.554 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 



liimself could have nothing laid up against 



J'OU.'" 



This kind of logic sonuds t'oulisli in the 

 clear ligiit of day; but to my tortured and 

 feverish imagination that night there seem- 

 ed to he a sort of taking suggestion in such 

 philosophy. 1 think I have now confessed 

 the entire extent of how far I listened to 

 these suggestions, and I am going to try to 

 make his suggestions prohtable by turning 

 his words against liim. I suppose you have 

 found it to be true, that your dreams at 

 night partake largely of the events and of 

 your thoughts of the day. If you permit 

 evil thouahts to find a lodging-place in your 

 heart, evil dreams will follow. Well, I feel 

 quite sure that insanity is something in the 

 same line. We all know that insanity is 

 often caused outright by sinfulness. Giv- 

 ing way to temper itself may make a man 

 insane. Then many of us. at least, are 

 partly if net wliolly to blame for becoming 

 insane. Futhermore, we are partly or whol- 

 ly to blame fnv our conduct, or for things 

 that hai)i)fji while we are insane. If the 

 truth could be known. I feel satisHed that a 

 large pait of t lie s;iicides that occur under 

 the intlnence of insanity are theconseciuence 

 of sill in some form before the insanity comes. 



Perfect obedience and perfect allegiance 

 to God and liis laws are certainly a- great 

 safeguard against these evils. One whose 

 whole attitude of thought and action is, 

 "Not my will, but thine, be done. 'Ms not 

 likely to be insane; and one whose whole 

 life is thoroughly imbued witli the thought 

 of our text, it seems to me, would be hardly 

 likely to commit suicide, even if he were out 

 of his head through the effects of fever or 

 other sickness. I have before mentioned facts 

 that indicate that thoughts of self-murder 

 grow little by little in the human heart, and 

 I have been wondering whether theie is any 

 thing in my life during the past few years 

 that had been encouraging a place for such 

 llioughts in my own heart. I have all my life 

 l)een nervous, impatient, and full of anx- 

 iety. When property accumulated on my 

 hands I discovered tliat this must not be, 

 or 1 should break down mider it. With 

 God's help I have been climbing above these 

 liuman weaknesses. Going to sleep before 

 (»u]- warehouse liad stopped burning, was an 

 illustration. Well, now, there is such a 

 thing as slipping over into wrong, even in 

 this direction. I do not mean in the way of 

 trusting God, but in the way of indifference. 

 Suppose some of the boys should run in and 

 announce, " Mr. Root, your horses have run 

 away, and they are smashing every thing to 

 pieces.'' Now, it would be out oif place to 

 jump up and run and induce the men all over 

 the establishment to stop their w:)rk, and 

 run and make a great ado, when they could 

 not do a particle of good. In view of this it 

 might be well for me to tell the boy to go 

 back to his work, and that the men in 

 charge of the team would take (-are of the 

 horses. Slionld I. however, omit to go very 

 soon and look after things, I should be sin- 

 ning b\ indifference wliere I had no right to 

 be indifferent. I do not know but that I 

 have been in danger of going too far in say- 

 ing, when people are sick, " Just let thein 



alone and they will get well as quick, or 

 quicker, than if you fuss with doctors and 

 drugs and herbs."" 



Just a word in regard to my severe cold. 

 The next nu)rning I was a good deal sadder, 

 if not very much wisei'. Toward noon I 

 got around to look after things, with a good 

 warm undershirt and my overcoat and fur 

 cap on. I felt pretty sick until I began to 

 perspire freely out in the sun, then I began 

 to feel tolerably like myself. For two days 

 I perspired imtil all the clothing next to my 

 body was dripping wet. The disease was 

 broken. I did not have a cough, nor even a 

 cold in my head, nor on my lungs. I fol- 

 lowed Terry's plan, but 1 did not lie in bed. 

 In the evening it was very necessary that I 

 should be present at a meeting of the school- 

 board. I went lumdled up ; but in spite of 

 my heavy winter clothing, toward the close 

 of our deliberations I began to get chilly. 

 My son-in-law, fearing I might suffer by be- 

 ing out so late, had Meg and the buggy at 

 the foot of the stairs; and just as soon as 

 I came out he whirled me rapidly home- 

 ward. When 1 got thei'e, how ever, the chill 

 had come back. I ran into the iiouse, and 

 called my wife to pull down the big blankets 

 again, and she covered me up, overcoat, fur 

 cap, and all. Ihit the gasoline-stove had to 

 be lighted, and the soapstone made hot 

 again before I could check the chill. Now, 

 I didn't take an> medicine whatever — not 

 even catnip tea ; and yet I doubt if many 

 recover with the aid of a physician any 

 quicker than I did. A few years ago, hot 

 whisky-sling would have been the thing ; 

 but I am glad that we have proof that heavy 

 clothing and hot soapstones are better and 

 cheaper than whisky-slings. 



Among the many letters in regard to 

 temptation comes one with a, clipping from 

 the Parish Visitor, New York. The title of 

 the article is, 



TEMPTATION A .MEANS OF GRACE. 



]f you are strongly tempted, give thanks for it. 

 It is no occasion for mourning or discouragement, 

 but the reverse. Tt is a sign that you arc in the 

 ■'high places" of Christian experience, where 

 "wicked spirits " (Eph. 6:13) are peculiarly numer- 

 ous and strong. It is a sure sign that the Spirit of 

 God is in you, for " the tiesh lusteth against the 

 Spirit;" it is the presence of the Spirit there that 

 calls forth the malice of Satan. It was when Jesus 

 was "full of the Holy Ghost" that he was tempted 

 of tlie devil. 



The best, if not the only, way to triumph over 

 a temptation, is to turn it into a means of grace. 

 You are beset behind and before, without and with- 

 in. You find your will itself, seemingly, if not 

 actually, consenting to the snare presented. What 

 then? "Christ is by your side; yes, nearer still; he 

 is within you. There is nothing in him that con- 

 sents to this snare. Take refuge there. Let the 

 force of the temptation drive yon instantly into the 

 safe shelter of his purity and power, and so become 

 a mighty means of grace to advance you to a posi- 

 tion in t;hrist which, but for it, you might never 

 reach. Nothing will so foil the tempter and his 

 wiles. Nothing will so strengthen your Christian 

 character and standing. 



We are reminded here of the characteristic and 

 suggestive remark of a very qtiaint but godly man, 

 who had an original way of putting things, peculiar 

 to himself, and who, moreover, was always keenly 

 alive to the designs of Satan, and singularly suc- 

 cessful in defeating them. He was asked. " What 

 do you do when the devil tempts you so that you 

 feel dry and cold, and without any spirituality?" 

 " Take him to a ivayer-mcetiuii" was the prompt re- 

 ply; "he don't trouble me l<uig when he finds 

 where he has to go." 



