1894 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



343 



to be clo^e tn the ininistor. Tho adversary does 

 not like brinij draw n rijilit ii|) under the pulpit. 

 You get up cloM' lo ilif tuinister, and you will 

 stand a " rij^lu smart chance '" of gel ti tig away 

 from Satan— at least, for the time beine. I sat, 

 as I always do, close to the pulpit, sitting on 

 next the front seat. When liie church is full I 

 very often sit on the very front seat; in fact, I 

 rather like it. I like the idea of a full church, 

 so that even the front seats are well tilled. 

 VVell. on tins particular Sunday morning 1 was 

 close up to the minister. It was an anniversary 

 service. There were three ministers in the 

 pulpit, and there was a good deal of spirituality 

 in the house and in the community. One of 

 our old pastors — in fact, a companion of my 

 boyhood, who has become a great evangelist 

 and Sunday-school worker — commenced read- 

 ing the 10th chapter of I. Corinthians; and I 

 knew, as soon as he started, that help was com- 

 ing for me right in this chapter. If every min- 

 ister of the gospel, as he reads and speaks, 

 could know of the mighty work he may be 

 doing in some heart all unconsciously, what an 

 inspiration it would be to him! I remember the 

 11th verse: 



'Now. all these things happened to them for 

 ensamples, and they are written for our admo- 

 nition." 



During the days I have been telling you 

 about. I had been wondering if it were possible 

 that other people— the world at large, as well 

 as we Christian people — were having such 

 fierce tussles with evil and sin as I am contin- 

 ually having. Two or three times — yes. once 

 quite recently — the thought had forced itself 

 into my mind, "' Why, Mr. Root, you are no 

 Christian at all. and. in iacx, never was." A 

 good many times I only laugh when Satan puts 

 in such a speech as that; but once or twice of 

 late I have begun to fear that it were possible I 

 might in time become a castaway. Since God 

 in his gracious kindness gave me at my con- 

 version a glimpse of heavenly thing< I have 

 never doubted — no, not for one instant — audi 

 never shall doubt that divine revelation, no 

 matter what may happen. If I am lost. I shall 

 be lost with a full and complet? faith in a 

 heaven and a hereafter, and a loving Savior; 

 and of late I am beginning to have al^o a pretty 

 complete faith in a personal Satan, and in a 

 realm for the lost— lost by their ou;?t/rccc/ioice. 

 Well. now. I want you to listen to that 13th 

 verse, and I pray that God may help you to 

 hear it and understand it as I did. Here it is: 



"There hath no temptation overtaken you 

 but such as is common to men." 



That tneans that we are all children of 

 Adam. We all have evil impulses. Sometimes 

 the friends in jail and some other friends as 

 well, suggest that criminals are •'built " differ- 

 ently from Christians. They say to me, " Oh, 

 yes I but you are not huilt the way I am. You 

 do not know any thing about these things." 

 My friends. I am built just exactly like the 

 criminals that till our jails and penitentiaries; 

 and but for the grace of God I should not be 

 one whit better. Now let us see about the rest 

 •of the verse: 



" But God is faithful, who will not suffer you 

 to be tempted above that ye are able; bat will 

 with the temptation also make a way of escape 

 that ye may be able to bear it." 



There was comfort in the last words of this 

 versp. If 8atan had got up in front of the 

 pulpit that day. he sneaked back, out of sight; 

 and my opinion is, that h(! concluded that 

 Congregational church filled with people, es- 

 pecially while those four devoted servants of 

 God were there occupying the pulpit, was the 

 most unpromising place for his work, to be 

 found in this country. 



A saloon-keeper in jail told me a few days 

 ago that he believed Medina Co. was the worst 

 place for a saloon-keeper that there was on the 

 whole face ofCJod's earth;" and I shouldn't 

 wonder if his boss partner in the business 

 thought just as he did. Within tin- next few 

 minutes, or perhaps during the next hour. I 

 should say, there was an unfolding hefore my 

 spiritual and mental vision such as I never had 

 before of the power of the gospel of Christ 

 Jesus to mend, correct, and purify our land, 

 and redeem it or emancipate it from evil. 

 There was such a glimpse pervaded niy ivliolc 

 heimi. as I iuid never felt before. I felt like 

 shaking myself and saying in the language of 

 my old favorite text, but which for a few davs 

 Iliad almost forgotten, "O ye of little faith! 

 wherefore didst thou doubt?"' 



Just one word more: A good many people 

 have been greatly troubled because the New 

 Testament has so much to say about people 

 being possessed with devils. Nobody objects, 

 that I know of, to the idea that people are 

 sometimes "possessed;" for I heard a mother 

 tell her children that they ttctcd as if they 

 were "possessed." But the idea that, even 

 now, during this present lUth century, the 

 idea that people are possessed with dciuis seems 

 to be too much for a certain class of people to 

 believe. Come to think of it. however, haven't 

 you seen people again and again who were so 

 much in the possession of some evil impulse 

 that they could not attend to their legitimate 

 tasks? Haven't you seen people act as if they 

 did not know what they were about, because 

 they could not forget some grievance, fancied or 

 real ? Did you ever see two farmers get into a 

 quarrel about a line fence? Sometimes the 

 whole neighborhood takes sides in the tiuestion. 

 They neglect their crops, and waste their time 

 over a few feet of land that docs not amount to 

 any thing, either to them or anybody else. 

 They go into a lawsuit, waste their money, and 

 then have a fight, oftentimes, that ends in 

 murder. Are they not really possessed with 

 something? and is not it the "something "of the 

 kind that stays away from church, or does not 

 get very close to the pulpit? of the kind that 

 objects to hearing the Bible read ? Well, you 

 may call it what you like. I think I should say 

 they were possessed of an evil spirit; and the 

 best medicine for that evil spirit, that the 

 world has ever yet invented, is given in the 

 New Testament. In fact, it is so potent that 

 reading it over will often completely banish the 

 fiend. Why, yes; sometimes a single verse, as 

 in the case I have mentioned, banishes "the 

 demon and leaves the human soul clothed and 

 in its right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus, 

 obedient, and ready to be taught. 



GOOD SEEDS, ETC.; IF WE PAY FOK THE IJEST 

 SEED, DO WE GET IT ? 



Since this matter has come up in regard to 

 onion seeds. I have been a good deal troubled. 

 In many of the seed-catalogs you will notice 

 different grades of seeds. For instance, we 

 have Yellow Danvers onion, at ?1.(K) per lb. 

 Then we have Yellow Danvers. Bu.vton stock, 

 at two or three times as much. I do not know 

 any thing about the above stock ; but the 

 wholesale seedsmen seem to think the word 

 "Buxtou" is a sufScient recommendation to 



