550 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 1 



repeated warnings. But, although this chap- 

 ter is a terrible one, it is a ''profitable" one 

 to read, according to the words of our text. 

 The history of the downfall of God's chosen 

 king ought to be a warning to us as to the 

 consequences of sin, and an exhortation also 

 to remember God's promises to those who 

 obey his holy law.* 



While I am familiar with the scripture 

 texts mentioned, I shall have to admit that I 

 have not seen or read the book mentioned; 

 and with my busy life, and especially with 

 the large amount of reading that is piled up 

 before me daily, I can not read any thing 

 that requires very much time. I hope you 

 will excuse me if I say, also, that if the arti- 

 cles you mention try to teach that Solomon 

 in his old age was an inspired authority from 

 God, I hardly think I care to read them. 

 The man who deliberately commits adultery, 

 and does not repent, will very likely soon 

 commit murder. There are not only in- 

 stances of this in the Old Testament, but the 

 dailies of to-day relate no end of cases of 

 adultery, murder, and then suicide. The 

 criminal is not the only one who commits 

 murder; but a man who is comparatively in- 

 nocent, who has been wronged in his do- 

 mestic affairs, often kills the guilty accom- 

 plice, and the courts seem, a good deal of the 

 time, inclined to excuse him. While discuss- 

 ing this it suggests that a good many have 

 written me articles in regard to the penitent 

 thief on the cross. Many of these writers 

 reject the idea that this thief and probable 

 murderer obtained full and free pardon. 

 Now, if Solomon or anybody else who has 

 been, let us say, unfaithful to his wife, and 

 repents as did the thief on the cross, or the 

 prodigal son, I am willing to accept him as 

 authority. 



Toward the close of the last chapter of the 

 book of Nehemiah, that honest, faithful, and 

 sturdy old warrior says, in speaking of Solo- 

 mon, "Even he did outlandish women cause 

 to sin." Well, it would seem that right 

 down through the ages when Satan has want- 

 ed to blockade or blot out a good man he has 

 been choosing these same "outlandish v/o- 

 men " to do the work. Sometimes even 



* After the above was given to the printers I ran 

 across the following in the Sunday School Times, and I 

 regarded it as a " Godsend," for it tells what I wanted 

 to say better than I could have put it in language my- 

 self. And, by the way, if there is any better authority 

 in the whole wide world than the Sunday School Times 

 'so far as theological questions are concerned) it has 

 not yet come to my knowledge. Here is the quota- 

 tion, the last italics being my own: 



Unpunished sin does not exist. No man has ever been clev- 

 er enough to discover how to sin — even in a trifle — without 

 paying a penalty for it. God does not have to punish us for 

 our sins in any arbitrary way. The sins take care of that— 

 they do their own punishlncr. .\ writer in Th- Snturthni Ki-r- 

 •ling Fost, describing the work of tlie modern bank examiner, 

 says that such an examiner should have the ability to follow 

 \ip the first trace of wrong-doing when he runs across it. and 

 then adds, as a reason why this can always be be done if one 

 Is watchful enough: Crnnkeilncss hirarinhhi lenrr^ n trail, no 

 mailer hoir iiirlistiiicl Ihe Irail nuin he. .lust there Is the pun- 

 ishment of all crookedness, or sin— its trail. That trail may 

 elude human eyes, but it is there. It leads into the life of the 

 one who committed the sin. It Is a pathway by which repeti- 

 tion of tl>e sin may enter that lite more easily. It Is a scar 

 that is never in this world gotten rid of. The trail is blazed 

 the Instant the crookedness begins. Our loss and punishment 

 are assured then and there. (Iirisi mn forr/ii c nn'l heni nnri 

 bM nut: but Christ mil imt uiiil,, Hip n-cnrrl. imr nirike thr Insn 

 ax though it had not been. He would have us think of this be- 

 fore the trail Is commenced. 



ministers of the gospel fall in the same way 

 that Solomon did; and I know of no more 

 pitiful spectacle than to see one of these men 

 try to keep on preaching and filling a pulpit, 

 and warning sinners to repent. Once or 

 twice in my life I have heard a minister try 

 to preach after such a thing had happened. 

 The Spirit of God had departed from him, 

 and the poor fellow did not know any better 

 than to think he could preach a good sermon, 

 and that no one would recognize the differ- 

 ence. Hypocrites may carry the day for a 

 little while, but it will not be long. The man 

 must either confess his sins, and ask God 

 and his fellow-men to forget and forgive, or 

 he can never keep on as one of God's chosen 

 servants. In fact, I have sometimes thought 

 it would be better if he would never think 

 of trying to preach any more, no matter how 

 honestly and humbly he may repent. The 

 command, ' ' Thou shalt not commit adultery, ' ' 

 comes right after the one against committing 

 murder; and the man who is guilty of either 

 of these great crimes has not only lost his 

 spirituality, but even his judgment and un- 

 derstanding in other matters, seem to have 

 departed from him. He is crippled for Hfe 

 in every way. In view of this, dear friends, 

 shall we not all be exceedingly careful? When 

 you are sorely tempted (either by anger or 

 by "strange women"), carefully consider 

 that in one single moment you may spoil your 

 peace of mind and your happiness lor ever. 

 The consequence of a single act of this kind 

 will punish you through life here on earth, 

 and, according to the Bible teaching, as I un- 

 derstand it, the punishment (in some sort of 

 way that we are not prepared to understand i 

 may go on and on, into the great unexplored 

 future. 



I have a feeling, in closing, that, as I have 

 not studied theology, I am out of my beat; 

 but I have many times thought I would rath- 

 er have the advice of a common every-day 

 person who has good sound common sense 

 than some of the opinions of the learned doc- 

 tors of divinity. Some of you will, perhaps, 

 think it rather bad taste for my poor self, un- 

 der the circumstances, to quote the 27th 

 verse of the first chapter of I. Corinthians; 

 but I think I will use it for my closing text. 



But God chose the foolish things of the world that 

 he might put to shame them that are wise: and God 

 chose the weak things of the world that he might put 

 to shame the things that are strong. 



" BACKWARD, TURN BACKWARD, O TIME," ETC. 



Mr. E. N. Root, of New York city, brother of W. P. 

 Root, our stenographer, has kindly furnished us the 

 names of the authors of the two poems I quoted from 

 in that Home paper, page 481. He says: 



• Rock nie to Sleep. Mother." was written by Elizabeth Aker» 

 Allen, over llfty years ago. She was the author of several fu- 

 gitive poems. One entitled " Endurance " is a classic. 

 The other poem, • Alexander Selkirk's Ijiraent,'" beginning. 



I am monarch of all I survey. 

 My right there is none to dispute, 



was written by William Cowper over a century ago. He was 

 the author of many of our best hymns. One of them begins, 

 ^fiod moves in a mysterious way 

 His wonders to perform . 

 He plants his footsteps on the sea. 

 And rides upon the storm. 



New York, July 8. E. N. ROOT. 



