188.4 



glea:nings in bee culture. 



137 



friends; and when it is necessary that he 

 should go into the haunts of vice, and amonp 

 the lost, he should go protected and fortihed 

 by prayer, and by God's word. 



I want to speak of another way in which 

 a man may lose himself, or lose his man- 

 hood. Getting into quarrels, or having dif- 

 ficulties with individuals, is like leaving the 

 pipes unprotected, or letting the steam 

 escape. Did you ever notice, dear friend, 

 that when yoii once decide that it is your 

 duty to stand out with somebody, how quick- 

 ly another man seems to be in the sime at- 

 titude, and you feel it a duly to stand out 

 against him ? In other words, if you quar- 

 rel with one man, the chances are very great 

 that you will soon quarrel with another, and 

 the third one comes quickly along, and so it 

 goes. If you have a lawsuit on your hands, 

 struggle against it as you may, you will be 

 in great danger of having another lawsuit 

 with somebody else in a little time, until 

 eventually you "have a lawsuit on your liands 

 all the while, or three or four of them. When 

 Satan once gets a finger hold, he makes dil- 

 igent haste to follow up his advantage, and 

 pretty soon the man has lost himself, and 

 Satan has him in his power. It is on this 

 account mostly that I am afraid to go to law. 

 I am afraid of stepping over the bounds, and 

 of going further than a Christian ought to 

 go. So long as we arp entirply out of the tur- 

 moil and strife of tiie world, and looking 

 constantly to (iod for counsel and guidance, 

 we are comparatively safe ; but when it is 

 necessary to step out and take up the defen- 

 sive or offensive, as it may be. then miist 

 the Christian be careful. AH the world is 

 looking on, and everybody is saying, '•'• Now 

 we will see how the Christian does." And 

 woe betide the man if he gets proud or 

 haughty or stubborn, or forgets to seek daily 

 in his closet, on bended knees, God's 

 guidance and God's wisdom. 



It may be right to stand out, it may be 

 right to go to law. and it may be right to 

 take a man and hold him up before the pub- 

 lic, no matter what consequences ensue ; but 

 before we undertake things of this kind, my 

 friends, we should be very careful. Ernest 

 told me, a few days ago, that in one of the 

 classes in college they were discussina: wheth- 

 er it were ever right to deceive. The pro- 

 fessor, an old gray-haired man, said to some 

 of the boys who pressed the question hard, 

 that perhaps it might be, under certain cir- 

 cumstances, right to use deception; but he 

 told them, with a sly twinkle in his eye, that 

 none but old men were ever privileged to do 

 things of this kind. Now, it is so about 

 standing out in a way that brings lengthy 

 quarrels. Almost any thing should be sac- 

 rificed, rather than to get into a quarrel ; 

 and when it is necessary, one had better be 

 pretty well along in vears, that he may have 

 wisdom and discretion to enable him to be 

 careful and judicious. 



A man's character, or soul, is largelv made 

 up by his truthfulness. If yon decide that 

 circumstances make it rightto depart from 

 the truth just a littlp, von have opened a 

 passage-way for the steam to escape ; and 

 before you know it, your very self begins to 

 ooze out. (Jne can not stand still on this 



ground, for Satan follows up his advan- 

 tage ; land worst of all, he persuades you that 

 you are all right, till you have become so un- 

 truthful that your character is like the es- 

 caping steam that screams as it liisses from 

 the broken urilice ; and yet while this is ap- 

 parent and disgusting to all the world, you 

 yourself don't know it. If you would save 

 the (iod part that makes you a man, be care- 

 ful, I beseech yon, my friend, how you ac- 

 custom yourself to be loose about statements 

 of fact. If you have ever had a weakness 

 that way, make it your life work to light it 

 down and trample it underfoot. 



And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity; so la 

 the tongue amonsr our members, that it defileth the 

 whole body, and setteth on Are the whole course of 

 nature: and it is set on fire of hell.— James ;3:<3. 



Now, our good pastor, at the close of his 

 sermon that I told you about in the fore 

 part of this paper, spoke something as fol- 

 lows : 



" My friends, I want to say one word more 

 about that man who had lost his soul. 

 Some time afterward, a colored woman came 

 to the town where 1 was i)reaching (lor I 

 was the i)astor who went with him to the 

 saloons with his family physician), and this 

 woman was enabled so to iiold up the cross 

 of Christ that he became converted, and 

 was a new man. Eight years have passed 

 since then, and yet he stands a steady, faith- 

 ful, business man and Christian worker." 



At this point 1 could hardly restrain my- 

 self from saying, ''Praise dod for this;" 

 and, in fact, 1 concluded I wouldn't restrain 

 my feelings,-even though L was in another 

 church than my own. Now, friends, while 

 it is a sad, sad fact that a man may in this 

 world lose or forfeit his soul or self, for the 

 things of this world, it is a glorious thought 

 held out to all lost humanity, that Christ 

 Jesus died to save sinners. 



The figure of one who is lost through sin 

 is a sad sight indeed ; and if nature gave no 

 remedy and no help to those who had gone 

 down to darkness and death by folly and 

 sin, even though it were sin of their own 

 choosing, the moral universe would be a sad, 

 sad thing for contemplation. JJlest be the 

 words that a loving Savior speaks to a lost 

 and ruined world. " I am the light of the 

 world. lie that followeth me shall not walk 

 in darkness, but shall have the light of life." 

 Therefore be not downcast and discouraged, 

 my brother, even though you have promised 

 and pledged yourself, and liave fallen ; and 

 even though you have fallen again and 

 again, remember that He who died for us 

 yet lives, and that when all the world liave 

 gone and given us uj), when every last friend 

 has turned from us in discouragement and 

 disgust, yet those bleeding hands are held 

 out still ; and remember, that even though 

 you are a sinner, it was sucli that he came 

 into the world to save. 



For whosoever will snve his lif.> shall lose it; but 

 whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same 

 shall save it.— Luke 9:21. 



For God so loved the world, that ho gave his only 

 begotten Son, that whosoever bclieveth in him 

 should not perish, but have everlasting life.— John 

 3:UJ. 



For the Son of man is come to save that which was 

 lost.-MATT. 18:11. 



