1880 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



393 



bir tvimh 



Thou Shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy 

 heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 

 strength, and with all thvmind; and thy neighbor 

 as thyself.- St. Luke, x. 27. 



WX my last, I called your attention to the 

 Jul fact that a drunken man, or one addicted 

 to intemperance, almost invariably has 

 such a bitter hatred of God, God's word, and 

 God's people. You are perhaps aware that 

 it is not intemperance only that begets this 

 hatred, but sin of any kind. Let one do 

 anything that his conscience tells him he 

 should not do, and straightway he begins to 

 feel a hatred to God, and Godly things. The 

 very nature of God is such that it cannot 

 well be otherwise. Perhaps you may say 

 you do not believe as I do, and that your 

 opinions you have a right to ; that you do 

 not believe in fire and brimstone, and such 

 like stories. Very well, you have a right to 

 your own opinions, and I have no right to 

 dictate to you what you should or should not 

 believe, instead of wasting time in regard 

 to differences of opinion, let us see how 

 much we do believe in common. Perhaps 

 we can almost all of us agree to all that is 

 really important, if we will promise to be 

 honest, fair, and candid. 



You all believe in God who created this 

 universe,— this world of beauty, and who 

 made us as well? Some few I have seen, a 

 very few, who said they did not believe this, 

 but, after a little talk with them, they have 

 always agreed that the world was planned 

 and directed by some overruling power of 

 some kind. Suppose a man, or boy either 

 for that matter, should look over the ma- 

 chinery of a watch, and, after having it ex- 

 plained to him that he might understand 

 something of the wonderful ingenuity em- 

 ployed in adapting each part to its proper 

 work, should coolly exclaim that he did not 

 believe anybody made it, but that it came 

 by chance, or happened so. What would 

 you think of such a person ? Well, it is this 

 ruler, or creator of the universe, that we call 

 God. I am sure I have the consent of you 

 all, have I not? 



Now let us take one more step. For what 

 purpose was this world or universe created? 

 What end had he in view? We might say 

 the same of the watch. If we turned it over 

 and looked on all sides, we should find it had 

 a face with figures on it, and hands that 

 moved. If we watched these hands as they 

 moved from figure to figure, we might, if Ave 

 were patient, in time learn that they bore 

 some relation to the movements of the sun, 

 and, finally, that the sole purpose of the 

 watch was to measure time. Let us look at 

 creation in the same way. What is it for? 

 What object had God in making it? For 

 whom was it made? The ground furnishes 

 a good place for grass to grow, and the grass 

 that grows furnishes food for the horses and 

 cattle, but what then? Does it seem rational 

 that God should go to all this pains and 

 trouble, solely that horses and cattle might 

 live and enjoy themselves? Suppose horses 

 and cattle were the sole occupants of this 



earth. Do the horses or cows ever contem-. 

 plate God as their creator? Do they ever 

 cast their gaze on the moon, wondering 

 whether it is a world like this or not? Do 

 they, in fact, ever think of the world they 

 are'inatall? or do you think it likely that 

 there ever lived a horse or cow, which ever 

 had a thought as to what the size of this 

 world might be? To be sure not • such spec- 

 ulations are arrant nonsense. Please imag- 

 ine, if you can, what this world would have 

 | been, with only these dumb friends of ours 

 ! to people it. Think of the awful— stillness? 

 j —is that the word?— of a universe without 

 j a sentient being to contemplate it. Ani- 

 mal and vegetable life might go on ; Dar- 

 win's theory of evolution might pass through 

 its different stages, as the years roll on ; and 

 , the planets in their realms of space might 

 move with their accustomed regularity, even 

 though no telescope was brougnt to bear on 

 them, by feeble, puny man; but would it 

 not all be but a sort of empty nothingness, 

 ■ if no brain and intellect were present to con- 

 j template it all? Man has now, in this nine- 

 I teenth century, just begun to open his eyes 

 to the fact that these things are within his 

 grasp. Does it not seem as if God had de- 

 | cided that the appointed time had come, 

 ! when we, his children, are capable of being 

 ! led on into paths, or up to summits, where 

 | we may see more of him, in his infinite 

 ; greatness, where we may contemplate him, 

 as he is? 



A few days ago, Caddy went out in the 

 morning, and brought me a nice harvest ap- 

 ple, with the words,— 



"See, Papa, see this nice apple. It just 

 fell off the tree/' 



"Yes, my daughter; do you know how it 

 came on the tree?" 



She opened her blue eyes wide, as she 

 looked first at me, and then through the 

 open door to the tree laden with apples. 



"Does my little girl remember a few days 

 ago, Avhen the tree was full of nice posies, 

 that the bees got honey out of?" 



Her face lit up as she caught the thought ; 

 "Yes, Papa; I 'member. 11 



"Well, these apples grew out of those 

 great pink flowers. God made them grow. 

 Have you noticed the apples, how they grew 

 bigger and bigger every day? 11 



She nodded. "Well, God who made the 

 apples, made also the apple trees, and made 

 all this great world, full of apple trees, and 

 every thing pleasant, for people that are good 

 and love him. Caddy, how large do you 

 suppose the world is? 1 ' 



Again she looked out at the open door, 

 and off at the blue sky, and seemed lost in 

 wonder at the idea, that she was beginning 

 to grasp pretty clearly, for a chick of two and 

 a half years old. 



Now I am coming back to you my friends. 

 Down in the lot by the pond is a pretty saga- 

 cious horse. At least I think so sometimes 

 when I want to catch him, and he won't be 

 caught. Let us call him up. 



"Jack, look here. How big do you sup- 

 pose the world is? 1 ' 



Jack looks up at me, and looks bright and 

 knowing. Can I, by any power on earth, 

 teach him— a horse 10 years old or more— to 



