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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Oct. 



way afford to be without. The verse in the 

 little hymn,— 



Just as I am, without one plea, 

 But that thy blood was shed tor mo. 

 And that thou bidst me come to thee, 

 O Lamb of God, I come,— 



hits the case completely. 



If none were to unite with the Church, ex- 

 cept those who feel they are good enough, 

 the very best in the Church would be cut off. 

 It was sinners whom Christ came to save; 

 and the very place wliere sinners need to 

 come is into the Cliurch. We unite with the 

 Church because we are not good enough, 

 and want to be better; and the very fact of 

 our applying for a place in with God's people, 

 in itself implies we want to be better. Even 

 the angels in heaven rejoice to see sinners 

 come in, for we read,— 



There is joj' in the presence of the ang'els of God 

 over one sinner that repenteth.— Luke 15:10. 



If the one who makes the plea is a man 

 who sins every day, and proposes so to do, 

 it is quite a different matter. But we need 

 hardly discuss this side of the question, be- 

 cause such a one rarely wishes to be with 

 Christian people. One who has committed 

 a crime may apply for admission into the 

 Church, solely for the purpose of covering 

 it up, and he may be admitted because the 

 crime is not known; but he will either con- 

 fess his crime, or will not stay long. Good 

 and evil can not stay long together. I shall 

 have more to say in regard to this subject 

 further on. 



Now a word in regard to those who would 

 prefer to lead a Christian life, without unit- 

 ing with any body of people. In the first 

 place, we can nowhere in the Bible find any 

 exhortation to such a course; but all through 

 it, quite the contrary. '-Thou shalt love the 

 Lord thy Ciod," it says; but right in the 

 same breath, almost, " and thy neighbor as 

 thyself." Can you love a neighbor by stay- 

 ing away from him? Can you do good to 

 those who hate you even, by holding aloof 

 from them and having no intercourse with 

 themV Moses rather preferred to stay all 

 his life in the wilderness with his wife and 

 father-in-law, we are led to infer; but it was 

 very far from God's wish and purpose to let 

 him do so. He must go back among the 

 people. Not only that, he must go, over and 

 over again, right into the very court of Pha- 

 roah, and among wicked men. He plead 

 that he was slow of speech, and that his 

 words were unavailing; but back again he 

 was sent, until it seemed almost a mockery. 

 In what estimation is a man held who con- 

 tinually laments the corruption of the age, 

 and yet refuses to go to the polls and vote? 

 If you hunger and thirst after righteousness 

 — I beg pardon for repeating this phrase so 

 much, but it tells more than any other I 

 know of, and I wish to be excused for using 

 it a great many times more — well, if you 

 really hunger and thirst after righteousness, 

 can you be excused for holding aloof when 

 real honest faithful men and women are so 

 much needed? 



Some have objected to uniting with the 

 churches near them, because church people 

 quarrel among themselves. Well, suppose 

 it is really a fact that they do quarrel, will 



they probably quarrel less if you hold aloof, 

 and keep away from them? Would your 

 presence have a tendency to make them 

 quarrel more, or less? The Bible says, 

 ''Blessed are the peacemakers;" and if this 

 little text has power to make peace among 

 the ungodly, how much more ought it to 

 have that power among professing Chris- 

 tians! Perhaps the great reason why they 

 have quarreled is, that there is no one among 

 them with grace enough to remind them 

 that the Lord and Master says: ''Do good 

 to those who hate you." If you do not ap- 

 prove of quarreling in a church, and see 

 clearly it is wrong, you will probably be just 

 the one to help restore harmony. 



This forenoon I was called suddenly to 

 come down into the blacksmith shop. I 

 found there quite a commotion, resulting 

 from a misunderstanding between two of 

 my boys. Loud words were being uttered, 

 and there had been something pretty near to 

 blows. When I had got right between the 

 two angry ones, I was just where I wanted 

 to be. If there is to be any quarreling in 

 our church, I want to be right in the middle 

 of it. If an^ blows are going to be struck, I 

 want to receive them. I assure you, I shall 

 not strike back, and I think I can assure 

 you, too, I shall not be struck a great many 

 times. The boys in question were both of 

 them blacksmiths by trade, but for some 

 time it seemed about as hard to make either 

 take anything back as it would have been to 

 soften the battered old anvil by talking to it. 

 Scripture texts and a li:l!e time, however, 

 did the work, and the harder one of the 

 two finally put out his hand and acknowl- 

 edged he was wrong. You see, you are to 

 unite with the Church because of your love 

 to God; and because of your love to God 

 and your fellow-men, it will be a pleasure to 

 you to help in the work that is to be done, 

 and to tear or suffer, if need be, for his or 

 their sakes. 



I have heard the objection made to joining 

 a church, that it costs money. I presume 

 the idea is, that if you are united with a 

 church you will have to, or rather be expect- 

 ed to, pay out money that you would not 

 if you were an outsider. So much money 

 would be saved. Well, my friend, we will 

 suppose you have saved it. Now what are 

 you going to do with it? Buy something 

 that will give you happiness and content- 

 ment, or at least you are going to buy some- 

 thing you expect will give happiness and 

 contentment. Did you ever fail in your ex- 

 pectations in that line? Many a man has 

 looked back to the past with regret at the 

 money he had paid out in different ways, but 

 I believe but very few regret having con- 

 tributed their proper share toward the need- 

 ed expenses of keeping up the Church of 

 God. A blessing seems to fall on the one 

 who gives freely and cheerfully — not only 

 in a happy and cheerful spirit, but he seems 

 to be prospered in the truest sense of the 

 word, in a way that other men are not. 

 Look about you and see if it is not a fact, 

 that such a man has money for all his needs, 

 and enjoys using it, in a way that ungodly 

 people know nothing of. The Bible says,— 



Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, 



