Jllv. 1920 



GLEANINGS IN BEE C U L T U K E 



429 



I 





N Our Homes 



for July, 



1919, I men- 

 tioned a series 

 of articles in the 

 Sunday School 

 Times entitled, 

 "How Lawyer 

 Seo field Was 

 Won to Christ:" 

 and I made a 

 couple of ex- 

 tracts from that 

 article. I wish 

 now to make an- 

 other extract; 

 and I have 

 chosen to make 

 it because it il- 

 lustrates so well the difficult things a fol- 

 lower of Jesus Christ is sometimes called 

 on to do. I have had a few experiences 

 of the kind myself. This extract also dis- 

 closes the painful fact that sometimes even 

 bad and wicked men get into the United 

 States Senate. Below is the extract : 



Mr. Pomeroy was nominated to succeed liimself 

 as Senatoi- of the United States, in a speech in 

 which his " great services " to the State of Kansas 

 were fully rehearsed. 



Then Senator York, the leader of the anti-Pomeroy 

 forces, rose to his feet, deathly white. Scofield 

 looked at him, and was afraid he would not be able 

 even to use his voice, fo overcome by emotion did be 

 seem. But in a moment, to the utter amazement of 

 all who heard him, he said, " Mr. President, I rise 

 to second the nomination of S. C. Pomeroy." (Rep- 

 resentative Scofield was not then a converted man, 

 and he decided then and there that after the meet- 

 ing: he would take the senator outside and thrash 

 him.) " But," went on Senator York, reaching to 

 his hip pocket, and drawing out a large bundle of 

 something. " not to a seat in the United States 

 Senate, but to a cell in the Kansas State Penitenti- 

 ary at Leavenworth." He thein called to his side 

 one of the boy pages of the legislature, and con- 

 tinued: "Mr. President, I am sending you by the 

 innocent hand of this boy seven thousand dollars 

 in greenbacks that were handed me last night by 

 .S. C. Pomeroy for my vote." 



The bundle of money was carried up to the desk 

 nf the Lieutenant-Governor, and there, in the pres- 

 ence of all, it was laid in plain sight upon a book. 

 There was a silence like death over the entire hall 

 of representatives. 



May God be praised that we have men 

 in the Senate like Senator York as well as 

 occasionally one (and we hope it is very 

 seldom) like Senator Pomeroy. I can not 

 tell from the Sunday School Time^ exactly 

 how long ago the above transpired ; but T 

 trust and pray that the present Senate of 

 the United States is composed of men of 

 established and unquestioned character. It 

 was a terribly hard ordeal for Senator 

 York. Xo wonder that he was scarcely able 

 to use his voice. T wonder if he bad ever 

 used my little emergency prayer — "Lord, 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



a 



'I'hdii hast loved righteousness and hated iniquity. 

 — Hkb. 1:9. 



And beside all this, between us and you there is 

 a great gulf fixed. — luke 16:26. 



Let the words of my mouth and the meditation 

 of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my 

 strength and my redeemer. — Psalm 19:14. 



help." If there 

 was ever a time 

 in his life when 

 such a prayer 

 was needed, it 

 was just at that 

 moment. T h e 

 clipping does 

 not tell us h o w 

 Mr. Pome roy 

 received the ter- 

 r i b 1 e arraign- 

 ra e n t. I -w a s 

 parti c u la r 1 y 

 struck with Mr. 

 York's mann e r 

 of calling on an 

 "innocent boy " 

 t o carry that 

 great roll of greenbacks to the President 

 of the Senate. 



Now, friends, let us for a moment con- 

 sider my last text — the one which you liave 

 heard me talk about so much of late. Con- 

 trast the man who makes this text his daily 

 prayer with the one who handed out .$7,000 

 as a bribe to get himself back again — bad 

 and wicked man that he was — in the Senate 

 of the United States. I do not know what 

 the punishment for such a crime is — for 

 crime it certainly was; but it occurs to me 

 that the penitentiary for life would be 

 none too severe. Who can tell what hann 

 might be done by even one man like that 

 in our national Senate? Now, in contrast- 

 ing the man who makes that little prayer 

 bis great object in life with the man who 

 would hand out such a bribe, and in trying 

 to imagine the great gulf, I was reminded 

 of the words of our second text — " Between 

 us and you there is a great gulf fixed," etc. 

 The Lord Jesus Christ, and he alone, can 

 bring the sinner safely over this g-ulf and 

 plant his feet on the solid rock. In our 

 first text, righteousness and iniquity are 

 contrasted, and there seems to be no half 

 way between the two. Several times lately 

 in exhorting different people whom I have 

 met, discussing church membership, etc., 

 and after having been unable to get a di- 

 rect answer as to where they stood, I have 

 asked the question, "Do you accept the 

 Lord Jesus Christ as ' the Lamb of God 

 that taketh away the sin of the world V and 

 do you accept him as your Savior and your 

 only hope of 'everlasting' life?" 



" Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, 

 shall never die. Believest thou this?" 



