1960 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



37 



The contents of this leaf and the one following are 

 not directly connected with the subject of bee-culture. 

 On this account, I make no charge for them, and, if you 

 chouse, you can cut them out Without reading. 



\ur tmm- 



But seek ye first the kingdom of find and his 

 righteousness; and all these- things shall be addtd 

 unto you.— Matt. VI. 33. 



.A MONG my many friends scattered all 

 Jr^ over our land and other lands, whom 

 ?? '-~ '• I have known since these Home Pa- 

 pers have had life, there is one I would in- 

 troduce to you to-day, by two little extracts 

 from letters received from him. 



The following was the concluding sentence 

 of a letter written just after he had read Our 

 Homes for last February : 



Friend Root: — It looks SO exceedingly selfish and 

 bigoted for an editor to ventilate himself, while de- 

 nying: any right to reply, that 1 have concluded to 

 ask it as a favor to send me no more numbers of 

 Gleaninc.s. D > as you please about retaining- any 

 of the money. Some one has said, "Any creed or 

 opinion that shuns investigation openly manifests 

 its own error," and it looks like an axiom. I wish 

 you well, and I know that either here or "over 

 there," you will see your error. 



Memphis, Mo., Feb. 15, '79. Stephen Young. 



I directed that his money should be 

 promptly returned, but begged him to accept 

 Gleanings as a present, for the remainder 

 of the year. I often thought of this friend, 

 and hoped he might sometime see things 

 differently. 



After the April No. was out, he wrote 

 again ; and although he did not agree with 

 me in that either. I was rejoiced to see his 

 letter close with these words : 



My dear friend:— With all your idiosyncrasies, I 

 love you still, and ask you to forgive me for order- 

 ing Gleanings stopped on account of " Our Homes." 

 Speak on; I'll read all. I have re-sent the funds 

 which you forgivingly returned Gleanings will 

 be more than ever welcome. Stephen Younu. 



April 16, 1*79. 



Most freely did I forgive him, and tried to 

 tell him how keeuly I often feel that I am 

 not half worthy of so many kind and cheer- 

 ing words as I get continually, through al- 

 most every mail. 



Well, this brother still insists that I do 

 not give both sides a hearing, and begs me 

 to publish the following : 



Friend Root: I have read all your Home Papers, 

 and in every case with the deepest regret, that one 

 so honesr and earnest should entertain such errone- 

 ous views of the Divine government. A great ad- 

 vance has been made in the lasi 30 or 40 years in 

 regard to the ways of God to man, and I hope and 

 believe that you will not take offense at the sugges- 

 tion, that your present views may perhaps lie but 

 the awakening- of the old dogmas impressed <m your 

 plastic mind at Sunday School, when a child. 



The educated and logical youth of to-day will be 

 slow to accept the doctrine of a personal God, per- 

 sonal Devil, and eternal punishment for the mass of 

 mankind. 



In your preface to A B C, I find this passage: " ' In 

 God we trust.' So long as we continue to trust in 

 Him. and look to Him daily for help, the business 

 will continue to prosper, and we sh ill be ot use to 

 ourselves and to all those about us; hut just so soon 

 as we cease to trust in Him, the business will go 

 down: saloons will spring up about us; and ruin and 

 devastation will be the end." 



Now. is it possible that one evincing so muchcom- 

 mou-sense in nee-culture can entertaiu such views? 



Of course, by "trus lug m G id," you must mean 

 practicing the two greut commandments, loving 



God with all your heart, and your neighbor as your- 

 self; and that those who obey are certain to succeed 

 in earthly business, while oiheis are as certain to 

 fail. 



But 1 look at the matter in the opposite light. 

 Think of the millionaires — the Rothschilds, Bel- 

 monts (Jews), Vanderbilts, Stewarts, and scores 

 more with hearts of Hint How the elder Bennett 

 prospered in publishing the '• Satanic Prt ss ! " And 

 now, Zach Chandler, who has b"en profane and a 

 tippler all his life, has left neurly j-.',000,UOO to an 

 only child. Peter Cooper is an exception to the 

 general rule; he uses his weal' h to benefit mankind, 

 but he is understood to be a Free-thinker. Gerritt 

 Smith inheiited his wealth but distributed it wiih a 

 lavish hand to the needy, and he was a Spiritualist. 

 Hut. as yon accept Jehovah of the Bible, as your 



, God, I don't see how you can have confidence in him. 

 According to the record, after creating heaven and 

 earth and all therein, he pronounced all" very good," 

 yet he was soon grieved at heart and repented of 



i ever having made man, because he had become so 



1 corrupt. He then, by way of experiment, drowned 

 the whole race with the exception of a few of the 

 most promising specimens; bin i his venture turned 

 out no better, as Noah got drunk as soon as he got 

 ashore, and matters went on from bad to worse, un- 



j til, as a dernier resort, he sent his only begotten son 

 into the world to sutler in place of guilty man. But 

 this also has turned out no more auspicious, accord- 

 ing to orthodox theologians. 



Now, my God is a very different being from that.. 

 He makes no mistakes, governing all things by ex- 



! act and undeviating law, which insures the eternal 

 progress and happiness of all his children. 



Were you to take this view ot things, you would 

 be much more potent for good among your fellow 

 men. Teach them that all physical and mental pain 

 has for its obj- ct the education of the sufferer; that 

 opposite causes must produce opposite effects; con- 



i sequently, if doing: good brings peace uf mind, injur- 

 ing any one must bring m sery. 



I perceive that you regard prayer as omnipotent. 

 If so, please, through prayer, show how a being of 

 infinite mercy can torment a single human being 

 eternally. S. Young. 



I entirely agree with your opening thought, 

 friend 1\, and I candidly believe I never 



: quite got over the eai ly Sabbath School 

 teachings of my childhood, not even during 



! all those years of my life, when 1 was a skep- 



1 tic. I would urge tnis thought, too, for ttie 

 encouragement of mothers and fathers bring- 

 ing their children up in just that way. 



Alost certainly do I mean that one who 

 loves God supremely, and his neighbor as 

 himself, will succeed in business; but, my 

 dear friend Y., 1 did not mean to convey the 

 idea that getting rich was necessarily suc- 

 ceeding in business. You certainly did not 

 understand that in our noon-day prayers I 

 daily ask God to send me money that I may 



I have a line residence, and a gold watch and 

 chain, and all these things, to the exclusion 

 of the faithful boys and girls who meet with 

 me and join in the hymns, and prayers too, 

 as I hope and believe 't or that God would 

 bless our number, to the exclusion of the 

 rest of the town, or world in general 't Was 

 the life of that man of whom you spoke a 

 success, even with his two millions, while he 

 was all the time a tippler? I have asked, 

 and do ask, God for just so much money as I 

 need to enable me to give employment to the 

 greatest number of those who honestly merit 

 and need it, and as will help me to help you 

 and all my readers most. If the money came 

 too last or too easily, 1 should lose my incen- 

 tive to. and my zeal in, prayer, and 1 verily 

 believe too much money would tempt me 

 away from (iod. sooner than any other one 

 thing in this world. 1 thank my Heavenly 

 lather just as much for withholding the 



1 money that would do me injury, as i do for 



