1901 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



987 



Rejoice, and be exceeding glad.— Matt 5: 12. 



The Bible is a hopeful book; in fact, it 

 holds out hope when nothins:^ else in the 

 world does, and when the whole wide world 

 has absolutely nothing to ofl'er to make one 

 hopeful or cheerful. It runs all through 

 the book. It offers encouragement and 

 cheer to the fainting heart under all circum- 

 stances. In that celebrated sermon on the 

 mount, called the "beatitudes," Jesus of- 

 fered encouragement to those in trouble. 

 He said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit; 

 they that mourn; the meek; those who hun- 

 ger and thirst after righteousness; the mer- 

 ciful; the pure in heart; the peacemakers. " 

 What a beautiful character all these things 

 in a single person would make up! Then 

 he closes by saying that a blessing will 

 come to us when we are persecuted and 

 misrepresented for doing right. He says 

 we may rejoice and be glad ; and this 

 thought is what I have taken for my text. 

 Let us go on a little further in that chapter 

 from which I have quoted. He tells us we 

 are the salt of the earth and the light of 

 the world. Oh what a power for good in 

 the world is the man or woman who can 

 always "rejoice and be glad"! I do not 

 mean that one should always have a broad 

 grin or be exhibiting joy or gladness by 

 noisy demonstration. What I have more in 

 mind is a quiet inward joy and gladness 

 that is so deeply rooted it can stand the 

 knocks and jars of the busy world. I do 

 not see how there can be any real joy and 

 gladness in any human heart without faith 

 in God, or a dependence upon him. When 

 3'ou get up in the morning you ought to be 

 glad. You }>iay be glad. Thank God for 

 giving you a human life to live, the fust 

 thing you do, and keep the thought in your 

 mind all day long. Keep saying to your- 

 self, if you can not do it otherwise, "Thank 

 God for the privilege of showing faith and 

 hope in him, in my daily contact with the 

 world." I know how hard it is, for I am 

 trying it right along. A letter was just 

 laid on my table. The writer of it is a 

 young man, and he tells me some of his 

 troubles and trials. He says in the outset 

 that it seems to him that "God is pretty 

 hard on him." I presume we are almost 

 all of us tempted at diiTerent times to let 

 such thoughts come into pur minds. We 

 ask how it is that God could allow things 

 to occur in this way. Do not harbor such 

 a thought for an instant, dear friends. It 

 is anarchy, or something worse than that. 

 When Satan can persuade j'ou that God is 

 not fair, or that he is not doing his best for 

 you, he will very soon get you into trouble; 

 therefore thank God the first thing you do 

 every morning as soon as you wake up. 

 Then thank him for the difficulties that are 



going to beset j-our path before the night 

 comes. If you are letting God lead, you 

 surelj' ?£'/// meet with difficulty. You will 

 be tempted to be cross and impatient and 

 uncourteous. When I was up there in the 

 woods I did not have nearly as much temp- 

 tation of that sort as I do now. I was re- 

 lieved of my responsibilities for the time 

 being. Yes, I might stay up there and 

 shirk my responsibilities. I might let let- 

 ters lie on my desk from people scattered 

 all over where Gleanings goes, wanting 

 my advice in regard to matters of health. 

 Others want advice about spiritual matters. 

 Sometimes some of the great writers for our 

 standard periodicals, because they have 

 read these Home Papers, want me to give 

 them my opinion in regard to their difficul- 

 ties. Sometimes I am surprised and al- 

 most startled to think my opinion should be 

 valued on matters away up above mj^ quiet 

 life. Suppose I should become cross and 

 impatient, and inform the writers that I 

 have more business on hand now than I can 

 profitably attend to. It just now occurs to 

 me that the above may be true; but what a 

 poor specimen of a follower of Christ Jesus 

 I should be if I should refuse to lend a help- 

 ing hand ! 



The only way for me to do effective work 

 is to keep hopeful, pleasant, good-natured, 

 and brave. I do not get very much perse- 

 cution nowadays; but I see a good many 

 others who are persecuted oftentimes be- 

 cause they are helpless. I am sometimes 

 tempted to do as Moses did when he struck 

 down the Egyptian. But that was Moses' 

 first and greatest blunder — that is, if I 

 read correctly. I wish to do the very best 

 and wisest thing for both oppressed and 

 oppressor. How shall I do it? By being 

 hopeful, thankful, and cheerful. It is the 

 same way with you, my friend; for you can 

 not expect to conquer difficulties at all un- 

 less you are hopeful and thankful, and, I 

 should say, unless you are continually pray- 

 ing the great Father for help and advice 

 and instruction. 



The President of the United States is 

 just now making himself exceedingly pop- 

 ular with the American people at large by 

 putting men into the various important of- 

 fices who are best fitted for them. In anoth- 

 er direction he is making a host of bitter 

 enemies by this new way of proceeding. 

 May God give him grace, and may our peo- 

 ple give him such encouragement that he 

 will not care what his enemies do and say. 

 I need not remind you that there is a tre- 

 mendous need of capable men to till im- 

 portant places — more need than the world 

 ever knew before. A few days ago an en- 

 gineer on the Wabash road made a mistake 

 resulting in the death of about a hundred 

 people. I mention this to suggest to you 

 the need of careful men, or men who are 

 competent in every way to take charge of 

 important positions. Not long ago some- 

 body on our premises turned a certain valve. 

 I suppose there are a thousand or more 

 valves in our whole establishment. Then 



