1888 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CtltTUBE. 



405 



How can such a thing be? I agree with 

 you, friend L.. it is awful to think of or con- 

 template the fact that even a single minis- 

 ter in the Ignited States, who stands before 

 his people on the Sabbath day, and preaches 

 Chrisfs word, should be guilty of this horri- 

 ble sin which I have recently alluded to as 

 being3^next door to murder. In Pilgrim's 

 Progress we are told that Christian found 

 there was an exit, or sliort cut. from the very 

 gates of lieaven to the portals of hell ; and I 

 think that many of us have found it true in 

 real life. Woe betide the man who thinks 

 he has risen in the Christian giaces until he 

 is so near God's throne there is no danger. 

 Satan has peculiar strongholds and in- 

 trenchments that we may iiot discover, even 

 in years. I am forced to believe that he 

 sometimes trips the unwary, and takes 

 them down to perdition when they scarcely 

 suspect such a thing were among" the pos- 

 sibiliLies. These are terrible truths and 

 terrible things to contemplate. But woe 

 betide us if we rush to the conclusion that a 

 man may be lost, no matter how hard he 

 tries to be pure in heart. 



There hath no temptation taken you l)ut such as 

 is common to man; but God who is faithful, will 

 not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, 

 but will with the temptation also make a way to es- 

 cape, that ye may be aV)le bear it —I. Cor. 10: i:!. 



Tliis is true. I sus])ect many are lost by 

 foolish dallying with sin. We have all 

 heard stories about being charmed by 

 snakes. 1 hope it is all a piece of supersti- 

 tion ; but we will nut go into that now. 

 We are told that the charmed person is lost 

 if he even stops to gaze on the wondrous 

 and strange things that begin to unfold be- 

 fore him. My friend, if you have not al- 

 ready, you will some time or other be 

 tempted to stand for a while on the brink of 

 danger, just to see how Satan manages his 

 machinery. It is wonderfully interesting, I 

 know from experience. 



There is a way which seemeth right unto a man; 

 but the end thereof are the ways of death.— Prov. 

 14 : 13. 



I have often talked to you about the 

 gradual way in which crime commences. 

 No man who has been leading a good pure 

 life for months and years suddenly commits 

 crime ; that is, not unless he becomes in- 

 sane through disease, and that we have 

 nothing to do with, for the man is not re- 

 sponsible for it. The point I wish to make 

 is this: Satan takes his victims through a 

 course of training, just as a child is taught 

 at school. 



Now, dear friends, before I close this talk 

 to-day I want to speak some plain truths 

 to yoti. 



One of Satan's first lessons toward bieak- 

 ing the seventh commandment is a want of 

 courtesy at home. When a man is cross, 

 short, and disobliging to his wife, but po- 

 lite and gentlemanly to well-dressed women 

 when he is away from home, he is taking 

 one of Satan's first lessons. This man of 

 whom Mrs. Chaddock told us, who was 

 harsh and brutal to his wife and children, 

 but a talented speaker at farmers' institutes 

 and other public places, was in the first les- 

 sons. He may not have got into Satan's 



toils in that direction, but he had certainly 

 bidden good-by to Christ Jesus ; and if he 

 made any profession of being a Christian at 

 that time he was a hypocrite. I once heard 

 of a minister who began complaining about 

 his wife. A brother-minister, who was rid- 

 ing with him in the buggy, called on him to 

 stop his horse. Said he. "If you are going 

 to complain of your wife, I shall have to 

 get out and go on foot.'' Perhaps this was 

 a rather harsh way of putting it ; but the 

 minister of the gospel, who would complain 

 of his wife to a stranger, or, I might almost 

 say, to anybody, has, to a certain extent, 

 let loose his hold on Jesus, and taken up 

 with Satan. Ministers have sometimes 

 been accused of indiscretion, and excused 

 by saying it was natural, and their way, to 

 be very friendly with certain members of 

 their congregation. Any one who has 

 taught school has discovered, sooner or 

 later, that the school-teacher or school- 

 ma'am must not let go of their dignity. 1 

 think that ministers, of all other people on 

 the face of the earth, should remember the 

 sacredness and the dignified nature of their 

 calling. They should " shun even the ap- 

 pearance of evil." To explain just what 

 I mean, I will relate a little incident of my 

 life. 



You know I conducted a Sabbath-school 

 in a neighboring town for a good many 

 years. Before I had a horse of my own, I 

 used to go on foot five miles to this school, 

 and five miles back again. A good many 

 suggested that it was too hard for me— that 

 I had no business in using up my strength 

 in that way. It was not hard, however, for 

 God gave me all the strength I needed for 

 sucli work ; and I believe that just such a 

 walk of ten miles every Sunday afternoon 

 would do me good now. Well, one Sabbath 

 afternoon at the close of the school, just as 

 I started on my homeward walk, a young 

 lady who had been for a few Sundays as- 

 sisting as one of the teachers, drove up be- 

 hind me with her horse and buggy. She 

 spoke something like this : 



" Why, Mr. Root, do you go all the way to 

 Medina on foot ? " 



T told her that I often did so, and that I 

 rather enjoyed it. She replied : 



" Well, it is too bad. If you will accept a 

 seat in my buggy I can take you a whole 

 mile on your way ; and — " she hesitated, but 

 finally resumed, '' 1 am sure it would be 

 nothing out of the way, would it V '' 



Readers. I leave you to answer the ques- 

 tion. This young lady was of excellent 

 parentage, and was. in truth, distantly re- 

 lated to me by marriage, and a most sincere, 

 earnest Christian. I accepted her kind iii; 

 vitation, and during the ride we spoke of 

 the interests of the school, and of Christ's 

 work in that vicinity; but, to tell the truth, 

 some way I did not feel quite as well satis- 

 fied as had I taken my usual walk across 

 the fields and through the woods. In think- 

 ing the matter over it became plain to me 

 why my conscience did not quite approve. 

 This Abbeyville Sunday-school had been the 

 means of doing a great deal of good. It 

 was composed of pupils of;[different denomi- 

 nations, and a good many of them could not 



