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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



God. The text at the head of our talk says, 

 "• Blessed is the man that walketh not in the 

 counsel of the ungodly." At the close of 

 the chapter we have some brief pictures of 

 the state of mind of the ungodly. If you 

 want to be miserable, just set at naught 

 (Jod's laws, and complain because he has 

 made mankind or the universe in the way 

 he has ; complain because you are afflicted 

 witli disease and pain ; or just let complain- 

 hvi feelings get a lodgingplace in your heart 

 for a little time, because we have tine 

 weather on Sunday, and it rains on week 

 days ; allow yourself to get into a complain- 

 ing mood because of your circumstances, 

 and you will get miserable straightway. 



The neighbor of whom I have been speak- 

 ing made some further remarks about those 

 who work on Sunday not getting along. 

 He said he knew a man who owned a saw- 

 mill, and this man used to save up the wa- 

 ter that collected in his pond during the 

 week, and then run his mill on Sunday. On 

 week days he wished to be with his men 

 who were working on his farm ; but when 

 Sunday came, no one was at work on the 

 farm, and so he saved time by running his 

 sawmill on Sundays and on no other day. 

 Well, something always happened to the 

 sawmill. One expensive breakdown follow- 

 ed another, until the man himself said that 

 his mill had for years been nothing but a 

 bill of expense, and a drawback. The poor 

 sawmill had to take the blame instead of 

 the man and his had management. Let me 

 digress a little. 



About a year ago a man came to me 

 wanting to borrow my manure-spreader. I 

 told him that the machine was complicated, 

 and that, while it was simple in the hands 

 of the one who expected to use it day after 

 day, it was quite sure to receive injury in 

 the hands of a stranger ; that I could not 

 consent to let it go unless my man went 

 with it. But he insisted that /te could man- 

 age it all right ; but I told him I did not 

 wish to lend it that way. I was absent 

 from my home, however, for a few days (I 

 think it was when I was visiting friend 

 Terry), and on my arrival home I learned 

 that this man had gone to the tool-house, 

 taken the manure-spreader, without leave 

 from anybody, had broken it so it was unfit 

 for use, and had I'eturned it in that shape, 

 without even a word of apology. As I did 

 not see any thing of him, I sent him a state- 

 ment of the case liy letter. Well, we have 

 sent him several statements for the use of 

 the machine, and asked him to pay half of 

 the expense of getting new parts to repair 

 the damage. He has not replied even yet, 

 although he perhaps knows that I could 

 get him into a great deal of trouble for tak- 

 ing my property without permission. What 

 kind of a neighbor is a man of this sort V I 

 am writing about neighbors, dear friends ; 

 and if I forget it, I hope you will call me 

 to order. The man who broke my manure- 

 spreader, and who, since then, never goes 

 past our iiouse for fear 1 may see him, is 

 the one who was reaping his grain on Sun- 

 day. Now, I am not writing him up be- 

 cause I have a grudge against him. I am 

 sorry he is such a bad neighbor, but I am 



ready to talk kindly to him at any time. I 

 have not just yet decided what a Christian 

 man ought to do under such circumstances ; 

 but I have decided on one point, and that is, 

 that it is not right nor best for the neigh- 

 bor's own good that such things be allowed 

 to pass or be dropped. I have talked to his 

 brother, and I have written a letter to his 

 mother, and I expect to have a good talk 

 with him one of these days. The point I 

 wish particularly to emphasize right here is, 

 that these things illustrate the character of 

 the man. I do not mean by this, dear 

 friends, that every one of you who work on 

 Sunday would borrow tools, and return 

 them in a damaged state, without a word or 

 any offer to pay ; but I do believe that the 

 man who commences to work on Sunday 

 because he does not find the six days long 

 enough that God gave him. will pretty soon 

 begin to encroach on his neighbors. 



Now a word in regard to the man who 

 ran his sawmill on Sunday. I do not sup- 

 pose that God took particular pains to cause 

 his machinery to break because of his digres- 

 sion. But the great point is this : The man 

 who disregards the feelings of his neigh- 

 bors, and disregards the laws of God to such 

 an extent as to do such an act will be reckless, 

 and disregard other natural laws. His ma- 

 chinery will break, and he will have bad 

 luck and misfortune, so long as he persists 

 in that attitude of heart. It is the attitude 

 of heart that makes the trouble. It is the 

 rebellion against God's holy law that brings 

 unhappiness and dissatisfaction. The man 

 who works on Sunday complains of God be- 

 cause the Creator did not give him six days 

 and the seventh besides, to do his work in ; 

 he complains of God because Uod does not 

 manage to have it rain only nights and 

 Sundays, that we may not be hindered in 

 getting in our full six days every week. 



The man who works on Sunday can not 

 very well have that gentle, peaceful, pleas- 

 ant frame of mind that is most conducive 

 to careful, methodical, good work. He is in 

 the condition of mind of the man who is 

 nervous and excited. If you will think back 

 you will remember that you are not fit for 

 active work after you have quarreled with a 

 neighbor. Your mind is disturbed and off 

 its balance ; and nothing in this whole wide 

 universe so upsets a man, and throws him 

 so badly out of balance, as to quarrel with 

 his Maker. Think of rebellion against the 

 very Being on whom you depend for the 

 very breath of life you draw! We sometimes 

 see men openly defiant. Such men, how- 

 ever, are hardly in their right mind. Well, 

 now, suppose such a man has a family of 

 children. One of them is suddenly stricken 

 down by disease. The physician says there 

 is little if any hope. Perhaps he does not 

 say, '' With God alone rests the issue of 

 this sickness;" but whether he says so or 

 not, the conclusion forces itself upon the 

 mind of every candid, thinking man. How 

 futile and how foolish it is to rebel against 

 God! and yet I am afraid, dear friends, that 

 poor Rol)ert, as he sat there hour after hour 

 and day after day by his table was not the 

 only one who is tempted to feel rebellious. 



As the physician had said, Robert did not 



