1883 



GLEANINGS IN BI:E CULTURE. 



199 



ises ! Stephen had that faith. When they 

 commenced stoning him, he, instead of ston- 

 ing back, or instead of looking back on his 

 persecutors, looked trustingly up toward 

 heaven. God honored that look by causing 

 the heavens to open before him. 



And they stoned Stephen, calling upon Gnd. and 

 saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit— .Acts 7: 59. 



lie lost his life ; but what if he did ? Life 

 is a small matter, when you see the heavens 

 opening ready to receive you. The stones 

 were raining down upon him ; but even 

 while crushed, bruised, and bleeding, he 

 looked peaceful and happy. With his last 

 breath he prayed that the sin might not be 

 laid to their charge. The natural man, and 

 the world, would have called down curses 

 upon the heads of those who so unjustly 

 persecuted him ; bttt Stephen knew Jesus, 

 and believed in him as fully as Columbus be- 

 lieved in the bright new world when he saw 

 it spread out before him. 



Now, friends, there are greater things yet 

 in the line of these little texts. Most of us 

 think we have done a very commendable 

 thing when we have endured persecution 

 and abttse, and said nothing. The fires of 

 passion may rage within ; but if we hold on, 

 and don't say a single word back, or at least 

 not a retaliating word, we think we have 

 been pretty heroic. If we go further than 

 this, and disarm our angry persecutor by a 

 pleasant look and smiling face, we think we 

 are getting to be almost a saint. Well, it is 

 a pretty good thing to be able to do this, 

 and it almost always makes us feel happy, 

 after we have fought such a fight; but to 

 the one who so thoroughly believes in God 

 and the Son, there is an experience far be- 

 yond all this. There is a point attainable 

 by all Christians where trials and difficulties 

 bring only greater happiness. Is this mat- 

 ter new to you V Read :— 



Blessed are ye, when men shall bate you, and 

 when Ihey shall separata you f rum their comjMuy, 

 and shall reproach jyoif, and cast out your name as 

 evil, tor the Sou ot man's sake. Kejoice ye in thar 

 day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward I'.s 

 great in heaven: for in the like manner did their 

 fathers unto the prophets.— Luke 6:23, 23. 



There it is. When you are unjustly ac- 

 cused, when somebody tries to hurt you 

 because you are doing right; when they 

 from jealousy seek to wound you, instead of 

 getting stirred up about the injustice of the 

 attack, why, just be really happy, and even 

 leap for joy. Do you say, '• Mr. Root, why 

 don't you do so V" Well, I am trying to do 

 so. 



I have got a view of that new world, just 

 as Columbus got a view before he made a 

 landing. I am working hard every day to 

 get over into that promised land, and take 

 all my family, friends, and everybody else 

 along. 



To be sure, there are conditions to these 

 promises ; and if we go back and look at the 

 text, we find it reads that persecution must 

 come, for the /Son of man'' s sake. It must be 

 for doing ri(//if, that the persecution comes. 

 Wrong-doing brings trouble; but there are 

 no promises for those who bring trouble on 

 themselves by wrong-doing. Here is where 

 the trotible comes in. The world tells the 

 truth about us, and we get mad about it. 



If there weren't a particle of truth in it we 

 might leap for joy with a very good grace ; 

 but the sad part of it is, that we are almost 

 always at least a little guilty ; if we did not 

 really do that with which we were charged, 

 we were guilty of being seen in a company 

 that did do such things, or something of 

 that sort. Perhaps appearances were against 

 us, and the Bible says we are to shun even 

 the appearance of evil. You see that the 

 whole matter turns back on us, and we are 

 again faced with the importance of living 

 better lives. When yoti hear some one 

 complain bitterly of the corruption of the 

 world, you can pretty safely assume that his 

 own heart needs regenerating ; or, to put it 

 in another way, when you feel disgusted 

 with the world in general you may safely set 

 it down that wickedness and sin iiave ob- 

 tained a lodging-place in your heart, and 

 that the place to commence to reform in the 

 world is right at your own door, with your 

 own self. Isn't it a happy thought, that 

 God has placed every thing so conveniently 

 near to each soul who wishes to make the 

 world better ? Columbus had to raise mon- 

 ey, and traverse great seas, before he could 

 get a glimpse of the New World ; but you 

 and I can find it by not so much as looking 

 over the fence, for that would lead us into 

 our neighbor's garden ; but we find it right 

 in our own selves. ■•' For the temple of 

 God is holy, which temple ye are." When 

 God's Holy Spirit comes into the heart the 

 new world is tound. 



A great many people are troubled about 

 what others do, or rather, perhaps, because 

 they can't do right because others hinder 

 them. I have told you how I once suggested 

 to a minister when he was complaining that 

 he had been misused, that we have a prom- 

 ise of a blessing when we are persecuted, 

 and when people say all manner of evil 

 about us. His reply was something like this : 



" Oh! to be sure, my young friend, this is 

 all true, anywhere within the bounds of rea- 

 son ; but when people make asses of them- 

 selves, that alters the case." 



Before I answer the above, I wish to state 

 that this man was a marked exception 

 to ministers in general ; and although a man 

 of ability, and many good traits, this one 

 fault of his had led him into trouble all his 

 life; but now to the question before us: 

 What is a Christian to do, when people 

 make asses of themselves, so to speak V 

 Why, he is to be very sure that he does not 

 make an ass of himself also, but rather, to 

 show by our demeanor that we believe in 

 the promises I have quoted, and that we are 

 looking to God for guidance, waiting for 

 him, it may be, to point out the way for us 

 to act, and, above all the rest, should we 

 show by look and act that we know God, 

 and feel his presence near. If we do this we 

 need have no fear at all of what the world 

 may do; and, in fact, we have only one 

 thing to fear in this whole universe, and 

 this one thing is the perversity of our own 

 hearts. " The fear of God is the beginning 

 of wisdom." 



Why, my friends, it is discovering a new 

 world, and moving over into it, when we 

 can realize that it is our privilege to stand 



