1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



759 



desire, when ye pray, believe th"t ve receive them, 

 and ye shall rective them (Mark 11: 21). 



11. Jesus answered them, and said My doctrine is 

 not mine. Vint his that .^ent me It any man will do 

 his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it '>e 

 of God, or whether I speak of niy.>-elf (John 7: l(i 17). 



15 He that hath my commandments, and ktepeth 

 them, he it is that loveth me ; and he that lovclh me 

 shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and 

 will manifest myself to him (John 1-1:21). 



1() He that sp:ired not his own Son. but delivered 

 him up for us all. how sh ill he not with him al.so free- 

 ly give us all things (Rom. 8:82)? 



17, For ye know the grace of our L'ird Jesus Christ, 

 that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became 

 poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich (II. 

 Cor 8:9). 



18 He which sowe h sparingly shall reap also spar- 

 iniily ; and he which soweth l>ountifuIly shall reap 

 als> bountifully. Every man according as he pnrpos- 

 eth in his heart, so let him give; not grudginglv. or 

 of necessity ; for Go^l loveth a ch erful giver. And 

 God is able to make all grace abound toward you ; that 

 ye, always having all sufTicirncy in all things, may 

 abound to every good work, *_ * * bring enriched 

 in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth 

 through us thanksgiving to God (II. Cor. 9: 6-11). 



19 Hereby we do know that we know him, if we 

 keep his commandments (I. John 2:3). 



20. Beloved, if our hearts condemn us not, then have 

 we confidence toward God ; and whatsoever we ask, 

 we receive of him, because we keep his command- 

 ments, and do those things that are pleasing in his 

 sight (I. John 3:21, 22). 



21. if any man serve me, let him follow me ; and 

 where I am. there shall al-o my servant be ; if any 

 man serve me. him will my Father honor (John 12:2(3). 



22. Give, and it shall be given unto you ; good mea- 

 sure, pressed down, and shaken together, and run- 

 ning over, shall men give into your bosom. For with 

 the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be mea- 

 sured to you again (L,uke 6:38). 



23. But my God shall supply all your need accord- 

 ing to his riches in glory by Jesus Christ (Phil. 4: 19). 



.'2i For God is not unrighteous to forget your work 

 and labor of love, which ye have showed toward his 

 name, in that ye have ministered to the saints and do 

 minister (Heb. 6: 10). 



I have given you twenty four promises, about one 

 out of each thousand. I huve tried them, and in the 

 love of truth and the fear of God I solemnly declare 

 that they are true, true in every particular. The way 

 is open. You can put these things to the test. You 

 challenge me. bvit the promises of God challenge you ! 

 But probably the fact that I > ay they are true is no 

 evidt nee to you ; but wait and see what I have to offer. 

 You ask how I was called. It is hard to explain, but 

 my life speaks for itself. At out five years ago the 

 conviction fastened itself upon me that I should do 

 something to help the thousands of poor and strug- 

 gling young men throughout the world who want to 

 prepare themselves to preach the gospel. I had a 

 comfortable home, but I had neither wealthy friends 

 nor money. I wrote to a number of prominent breth- 

 ren. I r'.member two of the replies. One came from 

 one of the most influential men at the North, and was 

 almost insulting. The other came from a preacher at 

 the South, and was just as discouraging as he had the 

 ability to make it ; but I could not get rid of ray con- 

 viction of duty. Along about this timean opportunity 

 came to me to buy the farm on which I was reared, 

 and I moved from the city to my place in the country. 

 Time flew. In imagination I built colleges all over 

 the farm. In the reality of the thing however, I met 

 most positive discouragt ments. My friends, instead 

 of helping me, were disposed to discourage me. How- 

 ever, in the fall of 1892 a brother caught a little of my 

 enthusiasm and voluntarily proposed to invest $100 in 

 the enterprise. This was a small amount compared 

 with what I was resolved to do. but I launched out 

 simply on such promises as the ones I have submitted 

 to you, and ordered the pl.ins and made a contract for 

 the lumber. The enormity of the contract may be 

 grasped when I tell you that I bought one hundred 

 and seventeen thousand fet t of rough lumber from 

 one firm. I found no difficulty in making contracts 

 for every thing necf'ed ; although, if the firms had 

 asked me where the money was to come from 1 could 

 not have told them if my life had been at stake, but I 

 firmly believed it would come We used in the neigh- 

 borhood of, I think, sixty thousand brick, and nails 

 beyond computation ! I employed a loreman, and let 

 me remind you that the third anniversary of moving 

 the first load of lumber is not here. Things moved 



very slowly. I asked my brethren to help me. Very- 

 little help came. I was learning to trust and pray. 

