March is, i&14 



Our Homes 



A. I. Root 



And in the morning, rising up a great while be- 

 fore (lay, he went out, and departed into a solitary 

 place, and there prayed. — Mark 1:35. 



But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy clos- 

 et, and when thou hast shut thy door pray to thy 

 Father which seeth in secret; and thy Father which 

 seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. — Matt. 

 6:0. 



There are a good many strange people in 

 this world. There are good people and bad 

 people; and there are others, like you and 

 me, who are good part of the time and bad 

 part of tlie time; and may God grant, as we 

 grow in years, that the bad times may grow 

 less and less, and the good times grow more 

 and more frequent. Well, there are selfish 

 people in this world, and, thank God, there 

 are unselfish people. Why, it is a positive 

 fact tliat there are people who send out 

 gosi^el literature day after day and year 

 after year, and pay the postage and print- 

 ing entirely out of their own pocket unless 

 some good man or woman sends a postage 

 stamp or may be a dollar bill. I have known 

 of quite a few such.* In fact, thei^e have 

 been one or two among our beekeepers who 

 have spent a large amount of money, not 

 to send out political literature, but to dis- 

 seminate the pure gospel of Christ Jesus, 

 and that, too, without money and without 

 price. 1 think one of them is dead and 

 gone.f But there is one who is still alive 

 and doing business, and I rather think he 

 is doing a lot of business too. Every little 

 while he sends me some tracts. I glance 

 over them hastily, and sometimes hand them 

 to those who I think will value them. 



Just a few days ago, among these leailets 

 was one entitled " In the Desert with God," 

 which attracted my attention. This tract 

 also contained a poem headed " Alone with 

 God." I tried to find it afterward, but it 

 had slipped away. But the thought kept 

 coming into my mind and repeating itself — 



* If I mistake not, our departed friend and bee- 

 keeper Oliver Poster was one of these quiet home 

 missionaries. If you will refer to page 373, June 1, 

 you will see that he was also one of the most suc- 

 cessful beekeepers, years ago, when he and myself 

 were in pretty close touch, not only with the bees, 

 but when we were both interested in the furthering 

 of God's kingdom. 



t Among other good friends who are doing so 

 much to further the cause of righteousness I mist 

 mention also the Gospel Tract Mission, of Woodburn, 

 Oregon. They send out an elegant calendar with 

 choice selections that face the reader for at least a 

 month. This is a very practical way of combining 

 the practical and spiritual. Besides this they send 

 out large bunches of blotting-pads with Sicripture 

 texts that remind us almost unconsciously of better 

 things. Drop them a card. 



yes, in the night I would say, " Alone with 

 God," and it recalls to me that, during my 

 busy business life, times would come quite 

 often when I felt as if I must be just a 

 little while alone with God. Perplexities, 

 misunderstandings, and disappointments 

 must come in a great and growing business, 

 and I can remember vividly that, when my 

 feeble efforts seemed to fail, when some of 

 the help got cross or " cranky," as we some- 

 times term it, at such times I longed to get 

 entirely away and be alone with God. I 

 sometimes thought of having a private oflice 

 where i could get off by myself and turn 

 the key. But somehow that did not seem 

 to be Christianlike. I do not know that I 

 have ever yet refused to see or talk with any 

 one. I have often, however, asked the 

 friends after a time to excuse me ; but I do 

 not think I ever locked myself in a room, 

 even when I wanted to pray. After the 

 busy throng had all gone home there were 

 particular places or corners where I used 

 to kneel down and feel that I was alone with 

 God. I could tell him all my troubles, and 

 a lot of deliverances — I think I may safely 

 say miraculous deliverances — came after 

 such times when I had been alone with God. 



1 do not know how many of you there are 

 who sometimes get stirred up so that it 

 seems almost impossible to take your 

 thoughts away from the thing that troubles 

 you, and think of something else. I some- 

 times, after a rebellious conflict in my soul, 

 feel like an unmanageable horse. I remem- 

 ber one such time when I was almost boil- 

 ing over with resentment, and I could not 

 get over it. I left my work and plunged 

 into a field of growing corn. I went away 

 out into the middle of the field and knelt 

 down alone with God. I said in substance, 

 '* Create in me a clean heart, God, and 

 renew a right spirit within me." I then 

 went back to my work, as the good book 

 expresses it, " clothed, and in my right 

 mind." I was then enabled, by the grace of 

 God, to look pleasantly and kindly on con- 

 trary humanity. Now, such a spirit is catch- 

 ing. No wonder my help forgot to be con- 

 trary, and seemed to be transformed, like 

 myself. This being alone with God had 

 banished Satan, and Christ Jesus was lord 

 and ruler once more. 



Well, this little tract reminds me that I 

 have not been alone with God of late as 

 much as I used to be. Let me stop right 

 here. It is an excellent thing to be able to 

 lead in prayer-meeting or other places when 



