1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



63 



My meat is to do the will of him that sent me.— 

 John 4:31. 



f BELIEVE it is pretty nearly universally 

 agreed, that about the first thing one 

 — has to do is to provide himself victuals 

 and clothing ; in other words, the first and 

 most important thing is to be sure of our 

 dinner ; because, you know, if we do not 

 have the dinner we shall not be good for any 

 thing very long. It is quite natural to think 

 a good deal of our daily food, and, in com- 

 mon parlance, Ave speak of it as one of the 

 most important and necessary things in life. 

 I remember once meeting a young man who 

 was studying law. lie loved his profession, 

 and made an expression something like this: 

 ''L would rather study law than to eat, any 

 time." We understand by such like expres- 

 sions, that the one who makes them is very 

 fond indeed of the thing under discussion. 

 Children are usually on hand at dinner time, 

 no matter how remiss they are with almost 

 every thing else ; yet this is by no means an 

 invarialjle rule. Tknow of some pretty well- 

 fed children who sometimes get so taken up 

 with their plays that they are loth to come 

 to dinner when mamma calls them. So peo- 

 ple of an older growth often get so much oc- 

 cupied with different pursuits and pastimes 

 they are prone to neglect even their meals. 

 .Jesus uttered the words comprising our lit- 

 tle text when his disciples, after having re- 

 peatedly asked him to eat, queried among 

 ■ themselves as to whether he had not had 

 food. If you turn to the fourth chapter of 

 John, you will learn that in his travels he sat 

 down wearied by the side of the well. While 

 he rested there, the disciples went to a neigh- 

 boring town to purchase food. We infer 

 from the story that our Savior was tired and 

 hungry and faint. 



The wells in those days w^ere of little ben- 

 efit to a traveler unless he had some means 

 of drawing the water. They did not have 

 chain pumps or old oaken buckets, with tin 

 cups and tin dippers hanging out invitingly 

 as they do now ; therefore he was compelled 

 to wait until some one came to draw water. 

 I have before directed your attention to the 

 fact that Je8us, while on earth, seemed to 

 have just one great desire and anxiety in 

 life. Most men are given to some especial 

 point, or hobby, as it were ; that is, almost 

 all of us have some particular thing in which 

 we are more interested that in any thing else. 

 Many of us have one passion of our lives, as 

 it were. Sometimes it is bees or bee-keep- 

 ing ; sometimes it is to amass wealth. 

 Sometimes it is zeal in the temperance cause, 

 or other things of a like nature. 



In studying carefully the life of Clu-ist, we 

 very soon learn that the prevailing thought 

 and intent of his life was to save men from 

 their sins. He went around among sinful 

 people, and labored for and with them, but 

 always with one end in view. When he par- 

 took of food, we learn that even then his 

 thoughts were busy and intent on this work 

 of saving souls. Jesus asked the woman to 

 give him some water. But we who know 



the story well, feel that, while he did so, his 

 anxiety for the salvation of her soul far over- 

 balanced his sense of thirst, and that his 

 desire and wish was to draw her out in con- 

 versation in such a way that he might better 

 open up to her the way to eternal life. She, 

 like almost any other one of her tribe, mar- 

 veled that he should presume to ask her for 

 water, because the Samaritans had no deal- 

 ings with the Jews. Before the conversation 

 was ended, this woman had confessed her 

 sins, and accepted him as her Savior, for she 

 says to the friends whom she called, "Is not 

 this the Christ V" Now, it has always 

 seemed to me that, although he felt exceed- 

 ingly wearied and faint before this conver- 

 sation, yet the thrill of joy he felt in having 

 saved one more soul made him forget, for 

 the time, his weariness and hunger. 



Those of my readers who have been in- 

 strumental through God in saving a soul can 

 readily understand what this feeling is. A 

 good many years ago, my dear pastor, whom 

 i have so often referred to, spoke to me 

 something like this, shortly after my con- 

 version : '' Brother Root," said he, "•"when 

 you have once tasted the joy that God sends 

 to one who has helped to save a soul, you 

 will remember it as being beyond any thing 

 else this world can furnish. " 1 have 

 thought of this many times ; and when one 

 of the boys whom I met in our jail was in- 

 fluenced by me to turn to the Bible and his 

 Savior, I felt that my pastor's words were 

 indeed true. The feeling is a satisfying one 

 —something more real and substantial than 

 any thing you have ever known before. You 

 feel for the time as though you could well 

 afford to let every thing else in the world 

 slip away, if you could only be assured of 

 that one thing. It seems as if God himself 

 were speaking to you, and declaring. "Well 

 done, thou good and faithful servant." The 

 poor humble friends who followed Jesus 

 knew nothing of what had past. He did not 

 immediately explain it to them. I have been 

 wondering if he did not feel as he did when 

 the woman touched his garment, in that 

 other story. You know that he said, "I per- 

 ceive that virtue is gone out of me." They 

 pressed him to eat; but he said, "I have 

 meat to eat that ye know not of." How 

 many times did bespeak that to them in this 

 way, and they, like honest, simple - hearted 

 children, did not see the great meaning be- 

 yond the simple words I So they said now, 

 "Ilath any man brought him aught to eat V" 

 Then come these wonderful words, the words 

 of our text, " My meat is to do the will of 

 him that sent me." 



What a wonderful truth is embodied in 

 that little speech ! To do that will was more 

 to him than the world could furnish. He 

 must eat and drink as we do, for he was hu- 

 man as we are. But yet through it all was 

 that great, earnest, and intense longing to do 

 the work whereunto he was called. The 

 world lay spread out before him, and Satan 

 had already tempted him, just as he tempts 

 young men nowadays. Jesus had human 

 longings and human cravings, and he 

 could appreciate and feel for the things of 

 this world, as we do. 



If we accept Christ, we must accept him 



