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GLEANliJGiS lis BEE CUJLTUKJi. 



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they shall see God." Xow, perhaps many 

 will say the al)ove is too strict and too hard 

 in its requirements, for any one. May he some 

 of you say, '• Wliy. Mr. Root, yon don't 

 mean to say tliat a body must be a veritable 

 an^el here on earth, do youV" No, dear 

 friends, I do not mean to say tliat ; but 1 do 

 mean to say that tlie change of heart tliat 

 our little friend has longed for can cotne 

 only in answer to being faithful in all these 

 things. If you dont want darkness and 

 doubts to visit you, beware how you indulge 

 in any of those temptations that I have 

 mentioned. My experience is, that there is 

 no friend like a mother to help and to guide, 

 especially when temptations meet you that 

 you wouldn't care to talk about to anybody 

 else except your mother. Make your moth- 

 er your conlidant in every thing that troub- 

 les you, and you can not go far astray. 

 When you are templed to hide and conceal 

 certain things from your mother, then be- 

 ware. This is where the first wrong step 

 starts out, many times. 



Sometimes when these thhigs seem to be 

 so very strict, or the straight and narrow 

 path seems so exceedingly straight and nar- 

 row, we are tempted to indulge a little in 

 tilings that we know good church-members 

 ought not to indulge in ; in other words, 

 you decide you don't believe you are ready 

 to pay the price. Then, miy friend, you 

 must pay the penalty. The wages of sin is 

 death: and if you sin just a little, you may 

 have a little taste of this eternal death that 

 is the result of persistence in sin. 



You have not told me how old y(ju are, 

 my child, and I can only guess at it from 

 your letter. You have iiot told me, either, 

 whether you are a member of any chiu'ch, or 

 have united with any body of Christian 

 people. Now, my experience is that a 

 young Christian must soon come to a stand- 

 still unless he comes out openly and con- 

 fesses Christ. Y"ou know Jesus has said, 

 " He that is ashamed of me and of my 

 words, in this adulterous and sinful genera- 

 tion, of him also shall the son of man be 

 ashamed, when he cometh in the glory of 

 his Father with the holy angels.'" Don't 

 let any false modesty hinder you from stand- 

 ing up boldly and honestly, and declaring 

 your purpose to serve Christ, and to work 

 with Christian people. In the postscript to 

 the letter I have given, you desire me to 

 use only your initials. This may be very 

 well for a young person when coming out 

 in print ; but still I think, dear friend, it is 

 generally best to stand up boldly and fear- 

 lessly, and hesitate not to state before the 

 world just where we stand. 



Some may ridicule such a course because 

 you are young. But. let them ridicule, 

 friend S. Suppose some of your school- 

 mates should say," S. is afraid to tell a lie;'' 

 or, " S. dare not say bad words ;'" or suppose 

 somebody should taunt you with being pure 

 in heart, wouldn't you rather rejoice at such 

 words ? Well, being a Christian simply em- 

 bodies all of these ^ and I think the very 

 safest and best place for every child who 

 loves the Lord is within the folds of the 

 church ; but if you try to keep it to youself , 

 Satan will continually try to tempt you to 



turn back and give it up. In fact, he has 

 been tempting you that way already. Now, 

 theie is no remedy for these temptations, 

 that I know of, except publicly placing 

 yourself on the Lord's side. Tell Satan and 

 your fellow-men that the act is cZone— that, 

 so far as you are concerned, ycm belong to 

 Christ Jesus, and there is no use in dis- 

 cussing the matter any further. This act 

 alone, many times, brings that change which 

 you seem to long for. If you love God, you 

 must love your fellow-Christians. In re- 

 gard to^this matter, John uses this strong lan- 

 guage in his First Epistle : " If a man say, I 

 love God, and hatethhis brother, he is aliar.'' 

 Perhaps the greatest trial of my life has 

 been to have this true Christian love for all 

 humanity — friends and enemies alike. I 

 have sometimes thought, that when Satan 

 had 'given up on every other point, almost, 

 in my case, he still hung around, whispering 

 evil insinuations and uncharitable sugges- 

 tions in regard to the people I meet and do 

 business with day by day. Repeat often to 

 yourself the little text, "Judge not." Let 

 God be the judge, and let him decide who is 

 pure in heart and who is not. 



One more word, my dear child : If your 

 life is not as good and pure as I have mapped 

 out in the above, remember that Christ 

 Jesus came on earth to save sinners, and 

 that our text is broad in its application. It 

 is written especially for sinners. Even if 

 you have sinned and strayed away, and 

 backslidden a great many times, remember 

 that God never gets tired of hearing you ask 

 for forgiveness. " Him that cometh to me, 

 I will in nowise cast out; '' and, my dear 

 young friend, it may be you will have to ask 

 forgiveness over aiid over. If it were not 

 so, you would be better than most of the 

 old Christians. Oiod is ever ready to forgive, 

 when we are truly sorni. Keep close to the 

 Savior ; don't let a day pass without calling 

 to him. Make the little prayer 1 have told 

 you about, yours— '• Lord, help ! " No one 

 can monopolize this little prayer. If all the 

 world were uttering it mentally, at one 

 and the same time, I should be gladder and 

 gladder to know it ; and Jesus the Savior 

 would be gladder too. Breathe the prayer, 

 whether you feel like it or not, when you 

 know you are getting away into darkness 

 and sin. If you seem to be all bad, as a 

 great many of us do at times, don't be dis- 

 couraged and cast down. At such times 

 you (;an grasp hold of that prayer of David's 

 — ■•' Create in me a clean heart, O God, and 

 renew a right spirit within me." This very 

 prayer itself seems to indicate that David 

 knew what it was to feel that he was getting 

 to be all bad, and therefore it may encour- 

 age us. Now, when you have put these things 

 ill practice, and have found the peace that 

 God usually sends sooner or later, I shall be 

 glad to hear from you again, little friend, 

 that your experience may be an encourage- 

 ment toothers ; and I almost know already 

 that this frank, honest, childish letter will be 

 the means of raising others. One of the hope- 

 ful signs of the present age is, that children 

 and young people are taking such an active 

 part in Christ's work. Rememljer who it 

 was that said, "Suffer the little children to 



