NoVKMIiKtt, l'J2i) 



A X I N G S I N B E F: culture 



o 



N page 49l' 



of the Au- 



g u s t issuf 

 of Gleanini^s 1 

 tried to explain 

 to you why I 

 should say with 

 such confidenof 

 and assurance. 

 "I kno w that 

 my Rede erner 

 liveth." Well, 

 since then I 

 have come 

 across a verse 

 from a beauti- 

 ful hymn that 

 expresses better 

 what T wish to 



say in four lines than I was able to do in 

 almost a whole page. The hymn is now 

 repro«Jueed on records for the phonograph. 

 Below is the verse I have referred to: 



From sinking sand he lifted me. 



With tender hand he lifted me; 



From shades of night to plains of light, 



Oh praise His name! He lifted me. 



If there was ever anybody in sinking 

 sand I was the one: and he in very truth, 

 lifted me. Still more, "with tender hand" 

 he lifted me. "From shades of night" long 

 expressed my condition. Only those who 

 have been there can imagine or realize the 

 horror of the "night" of unbelief and in- 

 fidelity: and in the same way only a poor 

 soul who has been thru the change, from 

 shades of night "to plains of light" can 

 realize what that means. And the expres- 

 sion in that la.st line, "Oh praise his name I" 

 comes in so beautifully that I feel like 

 shouting when I think it over. And then 

 the last three words. "He lifted me," are the 

 culminating climax of this wonderful hymn. 



A few Sundays ago in our men's Bible 

 cla.ss a young friend of mine suggested that 

 oot only was the Bible inspired but that 

 some of our precious hymns were the work 

 of the inspiration of the Hol\- Spirit: and 

 I think that this little h\-mn that I have 

 f|uoted from was most surely the result of 

 the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Dur- 

 ing the years of my early manhood I had 

 but little or no thought of anjthing but 

 self. Self was first and foremost. I did 

 not go to church, I had no interest in 

 Sunday-schools, and the Y. M. C. A. did 

 not appeal to me. A young minister from 

 Oberlin came to our town. I went to hear 

 him more out of curiosity than anythins 

 else. 1 wondered if that hoy, as I called 

 him. could really preach. His first work, 

 so it seems, was to makf- personal calls on 

 the people of the town. I am afraid I was 



^^^ms^ 



OUR HOMES 



A. I. ROOT 



And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will 

 draw all men unto me. — .John 12:32. 



He brought me tip also out of a horrible pit, 

 out of the mir>' clay, and set my feet upon a rock, 

 and efctablished my goings. — Psalm.s 40:2. 



Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy 

 laden, and I will give yoa rest, — liatt. 11:28. 



687 



rude to him 

 when he tried 

 to do his duty 

 toward me as 

 well as toward 

 everybody else; 

 but thru God's 

 providence he 

 wa.s instrument- 

 al in "lifting 

 me." He is now 

 gone, and gone 

 to his reward : 

 but well do I 

 remember "t h e 

 tender hand" 

 with which he 

 took me to task 

 while he talke^l 

 with me plainer than any one else had 

 ever done. The outcome was a com- 

 plete change in my life. It has been 

 called "the new birth." I not only 

 jAeaded in public for the dear Sa\ior 

 I had found, but I established Sunday- 

 schooLs in the surrounding schoolhou.ses — 

 so many of them, in fact, that there were 

 hardh- hours enough on Sunday for me to 

 go from one place to another. As fa.st as 

 I could I installed superintendents in these 

 mission schools. One of our best and most 

 successful superintendents was taken from 

 the Medina jail. He had served one term 

 in the penitentiar>- for stealing chickens; 

 and as soon as he was out he went at it 

 again; and when I first met hira he was on 

 his way to serxe his second term in the 

 penitentiar\-. He was one of that reckless, 

 defiant class, and declared that they might 

 take his dead body back to the penitentiarv*. 

 but thej- would ne\er take him alive. Pro- 

 fane, squirting tobacco juice, defying Go<l 

 and man. I found him in the stone jail. He 

 went to his reward many years ago: but he 

 went rejoicing, and trusting in the "tender 

 liand" that lifted him from the "sinking 

 sand" of sin and crime. 



Toward the close of one sabbath, just as 

 winter was coming on, after I had finisher] 

 my trip, mostly on foot, to my various 

 schools, I was told that in the neighboring 

 town a young married man (with a wife 

 and two children) was p^reparing to open 

 a new saloon on the following Monday 

 morning. In fact, he had his liquors all 

 purchased, and placed on the shelves ready 

 for business. This friend of mine said the 

 saloon would surely open the next morn- 

 ing unless something coold be done to stop 

 it: and he said he did not know of any- 

 body else than !iiy.=elf who could do what 

 would have to be done, and done at once. 



