Ben Hadden | Page 4

the heavenly paradise, prepared for those who love and obey God.
John Hadden knew this full well, and so he would allow no departure
from that rule; he would have it stuck to closely. He was for ever
saying to his sons, "Do right at all times, my lads; it is not your
business to think of what will happen afterwards. God will take care of
that; He will guide you better than you can guide yourselves. If you act
as I say, no real evil will befall you. You may fancy that what happens
is an evil just for the time; but, depend on it, what seems an evil will

turn out for your good in the end."
A stranger, visiting in the neighbourhood, once walked over to
Sandhills. He had a talk with John Hadden, who happened to be on
shore. He soon found that John was a Bible-reading man, and that he
obeyed the law of the gospel.
"And so you have followed this plan of yours for some time, and have
found it answer?" said the stranger.
"Yes, sir," said John, "I have followed it since I was a young man, and
now I am an old one. I never have fished on a Sunday, and I hope that I
never shall. Look at me, sir. Am I more feeble, am I thinner, am I more
sickly than my neighbours? am I less able to work?"
"No, indeed you are not," answered the stranger; "you are the stoutest
and one of the most able-bodied men I have seen in the place."
"Am I poorer? is my cottage less comfortable? are my children worse
educated? are they inferior in health, strength, or activity to the children
of others in the hamlet?" asked John, warming with the subject.
"No, my friend," answered the stranger; "your sons are the finest young
fellows in the place, and the best brought up, as I hear from all sides,
while your cottage is the neatest and most comfortable."
"That it is; that's what I say to my brother fishermen," exclaimed John
Hadden, warmly. "Now, sir, I will tell you more than this. Instead of
being a poorer man for not fishing on a Sunday I know that I am a
richer one, and I can prove it. God knows what is best for us; so in His
love He gave us the Sabbath, that we might rest, and that our souls
might turn to Him and be glad. While others have been toiling all the
year round, day after day, wearing out their bodies, and dulling and
saddening, so to speak, their souls, I have rested one day out of seven,
and on that day my strength and my spirits have been renewed. I have
not grown old so fast as they have. Then again, if I had been toiling and
working for the bread which perisheth, and made my sons toil and
work with me, how could I have fed my soul and their souls with that

bread which will make us live for ever? Instead of being steady, honest,
hard-working, God-fearing young men, a credit to me, and respected by
all who know them, they would have been careless, idle, and vicious.
Neighbours often say to me, `How is it, John Hadden, that your sons
are good steady young men, and do as you tell them?'--then I say, `It is
just this, because I bring them up in the fear and admonition of the
Lord. The Bible tells me how to bring up my children, and I do it. If
you brought up your children as the Bible tells you to do, your children
would make you as happy as mine do me.'
"But, sir, I was speaking about fishing on a Sunday. Now look here, sir;
there is another reason why I have an advantage over those who fish
every day in the week: my nets will last longer than theirs, and at the
end of a couple of years are worth one-third more. While their nets
have always been wet,--for they have not had time to mend them
properly,--I have had mine brought on shore on Saturday morning,
spread out all day in the sun, mended in the evening, and left to dry all
the next day. The wear and tear of the boats and the boats' gear also
have been saved. So you see that those who break God's
commandments for the sake of gain do not find it all profit. There is an
old saying, sir, that `The devil's wages slip through the fingers.' Whose
wages are those gained by working on the Sabbath but his? A man
fancies that he has got them safe in the palm of his hand, and when he
wants to spend them,