 In the meantime the saw was flying through the logs, 

 and we were hauling brick and digging out the foun- 

 dation. Very little money came. J was also learning 

 to wait. Now, while learning this le.sson I was learn- 

 ing also to give. I reasoned a little, and came to this 

 conclusion : If I can become unselfish in his work. God 

 will raise up friends to help me. In 1882 I had written 

 a book, and in 1885 another, and in 1892 still another. 

 During all these years I had written tor the press ; and 

 while my books were well leceived they had not 

 startled any one. We grew. Mrs. Johnson was tak- 

 ing hold ot the promises of God also. Finally, after 

 much thought and discussion, we launched out fur- 

 ther from the shore. Under date April 21 1893, I find 

 this record in our diary : " Commenced to turn all 

 funds into the College fund:' I now consider this the 

 greatest event m my Christian life. Necessity com- 

 pelled us tu increase our force. Frequently we had 

 nearly twenty men employed, and we paid them from 

 60 cents to $2.00 a day. I remember one Saturday 

 night that having " paid off " I had less than 61) cents 

 lett ! In the meantime, financial distress prevailed 

 everywhere. The largest banks and railroads in the 

 country were going down into hopeless ruin, but we 

 kept the t-resses flying and the mail laden with books. 

 1 got a pasteboard box and put it in my drawer, and I 

 record it with everlasting thanks to God and his peo- 

 ple that, to my present recollection, while we have 

 worn out a number of boxes, the box has never been 

 empty, and not a single mail has arrived since April 

 21, 1893, that did not bring something for the work. 

 I kept no account ot what came in. When an order 

 came in I filled it, put the money in the box and paid 

 it out to the first man who presented a bill, and thus 

 it has continued to this day. Since that beginning we 

 have brought from the press seventy-seven thousand 

 books, nearly three thousand a month. Contrast 

 this with the few editions brought out from 1882 to 

 1892, and ask infidelity to explain the difference. The 

 work here surpasses only the work done by these 

 books, for they are bringing thousands out of dark- 

 ness into the clearer light of the gospel. With these 

 facts before you, I invite you to take a walk through 

 the building. The tower is eighty-five feet high, and 

 the bell is one of the finest in the State, and to me is 

 indeed a "liberty bell." Come in. We will stand 

 here on the front piazza and look eastward What a 

 grand landscape ! Before us is the beautiful French 

 Broad River, and in the distance tae giand old moun- 

 tains. Walk into the library, and then into the chap- 

 el. It is a beautiful room finished in natural pine, 

 seated with chairs; a beautiful chandelier hangs over- 

 head. It will accommodate several hundred persons. 

 Let us go into the dining-room, u is neatly furnish- 

 ed, and will seat exactly one hundred persons. I,et 

 us go up stairs and see the boys. Here they are, fill- 

 ing nearly all the (thirty-five rooms in the whole 

 building) rooms. They represent about twenty-five 

 States I am feeding fully fifty of these boys just as I 

 built the college, by trusting God and his people. Let 

 us >;o outside. Here are our waterworks. The tank 

 hold.s eight thousand gallons. If you will look toward 

 the river you will see our new combination cannery, 

 laundry, and pump house. This tank connects with 

 the barn and garden. Let us proceed. This is Indus- 

 trial Hall. Look at the corner-stone: -'Emma E. 

 Johnson Industt ial Hall ; and the poor have the gospel 

 preached unto thetn."' You will notice that il is nearly 

 completed What a splendid cellar ! We hope to fill 

 it with the products of the farm next fall. Look this 

 building over. It will accommodate about sixty per- 

 sons. Just as soon as it is done I intend to throw the 

 doors open to poor young preachers everywhere, the 

 only conditions of admis ion being poverty and piety. 

 You see I am not afraid to trust my God and my breth- 

 ren. Look at that nice cottage beyond the big oak. 

 That is '-India." It is for Brother and Sister Brown, 

 who have spent several years in Indii, and after two 

 years here they expect to return. I trust in the provi- 

 dence of God you may go with them as a missionary 

 of the cross ! Beyond this cottage we expect to build 

 two others, " Chin.H " and "J ipm." L'-t us go down 

 to the barn. Yes, it is a big one, 48x78, two stories 

 high. We have aljout forty head of milk cutle. You 

 notice the count ction for water. We expect to have 

 every thing needlul for man and beast. This is the 

 Lord's work. You must see evidences of it, and he 

 will suoply all our n»eds. Are all these things paid 

 for? Not altogether, but we are paying every week, 

 and we have accounts and resources enough to pay 

 every bill; and if these fail beyond them are the 

 children of God, my brethren, and the everlasting 



