189U 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



27 



PYgEIiF WB MY ]S[EI6}IB0R^. 



He made himeelt' of no reputation, and took upon 

 him the I'orm of a servant, and was made in the 

 likeness of man.— Phil. 3: 7. 



Once upon a time, so we are told, a good 

 missionary felt called upon to go and labor 

 for the salvation of a certain class of slaves. 

 These slaves were under such cruel bondage 

 that they were obliged to work at the most 

 heavy and fatiguing labor, from very early 

 in the morning until very late at night. In 

 fact, their overseer was so cruel and heart- 

 less, that, if they did not spring to their 

 feet at the ring of the bell in the morning 

 they were led not only to expect harsh 

 words but cruel blows; and his tyranny 

 was so great that they barely had time to 

 eat their simple meager crust before they 

 fell asleep at night. In the morning and at 

 noon they were permitted to stop their toil 

 only long enough to partake of the plainest 

 foocl, furnished only in sufficient quantities 

 to sustain life. The missionary could really 

 find no opportunity to present the gospel of 

 Christ Jesus. But a worse obstacle still, 

 was, that they did not believe what he had to 

 say, and, in fact, did not care very much 

 about it either. They could not see any 

 point or comfort or hope in Christ's promise, 

 ''Come unto me, all ye that are weary and 

 heavy laden, and I will give you rest.'' 

 Their spirits were so ground down, and life 

 and hope were so crushed out of their poor 

 souls, that they gave up, and toiled on in a 

 dejected, sullen sort of way, like veritable 

 beasts of burden, and they had come to be 

 but little more or little else. This good 

 missionary, however, could not give up. 

 Missionaries are celebrated for laboring 

 long years without any apparent fruit mani- 

 festing itself as a reward for their labors. 

 And this missionary had the true spirit of 

 Christ Jesus in his heart. It made his kind- 

 ly heart bleed, out of sympathy for these 

 poor downtrodden people. In that day it 

 was customary to buy and sell slaves ; but 

 they had so lost spirit and life that it did 

 not make much difference to them whether 

 they belonged to one man or another. They 

 had learned to regard the white man as 

 their bitter enemy and foe. Their overseer 

 was white, and the missionary was white ; 

 therefore they reasoned, "How can he 

 know any thing about us or our condition V 

 and even if he says that the Christ whom he 

 tells about has proffered salvation to the 

 black as well as to the white, what does he 

 know about it V lie is a white man ; he has 

 liberty; he is permitted to own property; 

 he has education ; he is a man, while we 

 are only colored slaves. There is no hope 

 for us." 



Now, this good missionary was finally led 

 to the conclusion that, if he would do any 

 thing to save these people, he must come 

 down to their level. As it was, they held 

 aloof from him. They looked at him from a 

 distance. Even though he told them he 

 was their brother, they did not believe it, 

 nor accept the statement. It was too im- 

 probable and too ridiculous. lie must have 

 some plan in his head, probably something 



that would in the end make them still more 

 miserable and downtrodden, they thought. 

 For a long while he pondered the matter. 

 He was so intent on reaching them, and 

 saving at least some of them, that he slowly 

 came to the conclusion to do what most 

 men would call a crazy and a rash act. His 

 plan was, in short, this : To become a slave 

 himself. Slaves were sometimes, under 

 some circumstances, permitted to purchase 

 their own freedom in those days. In the 

 same way, a man could, if he chose, sell 

 himself into slavery. This missionary, 

 finally, as a last resort, sold himself into 

 slavery. We do not know what he did with 

 the money which he received as the price of 

 his liberty. He certainly did not spend it 

 in riotous living. Most likely it was invest- 

 ed in a way that would assist in carrying 

 out his lifelong plan. He became a slave. 

 He lived in a hovel with the ether slaves, 

 and he endured the very same toil they en- 

 dured, side by side. Of course, he was a 

 good, faithful, and obedient slave, and we 

 hope he escaped the hard words and the 

 blows that fell to the lot of others. Very 

 likely, however, he did not, for overseers 

 wlio happen to be wicked men often delight 

 in showing their authority, and being un- 

 reasonable and tyrannical with even the 

 best of their servants. Whatever it was, he 

 endured it all for tlieir sakes, and glorious 

 was his reward. The hope of his life was 

 accomplished, and one after another of his 

 colored comrades came to Jesus. When he 

 surrendered liberty, position, and all that 

 this world can give for their sakes, they be- 

 lieved. His heroic act touched their hearts, 

 and brought them to Christ, when nothing 

 else would have availed. He gave his life, 

 that they might live. 



Dear friends, do you begin to see the ap- 

 plication and the purport of my little New 

 Year's story V The great God of the uni- 

 verse, the creator of all things, in his love 

 and sympathy for us did just what I have 

 pictured in this simple story, that was told 

 in my hearing not many days ago. Now see 

 if you do not see a new beauty in some of 

 the texts of Scripture which I am going to 

 repeat to you with the above application in 

 mind : 



" For God so loved the world that he gave 



his only begotten Son that the world 



through him might be saved." Let us now 

 turn to the verse preceding the one at the 

 head of this talk : " Who, being in the form 

 of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 

 with God." And now comes the beautiful 

 thought of my text to-day : " But made 

 himself of no reputation, and took upon 

 him the form of a servant, and was made in 

 the likeness of men." 



Let us now take the verse after our text : 

 " And being found in fashion as a man, he 

 humbled himself and became obedient unto 

 death, even the deal It, of the cross.'^ It seems 

 hard to stop right here, dear friends, so let 

 us read the following verse : '" Wherefore 

 God hath also exalted him, and given him a 

 name which is above every name." 



Well, this does not seem to be a good 

 stopping-place either. Let us read two 

 more verses : " That at the name of Jesus 



