1891 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



519 



straight. This straiglu line. I hope and believ(\ 

 has this earth for one of its stai<es. and heaven 

 above for the other. I think there is progress 

 plainly to be seen, from earth toward heaven; 

 but. oh dear! what a spectacle of shoit small 

 crooks, from the right to the left, and then up 

 and then down I Is the line growing straighter 

 as it gets further from earth and nearer to 

 heaven ? I believe it is. 



Why should anybody prefer some other way 

 than a straight line? In one sense I do not 

 know, and in another I do know. Paul says, 

 ■• It is no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth 

 in me." This gives me courage: for even Paul, 

 the veteran saint, had experience in this un- 

 ceasing war against sin. In fact, he calls it 

 Avar. See: " But I see another law in my mem- 

 bers, nHirring against the law of my mind, 

 bringing me into captivity to the law of sui 

 which is in my members." Then he adds. " Oh 

 wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me 

 fi-om the body of this death?" Very likely 

 these battles — this war that Paul speaks of — 

 were silent and invisible conflicts. One might 

 think that a man as busy as I am would have 

 no time to give to spiritual conflicts, and per- 

 haps he would have no time to listen or look to 

 anything that Si^trni has to otter. Not so. A 

 week ago I had been congratulating myself 

 that certain battles were fought and won. The 

 enemy had fled, taking all his artillery. The 

 battle-ground was clear. Not a glimpse nor 

 vestige remained. I was happy over snatches 

 of old hymns that told of deliverances, and of 

 ba'ttles ended, and almost b<'gan to think tliat I 

 could say with Paul, at least in one direction, 

 "I have fought a good fight; I have kept the 

 faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a 

 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 

 righteous judge, shall give me at that day." I 

 did remember the injunction. " Let him that 

 thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall;'" 

 but I felt myself so perfectly and thoroughly 

 delivered from temptation that I even quoted 

 the text, " As fai- as the east is from the west, 

 so far hath he removed our transgressions from 

 us." And I began to feel that God had given 

 me a standing-place to labor that I never en- 

 joyed before. For the first time, almost. I could 

 look unmoved, and without any feeling what- 

 ever, on things that had been dangers and 

 snares to me all my life long. Intemperate 

 men find it is better for them to shun the old 

 haunts of vice, as well as old companions. Well, 

 now, suppose one who had battled with this 

 fiei'ce craving for thirty or forty years should 

 suddenly And himself entirely. free from his old 

 appetite, and free from bondage. Suppose he 

 could look upon old sins and old associations 

 without a particle of desire in his heart for the 

 things he had battled with all his life. I once 

 heard a reformed man say in a revival meeting 

 that it would be no trouble at all for him to 

 walk home in the dai'kness of the night, with 

 whisky-barrels lining the way on both sides of 

 him, and tin cups hanging (nit. ready for him to 

 drink from. God had delivered him so thor- 

 oughly and effectually from his old appetite 

 that he was a new person. There was as little 

 desire in his heart for the intoxicating cup as if 

 he were some one who had never tasted it and 

 knew nothing about it. This is putting it 

 strong, I know; but I believe such deliverances 

 do actually happen. They have come to me 

 in my own experience, as "a result of earnest 

 and continual prayer. Sometimes I think I am 

 not like humanity in geufial. I wonder if it is 

 possible that the people about me go through 

 such tierce battles as I do. They seldom say 

 any thing about it, and their looks do not seem 

 to indicate it; yet now and then something tells 

 me that we are, after all, much alike. 



Well, only about a week ago Satan came 

 back in a new guise — at least, in a difi'eient one 

 from any I had ever known before. The dan- 

 ger-signal sounded, but so faintly that I began 

 to think may be this new experience was noth- 

 ing particular out of thi' way. Another thing, 

 it was a very strange and curious circumstance. 

 A short time ago I spoke to you about the hap- 

 py .surpri-ses God sends to those who are faithful. 

 At first I almost began to think this was one 

 of those "happy surprises." Duty said. "Be 

 careful;" inclination said, '• Let us watch the 

 thing a while, anyhow, and find out the philos- 

 ophy of it." I remembered the path that Chris- 

 tian and Hopeful took, and where it ended. 

 Now. then, where is that line that can be drawn 

 to tell us just what is the straight and narrow 

 path and what is not it ? 



And now I have come to the point of my talk 

 to-day. Is there such a line for our course of 

 action? OhI to be sure there is: and I am glad 

 of this experience that has pointed it out to me 

 so unmistakably. Did this new temptation 

 cause me to love my Bible more? No, it did 

 not. Did it draw me to my closet for private 

 communion with my Savior ? Not at all: for, 

 come to think of it. my daily devotions alone by 

 myself had been for some time skipped, and this 

 was one thing that let Satan in. Did it bring me 

 nearer to my Savior? Almost in dismay I discov- 

 ered that my heart was growing cold, and that I 

 was in no spiritual state to exhort any one to 

 come to Christ. This is the line, dear friends: 

 Docs the thing that y<iu are undecided on draw 

 you nearer to Jesv s Christ^ Inclination said, 

 "Well, never mind. All Christians have their 

 ups and downs, and it is nothing strange if you 

 should have yours." Besides, for the time be- 

 ing something not quite a straight line seemed 

 so much more attractive than so strict and pti- 

 ritauical a life, that I almost felt like rebelling 

 a little, and saying that the Bible commands 

 are ^oo strict. How about morning devotions, 

 asking a blessing at the table, etc.? OhI I got 

 through with it all pretty well, but there was 

 not any real c?if/H(.s(((.s-?H and bright joyousness 

 about it. Sunday was coming, and I should go 

 to God"s house, teach my Sunday-school class. 

 and speak in prayer-meeting in the evening, 

 feeling myself crippled to at least some extent — 

 crippled by sin. Did you ever feel yourself in 

 that predicament, my friend? Then came be- 

 fore my spiritual vision the hardest obstacle to 

 surmount of all. The time had come for my 

 semi-monthly Home talks through Gleanings. 

 I have felt for years that these must be mes- 

 sages from the Holy Spirit; but the Holy 

 Spirit could not speak to me nor through me 

 with my present low spiritual state. '• Ye can 

 not serve God and mammon." This new thing 

 that had proved to be so attractive must be 

 banished, rooted out, and routed entirely. Now. 

 I have told you many of these experiences. 

 6'o/»e of you may tire of them: but others will 

 not, I ani sure. But let me say, that, of all the 

 conflicts I have ever had with the prince of 

 darkness, perhaps this was the most fierce. It 

 seemed as if he had got his fetters about me. 

 body and soul. I did not meditate nor purpose 

 any thing bad oi' wrong — quite the conti'ary. 

 Yet my better judgment told me what lay be- 

 yond. I was treading on the brink of danger. 

 Prayer did but little good, because I did not 

 really wisJi to give up a line of thought that 

 seemed so wonderfully attractive, and that be- 

 gan to mix itself in with most of my thouglits. 

 A new mini.ster occupied the pulpit Sunday 

 morning. In fact, he was a student in theology, 

 not yet having completed his studies. I am al- 

 ways interested in boy preachers. Their inex- 

 perience always sets' me to praying for them, 

 and gives me sympathy for them. This young 



