1889 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



967 



friends to pray for you. But do not, I beg 

 of you, think of paying money to somebody, 

 for a little careful reading of your own Bi- 

 bles will show you that such a course is al- 

 most exactly in a line with Simon the sor- 

 cerer, or the damsel that grieved the heart 

 of poor Paul. Perhaps I should say a little 

 more about those who declare that they 

 have experienced this relief that is almost 

 miraculous. The article 1 have copied from 

 Scribner's Magazine touches a good deal 

 upon this point. Let me give you an illus- 

 tration from my own experience. 



When Warner's Safe Cure first became 

 advertised so extensively, I, like thousands 

 of others, imagined that it was just what I 

 needed. I purchased a bottle at our drug- 

 store, and was so greatly benefited, that, 

 had it not been for Mrs. Root, I might have 

 come out in print and advised all the 

 readers of Gleanings and all the friends 

 of A.. 1. Root to buy Warner's Safe Cure. 

 By her advice I waited awhile. I bought a 

 dozen bottles. I took the medicine accord- 

 ing to directions, for a month. Then I 

 stopped for a month, and varied the test re- 

 peatedly until I became fully satisfied that 

 it had no effect on me whatever. My ex- 

 planation is something like this : There 

 was a great excitement about the new med- 

 icine and its wonderful cures, made known 

 by testimonials from great men. I was ani- 

 mated and enthusiastic over the idea of get- 

 ting relief. I had faith enough to expect 

 speedy results. The faith and the anima- 

 tion of testing something new seemed to bring 

 what I hoped for. Perhaps the result was 

 somewhat due to my specially hopeful or- 

 ganization. After I had finished eleven 

 bottles my difficulty was a little worse than 

 it had ever been before. I do not think, 

 however, it did any harm at all in my case. 

 (A teacupf ul of hot lemonade, just before go- 

 ing to bed, is the remedy I now feel like rec- 

 ommending.) lean tell you, however, of a 

 case where the Safe cure did do harm. It 

 resulted in the loss of the life of a most val- 

 uable man. He needed the advice of a com- 

 petent physician. Dreading to consult one, 

 however, he, like myself, was attracted by 

 the wonderful promises of Warner's Safe 

 Cure, so he depended upon that instead of 

 upon the physician. When the doctor was 

 finally summoned, it was too late. Had he 

 first consulted even a member of his own 

 family who was teaching physiology and 

 anatomy, his life would, without question, 

 have been saved. He, however, kept the 

 matter to himself, and trusted in the patent 

 medicine. My friends, these things can never 

 take the place of the family physician and 

 the pastor of your church. 



Before I leave this matter of patent medi- 

 cines I want to say that I do not believe it 

 honest and upright to advertise by trickery. 

 Any thing that can not be brought to the 

 people boldly and squarely, I should be sus- 

 picious of. I also believe that the editor 

 who humbugs his readers by giving them an 

 advertisement in the reading - columns 

 (couched in such terms as are generally 

 used for reading-matter) will suffer for it 

 sooner or later. Suppose, for instance, the 

 druggist in your town should go to the doc- 



tor, and say, " Look here, doctor, I have a 

 great lot of old medicine on hand that is out 

 of date. If you will recommend it to your 

 patients I will give you half I get for it. 1 ' 



Now, suppose that the doctor should, in 

 his smooth and natural way, tell his patients 

 right and left that he had found something 

 of great value at the drugstore, and that he 

 could honestly recommend it for the very 

 difficulty in question. No doubt both par- 

 ties would get quite a lot of money. But, 

 when you come to find out what had been 

 done, how would you feel toward the doc- 

 tor and toward the druggist V They would 

 very soon be obliged to move out of town. 

 It is the same with the editors of newspa- 

 pers. They are expected to give advice as 

 the family physician does ; and if they abuse 

 this trust, by recommending something they 

 know nothing about, because they are paid 

 for lending their name and influence, woe 

 betide them. It has been urged, that, when 

 we employ our pastors to our separate 

 churches, we hire them with money to pray 

 for us. The statement is not true. The 

 pastor of a church is employed, like the 

 superintendent of a school or of a factory, 

 to look after the best interests of all employ- 

 ed. Now, neither the pastor nor the school- 

 teacher, nor the foreman of a factory, can 

 do his work well, in my opinion, without be- 

 ing a praying man. But that does not mean 

 that we pay him money to get him to pray. 



A few days ago I found on my table a pa- 

 per written by our stenographer, W. P. 

 Root. It was .in reply to a question from 

 one of his fellow-workers as to what he 

 thought of a certain journal devoted to 

 Christian science. I think it will answer 

 uicely to close our talk with to-day : 



Friend L.—lf you will but examine for a moment, 

 what those Christian (?) scientists claim, you and I 

 can have but one opinion of them. They claim, for 

 instance, to cure disease by thought. They put 

 Christ in the same kettle with a dozen imaginary 

 characters in the poetical books of the Hindoos, 

 coin a lot of big and unpronounceable words, boil 

 the whole together, and call it Christian science. 

 They ask us to throw aside all the conclusions of 

 modern science in regard to medicine. I have 

 no patience with a man who will put Jesus 

 Christ's name down as a mere fetich, as of 

 no more value than a horseshoe, to insure us 

 against bad luck. Is it any wonder that such men 

 should print large books, telling us what to do with 

 children that are born when the planets are in a 

 certain position in regard to each other? What 

 sense is there in that, any more than in consulting 

 the wagon-tracks in the road? The planets exercise 

 no influence upon us, except to preserve the equi- 

 librium of the solar system. If " fools rush in 

 where angels fear to tread," this Christian science, 

 or esoteric philosophy, is a splendid proof of it. 

 Well did Christ say, that in the last days men 

 should arise, deceiving, if possible, the very elect. 

 But the greatest surprise is, that humanity at large 

 can be so easily led astray by the talk of these men. 

 They speak in a friendly manner of the Bible, of 

 God, and of Christ; but Christianity has never had 

 such terrible enemies as those that cast out devils 

 in her name. We may be sure that God has given 

 these men no particular measure of wisdom above 



