e lu' will forgive me when 

 I say that I purposely started liim on poli- 

 tics, and led the way a little, t<> see if I could 

 get him to speak ill of any of our political 

 parties, or even of politicians as a body. His 

 cluldlike simplicity, and faith in his fellow- 

 men, as he plead for them all, one after an- 

 other, was a lesson and a rebuke to me. 

 ^lay God help me to carry such a faith and 

 charity and loving kindness toward all my 

 fellow-meul to be ready to defend them, and 

 to speak of their good (jualilies whenever 

 they are assailed by this sort of unkind 

 wholesale criticism that I have been trying 

 to speak against in my talk to-day. flow 

 very, very closely does"lt)ve to our fellow- 



men come in with love to tiod I and this 

 brings us back again to the words of .lesus 

 to the wise lawyer: 



Then one o! them, wliicli \va.~ :l hiwycr, ar-koii liini 

 a (iiiestioii. tcuiptiMjr liiiii. ami ya,\ iiij;-, Master.wliich 

 i.s the ji-reat cmnnianilmciit in tin- law'.- .U'Siis said 

 unto him, Tliou sluilt love tlie Lord thy (iod with all 

 thy heart, aud with all tliy soul, and witii all thy 

 mind. This is the tirst and great commandment. 

 And the second is like unto it. Thou sha't love thy 

 licigliljor as thyself.— Matt; r?:.' : 3.")— ;». 



For a month or two back I have been very 

 happy, and I think the happiness has, ii 

 great deal of it. come along in the line I 

 have just been talking about to-day. When 

 somebody or some class of people liave been 

 censured" severely, I liave tried wliat tiie ef- 

 fect would be to take their part, aud remon- 

 strate against tmjust and uncharitable criti- 

 cism. I have tried to think of tiie better 

 phases of humanity ; and doing so I have 

 become happier, and. I trust, better myself. 

 It needs only a very little remonstrance, or 

 a very little" suggesti(m, kindly put, to stoji 

 conversation when it starts in this line. 

 People are usually inclined to assent when 

 v,e put in a plea for an absent one. and I have 

 generally found tliem quite ready to take u]) 

 with the better side of almost anybody, when 

 it is suggested to them in a ("hristianlike 

 spirit. iSuch an attitude is a hopefid one. 

 One who loves God and his fellow-man is al- 

 ways liopeful. lie is always glad that he is 

 alive, and, no matter what trials or obsta- 

 cles beset him, he has something to iVjoice 

 over. 



Years ago. during my tirst Ciavstian ex- 

 perience. I mentioned that there were times 

 when (iod"s love seemed very precious to me 

 —that I cotdd feel, as it were, a soit of com- 

 panionship—that I was not alone. Well". I 

 have felt this a good deal lately. Sometimes 

 Ititter denimciations have been uttered in 

 regard to certain political parties, or certain 

 religious sects, it may be. When I liave ta- 

 ken the part of tliese i)eople or classes, a 

 feeling has come over me as though some 

 presence were near : and this presence 

 seemed to say, " Dear friend. you are getting 

 on the right track : go on. "and fear not." 

 And when I have put in a plea in tiie way I 

 have told you. I have thought of this text 

 I have quoted : '• I have left me seven thou- 

 sand in Israel, all the knees of which have 

 not bowed to Baal." There is something 

 wonderfully comforting in this thought : 

 That (iods own image is still to be found in 

 hiunauity. Willi all its sins and weakne.sses. 

 and that often only a little encouragement is 

 needed to bring out this image of (iod, and 

 let it shine forth. Who could for a moment 

 think of considering life a burden, or man- 

 kind as enemies, or ilie iileasuies and pur- 

 suits of the world as uiisatisfviiii>-. while his 

 heart is idled Willi these briglit hopes that 

 only a faitii in (iod can inspirey Tiiere is a 

 little verse in the last chai)ter of Zeythaniah 

 that I sometimes tliink of at such times. It 

 isalitlle odd and singular: liut yet after 

 such exiieriences as I have told \ou"of. there 

 is wonderful beauty in it. 



The Lord thy (;od in the midst of thee is niiglity; 

 he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he 

 will rest in his love, he will joy over tliee with sing- 

 ing.— Zki'iiamaii :i: 17. 



