1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



481 



around you as wt^ll as in my poor sp]f. for yon 

 have now in your heart tliat virtue that " liopeth 

 all things,' "believeth all things," and 'thinketh 

 no evil.' '" ' 



If there is any one thing that is a sure evidence 

 of the new birth, it is this very quality of see- 

 ing good in everybody, and of having faith in 

 humanity, as well as faith in God. Now, this 

 new faith shows itself in this brother's face. It 

 is a pleasure for me to look at him since he has 

 become a Christian. Oh that this great faith 

 might last — might endure and grow, not only 

 in the hearts of the new converts, but with 

 those of us who have been long in Christ's ser- 

 vice I I tried to tell our friend that he must 

 look out foi- shocks to this bright faith. I told 

 him he would find inconsistencies here and 

 there in the lives of the best of Christians, espe- 

 cially if he were on the watch for them. Just 

 now. and perhaps for some little time to come, 

 it will be an ciisy matter to have faith: but 

 sooner or later the tempter will take him un- 

 awares, and persuade him that mankind are 

 not what they profess to be. Now. while we 

 enjoin him and others in like cii'cumstances to 

 have faith, and to hold on to the virtue that 

 thinketh no evil, let us also be careful that we 

 give him (or them) no needless grounds for los- 

 ing faith. Let us remember, when we meet 

 with such in our tasks, that they are new-born 

 children, and that they should be remembered 

 with care. It is true, their faith should be of 

 the kind that is able to endure severe trials. 

 David says. "Great peace have they which love 

 thy law. and nothing shall offend them." Few 

 of us. however, have come to the ])oint of hav- 

 ing a faith so bright and clear that it shall be 

 entirely above the shocks of this world's trials. 

 A careful workman should be careful about 

 (jivhHj offense, and also about taking offense. 

 Sometimes it seems as if I could stand almost 

 any thing, and take it cool and smilingly. At 

 other times I become demoralized and upset at 

 the merest trifles: and all the experience I have 

 had in the years that are past does not seem to 

 help me very much in being that "(inished" 

 workman that I might be and ought to be. 

 Paul says to Timothy, "Study to show thyself 

 approved unto God. a irorkman that needeth 

 Hot to be ashamed." But, oh how far I am 

 from that mark! If I do well for a little while. 

 I am apt to become proud of my skill — my skill 

 in being a good Christian. I mean. Then I be- 

 come overbearing, and then straightway I am 

 "ashamed'' — ashamed that I am such a poor 

 huMijling workman. 



The above incident gives us an idea of what 

 faith is, liow it comes, and that it is at least 

 largely a result of the work of the divine Spirit 

 in the human heart. My second incident shows 

 us the result of the lack of faith; and it tells us. 

 too, of the way whereby one loses faith. Per- 

 haps I should ask pardon of some of my readers 

 for again having any thing to say in regard to 

 millionaires. Mind you, I have nevei\ by any 

 means, claimed that all millionaires are good 

 men — only that a man inlglit have control of 

 considerable wealth, and still be a good man. 

 Well, a friend of mine was speaking bitterly in 

 regard to capital and capitalists. I suggested 

 to him, by way of a mild defense, that Wash- 

 ington, the father of our country, was a man of 

 considerable wealth, and almost a millionaire, 

 proposing to let the matter drop there. To my 

 astonishment, however, he began criticising 

 Washington severely. The things he biought 

 up against him may be true: but itgavemea 

 feeling of pain andsadness that I did not get 

 ovei- for some time afterward. Of course, 

 Wasliington was human, like the rest of us: or, 

 perhaps I should say. much like the rest of us: 

 but is it wise or well, or can any good come at 



this late day. from bi'inging up his weaknesses 

 and his imperfections? He who was "first in 

 war, first in peace, and lirst in the hearts of his 

 countrymen" — can we not afford to let a broad 

 charity cover what defects there may have 

 been in the past? And is it wise or well to tell 

 our children that the boy who said. "I can not 

 tell a lie, father," had many bad and disagree- 

 able traits, even if he did not tell lies? God 

 forbid. May the name of Washington never be 

 less reverenced and respected than it is now; 

 and may we realize tiiat. to spoil the faith that 

 the present generation associates with the vei'y 

 name of Washington, would be a misfortune 

 ■dxid 'd calamity to the children of the present 

 day. Talking about the defects or weak points 

 of any human being is dangerous bi>8iness, and 

 especially is it dangerous to drag down the 

 names of those who have been respected and 

 revered foi- ages. Now then, when we lose 

 faith in our neighbors, faith in our teachers, in 

 our college professors,\n ministers of the gos- 

 pel, in the heads of our goveinm.ent. we are on 

 the straight road to losing faith in God: and 

 not a few times have I heard those who find so 

 much fault with men in office and those in 

 power, wind up with irreverent slurs toward the 

 great Father of mankind, the God of the uni- 

 verse. A growing faith, coupled with hope, is 

 a bright thing to look upon: but a waning 

 faith, with hope gone, is a terrible thing to con- 

 k-mplate. 



Now about being a careful and skillful work- 

 man. Let me here illustrate. Just as we were 

 laying the iron pipes for the last of the four 

 hydrants, as it went over on to the railroad 

 ground the railroad company kindly offered to 

 do the digging with their own men where it 

 came on their territory, as this hydrant would 

 be of great advantage to them in the matter of 

 fire. A gang of workmen accordingly came to 

 work one moi'ning a little unexpectedly. I set 

 some stakes, and showed them where to dig, but 

 they lacked tools to work with to the best ad- 

 vantage. One more spade was needed. I told 

 one of our men to go to the gardener, who was 

 at work a little way off', and get a spade of him. 

 I had noticed, but a few minutes before, that he 

 had a spading-fork and a spade also. Had 

 there been more time, perhaps I might have 

 made some explanation: but a lot of men were 

 waiting to be set at work. Some little time aft- 

 erward I asked where the spade was he went 

 for. He said the gardenei' refused to let him 

 have it. Now, the gardener is a skillful me- * 

 chanic. He will handle a spade a little better, to 

 my notion, perhaps, than any other man on the 

 grounds. Not only that, he is a Christian, and, 

 of course, a man with no bad habits. Notwith- 

 standing, he has some peculiarities that are 

 sometimes quite annoying. As his eye may 

 meet these pages, I do not wish to find any 

 fault with him here, more than to say that, for 

 some time back. I have been thinking that I 

 should have to have a pleasant, good-natured 

 talk with him. and tell him that, unless he 

 could do differently, we two liad better dissolve 

 our business relations. I had put this off. how- 

 ever, because, when I was not at all vexed, it 

 was a very hard thing to begin to find fault, and 

 thus it was delayed. When, however, I learn- 

 ed that he I'efused to let us have the spade, I 

 went in somewhat of a hurry to whei'e he was 

 at work. The spade lay on the ground, and one 

 of our small boys near it. I directed the boy to 

 carry it up to the railroad men, proposirig" to 

 make explanations aftei- the boy had started on 

 his eirand. My old friend, however, was pro- 

 voked, and said, in a not very pleasant voice, 

 " But what am I to do?'' meaning, what was he 

 to do without a spade? I intended to tell him 

 to get along with the spading-fork for a few 



