1S90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTL'RE. 



347 



Our second text says, " Be fruitful, multi- 

 ply, and replenish the earth."' There are 

 two phases of this question ; and l)efore tak- 

 ing up the first one I want to ask your in- 

 dulgence a little. I am an old friend to 

 most of you. I am pretty fairly along in 

 years also, so that 1 can speak to you in 

 fatherly counsel, and I may also speak very 

 plainly, I think, without being out of place. 

 What I have to say now is a good deal to 

 the young people— perhaps mostly young 

 men ; but I feel sure that it will be right 

 and proper to put what I have to say, even 

 on a printed page, where perhaps the young- 

 er ones of my family may read it also. The 

 point is this : There is such a thing as ful- 

 filling (at least after a fashion), a command 

 like one of our two texts, without marriage 

 at all. Since the world began, this thing 

 has come up at dilferent times, and I be- 

 lieve we have had a few men as well as 

 women who were bold enough, and, I think 

 I may add, silly enough, lo recommend 

 abolishing marriage. Of course, this is con- 

 trary to Scripture ; but I am glad to say 

 that it is contrary to common" sense too. 

 Even those who practice otherwise, strong- 

 ly recommpnd faithfulness to the marriage 

 relation. In the ten commandments, this 

 seems to be recognized as of so much im- 

 portance that it is placed right after "• Thou 

 shalt not kill."" Society at large, almost the 

 whole world over, regards the desecration of 

 this command as so fearful a crime that 

 mankind stand avvay and hold themselves 

 aloof from the guilty ones. It has been 

 said, that, although one who is sunk to the 

 lowest depths in intemperance may reform, 

 the ones who disregard again and again 

 this particular command, may never reform ; 

 and even if they do, nobody'belie-es ihem. 

 Christ's teachings, however, have done 

 much to correct this. Christian men and 

 women are now ready to say, as did the Sav- 

 ior of mankind. "Neither do I condemn 

 thee; go, and sin no more."' 



A good many who are guilty of breaking 

 this command seem to think that, provid- 

 ing itcanbekeptsecretoroutof sight, it does 

 not matter so very much. O my young 

 frieuds, do not fall iuto this grievous error. 

 It is Satan who persuades you that it can 

 be concealed ; and it is Satan who tells you 

 " it does not matter so very much." Some- 

 times people say that David broke this com- 

 mandment and (rod overlooked it. True, 

 my friend ; but does history show any par- 

 allel t) such grievous punishment, trouble, 

 and calamity for sin, as the one that fol- 

 lowed David's wrong act ? Who would go 

 through with what he did? who would see 

 his children commit crime after crime, even 

 to the finishing stroke of having one of his 

 own children pursue him to take his life, 

 simply that he might take the throne a 

 little sooner ? And the day is not past, my 

 friends, by considerable, when like punish- 

 ment shall follow swift and fast. 



For some time past our jail has been most- 

 ly deserted, from the fact that intoxicating 

 liquors are sold no more in our town. and, to 

 a very limited extent, in Medina County; 

 l)ut this very sin of which I have been speak- 

 ing still brings more or less inside our jail 



walls. Two Sabbaths ago there was quite a 

 class in the jail. Two if not more were guil- 

 ty of crime iu this line. The Bible soon came 

 under discussion. That was rejected also, 

 as I expected it would be. I was astonished 

 at one pleasant-faced young man; and I was 

 perplexed, also, to near that he was in prison 

 for so very trifling an offense. Some people 

 threw stones at liim. lie picked up a stone 

 and threw it back at his persecutors. He 

 threw straigliter than the latter, and one of 

 them was injured, therefore he was in jail for 

 assault and battery, even though they, with- 

 out question, "cast tiie first stone." During 

 my first visit I did not make any headway 

 in leading him to Christ Jesus. When the 

 rest had all left, however, and he had been 

 for some weeks alone, he told me some of his 

 troubles. During my first talk, it seemed to 

 me as if there were a sliver somewhere un- 

 der the flesh, that was hurting him, and that 

 no permanent relief could come to him until 

 the flesh were probed and the sliver got out. 

 As his spiritual adviser I questioned him, 

 of course by his permission. Four years ago 

 he was a member of the church, a new con- 

 vert. Why should he now be in jail ? The 

 first thing I found out was, that, as he was a 

 barber by trade, he had been breaking the 

 Sabbath. He said that, as his competitors 

 in the town kept their shop open on Sundav, 

 of course he was obliged to do the same. He 

 could not make a living and compete with 

 the others unless he also worked on Sunday ; 

 therefore he had not been to church lor a 

 good while. Now, I have heard this excuse 

 over and over again. Just see the fallacy of 

 it. Did he make a living and compete suc- 

 cessfully with the others by keeping his shop 

 open on Sunday V Why, to be sure he did 

 not, or why should he be here in jail V For 

 a time I was inclined to think his breaking 

 the Sabbath might be the sin that brought 

 him into this present trouble— at least, he 

 seemed to think it was the worst thing he had 

 done that a Christian ought not to do. I 

 soon found out that he was a married man ; 

 next, that he had one child. In appealing to 

 him for the sake of his wife and child, I dis- 

 covered that this one child was less than a 

 week old. The poor little stranger came in- 

 to the M'orld while its father was in jail, and, 

 in fact, he had never seen it. A little later, 

 in answer to a searching question, he con- 

 fessed that he had been married less than 

 half a year. Sabbath-breaking may have 

 opened the way ; but sin and crime followed 

 quickly on. The marriage ceremony was 

 performed while he was in the custody of 

 an oflicer of the law. After he had told 

 me all, he begged piteously to have me save 

 him from the workhouse that stood right 

 before him, by paying his fine and taking 

 him into my employ. It fairly wrung my 

 heart to tell him that I had learned by sad 

 experience that it was not best for me to in- 

 terfere with justice. 



And now, my dear friends, comes the point 

 I wish to call out and emphasize. When this 

 young man confessed to me his crime in 

 breaking this commandment I am speaking 

 of, he excused himself by saying that lie w.is 

 not pctrtknlatiy frn\]ty ia that line. He spoke 

 something like this : 



