1893 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



569 



Now, friends, let us stop a little to consider 

 these wonderful words and this wonderful 

 promise to all who give up or forego the things 

 of this world for the good of others or for the 

 sake of Christ Jesus; and let rae say, that, to 

 my mind, the great distinguishing feature 

 between those who accept the gospel and those 

 who do not is this matter of self-denial. The 

 Christian must deny himself, or he can not be 

 a Christian.* The man of the world need not 

 deny himself at all, unless it be for the looks of 

 the thing, or for the sake of decency. Since I 

 have tried to answer some of the questions from 

 skeptics, a great many letters have come in — 

 more, I am sure, than it will be possible or well 

 for me to try to answer personally. But this 

 very matter now before us should answer all 

 who are really seeking the truth. The Chris- 

 tian constantly puts aside selfish feelings and 

 selfish motives. He gives up for the sake of 

 others, or for Christ's sake, as we sometimes 

 term it. And, by the way, the whole world is 

 clamoring for men who can be depended upon 

 to deny thennselves, as in the language of our 

 text. The whole business world is demanding 

 men who can not be bought, nor bribed by 

 appeals to their selfish feelings and passions. 

 The perpetuity of our American republic de- 

 pends upon finding men who are ready to deny 

 themselves. If Christianity does not furnish 

 any more self-denial and self-sacrifice than 

 infidelity (or, if you choose, those who neither 

 accept nor reject the Christian religion), then 

 we may as well give it up. By their fruits ye 

 shall know them. If you, my friend, want to 

 employ a man, and want a man who will do his 

 duty whether you are looking at him or not, 

 do not the Christian people among your ac- 

 quaintances average better than the others? 

 Now. mind you, I do not mean simply church- 

 members. If I wanted a good man /or an im- 

 portant place, and wanted somebody I could 

 trust when I was not in sight at all, I should, 

 other things being equal, greatly prefer a man 

 who attends church regularly, and one who 

 takes some part in the Sunday-school, weekly 

 prayer- meetings, etc. I should feel sure that 

 such a one would deny himself when the temp- 

 tation to shirk or cheat, or even to be selfish, 

 came up before him. 



Let us now go back a little and see if we can 

 not find something new in that 19th chapter of 

 Matthew. About the middle of it we are told 

 that a person came to Jesus, saying, " Good 

 master, what good thing shall I do that I may 

 have eternal life?" You know what the reply 

 was. You know, also, that Jesus told him 

 finally to "go and sell that thou hast, and give 

 to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in 

 heaven, and come and follow me." The disci- 

 ples were standing near during this terrible 

 test; and when this model young man went 

 away sorrowful, because that final test would 

 sweep away all at once his great possessions, 

 the disciples marveled. Then the Master told 

 them that a rich man could hardly enter the 

 kingdom of heaven. In fact, he said it was 

 easier for a camel to go through the eye of a 

 needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom 

 of God. I know there have been many ex- 

 planations in our day to do away with the 

 camel and the needle's eye: but I prefer to take 

 the Scriptures just as they read. May be it is 

 because of my old love of strong statements; 

 but it does not matter very particularly. The 



* How much intemperance would there he In our 

 land if all mankind would conic ui) to the standard 

 of our text, or even a littlr wiiu toward it ? The man 

 who is accustomed, daj- by (l;iy. to deny liimself and 

 to keep down all these low appetites and passions 

 will never be in any danger of giving- way to the 

 appetite for drink. 



thought seems to be that, no matter how rich 

 a man may have been in this world, his riches 

 certainly will not be any passport, or give him 

 any privileges in the world to come. No won- 

 der his disciples were "exceedingingly amaz- 

 ed," and said among themselves, " Who, then, 

 can be saved?" Peter, however, had another 

 idea in his head. He interposes, as he often 

 did, and says, " Behold, ire have forsaken all 

 and followed thee. What shall we have there- 

 fore?" Peter was right. They had left home 

 and friends, houses and lands, their boats and 

 fishing-tackle; they had given up position and 

 employment; they had left worldly occupation, 

 and, in short, the great busy world itself. 

 They ivere following Jesus, and proposed to 

 follow him, no matter where he led;"and Peter's 

 question was not so very much different from 

 the one propounded in our own home — " What 

 shall we have, or what shall we gain, by giving 

 up or foregoing every thing that is even ques- 

 tionable?" The Master answers, and says to 

 them who have followed him. and proposed to 

 follow him, that "every one that hath forsaken 

 houses or brethren.'" etc.. " for my name's sake, 

 shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit 

 everlasting life." In Luke we read, " Verily I 

 say unto you, there is no man that hath left 

 house or parents or brethren or wife or children, 

 for the kingdom of God's sake, who shall not 

 receive manifold more in this present time, and 

 in the world to come life everlasting." 



Now. these poor simple followers were, like 

 ourselves, prone to get enthusiastic, and full of 

 a certain kind of patriotism. Peter especially 

 was almost always ready to declare he would 

 give his life; and at one time he seemed quite 

 determined to sacrifice his life needlessly. In 

 order to correct this tendency, and to make 

 these poor friends of his comprehend something 

 of what his followers mig?it be called upon to 

 endure, he commenced to tell them, with a vein 

 of sadness, we may suppose, of what the future 

 was to bring forth. He says, "Behold, we go 

 up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are 

 written by the prophets concerning the Son of 

 man shall be accomplished. For he shall be 

 delivered unto the gentiles, and shall be mock- 

 ed, and spitefully entreated, and spit upon; 

 and they shall scourge him, and put him to 

 death, and the third day he shall rise again." 

 Luke tells us. however, that they understood 

 none of these things. We know that at least 

 some of them had their minds occupied with 

 something else. Jesus had commended them; 

 in fact, he had paid them a wonderful compli- 

 ment by admitting that they, these chosen few, 

 had indeed left all &nA followed him; but even' 

 in spite of his reminding, in spite of his admo- 

 nitions, a foolish and selfish ambition came in 

 right here. As soon as they got by themselves 

 a dispute commenced; and the Master was 

 finally obliged to interpose. Do you remember 

 what they were disputing about? Why, these 

 very friends of his— in fact, the two that seem- 

 ed to be specially spiritual-minded — one of 

 them was even the " beloved disciple." were 

 contending about who should have the best 

 places. When this great event should come 

 about, when they should indeed be appointed to 

 jiidge the twelve tribes of Israel, Peter and 

 John put in for the places nearest the Master, 

 one on the right hand and one on the left. As 

 we contemplate these things, and it brings a 

 feeling of sadness over us, there is at the same 

 time something' encouraging. Even St. James 

 and wSt. John, as we are wont to term them, 

 were human, like ourselves— so exceedingly 

 human thaf. when he tried to tell them of his 

 approaching fate, their heads were so filled 

 with foolish and ambitious schemes that they 

 did not evci! hear it. Those who are inclined 



