172 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



March, 1920 



should not worry nor even give a passing 

 thought to what people say about us nor 

 even when they abuse us. The authority 

 i'or it is in that 15th verse. Nothing can 

 hurt us from the outside. It is only the 

 things that come from the inside. An il- 

 lustration comes to my mind just now that 

 will help you to realize the danger of mere- 

 ly thinking or letting your mind run along 

 channels where there is danger. Over 40 

 years ago there was a merchant doing busi- 

 ness on our streets right in the busiest part 

 of the town. He had, perhaps, managed 

 unwisely, and during the severest cold wea- 

 ther in January he had but few customers 

 and but little to do. Right here comes in 

 that good old adage: 



Satan finds some mischief still 

 For idle hands to do. 



The property was pretty well insured, 

 and the prince of darkness slyly suggested 

 to him that he could set his premises on 

 fire and call out the fire company when the 

 flames had i-eached a certain jioint, and 

 thus get quite a little insurance. Perhaps 

 I should explain that he confessed all this 

 to me while he was in jail. He said that 

 when the first thought occurred to him he 

 rejected it at once; but as the days follow- 

 ed, and he did not find much to do, he kept 

 thinking of how it might be done and j'et 

 escape detection. Again and again he re- 

 jected the thought, but somehow it got to 

 be a kind of craze or passion with him. He 

 could not cease thinking about it. Right 

 here comes in the Savior's warning. One 

 night when this man had closed up his 

 place of business a<iring a severe zero 

 spell, he went about the premises planning 

 where he might put the kerosene and how 

 lie would manage. Finally he poured out 

 kerosene in several places and touched the 

 match. Wlien the flames began to endanger 

 the town he raised the alarm. After a hard 

 fight the fire was put out. If it had got 

 beyond control, it would probably have 

 burned up the busiest street and perhaps 

 the whole town. But, as it happened, he 

 miscalculated a little. He had raised the 

 alarm somewhat too soon. There were 

 parts of the premises where the firemen 

 smelled and found kerosene that had not 

 been reached by the fire. This man not 

 only made a full confession, but on his 

 knees on the floor of the jail he asked the 

 Lord to forgive him. I do not know now 

 what has become of him; but I hope the 

 lesson was sufficient so that ever afterward, 

 when evil thoughts intruded, he said, " Get 

 thee behind me, Satan." And T hoi>e, too, 

 that ever aftei"ward he " kept busy " doing 

 something to bless instead of injuring his 

 neighbors and fellow-men. 



Please consider once more the text which 

 I have repeated so often, " Let the words 

 of my mouth, and the meditation of my 

 heart," etc. If you keep all kinds of evil 

 thoughts out of your heart you will not 

 have any trouble with intemperance or 

 worse things. Yes, there are worse things 

 than intemperance. In the 21st verse our 

 Savior says, " Out of the heart proceed evil 

 thoughts." Now please notice carefully, 

 when he speaks of the awful sins that 

 humanity is guilty of, which one he men- 

 tions first. Is it murder? Not so. In his 

 enumeration of the sins that mankind is 

 guilty of he first mentions " adulteries." 

 And when I think of the divorces that are 

 now getting to be more and more prevalent, 

 of the illegitimate children that are bom 

 and sent loose on the world, of the young 

 criminals that are cropping out here and 

 there, and reflect that adultery is very like- 

 ly the real starting point of these things, 

 I begin to think the Savior was right in 

 putting adultery and fornication first. 

 Strong drink is beginning to be considered 

 the starting point of most of our crimes, 

 and perhaps it is. But I am beginning to 

 think, as I grow older, that adulter^' is 

 probably worse than strong drink ; and this 

 awful sin, perhaps more than any other, 

 starts first in " the meditation of the heart." 

 Of course strong drink is the great ally of 

 adultery. Under the influence of liquor, 

 perhaps just a little alcohol, a man's 

 thoughts naturally run that way. In Prov- 

 erbs 23 :33, we read that the one who is un- 

 der the influence of drink shall " see strange 

 women, and thy heart shall utter perverse 

 things." In the last verse of chapter 9 of 

 the same book we read, " Her guests are in 

 the depths of hell." 



Once more let me repeat that when the 

 time comes when all mankind, or perhaps 

 we might say when all who i^rofess to be 

 followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, shall 

 make this little text their own, that has 

 been in my mind so much, and that I have 

 talked about again and again and prayed 

 over daily; or, better still, when all man- 

 kind make that prayer their prayer, the 

 glad time that is expressed in the Lord's 

 prayer will be near at hand — " Thy king- 

 dom come, thy will be done on earth as it 

 is in heaven," divorces will cease, illegiti- 

 mate children will be unknown, and crime, 

 that just now seems to be getting worse 

 and worse, especially in our gi'eat cities, 

 will be almost, if not quite, unknown. 



Right close by where I am writing, in 

 our Medina jail is a boy 17 years old who 

 is charged with having committed murder 

 — -yes, T think it was deliberate murder. 

 His home is not in our county of Medina. 



