1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



147 



not mate us all at once unselfish, I am aware; 

 hut if we commence correcting and straighten- 

 ing up every little transaction as we look back 

 over it, and see that it is not exactly fair, we 

 shall soon get to living an honest life, and 

 God rewards all such efforts. Suppose, dear 

 friends, you are anxious about some young 

 man — may be your own boy. He is away 

 from home, and exposed to temptation. 

 Wicked people are planning for his downfall, 

 no doubt. Suppose you should find out that 

 he is commencing a life of prayer — that he is 

 working hard to establish a perfect, unbroken 

 connection with the dear Savior. Suppose 

 you learn that he is in constant communica- 

 tion with the great God above ; that he has 

 access to a "switch-board" connected with a 

 direct line to the throne of God, and that he 

 can at any minute telegraph the little prayer, 

 " Lord, help ! '' and that he has learned to 

 know and believe that help comes instantly — 

 help sufficient so that he may withstand all 

 the fiery darts of the evil one. How much 

 would it be worth to know, dear parent, that 

 your boy had established such a close relation 

 with his Maker — a relation that is to go with 

 him through life ? Now, please remember I 

 do not mean to tell you such a person will be 

 lifted out of all troubles. The wise teacher 

 does not do the work for the pupil. When I 

 was quite a child we had a schoolmaster who 

 always did the " sums " for the boys when they 

 brought up the slate and pencil and said they 

 could not get the answer. This master could 

 cipher very fast, and many of the boys looked 

 on with bright eyes while he made nice figures 

 and did the work in good style. But a new 

 teacher came. There was considerable grum- 

 bling among the boys because he did not do 

 the work for them. I heard of it, and thought 

 I would not go to the master. I was away 

 ahead of the class with my Ray's Arithmetic, 

 Part 3; but after working two days on an ex- 

 ample I told the teacher I did not believe it 

 was profitable for me to waste more time on it. 

 I shall always remember how he spoke. " My 

 young friend, I could work that out for you 

 very quickly, and in one sense save your time 

 and mine ; but I think you can do it all right 

 yourself if I simply ask you a few questions." 

 He asked me just one question, and that one 

 question revealed to me the fact that I had 

 been stupidly away off the track, and I assur- 

 ed him that I should like to go to work and 

 do it myself without any further help. He 

 Icept his eye on me, and when I had my an- 

 swer all straight and clean in less than five 

 minutes a sort of telegraphic communication 

 passed between us just by our eyes, and he 

 and I were warm friends ever afterward. His 

 plan of teaching was more by quiet question- 

 ing than by doing any work at all himself. 

 God, in his loving kindness, answers our 

 prayers in much the same way. 



Now, the dear brother who gave us that 

 talk about hindrances to answers to prayer 

 somewhat surprised and startled me in con- 

 sidering that fourth and last hindrance. He 

 said something like this : " Dear people, I do 

 not understand it, I confess ; but I believe it 

 is nevertheless true that Satan himself is per- 



mitted — at least to a certain extent — to hinder 

 and delay answers to prayer. We pray for a 

 loved one. The prayer would have been 

 answered, perhaps a start was made in an- 

 swering that prayer ; but Satan interposed. 

 Evil associates, perhaps, persuaded the young 

 man not to go to prayer-meeting ; and God 

 permitted Satan to go on with this work." 

 W T hile my friend was speaking it occurred to 

 me that one of the great hindrances in the 

 way of having our prayers answered in doing 

 away with saloons is that Satan constantly 

 interposes his influence and work everywhere. 

 He tampers with the officers of the law ; he 

 influences the judges ; he gets control of the 

 police and the police courts. Shall we give 

 up to Satan ? God forbid ! Satan can go so 

 far, but not beyond that limit. And ue can 

 hinder Satan. Our prayers hinder him, and 

 are a restraint on him. We may never in this 

 world be able to understand just why Satan is 

 permitted to meddle with human affairs, and 

 to hinder and delay the answers to the prayers 

 of honest Christians ; but God knows. We 

 are weak, but he is mighty. "Shall not the 

 Judge of all the earth do right ? " 



Many of our prayers, while not absolutely 

 selfish or harmful, are of no particular im- 

 portance. James says, " Ye ask, and receive 

 not, because ye ask amiss," and we may call 

 this still another hindrance. A little girl 

 prayed every night for several days that she 

 might be permitted some time in life to see 

 Queen Victoria. Very likely she prayed with 

 childish faith. Now, this is a sample of 

 prayer where no particular good can come of 

 it. The little girl was young, and Queen 

 Victoria was very old ; and it seems quite 

 likely that such a prayer will not be answered. 

 And more important than all is it that no par- 

 ticular good could come if it were answered. 

 I do not suppose the little girl had even 

 thought about any good coming from it. Jesus 

 said, " If ye abide in me, and my words abide 

 in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall 

 be done unto you." If the same spirit that 

 actuated the Savior while he was here on 

 earth actuates and helps us, we shall be con- 

 stantly seeking and praying for something for 

 the good of all humanity. We shall be hun- 

 gering and thirsting after righteousness, and 

 that the gospel of Christ Jesus may be brought 

 to all the world ; and while we are in this 

 attitude of heart, while it is the inspiring 

 theme of our being, our petitions will be some- 

 thing for the good of humanity in general — 

 not for self and for self alone, and not for idle 

 curiosity or for some notion or fancy of the 

 moment ; and this hungering and thirsting 

 after righteousness will not at all unfit us for 

 building great cities and connecting them 

 with great railways. It will not at all unfit us 

 for extending electric wires and telephone 

 wnres to the home of the humblest person, for 

 the constant thought will be of God the 

 Father, and of his love to us his children; and 

 thanksgiving and praise shall be to him for 

 evermore. Before we can claim these prom- 

 ises we must be in harmony with God and his 

 plans, and then Fshall come to pass that pre- 

 cious promise, ' ' Before they call I will answer, ' ' 



