1886 



(JLEANiKGS IN liEE CULT V RE. 



323 



0aR pepEg. 



Thercroro I take ploiisiirc in infirmities, in re- 

 proaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in dis- 

 tresses for Clirisfs salie: for when 1 am weak, then 

 am I strong-.— II. Cok. lii: 10. 



And be ye kind one to another, tendei-hearted, 

 forgiving- one another, even as God for Christ's sake 

 luvth forg-iven jou.— Eph. 4:33. 



JN both of tlie above little verses yoii will 

 notice tlie expression, "For Christ's 

 sake ;" and it is about the words, " for 

 Christ's sake," I wish to speak in this 

 talk. Tou know we who profess to be 

 Christians claim to be living and working 

 for the sake of Christianity and for the sake 

 of the Cluistian religion ; or, to put it short, 

 for Chrisfs sake ; and I suppose that you 

 know that even the best of us waver a good 

 deal, both one way and the other, from the 

 straight line that would be made if we were 

 truly working and thinking and doing ev- 

 ery thing for the sake of Christ. It is true, 

 we get in something almost every day, prob- 

 ably, for Chrisfs sake ; but there is mixed 

 in, and stringing along with it, a great deal 

 that is not for Chrisfs sake. In my life, I 

 should say there is a good deal that (as I re- 

 view the events that have passed by ), is a good 

 way off from that straight and narrow line 

 of "for Chrisfs sake.'' Somebody does 

 some ridiculous thing, because his mind was 

 not on his work, perhaps, or, may be, be- 

 cause he hadn't thought much about it, and 

 it is my business to reprove or correct him. 

 How shall I do it? Why, do it in such a 

 way that it Avill further the cause of Christ, 

 to be sure. It is my duty to considei' well 

 before saying any thing, whether tlie course 

 proposed is going to tell directly for the 

 Master, or whether it is going to tell some 

 other way. I might say : 



" Look here, you senseless idiot ; what do 

 you mean by fooling away your time in that 

 way on something that is of no sort of use 

 to anybody'?" 



I guess I have drawn it pretty rough, 

 liaven't I, friends'? There may be people 

 who feel 2)rornptcd to speak like the above, 

 but I hope there are not many who give way 

 to such promptings. Satan does prompt just 

 such thoughts as these. I know' by ex- 

 perience ; for sometimes, when I am wor- 

 ried and fretted, and find that time and ma- 

 terial have been wasted, it seems to me as if 

 a speech set somewhat like the above would 

 be just the thing exactly. But I feel guilty 

 and bad after I have let such thoughts come 

 into my mind. It is danrjerous to contem- 

 plate such ways of speaking. People who 

 arc addicted to profane swearing often men- 

 tally run over the words tliey would like to 

 say. although they do not utter them out 

 loiid. It is a good thing, friends, to keep 

 your thoughts to yourself, even if you don't 

 do any better, at such times ; but "it is a far 

 better thing not to let your mind run on 

 such thoughts. Well, if the above expres- 

 sion is not the right one under such circum- 

 stances, how will this do'? 



" Mr PATiENCK, child, there isn't any sort 

 of need of doing that at all. Here you have 

 wasted half an hour on something that is 

 of little use to anybody. Do it this way.'' 



The latter is better, and might not hurt 

 the feelings (at least very much) of the 

 average boy or girl who had erred in judg- 

 ment. But there are some, especially those 

 tine sensitive natures, who are very anxious 

 to do every thing just right, who would feel 

 a great deal hurt at even the last form of 

 expression. Yes, I know by what I have 

 learned, tliat it might cause them a sleepless 

 night, and perhaps spoil all pleasure and 

 enjoyment for the rest of the day. Some of 

 you may say a little impatiently, " Why, 

 Mr. Hoot, you are putting too fine a point 

 on these things. Children'must be talked to 

 a little sharp sometimes, or they won't heed 

 or pay any attention to what you tell them." 



Well, perhaps it is true that some children 

 must be spoken to sharply. I say perhaps 

 it is true, for I am not quite sure in my own 

 mind after all. The point begins to'come 

 out here, that, to be a good teacher or a 

 good employer, is one of the fine arts. It 

 is indeed one of the fine arts, my friends, to 

 work constantly, daily and hourly, for the 

 sake of the Master. Do you want me to tell 

 you just what form of speech ought to be 

 used '? Well, I will attempt it ; but you will 

 have only my wisdom for it, after all. Al- 

 though I'have been tolerably successful as a 

 teacher (under the great Master), there are 

 doubtless many who could improve on any 

 thing I could frame for such occasions. In 

 the hrst place, you ought to know the dispo- 

 sition of the child or pupil w'ith whom you 

 are dealing. You ought to weigh very nice- 

 ly the motives that led him to make the 

 mistake. May be it came about because he 

 was anxious to do every thing well ; and, 

 on the other hand, it might be because he 

 didn't care— because the work was distaste- 

 ful to him, etc. How would this do '? 



" Why, my little friend, I ought to have 

 come around sooner to look after your work. 

 You did not quite get my idea in regard to 

 it, I see. Let me show you." 



Now, some might think a part of the 

 above sentence was a big fib, where I told 

 him he didn't " quite get my idea,'' because, 

 to tell the truth about it, the child hadn't 

 got " within a mile " of what was wanted or 

 expected. Well, if you are disposed to 

 call such forms of expression " fibs," I 

 should say such fibs are a pretty good tiling. 

 It is simply softening the form of expres- 

 sion so as "to give your pupil to understand 

 that the offense is not one of such great mo- 

 ment, even though it might be a matter of 

 considerable loss, and the motive for so do- 

 ing is, that the child may be guided to bet- 

 ter ways in the shortest and simplest way. 

 Scolding children, hurting their feelings, 

 stirring up a bitterness in their little hearts 

 toward yourself, is a long and roundabout w^ay 

 of teaching them to be clever and handy 

 about any kind of work. Gentleness and 

 ttnc7«e.s.s ("see text), compared with the above 

 methods, are a short cut through the troub- 

 les and trials of this world. "For Christ's 

 sake" is a .s7/or^ (nit, my friend, not only 

 through all the difficulties and perplexities 

 you meet here on earth, but it is a short 

 cut from earth to heaven, to the hoine of 

 the Father. 



Now, in the preceding cases I have supposed 



