662 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



JLXY 1 



And the nations of them which are saved shall walk 

 in the light of it ; and the kings of the earth do bring 

 their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it 

 shall not be shut at all by day ; for there shall be no 

 night there. And they shall bring the glory and hon- 

 or of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise 

 enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatso- 

 ever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they 

 which are written in the I,amb's book of life. — Rev. 

 21 : 24—27. 



Years ago I said in these Home Papers that 

 Revelation was a very hard book for me to 

 understand ; but I have said at different times, 

 also, that, as I grow older, the book seems to 

 unfold — at least certain parts of it. A few 

 days ago we had a certain portion of this book 

 for a Sunday-school lesson. In our morning 

 reading I frankly acknowledged to Mrs. Root 

 that I could not understand or explain it. I 

 said further that the explanations given in 

 commentaries and by doctors of divinity did 

 not seem to me the correct ones. I felt some- 

 what encouraged later on to find that one of 

 the very best lessons-helps I know of said sub- 

 stantially the same thing — that there are so 

 many differences of opinion, even among 

 learned scholars, as to the real meaning of 

 certain passages, that it was very likely no 

 one had as yet struck upon the true meaning. 

 Skeptics might throw it up to us that a great 

 part of our precious Bible no one could un- 

 derstand, and perhaps no one ever would un- 

 derstand. 



Well, even if this is true, there are passages 

 all along through the whole Bible, and even 

 in the book of Revelation, that are so much 

 in advance — so far superior to any words of 

 any other book ever written, that we have at 

 least very good reason for believing the Bible 

 to be divinely inspired, or, if you choose, for 

 believing it to be the work of God and not of 

 man. The words that I have put at the head 

 of this talk, from the next to the last chapter 

 of Revelation, form one of these wonderful 

 and beautiful passages. The description seems 

 to be of the holy city. The first words, about 

 there being no darkness and no night, would 

 indicate it would afford no harbor for those 

 who love darkness rather than light. The 

 next verse tells us that this city is so great in 

 area that ftaiions shall walk therein ; and we 

 are told the gates of it shall not be shut at all 

 by day, and that there shall be no night there. 

 It is a pleasant thought about the gates being 

 always open ; and, in fact, we may suppose 

 there is nobody there, outside or inside, to be 

 kept out. I suppose there are no policemen 

 there, for everybody wants to do right. The 

 glory and honor of all the nations of this 

 earth shall be brought into this holy city. 

 The last verse is the crowning one of all, the 

 cappingstone of the citadel — " There shall in 

 no wise enter into it any thing that defileth ; 

 neither whatsoever worketh abomination or 

 maketh a lie." lean imagine how the aver- 

 age man of the world who never gives much 

 thought or attention to the Bible or Christian- 



ity would receive any such statement. He 

 would probably laugh and jeer at the idea ; 

 and if he would tell you the whole truth that 

 lies right down at the bottom of his heart I 

 do not know but he would say he did not wish 

 to live in any such place. Such a state could 

 be congenial only to those who love righteous- 

 ness and hate iniquity. 



Some might ask, " When is all this coming 

 to pass? when shall we have that new Jerusa- 

 lem?" I for one do not know. I know it is 

 coming, for the Bible tells us so. Its prom- 

 ises are scattered all through, from the first 

 page to the last. We are told in substance, 

 over and over again, " Blessed are they which 

 hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they 

 shall be filled." 



I know there has been a great amount of 

 dispute about this whole matter of the new 

 heaven and a new earth. Some claim that 

 at death we are ushered into the new Jerusa- 

 lem. Others say it does not come to pass un- 

 til the judgment day. As for myself, I do not 

 see why we should waste time or thought in 

 regard to this matter where there are so many 

 differences of opinion. We have God's prom- 

 ise, and that is enough for me. "Shall not 

 the Judge of all the earth do right?" I am 

 willing to trust him to manage the whole mat- 

 ter. I do not even believe I can afford to read 

 the books and pamphlets that are sent me, ar- 

 guing on different sides of the matter. Jesus 

 said to the thief on the cross, "This day shalt 

 thou be with me in paradise." Of course, I 

 know some maintain that "paradise" is a 

 wrong translation. But that would make no 

 difference to me. If I am to be where Jesus 

 is, I am content. I ask nothing more. 



But, friends, God has not seen fit as yet to 

 usher us into this holy city. He has placed 

 us here in this world of ours to work. I am 

 sure of that. He did not put us here to idle 

 away our time ; and we are to work either for 

 righteousness or iniquity. Which shall it be? 



Perhaps I have said a great deal of late in 

 regard to the wickedness that seems to be 

 abroad throughout our land and throughout 

 the whole world at the present time. Dear 

 friends, I am not oblivious to the good that is 

 also abroad. I assure you I am looking on 

 with joy and thanksgiving and praise to note 

 the progress that is being made in praise- 

 worthy directions. I love to read our daily 

 papers. Perhaps I had better say I love to 

 read our good dailies ; for when I am away 

 from home I pick up daily papers here and 

 there that I do not love at all. I often read 

 them, however, even if with pain ; and some- 

 times I read them, too, with shame. I feel 

 ashamed that our people, with all our present 

 enlightenment, should encourage and sustain 

 papers that seem to say on the face of them 

 that they love iniquity rather than righteous- 

 ness. But even in the worst of our dailies we 

 find a record, more or less, of good things. 

 The world at large is climbing out of many 

 of the abuses in which we have for long ages 

 existed. I think the general trend is upward; 

 yes, and in some directions we are making 

 marvelous progress. The experiment stations 

 of the world are achieving wonders in the 



