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Gleanings in Bee Culture 



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Thou Shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. — Matt. 

 19 : 19. 



Love worketh no ill to his neighbor. — Romans 

 13 : 10. 



Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is expedient 

 for you that I go away: lor if I go not away the Com- 

 forter will not come unto you; but if I depart I will 

 send him unto you. And when he is come he will 

 reprove the world of sin. and of righteousness, and 

 of judgment. — John 16 : 7, 8. 



The particular point I wish to speak on is 

 contained in the last text, from John, per- 

 taining to the Comforter. As I take it, the 

 Comforter that the Master promised to send 

 us after his departure was the Holy Spirit, 

 or, if you choose, the comforting infiuences 

 of the Holy Spirit. My dear old i)astor, who 

 has gone to his reward, used to tell us young 

 converts in the Thursday-evening prayer- 

 meeting that, when we are at a loss what to 

 pray about, we should always bear in mind 

 that we can always safely pray for the in- 

 fluences of the Holy Spirit. We may rest 

 assured that Crodwili always be pleased with 

 such a prayer; and even when we are dis- 

 turbed by a conflict of perhaps evil thoughts 

 and feelings, we can at such a time honestly 

 and safely pray for this same Holy Spirit. 

 At another time I remember hearing a good 

 elder of the Baptist Church, while exhorting 

 us to pray for the Holy Sj)irit, saying that 

 when God answers that prayer it may make 

 us very uncomfortable, "because," he said, 

 " the Holy Spirit when sought for and pray- 

 ed for will .show us our mistakes and our 

 sins, and sometimes in a way that will make 

 us feel very uncomfortable until we have 

 repented and jo»^ away our evil thoughts 

 and wrong doings." Now, please keej) the 

 above in mind when I tell you one of my 

 recent experiences. 



A month ago 1 started out on a trip to the 

 "cabin in the woods "in Northern Michi- 

 gan. There is a beautiful spring on a neigh- 

 bor's land adjoining my own; and this neigh- 

 bor was kind enough to say I might have 

 the surplus water if I would put in some 

 pipes and carry it over on to my land. I ac- 

 cordingly provided myself "with some 

 wrenches and fittings, and made a voyage 

 safely to the old cabin. As it is about half 

 a mile over hills and down through valleys 

 from the station to said cabin, I found it 

 quite a fatiguing task to carry my tools. 

 AVell, after arranging things so I coiild rest 

 comfortably during the night I called on 

 my nearest neighbor, a widow, to get my ac- 

 customed supply of bread and butter, milk, 

 eggs, etc. I then learned she was quite de- 

 sirous of purchasing my forty acres. It is 

 mostly timbered, while she has no timber 

 at all on her place; and she is always short 

 of hay or land for growing it, while 1 had a 

 beautiful meadow with a good stand of clo- 

 ver on it. To make a long story short, while 

 my price was $1500 she said she did not know 

 how she could afford more than $1350 — a dif- 



ference of $150, you will notice. She said 

 further, however, that if anybody else would 

 give more than $1350 she would like the re- 

 fusal of it; and that, rather than lose it, she 

 might give the $1500 — that is, if anybody 

 else would make me an offer of $1500. " 



You will notice at once that the above 

 offer showed she had confidence in my in- 

 tegrity. If I Mere a schemer, and always 

 trying to get the best end of every bargain, 

 I might have planned to find somebody who 

 would help me get my price, $1500. I went 

 back to the cabin, and had an excellent sup- 

 per of apples as usual, that I bought in Trav- 

 erse City at five cents apiece; and then I 

 sat down to consider whether I should sell 

 out my home in the northern woods over- 

 looking the beautiful Traverse Bay — the 

 home where I had enjoyed myself so much 

 by growing beautiful potatoes, making ma- 

 ple sugar, beautifying and improving my 

 woodland home, etc. I was much undecid- 

 ed, esi)ecially when I realized that I was 

 getting old, and that perhaps none of the 

 children would care for the place as a sum- 

 iner retreat as I had done. I looked at the 

 tools I had lugged through the woods, and 

 thought of the enjoyment I had promised 

 myself in playing with that soft-water 

 spring, etc., and I could not decide just what 

 I ought to do. Finally I remembered seeing 

 something in the Sunday-school 2'imes that 

 seemed to hit the present dilemma. Here 

 it is. I want you all to read it; and after 

 you have read it a dozen times 1 think it 

 will be a profitable investment to — 7-ead if 

 again. 



Many of us are so uneasy until we " sge the way 

 clear "in our duty-doing that we are missing the 

 great joy that comes to those who trustingly watch 

 God clear the way. No matter how perplexing our 

 pathway, how tangled and hard, God is, in every 

 moment, clearing the way for us. W^e may not be 

 able to see how he does it, or what he is doing, until 

 suddenly the way has opened, without any stroke 

 of ours. And then in puzzled wonder we recall that 

 we did pray about that very difficulty! If only we 

 were as eager to see how God clears the way as we 

 are to "see the way clear," we should quietly turn 

 to him and away from our uneasy haste and strain 

 of vision: and, in his good time, we should sec all 

 the clear way we need to see. 



By the way, dear friends, is there any 

 other periodical in the world that has a per- 

 sonality cropi)ing out in every issue like the 

 above? If there is, I have not seen it. Yes, 

 indeed, over and over again I have looked 

 with astonishment to see the way open ui) 

 and the coast become clear, and then remem- 

 bering I had been praying about that very 

 matter. But, dear friends, I am afraid that 

 oftentimes when I pray I have not the faith 

 to expect any such answer. I am astonish- 

 ed as usual when the answer comes. I got 

 down on my knees alone in the darkness, 

 away off there in the woods, and prayed 

 that God would help me to decide about let- 

 ting the property go — in fact, on the very 

 spot where I had prayed much, and found 



