1908 



GLEANINCiS IN BEE CULTURE. 



645 



to say that it' our faith is sufficient we shall never 

 die a physical death. We must all die ot old 

 age sooner or later; but the inspiring- promise in 

 these last words as they come to me is that this 

 physical death shall be hridi^cii o-vft\ as it were, 

 by faith. 



And now we come to something that is very 

 hard to comprehend. Perhaps it is not God's 

 will that we ever shall comprehend it. Some 

 Christians die apparently without pain. Many 

 of them, we are told, die rejoicing. Of a few, 

 perhaps, it may be said their dying hours were 

 expressed in that other wonderful passage where 

 Paul asks, " O death, where is thy sting .? O grave, 

 where is thy victory.'" Those whose dying 

 hours are described in the above may fairly be 

 said to " never die. " 



My good father had no such faith as did my 

 mother. He was doubting and stumbling all his 

 life. Again and again she by her strong faith, 

 that never wavered, lifted him up and planted his 

 feet on solid ground. Well, there was no suffer- 

 ing in his dying hours. I held his hand to the 

 last, and there was no struggle or gasping for 

 breath. His last words were quiet and tranquil, 

 and his face had a peaceful and happy look, long 

 to be remembered by those who saw it; and yet 

 that good mother, whose life was a beacon star 

 to the father and to all of us seven children, died 

 after much prolonged suffering. I was absent 

 when she neared death, but reached home in time 

 to have her express her thanks that I could be 

 near her in her last hours. I have seen other 

 deaths, where it was like an infant going to sleep, 

 and still others where there was great and pro- 

 longed suffering. Now, I firmly believe that 

 whosoever liveth and believeth, and accepts the 

 Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, shall never 

 die spiritually; but I can not think that Jesus 

 meant we should all be spared the pains and agony 

 of death. I do believe that, with the progress 

 we are making in the v\ay of prevention if not 

 cure of painful diseases, much of the suffering 

 that comes with sickness and death will be done 

 away with; and a faith in God, and an earnest 

 desire to learn these things we are slowly learn- 

 ing, will do much to avert sickness and pain. I 

 do believe in prayer. Even though I can not 

 accept Christian Science and all that is said and 

 written about "faith cure," I can say with a clear 

 conscience that, in my prayers for help amid all 

 kinds of suffering, I can scarcely recall a time 

 when help was not given sooner or later. 



Yesterday morning a stranger came into our 

 office, wishing to renew his subscription to Glean- 

 ings. They sent him over to the desk where sub- 

 scriptions are received. I overheard him saying 

 something about A. L Root; but as I had some 

 complicated matter in my fingers at that time I 

 delayed going over to where he stood; and I do 

 not know but I was tempted to think somebody 

 else could wait on him as well as not. Pretty 

 soon he came my way a little hesitatingly. 

 When he told me that he knew me personally 

 more than forty years ago, and had been reading 

 our journal for years, I asked him if he would 

 notlike tolookoverourestablishment. I thought, 

 however, he did not seem to be as much interested 

 as many are with the machinery, the buildings, 

 and the busy workmen. Finally he said some- 

 thing like this: 



" Mr. Root, I have long wanted to see you and 

 take you by the hand; and I wanted to try to tell 

 you how your little prayer, 'Lord, help,' that 

 you gave us years ago, has helped me through 

 many troubles and disappointments." 



Then he gave me a brief account of some of 

 them. Well, I want to confess to you now that 

 sometimes, and especially of late, I get into trou- 

 ble, and perhaps suffer real pain for quite a good 

 while until finally I say to myself, "Why, old 

 fellow, you have not even once in this case thought 

 to bring into play that little prayer you recom- 

 mended so much to everybody else." Then 

 comes the prayer, 'Lord, help,' and . in a little 

 time I have surmounted the difficulty and go on 

 my way rejoicing. It does not seem to matter 

 whether it is an automobile that I can not man- 

 age, or an outbaeak of my old temper that prompts 

 me to think of getting up and fighting somebody 

 in my old age; that weapon, "Lord, help," fits 

 all cases and emergencies. 



I am told that my brother-in-law, when near 

 death and suffering great physical pain, said over 

 and over to himself, "Jesus, help!" Although 

 he was not a praying man (that is, so far as we 

 know during a busy life that took him nearly- 

 over all the world), I was wondering if it were 

 not possible that he too, in his dying agonies, 

 remembered the little prayer that we have been 

 talking about. As Jesus pardoned the thief on 

 the cross when he uttered that brief prayer indi- 

 cating a penitent spirit at the last moment, we 

 can be sure that in this other prayer where Jesus' 

 help was implored, his help was given. 



Now, friends, God knows how we shall die. 

 A dear friend of mine, when very near death, 

 asked one of the relatives to pray that his passage 

 through the dark valley might be an easy one. 

 In this case the prayer was seemingly granted. 

 Now, while I can not think of finding any fault 

 with such a prayer, I have a sort of feeling that 

 we who are strong men — not only physically 

 strong in body, but perhaps strong in faith — 

 should be ready and willing to bear our share of 

 what naturally comes in the way of the pangs of 

 death. The dear Savior said in his dying agony, 

 " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me.? " 

 I think we may safely gather from this that not 

 only did he suffer bodily torture, but he was, 

 through his excruciating agony, perhaps tempted 

 to feel that the great Father who had stood by 

 him through every incident of his life here on 

 earth had finally, at the last moment, turned his 

 face away from him. If he suffered, should not 

 we, who have suffered here on earth for his sake, 

 feel ready and willing to follow him and suffer 

 the agonies as he did — that is, if somebody has 

 to suffer.? A follower of the Lord Jesus Christ 

 should be bra-ve — yes, he shoidd be a brave sol- 

 dier. God does not al-tvays take the obstacles out 

 of our pathway; sometimes it would seem he pre- 

 fers to lift us over them, providing always ^ve do 

 a good job in the way of climbing over them 

 ourselves. And when I come to die I hope my 

 prayer may be, " Lord, help; if if it be consistent 

 with thy holy will that I may be spared these 

 bodily pains, well and good; if not, give me, I 

 pray thee, grace to bear them. And give me of 

 thy Holy Spirit that I may be willing to bear in 

 a manly way the sufferings that our dear Savior 

 bore, and that are common to humanity in gen- 



