1888 



JUVENILE GLEANINGS. 



509 



And again, — 



But brother goeth to law with brother, and that 

 before the uubelievers. 



You see, friends, Paul tells us what we 

 should not do, but did he tell us exactly what 

 we should do V What is to be done, and who 

 will advise me V James tells us, — 



If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that 

 giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and 

 it shall be g-iven him. 



Well, friends, that is jnst what I have 

 done. I have felt the need of wrsdom and 

 of able advisers, and I have prayed over and 

 over again about them ; and in doing so this 

 little text at the head of our chapter has 

 come to my mind. 



He trusted in the Lord, that he would deliver him. 



AVell, what is the result? Will God take 

 my poor weak wisdom and use it ? Will he 

 enable me to stand before the courts of law, 

 and before the judge on his bench, in a way 

 that will help the truth to come outV Is 

 there justice to be had at the courts of law V 

 or are the stories true that we have heard, 

 about bribes and chicanery, and trickery 

 and injustice V Is there honor among our 

 fellow-men when we get out of the province 

 of bee culture and come into the courts of 

 law y I believe there is, dear friends ; I have 

 faith in my fellow-men; I have faith in 

 those sharp, witty, able ones among us who 

 write us these good letters 1 have been tell- 

 ing you about; and I have faith in educa- 

 tion and intelligence ; I have faith in our 

 republican government; I have faith in our 

 land of liberty. Above all, I have faith in 

 God ; and I do also believe that little text 

 that says, "Him that cometh unto me, I will 

 in no wise cast out." 



I have all my life enjoyed looking into the 

 different trades and industries. I am pas- 

 sionately fond of following the details of any 

 profession or trade. At one time I took so 

 much interest in medicine that our family 

 physician used to point out to me strange 

 cases ; and I was once with him when a hu- 

 man body was dissected to find out what 

 was the matter of the heart of the deceased. 

 We found that the valves had ossified so they 

 would not shut closely. A knowledge of 

 the human system, obtained while anatomy 

 was a hobby, has been of great benefit many 

 times in life. I have worked at many 

 branches, as you know; and in our manu- 

 factory, in order to carry on successfully all 

 the trades we do here, I have been obliged 

 to learn personally a great many of the dif- 

 ferent trades. When Gleanings was first 

 printed in our own office, I set type, and also 

 learned to run a press. All these different 

 experiences have been of value in giving me 

 a general knowledge of all that is to be done 

 in this world. Well, through it all I have 

 never had occasion to touch on law. Per- 

 haps it is on this account that I am not only 

 ignorant, but that I am uncharitable ; and 

 it is on this account that I know so little of 

 politics, and the affairs of government and 

 state. Now, may it not be that God in his 

 mercy and kindness is leading me where I 

 ought to be led ? and is it wise or well to 

 complain, even though I should be torn away 

 from ray plans and work here, and pushed 

 out a little more in the world V 



He leadeth me! oh blessed thought! 



Oh words with heavenly comfort fraug'ht! 



Whate'er I do, whate'er I be, 



Still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me. 



And now to close with, I want to give you 

 some words from David that I gave you 

 about a year ago. 



But let all those that put their trust in thee, re- 

 joice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou de- 

 fendest them: let them also that love thy name be 

 joyful in thee. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the right- 

 eous; With favor wilt thou compass him as with a 

 shield.-Ps. 5: 11, 12. 



|o6(iffo ^elurgn. 



fHAVE been trying to get along without Glean- 

 INGS, but I must have it, if I should do without 



■ butter and tobacco, and I am a dear lover of both 

 of them. The bees in our county are doing well this 

 summer. Every colony gave forth a swarm, and 

 many of them swarmed twice. Our county is cover- 

 ed with white clover; new honey is now retailing at 

 12 c. in the country stores. I think there will be a 

 large amount of honey this fall. I have worked up 

 an interest in bee culture in this county, and now 

 everybody is getting bees, but nearly all common 

 dark bees — a few Italians. My neighbor, Frank 

 Scott, has 38 stands of bees for sale; they are all 

 common bees, and one Italian; he asks 15.00 per 

 colony, and I can buy around the county for from 

 $3 to S5. I rtnd in Gleanings that you are no friend 

 to tobacco. Well, now, if I were your superintend- 

 ent, or your clerk, and you saw me use tobacco, 

 would you discharge me on that account? I base 

 my excuse on Romans 14 : 11. In closing, I will add 

 chat I have been a member of the M. E. Church for 

 23 yeai's; in politics I am a Republican; by pro- 

 fession, a stucco plasterer. John Cline. 



Watson, 111., July, 1883. 



[The "unclcanness" referred to here bv Paul is 

 the ceremonial uncleanness of certain articles of 

 food, condemned by the law, and not the positire un- 

 cleanness of tobacco, which deflles the body, the 

 temple of the Holy Ghost. IVIy reason for not using 

 tobacco is in the verse just before and just after the 

 one you quote. Now t(j come right down the point, 

 do you think Paul would approve the use of tobacco 

 if he were now here? Think of the apostles light- 

 ing a cigar after a sermon I your use of Scripture 

 would justify nearly all the sins ever committed, 

 provided one thinks they are " pure." Do you know 

 that the use of tobacco shuts a man out from enter- 

 ing the ministry of your church?] 



Friend C, the above was written by our 

 proof-reader. And now let me tell you a 

 little story of yesterday. One of our boys 

 who has lately united with the church also 

 gave up tobacco. The craving for it be- 

 came pretty hard, and in an unwary mo- 

 ment Satan persuaded him that there was 

 no particular harm in it — that he could be 

 just as good a Christian and use tobacco, 

 and so he took a "chew." But the chew 

 did not give him the comfort he expected. 

 In fact, he felt worse after than he did be- 

 fore. So he confessed his fault, and decided 

 to try again. Now, the point is here: I 

 would not dare tell him he could not be a 

 good Christian and still use tobacco ; but I 

 pointed out to him all the small boys here 

 in the factory. Said I, " My friend, if you 

 decide that tobacco does not harm you, we 

 must decide also that it would not harm 

 them. Look at their bright young faces. I 



