1883 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



145 



|Mr gcnm. 



Ye are my witnesses.— Isaiah 43: 10. 



OlOME years ago our kind pastor, Mr. 

 ^ lieed, of whom 1 have before told you 

 something, was conducting a series of 

 meetings among us ; and during their prog- 

 ress he made a remarli something like this : 

 That if the Christian people, or if even the 

 members of our own church, would turn out 

 to our regular evening meetings, the ungod- 

 ly, and those who are open scoffers, the in- 

 temperate, and the deliberately wicked 

 would come too. He furthermore said, that 

 if the church people, when they got there, 

 would stand up and testify, or bear witness 

 to Christ's saving power, a revival would 

 follow, and sinners would be converted. 



Before going further. I wish to stop a min- 

 ute. What is a revival V and what is " con- 

 verted," as we Christian people understand 

 it V Dear friends, I can remember very 

 well the few short years ago when I used to 

 stick up my nose, as it were, and say, "■ Oh 

 pshaw 1 it fairly makes me sick to hear peo- 

 ple talk such foolishness." I wonder if there 

 are any who feel any like it now. If so, it is 

 to them I want to 'talk. Intelligent people 

 mean nowadays by " conversion," being re- 

 vived up, and shaken up, to new and better 

 impulses. If there are in your neighborhood 

 people who are not square in deal, and you 

 know it, you know that a revival of good im- 

 pulses and purposes is needed. If you have 

 people who are selfish, and who say one 

 thing one day and another thing another be- 

 cause the latter happens to suit their pur- 

 pose better, you know again that something 

 to make people feel that it is before God 

 they stand and act and think, would be a 

 grand good thing, and so on through all the 

 whole category of sins. Did you ever feel 

 the need of some friend whom you could be 

 sure was always right — never evasive or 

 querulous, or known to give as an excuse 

 for the evasion of duty, any thing that was 

 not just the plain square simple truth V If 

 so, did you ever find one V and do you know 

 what itis to thank God for having sent you 

 a friend who is always, and under all cir- 

 cumstances and provocations, thoroughly 

 honest before himself and God y If you can 

 appreciate such a virtue, have you yourself 

 got it ? If you are honest enough with your- 

 self to own up you haven't, you can proba- 

 bly understand the need of a revival in your 

 own heart. " Create in me a clean heart, O 

 God, and renew a right spirit within me." 

 Well, if the people about you need a revival, 

 and you need one too, there is no further 

 need of discussing the matter. Our pastor 

 told us it would come, if the chiu'ch people 

 would only come forward and act up to their 

 convictions. A friend thought he was a lit- 

 tle rash in saying a revival would siirely 

 come, for how should he know positively ? 



There are, or. perhaps, I should say there 

 were then, say 250 enrolled members of our 

 church. It doesn't seem as if it would be a 

 very ditlicult matter to get them all to come 

 to these extra meetings, or, at least, practic- 



ally all, for just a few evenings ; and then, 

 in view of the great good that was to be ac- 

 complished by getting rid of a lot of the sin 

 of the world, or, if you choose, a lot of the 

 ugliness in the world, it doesn't seem as if it 

 would be very hard to get them all to stand 

 up, one at a time, and testify to the fact that 

 they knew of, and had had some experience, 

 of the troubles made by sin, in order that 

 we might unite our voices, and may be also 

 our hearts, against this common enemy and 

 foe to the happiness of mankind. Well, why 

 should they not all come, in response to the 

 invitation and express request of the pastor? 

 Perhaps you would like to know how many 

 did come. I can not remember now, but I 

 think not more than ;)0 or 40. When indi- 

 viduals were talked to about the matter, they 

 all insisted it was not their particular selves 

 who were wanted. " Why, Mr. Root, do you 

 really think it could do any good if J should 

 go V " And thus it was that they made ex- 

 cuses, and refused to believe that any par- 

 ticular good could come from such a little 

 simple thing as going to meeting, and stand- 

 ing up among the rest, and saying they were 

 anxious for a deeper work of grace in our 

 community. 



One excuse for declining to " bear wit- 

 ness," as it is commonly termed, was be- 

 cause everybody knew already that they 

 would do any thing for a revival in our 

 town, and for the upbuilding of purity of 

 morals, and uprightness of heart. 



Have you noticed that I have had quite a 

 fondness for telling what " they " did, or they 

 said, all along? One would naturally infer 

 that 1 went right along and stood up and 

 bore witness, and did every thing that ought 

 to be done, all right. 



It is true, I did attend most of the meet- 

 ings, and I usually took part, in some wav ; 

 but I am sorry to say that I did it more be- 

 cause I loved my pastor, and wanted to as- 

 sist liim in any way I could, rather than be- 

 cause I had much real abiding faith that a 

 general reform in our town would result 

 from such a comparatively simple thing as 

 having all the church come forward and 

 bear witness. He explained to us, in the 

 many kind sermons preached during those 

 days, that it is not only those who live perfect 

 lives, whom God wants to bear testimony, 

 but especially the ones who feel discouraged 

 because they make such poor headway in 

 trying to lead Christian lives. " Just as I 

 am, without one plea, but that thy blood 

 was shed for lue. " It seemed almost in vain 

 that he pleaded. The church wouldn't come, 

 because they didn't believe any such simple 

 act on their part was going to bring any 

 great general good. I am sorry to say, that, 

 although I came, / didn't believe very much 

 that going to meeting and confessing myself 

 a failure, in one sense, in what I knew I 

 ought to be, would have any effect in stop- 

 ping the blasphemy that emanated nightly 

 from the saloon I passed on the way. 



I had read where David said, after asking 

 God to give him a clean heart and a right 

 spirit, 



Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sin- 

 ners shall be converted unto thee.— Ps. 51: 13. 



But I did not believe it, or at least I did 



