274 



GLEA]^LNGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 



knelt with hiiu in prayer, that he worshipi>e(l 

 I he God of truth. 



"Xow Albert, yon say yon worship truth, 

 and yet yon liave jnst admitted, that had I 

 not read jjfiiilt in your actions, yon would 

 have gone on with yonr work, without say- 

 ing a word to nie of what had happened^ 



•"Bnt if you did not ask nie about it. wonid 

 I Iiave told yon any untruth by not saying 

 anythingV 



••Does Thomas Paine teach that kind of 

 •reasoning." in his Age Of Reason V" 



He made new promises, and declared as 

 before, tliat it wmild be tiie very last time, 

 and tiiat 1 would see how well he would do, 

 if he could jn.st come back once more. For 

 over a Aveek. he tried hard to do right, was 

 faithful and diligent, and did full as much 

 work as any one of the boys. Uast Satur- 

 day, there was an excursion' to the lake, and 

 he asked to go. I reminded him of the dan- 

 ger, bnt he smilingly told me I need have no 

 tear, he would be home at 6 o'clock, all 

 right. As lie liad not made an ai)i>earance 

 on Sunday p. M.. the livery man went after 

 liis horse and buggy, and found it at a 

 neighboring town. Albert got into a dis- 

 graceful dnmken row, and was brought 

 jiome and lodged in jail, yesterday a. m. 

 The first Avord of welcome I received Avas 

 accompa]iied with an oath, beciinse he Avas 

 sentenced to 10 days on bread and AAater. 

 As soon as I opened my Bible, he declared 

 he Avas a Spiritualist. 



••I rather think you are, Albert, for you 

 are. most assuredly* not a folloAA'er of Christ. 

 I have no time to talk ''isms."' for I have 

 left all of my business, to come over here 

 and do some business with yon. if you are 

 Avilling." 



••I ;im certainly willing to do anything to 

 get out of this trmible, and" 



••No more promises. please; tell nieAA'here 

 they sold yoti the drink." 



'•J took it from Medina, AA'ith me." 



'■Albert! do you mean to say that, after 

 that frank and seemingly honest jiromise, 

 you took the money I giwe yoii, and went 

 and bought whisky Avith it? 



••Do you not see hoAv completely the Devil 

 has got hold of youV You are naturally 

 truthful, but after you gave Avay to tempta- 

 tion for drink, you planned to get it Avithout 

 my knoAvledge; then yon listened to him 

 Avhen he told you that you had been abused, 

 and so you ^ot into a fight; next he advised 

 you. through an evil Avoman in the guise of 

 friendship!^ to blow out the brains of the 

 mayor of the toAvn. because y(ni Avere sen- 

 tenced to 10 days; and he has just noAV told 

 you to lake (iods name in vain, right before 

 me. Satan has been 'claAAing* after you for 

 many days past ; do you not see Avhere 

 all this tendsV' 



■'I guess you are right, Mr. Root; I did 

 not expect you Avould ever give me another 

 chance, or come near me any more. A 

 friend got the liquor for me."' 



"'A friend 'f^ "What queer ideas i^eople 

 sometimes have of friendshi]). 



My experience seems to teach that it mat- 

 ters bnt little Avhat the form of Avickedness 

 is. the feeling of dread of sacred things 

 seems to be about the same ; and the dislike 



a guilty man lias for the Bible and Clirisfs 

 teachings seems, sometimes, to be almost 

 akin to that Avhich a mad dog has for the 

 sight of AA'atev. It is a great deal easier for 

 one Avho is doing Avrong to claim that he is a 

 S})iritualist. than that he is a tolloAA'er of 

 Christ, for in his oAA^n heart, he feels the 

 glaring inconsistency of the latter claim. If 

 you Avere crossing a stream, and you should 

 see the Avater coming doAAn alf riled and 

 muddv. you Avould infer that somebody or 

 something AAas above stiiTing it up; on the 

 same grounds, Avhen I hear anyone taking 

 (TOd"s name in vain, or loudly denouncing: 

 the ]5ible and its teachings. I judge from 

 past experience that something has stirred 

 up the muddy Avaters, and that tlie cause 

 Avfjuld readily be found, were AA'e to search 

 for it. 



Is this a pretty severe doctrine'? Well, 

 look al)Out you and see ; and if you are not 

 satisfied then, go into your jails, get ac- 

 quainted Avith their inmates, and hear theii* 

 s-tories of temj)tations and falls. Fol- 

 loAV out these threads of human life, and 

 tr}' to lift up the fallen, and then see Iioav 

 nnich aid you get from those Avho take God"s 

 name in vain, and denoimce the teachings 

 of Christ Avhen here on eartli.^ Notice Avliat 

 the effect Avill be on one avIio* seems lost by 

 intemperance, or other vices, and Avho has 

 almost decided to accept Christ and rise up. 

 when a skeptic or a profane man comes 

 along and ventures a little of his doctrine. 

 I care not Avhat '•ism" yoii profess, so that 

 it jiroduces real tangible good, and I have 

 no objection to haA'ing Sunday on Saturday, 

 or to saying Sabbath school, in place of Sun- 

 day school, so that Ave do not Avaste time 

 OA'er unprofitable controversies and discuss- 

 ions. I Avould let the majority of the i>eo- 

 ple decide all such, as it seems to me, unim- 

 portant matters. Whatever day seems to 

 be generally obsened as the Sabbath. I 

 AA'ould observe, and to intrude such a sub- 

 ject on one Avho is just looking to God to 

 help him cmt of the mire of sin would seem 

 to me perfectly awful, if I may be alloAve(i 

 the expression. 



I df) not knoAv but I should pass the sul>- 

 ject of the form of baptism in the same Avay. 

 When a man is converted and begins, all at 

 once, to }iay his debts, and teirthe truth, 

 Avhich he had no^ done before, A\-e can safely 

 trust God to tell him Iioav he ought to be 

 baptized, and if Cod should fail to tell him 

 anything about it. I AVOuldgiA^e him the Bible 

 and let him alone. Outsiders and skeptics 

 are, I feel. someAAiiat excusable, in telling 

 us that religion is a superstition of the past, 

 Avheii they find us occupying the greater part 

 of our time in discussing comparatively un- 

 importiint forms and ceremonies, but when 

 they find a Christian aa'Iio is active and Avide 

 aAA'ake in reforming men from intem])erance, 

 untnithfulness, dishonesty, impurity, blas- 

 phemy and the like, the AAliole Avorld. 

 AAithout a single exception that I know of. 

 ]»0AV their heads in honest SAaupathy. and 

 from the bottom of their hearts, silently, if 

 not outAvardly, approve. 



"For he that in these thing's serreth Chri>!t. is iu - 

 c"ptabl.> to God, ar.tl aopr.ivctl of men. Uumiins, 

 U\ IS'. 



