644 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



being built over again, for J have been so built 

 over, and emancipated from what would have 

 been despair and ruin. Others have been 

 emancipated and saved under my own eve— I 

 speak it reverently — through the results of my 

 own labors and teachings. 



Now, I :>o not mean by the above that this 

 being "built over." or "born again," as the 

 Bible teaches, would transform an Edison into 

 a Darwin or vice versn. These natural gifts 

 are in a different line. Th<' emancipation from 

 sin is a spiritnal work. When any one feels 

 himself hopeh-ss against these evil impulses 

 then I can say 10 him confidently that there is 

 help. hope, and a refuge. The gospel is de- 

 signed to transform an enemy of society into a 

 friend of society: and that transformation ren- 

 ders all other human progress nioi'e easy and 

 more probable. This seems to be recognized by 

 even the railroad corporations — the most un- 

 sentimental and conservative class we can find; 

 for a recent number of the ScienUfic American 

 says that the Railroad branch of the Young 

 Men's Christian Association receives upward of 

 $100,000 a year from the railroads in order that 

 theif hands may be drawn from the saloons and 

 gambling-dens, into such associations as make 

 the best men for railroad purposes. The rail- 

 road companies are just now turning off men 

 by the thousands: but th*^ Cleveland paper said 

 last night that these satne companies were 

 making every effort to retain the "best" men: 

 and I f<^el very sure that, aside from the me- 

 chanical skill of these men. a strong preference 

 is invariably shown for thos,:- whose lives are 

 most in accord with Christian morality — sobrie- 

 ty, and a general air of respectability. But I 

 am aware that you will put as high an estimate 

 on such virtues as anybody, and claim that 

 such principles can be maintained outside of 

 religious belief. Granting that a few excep- 

 tions seem to prove your assertion, when we 

 come to take humanity as it is all over the na- 

 tion the best reply I can make is to quote a few 

 words from the Farewell Address of George 

 Washington. If his knowledge of men was not 

 wide enough to make us thoughtful in what he 

 says, the case seems almost helpless. Please 

 r^'ad this, written just at the close of the most 

 bloody revolution in history — one that rent 

 your own native land from center to circumfer- 

 ence: 



"Of all the dispositions and habits which 

 lead to political prosperity, religion and moral- 

 ity are indispensable supports. In vain would 

 that man claim the tribute of pairi(-tism. who 

 should labor to subvert these great ])illiirs of 

 human happiness, these firmest props of the 

 duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, 

 equally with the pious man, ought to respect 

 and cherish them. A volume could not trace 

 all their connections with private and public 

 felicity. Let it simply be asked. Where is the 

 security for property, for reputation, for life, if 

 the sense of religious obligation desert the 

 oaths which are the instruments of investiga- 

 tion in the courts of justice? And let us with 

 caution indulge the supposition that morality 

 can be maintained without religion. Whatever 

 may be conceded to the influence of refined ed- 

 ucation on minds of peculiar structure, reason 

 and experience both forbid us to expect that 

 national morality can prevail in exclusion of 

 religious principle." 



I am glad to hear you say that friend Kauf- 

 man was too positive. I am really afraid your 

 anthropologists have not investigated Chris- 

 tianity. They have simply put man on the 

 dissec'ting-board. and treated him as if he were 

 a mere animal. The matter of .soul has been 

 entirely overlooked by them. 



In the issue before this I told you what John 



WMlliams did in the islands of the South Sea, 

 where they swarmed with cannibals; and we 

 have right here among us educated and talent- 

 ed people from among the Indians, the colored 

 people, the Chinese; and, in tact, since the 

 Endeavor society has made such wonderful 

 strides, they are educating and bringing to the 

 front scholars from every nation and every 

 tribe and every clime. Mr. Calvert, with whom 

 you are acquainted, attended the great En- 

 deavor meeting, and could tell you wonderful 

 stories of succe.^s attending the attempts I0 

 civilize the savages of the world. I grant you 

 that it is a pretty big task to take a savage 

 fi'om his native wilds, and wean him from 

 heathenism in a few short years. In my trip 

 through the West I visited the Indian schools, 

 and I inquired carefully into the discouraging 

 features in the attempt to educate them. I 

 know a great many people give it up, and say 

 they are not worth the time and pains and 

 money that have been expended on them; and 

 I feel ashamed of some professing Christians 

 who talk and act in just that way. You are 

 quite right in saying that Darwin could not do 

 Edison's work, and Edison could not do Dar- 

 win's. God in his wisdom has given us partic- 

 ular fields to labor in. We have all been called 

 to some appointed work, and no doubt you are 

 right in thinking that God has called upon me 

 to preach and teach, in season and out of sea- 

 son^ that there is such a being in existence as 

 Satan, and that he does go about as a loaring 

 lion, seeking whom he may devour. 



Now, my good friend, please excuse me for 

 taking up your assertion, "I have never felt 

 him around me." Surely you, like the re?t of 

 us, have evil impulses. Did yon never get vex- 

 ed when, in thinking about it afterward, you 

 felt bad about it? Did you never feel the 

 "swear words "coming up when it seemed as 

 if you would have to shut your teeth to keep 

 the words back? I take it for granted that 

 you do not swear, for a little further on you 

 acknowledge, or. at least, I take it so, the ex- 

 istence of God. Any man who believes in God 

 as the ruler and manager of the universe would 

 certainly be untrue to himself and to his God if 

 he spoke lightly or disrespectfully of this great 

 ruler, or if he allowed himself to take his holy 

 name on his lips when he was angry or provok- 

 ed. Do you never feel a tremendous inclina- 

 tion or desire to do things which you ought not 

 to do? Have you had no experience of the 

 wonderful attractions there are in the racing or 

 gamblins' mania? Have selfish impulses never 

 prompted you to be unfair toward your fellow- 

 men— that is. if you listened to such impulses? 

 In short, has it never cost you a struggle to put 

 down selfish and evil feelings, and to encourage 

 generous and good ones? 



Pardon me for the illustration I am going to 

 use now. It may not apply to you at all. lam 

 sure I do not know you well enough in your 

 home relations and in your own neighborhood 

 to have any thing to say about it. The illus- 

 tration is th'is: Once, when I was a boy, in vis- 

 iting some relatives I found a little boat tied 

 up by the side of a river which ran near by. 

 Without saving a word to anybody I pushed off 

 into the stream. Without thinking much about 

 it I thought I would go doumstream first. 

 There was not a bit of trouble, and no exertion 

 was needed on my part to have a most delight- 

 ful ride. In fact,! said to myself several times, 

 "If boat-riding on a river is so delightful as 

 this. I certainly am not going to live much 

 longer without having more of it." By and by, 

 however. I thought it would be prudent to see 

 how much work it was to get back. I shall 

 never forget the tussle I had to get back to the 

 landing-place, nor the huge resolve I made as. 



