Dec. 1. 1911 



7:35 



OqDD^ [nlODlJl] 



A. I. Root. 



But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen 

 that good part, which shall not betaken away from 

 her.— Luke 10:42. 



I suppose my readers all have a Bible of 

 their own. In our Sunday-school down in 

 Bradentown our good friend E. B. Rood is 

 superintendent. He is not only an enthusi- 

 ast on bees and gardening, but he is an en- 

 thusiast in Sunday-school work. I w ish you 

 could all be present and hear him open up 

 our Bradentown Sunday-school. One of his 

 special points is to make everybody bring a 

 Bible — young and old. Just as soon as Sun- 

 day-school is opened he asks the question, 

 "How many of you have Bibles? Hold 

 them up." And he has finally succeeded 

 in having almost every man, woman, and 

 child hold up a Bible every Sunday morn- 

 ing. I think that on one morning I was 

 almost the only one without a Bible; and 

 when I ventured as an apology, " Jfrs. Eoot 

 forgot to bring our Bible this morning," 

 there was quite a little merriment, even if 

 it was Sunday morning and in Sunday- 

 school. 



Well, now, friends, I want each one of 

 you to get your Bible and turn to the clos- 

 ing words of the tenth chapter of Luke, be- 

 ginning at the oSth verse. Jesus himself, 

 our Lord and Master, was making calls. 

 How would you like to have him step into 

 your little home some bright morning? If 

 you only knew he was coming you would 

 have every thing brushed up, the porch 

 scrubbed off, things put away, and every 

 thing in apple-pie order; for we read some- 

 where that "order is heaven's first law." I 

 am not quite sure that it is in the Bible 

 you are holding in your hand, but there is 

 something in the Bible, from the pen of 

 Paul, saying, "Let every thing be done de- 

 cently and in order." 



The place where Jesus was going to call 

 was the home of Mary and Martha and of 

 their brother Lazarus — the one we are told 

 about later on. I suppose that, when the 

 Saviour called, he took a seat and began 

 speaking. Martha was busy in picking up 

 things, or in making some preparations for 

 refreshment; but Mary — bless her heart — 

 dropped every thing and sat at his feet to 

 drink in his words — "Blessed are they that 

 do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 

 they shall be filled." Mary was hungering 

 for his precious words, and we can imagine 

 how eagerly she drank in the Master's teach- 

 ings. Now, these women or girls — we do 

 not know how old they were — were both 

 good women. Martha was one of those 

 busybodies who must have every thing just 

 so or they can not live, or at least live and 

 be happy. She was a good housekeeper — a 

 model one, and there are many of them left 

 nowadays. May God be praised for them. 

 I do not know what we should do without 

 them. Marys and Marthas are both needed 

 in this world of ours. Martha, however. 



was not satisfied to bear her particular bur- 

 den alone. She reasoned, naturally, that 

 Mary might come and help; and after they 

 had got things in order, and the dinner go- 

 ing, perhaps they could both sit down and 

 listen. But our good friend Mary was so 

 delighted with the opportunity of listening 

 to the great teacher she forgot all else. We 

 are not sure she knew just then that he was 

 the Messiah, but ^he had wisdom enough 

 to know that he was a wonderful man and 

 a prophet. She dropped every thing and 

 forgot all in her devotion, and left Martha, 

 as we are told, to serve alone. Poor busy 

 Martha! I am afraid she got a little cross, 

 as such women often do. She finally made 

 a protest to her guest, and asked him to 

 send Mary to her that she might assist just 

 a little while she was engaged in the neces- 

 sary household duties. I am glad that we 

 have a record of this little incident. What 

 did the great Teacher, GocVs only begotten 

 Son, think about it? Listen to his reply: 

 "Martha, Martha, thou art careful and trou- 

 bled about many things." 



We may be sure that his words of address 

 were loving ones. Even though it was a re- 

 buke, the words were tender and kind. And 

 now come the words of our text. I do not 

 know but it is a sort of lack of faith, but some 

 way it does seem to me that the Savior at 

 times spoke extravagantly. These very 

 words, "but one thing is needful," seem to 

 poor humanity almost too strong. If he 

 had said "comparatively," from our human 

 standpoint it would seem more natural; but 

 he replies to that busy, efficient house-keep- 

 er, that only one thing is needful. Did he 

 mean that this word should apply to your 

 busy life and mine? Did he mean that 

 we should neglect the children, leaving 

 the porches looking untidy where muddy 

 feet have thoughtlessly tracked over them 

 just after they have been mopped off? 

 Did he mean we should let the dust accu- 

 mulate, the children go with dirty faces, soil- 

 ed clothing? Oh, no! We are not to under- 

 stand just that. But when we are thinking 

 of the household cares we should remember 

 that spiritual matters are of ryioj-e impor- 

 tance than any thing else. 



Down in Bradentown I am not only al- • 

 w^ays on hand at Sunday-school and preach- 

 ing, but I am also on hand, usually, prompt- 

 ly at the midweek prayer-meeting. There 

 is always a good attendance at our prayer- 

 meeting in Bradentown — often a better one 

 than at our Medina prayer-meeting, where 

 we have three or four times as large a church 

 enrollment. 



For several months past here in Medina 

 we have had no pastor, and the prayer-meet- 

 ing has been permitted to run down as a 

 natural consequence. Others as well as my- 

 self have tried to keep it up; and when some- 

 body said, "Why, there will not be over a 

 dozen there," and gave that as an excuse for 



