44 



GLEA^IKGS m BEE CULTUKE. 



Jak. 



your savior and your guide. If I have made 

 a mistake, or if I am intruding, I will go 

 away at once, without another word." 



"No mistake at all. Mr. Boot; I am very 

 glad to see you, for I know it is just what I 

 and all the rest of us ought to do." 



In a few minutes the young men I have 

 spoken of came in. At tirst, I was so short- 

 sighted as to think this might prevent my 

 having my talk with him ; but almost at 

 once something whispered that God was 

 guiding it all, and had sent them. Thereup- 

 on I told them my errand, and that, inas- 

 much as Christ knew no differences, I would 

 tender the same invitation to them. 



Pretty soon, still another yoimg man came 

 in, and I said the same to him, and tinally 

 we had almost enough gathered there for a 

 little prayer-meeting. After some talk with 

 them all, some one suggested we should 

 have a Sunday-school started there every 

 afternoon, and you may be sure I gladly 

 enough accepted the invitation to lead them. 

 After singing " Sweet Hour of Prayer." and 

 asking God to bless our undertaking, I came 

 away. As I got outdoors, I found it was 

 dark ; but there was no darkness on my 

 spirits now. Pretty soon I saw some one 

 coming after me. I spoke, and found it was 

 one of the young men I had left there. He 

 told me his father had recently died, and 

 that, while on his death-bed, with his Bible 

 near him, he enjoined his boys to lead 

 Christian lives. A few weeks had passed, 

 but yet he had taken no steps to unite with 

 Christian people. Was it accident that led 

 me over in this out-of-the-way place this 

 afternoon, or was it the still small voice that 

 so often pleads with us, and yet is so often 

 disregarded when we can not see exactly the 

 whys and wherefores of it V 



Do any of you ask, my friends, what is the 

 good of a Sabbath-school, after all V ^Vell, 

 1 will try to tell you a little of what I hope it 

 will do. As I pass the saloons of our town, 

 I notice that very may of those who enter 

 are boys from the country. They live a few 

 miles out of town, and have always been in 

 the habit of getting a glass of beer when 

 they come to town on almost any kind of an 

 errand. Once in a while these boys get into 

 jail, and then I get acquainted, aiid have a 

 good talk with them. They almost always 

 say they have never been to Sunday-school, 

 and a good many times it seems as if no one 

 has ever invited them to come. Suppose I 

 could have these talks with them before 

 they get into jail ; do you not think it would 

 save some expense to our State and county V 

 May be it might save an immortal soul. 

 Will it not be worth while to try? 



Again, it is a hard thing to reform a man 

 grown. If they are reformed, they are very 

 apt to get back among their old associates 

 unless they are pretty closely watched and 

 cared for. If we can take the boys and girls 

 before they have grown into fixed, bad hab- 

 its, they are far more apt to stand. It makes 

 a terrible wrenching of things, if I may so 

 express it, to take a strong man and bring 

 liim to Jesus' feet as a little child. Battles 

 have to be fought day by day that might 

 have been saved if he had been led into wis- 

 dom's ways when his mind and appetite 



were young and tender. May God have 

 mercy on those who have grown up in their 

 sins! 



Some of the friends will have it that I pro- 

 pose to teach in the Sabbath-school, and on 

 these pages my views, while I will not 

 give them a chance to answer and express 

 their views. They are right thus far, and 

 no further ; viz., 1 certainly can not consent 

 to have these pages filled with arguments 

 and controversy on theology, doctrine, which 

 day is Sunday, baptism, or any like matters. 

 It is not my business, and I know God has 

 not called me into any such fields. If such 

 subjects must be discussed, talk them over 

 with your pastor, or the best men in your 

 churches, and decide for yourselves. My 

 work I can illustrate best in the following 

 little story : — 



A poor market-woman was once, in order 

 to get along and "keep even with the world," 

 in the habit of using a peck measure that 

 held a scant peck. She knew it was wrong ; 

 but competition was so close she had to do 

 it, or, at least, she told her conscience so, 

 and so the best friends she had, together 

 with her foes, were treated (or, rather, 

 cheated) alike, day after day. Finally she 

 decided, one Sabbath, to go to meeting. It 

 some way happened tliat the sermon was on 

 honesty, and, although much of the talk was 

 beyond her comprehension, sh3 gathered 

 enough so that she went and burned up the 

 scant peck measure the v(ry first thing she 

 did when she got home. The next day a 

 friend said, — 



" Why, ^lary, they tell me you have been 

 to church." 



" Yes, I went yesterday.'' 



" Who preached?" 



" I don't know." 



" What was the text? " 



" I do not know." 



" What was the sermoii about? " 



"• I can not remember that either." 



" Why! can you not remember some story 

 or anecdote, or something the minister said 

 in his sermon? " 



She declared she could not remember any 

 thing. 



"Why!" said her friend, "it certainly 

 didn't do you any good, if you don't know 

 who preached, what he said, nor any thing 

 about it." 



" But I tell you it did, for I went and 

 burned up that small peck measure the first 

 thing I did when I got home, and I am go- 

 ing to give full, honest measure, after this, 

 as long as I live." 



Who sent home that sermon to her heart? 

 and whose voice was it that she heard? Was 

 it not God's voice? and are not such ser- 

 mons just the kind we %vant? Is there any 

 difference of opinion in this matter? Now, 

 if I can so write to you that you forget me, 

 what I say, and every thing else, except the 

 truth that I am endeavoring to send home 

 to your hearts through God's voice, which I 

 hope sometimes reaches you through these 

 pages, I am content. 



Now, to those Avho are suggesting a differ- 

 ent course for these Home Papers, and Avho 

 think I am omitting important subjects, I 

 would respectfully suggest that my way 



