1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



797 



words of prophecy, telling them that Christ 

 should be a man of sorrows, and acquainted 

 with grief. But they forgot it, or ignored it. 

 They would have it, that he was to be a 

 man of the world. When he came and told 

 them that his kingdom was not of this world, 

 they were disappointed and disgusted. Pilate 

 asked him if he was a king. lie replied, 

 " Yes, I am a king ; to this end was I born, 

 and for tliis end came I into the world." 

 That they might not make any mistake, 

 however, he added, that his kingdom was to 

 bear witness unto the truth. He was to be 

 the king of truth, and not a rival to earthly 

 rulers. 



Now, my friends, I wonder if it would 

 sound harsh if I should say the lime has 

 been when you considered this matter of 

 Christ, and turned away in disappointment; 

 that is, providing you are not among those 

 who are k)wv:a of fill men as a follower of 

 Jesus. The subject, sooner or later, comes 

 up to all of us. We ai'e obliged to decide in 

 regard to Christ's claims. We have said in 

 our hearts, •' We will not have this man to 

 reign over us," or else we have decided we 

 would have him to rule over us. Our boys 

 who are growing up are deciding this ques- 

 tion to-day. They are influenced greatly in 

 their decision by the stand which their fath- 

 ers and mothers, or employers or teachers 

 take. 



In talking with my friend in jail, he said 

 lie. was a good deal surprised when he heard 

 of my conversion ; that he had somelx)w got 

 Into his head that I did not need converting. 

 Most of my readers know what a blunder he 

 was making. Perhaps, my friend, you have 

 sons or daughters who are deciding this 

 question now ; may be it is a brother or sis- 

 ter. How sliall you tell V The Jews refus- 

 ed to liave Christ rule over them, because he 

 forbade fighting with the Romans. He told 

 them that, if his kingdom were of this world, 

 then his servants would be expected to tight 

 for him; but he absolutely forbade even 

 this. When one of them struck at a Roman 

 and cut off his ear, Christ used his mirac- 

 ulous power to restore it ; but that mirac- 

 ulous power was never brought into action 

 to save himself, nor even to convert the 

 stones into bread when he was hungry. 

 They jeered at him, and threw it up at him, 

 while he was on the cross, " He saved others, 

 himself he can not save." The idea, that 

 any man who had unlimited power in his 

 hands, and yet would not use it, even for 

 self-protection, was so preposterous and ut- 

 terly ridiculous, that they fairly hissed at 

 sucii a thought. It was not the Jews only, 

 but the Romans also — in fact, all nations 

 of the earth, gatliered there with one voice 

 declared (when the character of the Savior 

 was held up before them, and illustrated by 

 such object lessons as only Christ could and 

 did give), "Away w'ith such religion ! We 

 will have none of it. By no means, and un- 

 der no circumstances, will we consent to 

 follow this man, or have him rule over us. 

 No matter if he has performed miracles ; no 

 matter if he has even ramd the dead; why 

 doesn't he help himself now, if he can 

 help himself V Do you rnean to say that he 

 can, but will not V Away with such folly !" 



And the world rejected him in scorn, and 

 turned their backs, and spit upon him, to 

 indicate their fierce hatred and bitterness 

 toward such a king and such teachings. 



As I go over this scene, dear friends, it 

 does seem to me as though the world has 

 made progress since that time. 'J'hen, only 

 two or three poor foolish women (as the 

 world looked at it) stood by him. Yes, there 

 was one man who braved the world long 

 enough to stand near during his expiring 

 agonies. 13ut even that man, and those 

 women with woman's faith, never even 

 guessed, as it w^ould seem, that this was not 

 the end of his dominion and his power and 

 his kingdom. Rejecting Christ then, was 

 plain to see. It was a plain, simple act. 

 How is it now V 



AVhen our young friend brought me my 

 lighted lamp, as I told you about, and placed 

 it on my desk so that I could read my letters, 

 I was, at that very time, rejecting Christ. 

 Do you ask how? Some of you know how 

 I plain it was made to me when my eyes were 

 1 opened. There was a right-hand sin at that 

 I time that stood in the way of Christ. I knew 

 I it, and I knew I could not be a Christian un- 

 i less I cut it off and cast it from me, as Jesus 

 demands. I did not connect it in just the 

 way spoken of in Matthew o:oO, but I knew 

 there was an unwillingness in my heart to 

 give up all and follow Christ. I had consid- 

 ered the matter well, and decided that / 

 tvould not have this man to rule over me. I had 

 determined to manage things myself in my 

 own way, despite Christ's claims or (tnif 

 claims. I had not come to this determina- 

 tion with any(?//f'c^ i)urpose of wronging any 

 one, or making any trouble anywhere ; but 

 still, that wasjustal)outwhayt amounted to. 

 When my apprentice, with whom I was so 

 well pleased, began urging to have his Avages 

 increased a little faster than my better judg- 

 ment approved. I felt a little sorry to see 

 him show just this spirit ; but yet I did not 

 think very much about it. When he a little 

 later began to prefer to be out evenings, in- 

 stead of working at his old watches, I felt a 

 little more anxiety ; and when he commenc- 

 ed to use tobacco, I could not help feeling, 

 even though I was a sinner myself, that he 

 was starting out in a way that did not prom- 

 ise quite right. By the way, what spirit is it 

 that prompts a young man to want to go 

 about the r.treets'with a cigar in his mouth ? 

 Christ said his kingdom was not of this 

 world. Now, it has seemed to me that a 

 young man's first cigar seems to say more 

 plainly, perhaps, than almost any one single 

 act, ''I am for this world." Certainly no 

 young man who has serious thoughts of be- 

 coming a Christian ever began to use a ci- 

 gar because of that decision. Some one has 

 several times sent me a copy of a paper en- 

 titled ThisWorld. The heading is appropri- 

 ate. The paper is published for the people 

 of this world, and this world only. They 

 might have put right under this title, " AVe 

 will not have this man to reign over us;"' 

 and then if they had gone on to make a pic- 

 ture of the character of Christ, and had de- 

 clared the teachings and sentiments of the 

 paper to be in direct opposition to Christ's 

 teachings, they would have hit it exactly. 



