1881 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



197 



choice. Doubtless a great deal of it looks 

 strange and perplexing ; but is it not prolia- 

 ble that miicli Avill be developed and unfold- 

 ed as you look into it, that is not apparent 

 now? Does it not begin to look safe, secure, 

 plain, and restful, as you go into the sub- 

 ject further? What harm can possibly come 

 from taking up such a humble, quiet, peace- 

 ful life as is here spread forth V — 



Take ray yr>ke upon you, and learn of mo; fori 

 am meek and lowly of heart: and ye shall find peace 

 unto your souls. For my yoke is "easy, and my bur- 

 den is light.— Matt. 11:39, 30. 



Suppose you should choose it, and live it, 

 and as you come down to death it should 

 transpire that the Bible is a mistake, and 

 that skepticism and infidelity are right, 

 would you, on your dying bed, think you, 

 have any thing to lamentV I am appealing 

 now to this higher and purer intellect tliat 

 God has given us all. Answer me soberly 

 and candidly, or, better still, answer the God 

 who made you. What answer would the 

 highest wisdom known to mankind indicate? 

 Where is the safest place to live and to die, — 

 following Jesus and the Bible, or the world 

 and skepticismV "Very well," some may 

 say, "I am ready to accept the New Testa- 

 ment; but what about the Old?" My 

 friend, your house is on fire, andtiie thing.to 

 do now is to go for water, wherever you can 

 get it. After we have put the fire out, and 

 the smoke has cleared away, we will have 

 time and a clear vision ; but for the present, 

 trust Jesus. He says, over and over, the 

 Old Testament is all right, and we are just 

 going to put it all on to his shoulders. If 

 any trouble comes in here, at the bar of 

 judgment, we will throw all the blame upon 

 him, God's only Son. Nothing pleases God 

 more than to have us show him we have ac- 

 cepted his Son's words, and are determined 

 to follow and hold fast to him, through all 

 sorts of trials, and under all circumstances. 

 Remember, if yon reject the Bible you have 

 nothing. All the philosophy that was ever 

 invented since man has been upon the earth 

 gives no comfort, offers no savior, no help in 

 trouble, and no peace on a dying bed.- Lis- 

 ten to tlie words of that beautif alhymn from 

 the immortal Charles Wesley:— 



Other refug-f have I none, 



Hangs my helpless soul on thee: 

 Leave, oh, leave me not alone. 



Still support and comfort me. 

 All my trust on thee is stayed, 



All my help from thee I bring; 

 Cov'-r my defenseless head 



With the shadow of thy wing. 



You have looked the matter over calmly 

 and quietly, with honesty and candor before 

 God, contrasted a life guided by a pure and 

 simple trust in Christ with one without any 

 such faith, and have longed, hungered, and 

 thirsted after righteousness. You have not 

 only said I wish I were a Christian, but you 

 have gone a little further, and said I want to 

 be a Christian. Doubts, diffictdties, and, 

 worst of all, inclinations, rise up and clamor 

 and object ; but the soul that God gave you, 

 that part of you which he created in his own 

 image, rises up in supremacy, and asserts its 

 privilege of saying, just as it did when put- 

 ting the tired body to bed, " Child of weak- 

 ness, ignorance, and sin, I, the responsible 



part of this temple of clay, after having care- 

 fully and deliberately canvassed all points in 

 regard to your best and greatest h^.ppiness, 

 do unhesitatingly decide, that you are to be 

 subject to the rule of Christ as your Lord 

 and Savior; and I do hereby give warning to 

 all feelings and emotions, all doubts, and fits 

 of discouragement, that you are from hence- 

 forth to be the servants, and Christ Jesus 

 your Lord and Master. In this little tem- 

 ple, of which God in infinite love and mercy 

 has chosen me to be the head, there are to be 

 no rebellious thoughts toward him tolerated, 

 and I do hereby this day set my name and 

 seal that, henceforth and for ever, so far as 

 lies in my power, this whole life shall be put 

 on the Lord's side. Will appetite, temper, 

 uncharitableness, doubts and unbeliefs, dis- 

 couragements, stubbornness, and all other 

 feelings that may be apt to rebel, please take 

 notice? '' 



Now, inasmuch as beliefs are greatly the 

 effect of the lives we have led, as we have 

 seen before, will it do any harm if the indi- 

 vidual, or any individual, makes a choice of 

 a Christian life, as given above, no matter 

 what he believes, or thinks he believes? 

 Suppose one whose stumbling-block in the 

 way of becoming a Christian is unbelief, 

 chooses as above, will God accept such a one? 

 Can any one have faith in God who wishes 

 he had it? My answer would be, most em- 

 phatically, yes. It may not come just at the 

 minute ; but put yourself right over on the 

 Lord's side, with an earnest determination 

 to stay there, no matter what comes, and the 

 faith will be on hand, against any emergency. 



Whoso Cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.— 

 JOBN 0:37. 



Choose you this day whom yo will serve * * 

 * * * But as for me and my house, we 

 will serve the Lord.— Josh. 24:15. 



'Tis Saturday night. The rooms of the 

 factory are now all deserted, and " JSI.," 

 "D.,"and myself are sitting alone at the 

 table. Tlie work of the week is over, and 

 both young men are in their Sunday attire, 

 looking clean, pure, and happy. I have just 

 been reading from my well-worn Bible, — 



Whosoever wiil be great among you, let him be 

 your minister; aud whosoever will be chief among 

 you, let him be your servant.— Matt. 20:26, 27. 



I will tell you why we are here. On the 

 day before D. came out of jail, as we knelton 

 the stone floor for the last time, I remarked, 

 " D., we are now going to kneel together for 

 the last time,*' meaning the last time while 

 he was a prisoner under the law ; but I care- 

 lessly omitted to put in the words, " here, 

 under these circumstances." He looked at 

 me, and I caught his bright dark eye as he 

 said, — 



" It may be for the last timehere; but, Mr. 

 Root, I hope it shall not be the last time that 

 you and I shall kneel together in prayer, by 

 any means." 



I hastened to apologize, but the words have 

 followed me. M. too had said several times 

 that he missed the long talks we used to have 

 together, and so I suggested that we should 

 have every Saturday night for a sort of anni- 

 versary of old times, and for a little prayer- 

 meeting of our own. Now, was there not 



