44 



• JLbiANlNGIN HEESCaLTUKE. 



Jan. 15. 



" 1 am, therefore, in the good company of an 

 eminent German scientist." It will be next in 

 order for Rev. Mr. Clarke to quote the name of 

 the eminent scientist in whose company he is 

 when he says that the sting is a " trowel with 

 which the bee finishes off and seals the cells." 



Le Eucher, a French bee-journal, with com- 

 mendable enterprise, is publishing a series of 

 articles giving the most complete history of the 

 section that I have ever seen. Commencing 

 with the crude beginnings of a quarter of a 

 century ago, the various improvements are 

 given, ending with a detailed account of the 

 manufacture as carried on at Medina. The 

 series has now reached that part where the 

 management of sections by the bee-keeper is 

 fully discussed. 



LANGSTKOTH'S REMINISCENCES. 



SLAVERY ; A REMINISCENCE OF I>R. I.YMAN 

 BEECHER. 



A brother of my grandmother lived in Peters- 

 burg Va., and, like his sister, cherished in his 

 heart a deep hatred of the institution of slave- 

 ry One night the city was alarmed by a man 

 riding on horseback, almost naked, and crying 

 out that the slaves had risen, and were burning 

 and killing all before them. Rising up hastily 

 from his bed. my uncle was preparing himself 

 for resistance when he sank powerless upon the 

 floor "O my God!" he cried out, "how can I 

 raise my hands to kill those whom I have seen 

 treated worse than the brutes? " As soon as he 

 recovered himself he resolved to kill no one un- 

 less in defense of his family. It proved to be 

 only a false alarm, given by a man crazed by 

 drink. , ^, ,. ., 



A neighbor of my grandmother, an old maid, 

 slept in a bed on rockers, and had a slave wo- 

 man to rock her while she slept. The woman 

 became so accustomed to this that she could 

 usually rock quite well, even when asleep; but 

 if the rocking ceased for a moment, her mis- 

 tress would wake up and lash her with a whip 

 which she kept lying by her side. This woman 

 put her stamp upon the sugar in the bowl, as it 

 went from the table, so that her servants might 

 not help themselves without being detected. A 

 servant waiting on the table, almost always 

 dodged when approaching her, expecting a 

 blow just a horse cruelly treated starts when 

 any motion suggests that a blow may be coming. 



A neighbor was annoyed by a slave who had 

 several times run away. At last he swore a 

 fearful oath, that, if he ran away again, and 

 was caught, he would chop off his hands. He 

 did run away again, and was caught; and if his 

 master had actually intended to carry out his 

 awful threats, he was deterred from doing so by 

 the agonized apprehensions of his wife. A 

 daughter was afterward born to them, entirely 

 destitute of hands. ' 



For many years I have been painfully sensi- 

 ble that there was too much law and too little 

 gospel in many of the sermons of my Andover 

 ministry. One day a college classmate who 

 was then in the Theological Seminary came to 

 talk with me on this feature of so many of my 

 discourses. He had been talking with one of 

 my oldest deacons, who had sorrowfully recog- 

 nized this great defect in the sermons of his be- 

 loved pastor. I was not offended by the plain 

 talk, but I could not then be made to feel that it 



was just. _, ^ .u i. i 



It has always seemed to me, that to no man 

 so much as to Henry Ward Beecher was owing 

 the great change which has taken place in our 

 preaching When the great Jonathan Edwards 

 was preaching from the text, "Sinners in the 



hands of an angry God,'' we are told that one 

 of the preachers who was in the pulpit with 

 him pulled his garment, and said, in a low voice 

 of remonstrance, "O Mr. Edwards! remember 

 that (lod is a merciful God." 



It is written, "Like as a father piti?th his 

 children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear 

 him. For he knoweth our frame; he remem- 

 bereth that we are dust." These words seem to 

 me to open a window into the very heart of 

 God, so that every father and mother may know 

 from experience how God feels toward his err- 

 ing children. Is there one child more easily 

 tempted than the others, more ready to fall? 

 Does the parent's heart go out against that 

 child? Does he know it, in all its weaknesses, 

 only to lay more aggravating burdens upon it? 

 Xo! a thousand times no I Let us never forget 

 how beautifully the Savior illustrates God's 

 love and pity in" the parable of the prodigal son. 



I once preached from the text, " Not knowing 

 that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentr 

 ance." I have no doubt that the tenor of this 

 discourse was molded largely by my recollection 

 of a discourse preached so often in revivals of 

 religion by Dr. Nathaniel Taylor. The good 

 old deacon, in speaking of this sermon, could 

 hardly find words strong enough to express his 

 delight as he opened his whole heart to me and 

 tried to make me see how much more I could 

 do to lead sinners to Christ by preaching often- 

 (>r on the love and goodness of the heavenly 

 Father. 



In the summer of 1836, shortly after my settle- 

 ment as pastor in the old South Church of An- 

 dover, Mass., Dr. Lyman Beecher, in company 

 with the late Thomas Brainard. D. D., so well 

 known as pastor of the old Pine Street Church, 

 Philadelphia, made a visit to Andover to inter- 

 est the theological students in the religious 

 needs of the great West. As Dr. Brainard was 

 a relative of mine by marriage, they stopped 

 with me at the house of Deacon Amos Blan- 

 chard. where I was boarding. 



It was soon extensively made known that Dr. 

 Beecher would preach in the old South Churcli, 

 at an evening service. Some time in the after- 

 noon he called for pen and paper, and desired 

 to be left alone in my study. Teatime arrived, 

 and he was hardly willing to be disturbed long 

 enough to take his supper. The time for the 

 service arrived and he was not ready for it, but 

 told Dr. Brainard and myself to go to the 

 church, which was only a short distance off, 

 and he would join us before the preliminary 

 services were over. Only a verse or two of the 

 hymn before the service remained unsung; the 

 large building was crowded, and I began to be 

 quite nervous, and was just about sending a 

 messenger after the good old father when he 

 made his appearance. Mounting the steps of 

 the pulpit With rapid strides, he was all ready 

 for the sermon. His manuscript was so small 

 as to suggest the times when paper in this coun- 

 try was so costly that economy in its use was 

 practiced, even at the price of precious eyesight. 



His text was, " Seek ye first the kingdom of 

 God, and his righteousness." It was a grand 

 sermon, crowded with thought, severe in logic, 

 and fairly blazing with his wonderful illustra- 

 tions. He swayed his hearers at his will, and 

 it seemed to me I never heard a discourse which 

 appeared to stir more deeply the hearts and 

 consciences of an audience. 



When we returned home the doctor said to 

 me, " Now, young man, you know the circum- 

 stances under which I wrote the outline of that 

 sermon. Don't for a moment — trusting to what 

 you can do offhand — neglect the time for study 

 and thorough preparation. In that discourse I 

 hailed down the studies of years.'' 



I expressed a great desire to keep the manu- 



