1899 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



441 



man who has been guilty of this nameless 

 crime was ignorant, and entirely uneducated. 

 He calls attention to the fact that, when the 

 colored people are educated and Christianized, 

 this thing will be cured. I have not learned 

 the his'ory of this father and mother of whom 

 I have been telling you; but my impression is, 

 an explanation will be found somewhere be- 

 hind this terrible state of aff drs. One of the 

 children has died, but the others will proba- 

 bly recover, so we are told. 



Some of the friends who wish to put all of 

 the blame on trusts and like corruptions of 

 modern times say these people were driven to 

 the terrible act by poverty — could not get 

 work. But the suicides are not confined to 

 the needy poor by any means. People in all 

 classes of society are guilty. Even million- 

 aires, quite a few of them, have thrown away 

 and trampled in the dust that precious God- 

 given gift, a human life. 



Those who really love the human race, and 

 are interested, in the general progress of the 

 age, lament these things, and are looking for 

 a remedy. What is the matter? You know, 

 of course, that I would suggest that our text 

 explains it, and gives the remedy in one sen- 

 tence. But sad it is, I know, that we are 

 obliged to confess this terrible work is not 

 confined alone to skeptics and unbelievers. 

 Quite a few church-members commit suicide. 

 1 do not now remember a minister of the gos- 

 pel being guilty of such a crime, but I pre- 

 sume there may be such cases. In olden 

 time, Jesus, and he alone, had power to ban- 

 ish demons, and it rejoices my heart to be able 

 to say, without any fear of having made a 

 mistake, that the gospel of Christ Jesus is ful- 

 ly able to correct all of these things even now; 

 and I do not know of any thing else in this 

 whole wide world that can cast out these par- 

 ticular demons. "There is no other name 

 given under heaven among men whereby we 

 must be saved." 



Why do professing Christians commit sui- 

 cide ? Many times it seems as if the only ex- 

 planation to be given is that their mental or 

 physical sufferings are such they can not bear 

 them; that they were driven to it by pain, or 

 that they were no longer responsible. Now, I 

 do not want to be harsh nor uncharitable; but 

 I can not help feeling and saying that one who 

 is truly hungering end thirsting after right- 

 eousness will never for a moment listen to Sa- 

 tan's suggestions under any circumstances. 

 Th^re are half-hearted Christians ; there are 

 selfish Christians; but one who has said in his 

 heart, 



Jesus, I my cross have taken, 

 All to leave and follow thee, 



will never think of throwing away the life 

 that God gave. If we belong to Christ we are 

 not our own, and self has no standing-place. 

 It is the selfish man or woman who listens to 

 Satan's suggestions in this line. Who ever 

 heard of a missionary who gave his life for 

 the good of humanity, committing suicide? 

 Who ever heard of such a thing ? Why, the 

 idea is incredible. It is preposterous ; and 

 every child of humanity who has permitted 

 thoughts of this kind to come into his mind 



should be warned that he is leading a selfish 

 life. Selfishness is death to any one. Living 

 for the good of others is life, and life everlast- 

 ing. 



The demons that prompt these terrible deeds 

 get into the human heart, many times, through 

 strong drink; but I am led to believe that oft- 

 ener still they come through spite, jealousy, 

 or anger. A few months ago a physical epi- 

 demic was sweeping over the land, and it was 

 called grip. It is a comparatively new thing, 

 but no imaginary thing, as )-ou and I both suf- 

 fered by it. I am inclined to believe there are 

 things that belong to the moral and spiritual 

 world that sweep over humanity in much the 

 same way. I have been moved to write these 

 very words by feeling that possibly Satan was 

 being granted more power, or, if you choose, 

 unusual power, in these latter days. They 

 say a crazy man is more vicious toward his 

 best friends than toward anybody else. He is 

 more likely to murder the dear wife and chil- 

 dren who have borne with him patiently, and 

 cared for him long years. By the way, it 

 would be a great mistake to say that all insane 

 people are responsible or partly responsible 

 lor their insanity; but I am satisfied in my 

 own mind that a great many cases of insanity 

 come just from yielding to temper, or, if you 

 choose, to Satan. We are admonished in Holy 

 Writ that Satan will have more liberty for a 

 time. I do not know but this time is coming. 

 With all our wonderful discoveries in the arts 

 and sciences, with our telephones, X rays, and 

 wireless telegraphy, it would seem strange 

 that Satan should be making progress also. 

 But this same Bible tells us he is generally on 

 hand. 



Now, it seems strange and incredible to me 

 that a veteran, or at least something of a vet- 

 eran, in Christian warfare, should be tempted 

 of the Devil. Sometimes during these beauti- 

 ful spring days I become very tired. Some- 

 times combinations of circumstances seem ex- 

 ceedingly perplexing. I become vexed at hu- 

 manity ; yes, may God forgive me when I ad- 

 mit that at times I feel tempted to be • harsh 

 and unkind to the dear partner whom I love 

 more than any thing else on earth. I would 

 not say this did I not feel it might be helpful 

 to some of the other fathers and also to the 

 mothers in the home. Sometimes a very little 

 thing vexes me in a way that I can not under- 

 stand. Something seems to say, "Do this," 

 or "Do that," or to say that harsh, uncalled- 

 for and ugly word. I did not say it, dear read- 

 er, and may God be praised for so much. 

 Well, I have sometimes looked with wonder- 

 ing horror at the suggestions it seems to me 

 some evil spirit must have whispered in my 

 ear. In Pilgrim's Progress, Christian is feel- 

 ing troubled at the awful words that he is 

 compelled to think he has uttered when pass- 

 ing through the dark valley; but a great and 

 wise friend told him not to worry; that the 

 prince of darkness was in the habit of whis- 

 pering words over the Christian's shoulder, 

 and by his skill and dexterity making him ver- 

 ily believe that he (the Christian) himself was 

 guilty of the blasphemous curses. I have had 

 such experiences; and were it not for that lit- 



