684 



gLeanIn&s in See culture. 



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man-haters are not very common, in one 

 sense ; bnt in another sense they are quite 

 common. The great enemy of mankind, he 

 whom the Bible says goes up ,ancl down the 

 world like a roaring lion, seeking whom lie 

 may devour, tries to make people man- 

 haters. He persuades them that their neigh- 

 bors across the way, up street and down 

 street, and all around, are seltish and proud 

 and bigoted and scheming, and bad at heart. 

 Sometimes Satan whispers these wicked 

 thoughts to even the best of us— at least, I 

 believe he does. I think that I, as a rule, 

 love humanity. I like boys and girls, and I 

 like men and women. I like to help them ; 

 I like to work for them ; and, as a rule, if 

 they do not appreciate my kind efforts, I 

 like them still. I love them because the 

 Savior loved them. If you want to know 

 how much the Savior loved his disciples, 

 read the last chapters of John. He loved 

 poor Peter, even when Peter was so foolish 

 and untruthful and cowardly and weak ; 

 he loved poor Judas, even when he knew 

 there was no hope of making a good man of 

 him; he loved James and John when they 

 got so proud and selfish that they wanted to 

 have places in heaven next to himself, and 

 crowd all the rest away. In the chapters I 

 have mentioned, you will notice how ear- 

 nestly and fervently he prayed for them ; and 

 when those wicked men were killing him, 

 he took their part so far as to say, " Father, 

 forgive them, for they know not what they 

 do." Isn't this a beautiful example and 

 lesson for us when we get cross and contrary, 

 and think our neighbors are not lovable? 



Well, I don't always feel the way I do 

 now. I wish I did, though. Sometimes I 

 have contrary, ugly streaks, and I feel bad 

 about it, and I am ashamed of it. I don't 

 often let anybody know it, of late years ; 

 but sometimes these ugly feelings trouble 

 me for quite a spell. Two or three Sundays 

 ago, while I was in Church, Satan got hold 

 of me. I suspect the first thing that made 

 me cross was because somebody shut down 

 the windows because they thought the 

 breeze was too strong, when it seemed to me 

 that we needed the fresh air very much in- 

 deed. I got to thinking how selhsli the 

 man or woman was, who sat close to the 

 window. Then I looked at. somebody who 

 sat near me, and I felt cross at him. I 

 didn't quite hate him, but I felt cross toward 

 him. Then I felt cross toward the next 

 man, so I thought I would look at some of 

 the nice girls and women, thinking to my- 

 self, " Surely, they are lovable ;" but, to my 

 surprise, Satan whispered they were proud 

 and silly, and that, in trying to hx them- 

 selves up nice, they just made themselves ri- 

 diculous. Then I looked at the people, and 

 I began to be frightened to find that I felt 

 hateful toward all of them. Then I looked 

 at the minister. May God forgive me, be- 

 cause, for a brief moment, I felt hateful 

 toward him as well as toward all the rest. I 

 am sure it was not myself, but Satan, who 

 whispered that the preaching was not doing 

 a bit of good— that he was away off from the 

 track, and that there was no use in trying 

 to do any good with sucli a miserable lot, 

 anyhow. I tried to think of something better, 



and to put away these evil thoughts, but 

 they would not go away. "Lord, help!" 

 began to well up, and finally I prayed most 

 earnestly that Ciod would help me to love 

 my fellow-men. The answer to the prayer 

 did not come right away, but I knew it 

 would before long. I knew it would, because 

 I have, hundreds and hundreds of times, 

 prayed in that way before. This time it 

 seemed as if I had got to have a regular 

 rough-and-tumble fight with the adversary. 

 As the wicked thoughts came teeming up, I 

 almost groaned in prayer, "•Lord, help me to 

 banish these evil thoughts and evil spirits.'' 

 Soon after this, peace came, but not much 

 joy or hopefulness. 1 felt sore (or some- 

 thing like it) over the conflict. But I had 

 done the best I knew how, and I felt a sort 

 of happiness, hrcanse I had done the best I 

 could. 



In teaching my class after the sermon was 

 over, I was startled all at once by a feeling 

 that I loved the boys in my class more than 

 1 had loved them before for a long while ; 

 and the best part of it is, that that bright 

 experience is not gone yet. When I got 

 over to the jail I loved the poor friend 1 

 found there, and I plead with him to fight 

 against evil as I had been fighting, for his 

 own sake and for Christ's sake. I came out 

 of the jail a little surprised to find that I 

 was happy— yes, very happy ; and the battle 

 I had fought during the day helped to make 

 me happy. It seemed as if it had been a 

 sort of schooling for me— I felt stronger and 

 better for it. 



Now, there is almost always a sequel, as it 

 were, to these bad feelings. I told you a 

 month ago of the invisible forces that are at 

 work in these frames of ours. "Well, I sus- 

 pect these forces at times have something 

 to do with this. For some time back I have 

 been getting up very early mornings— at 

 half-past four and five o'clock. By force of 

 habit I got up about the same time that 

 Sabbath morning. Some of you begin to 

 lift your eyes now, and may be think, if you 

 don't say so, " Why, you poor foolish fellow, 

 your overworking yourself was what made 

 you sour and cross." Well, may be it was ; 

 but even if so, in answer to my prayer God 

 pointed out to me the mistake I was making, 

 and God helped me to rise above the effects 

 of weariness and fatigue, and to say, " Get 

 thee behind me, Satan." But feeling tired 

 at the time of closing the Sabbath-school 

 and before going to the jail, I laid down on 

 the lounge and slept, I think, two solid hours. 

 When I woke up I was in the proper frame 

 of mind to love everybody. Now, look here; 

 don't let's drop this just yet. May be your 

 mother, your wife, your sister, or your child, 

 is overburdened with cares and work, and 

 has lacked sleep. Perhaps the one you are 

 praying for makes slow progress in Chris- 

 tian grace, just because of overwork. What 

 has that to do with you? Why, this much : 

 Don't say a word, but just quietly go and 

 help your mother ; find out what she wants 

 done, and do it for her nice and well. Plan 

 to give her the amount of sleep she has been 

 lacking, by bearing part of her burdens. 

 The same with your father, sister, or broth- 

 er or wife. You can do this, even if you are 



