904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Nov. 



0U1^ P@MEg. 



I will both lay me down in peace, and steep; for 

 thou, Lord, only makest me dwell in safety.— Ps. 4 : 8. 



THE WAGES OF SIN IS DEATH. 



T|p FTER visiting the German Sabbath- 

 9ll| school, that I told you about in our 

 j^r last, I selected, among the great ar- 

 ^** ray of churches in Chicago, the Plym- 

 outh Congregational. I had had some 

 little experience in finding places of wor- 

 ship in great cities, miles away, and so I in- 

 quired at the hotel about how far it was. 

 As it was toward an hour's ride on the 

 street-cars, I just had time to be on hand 

 promptly, after the Sunday-school was out. 

 Considerable has been said about the con- 

 venience of street-cars for taking people to 

 places of worship. In a city like Chicago it 

 would be a rather hard matter to get to 

 many of the churches, without the aid of 

 the street-c;irs or a horse and buggy. One 

 reason why I did not go on foot was because 

 of a lack of time ; and another, the conduct- 

 ors on the street-cars are usually better 

 able to direct you to any given locality than 

 anybody else. They told me at the hotel 

 what line of street-cars to take ; therefore 

 my first direction to the conductor was to 

 put me off as near as possible to Plymouth 

 Church. 



" Plymouth Church ? " said he. lt Well, 

 I'll be blamed if I know where Plymouth 

 Church is." 



Here he turned around to a car full of 

 passengers, and called out, " Does any one 

 know where Plymouth Church is ? " 



No one could tell. Then I bethought me 

 that I had torn a list of the churches from a 

 daily paper ; and, sure enough, it gave the 

 street and number. As I held it up to him 

 he said, "Oh, yes ! we run within half a 

 block of it." 



When we reached the vicinity of the mag- 

 nificent structure I expected that the crowd- 

 ed car would be pretty well emptied, al- 

 though I had noticed before that the con- 

 versation^and appearance of the inmates of 

 the car did not seem to be just what I 

 should expect of church-goers. I felt a lit- 

 tle sad when the car stopped to let me off, 

 and I found that I was the only individual 

 who stopped. Perhaps street-cars do carry 

 people to church ; but, my friends, I begin 

 to be a little doubtful in regard to the mat- 

 ter. Next time, I think I shall start earli- 

 er, and go on foot, even if it is four or five 

 miles. The voice of conscience had been 

 whispering all along the route that 1 was 

 not quite in a line, or, if you choose, I was 

 not in the company, of those who " hunger 

 and thirst after righteousness." Now, I 

 realize that 1 have a great deal to learn 

 about great cities. I realize, too, that I oft- 

 en make mistakes ; and I believe that I am 

 open to conviction in regard to this matter 

 of running cars of any kind on the Sabbath. 



Plymouth Church is the finest structure in 

 the way.of church edifices that I ever enter- 

 ed in my life. The audience numbered up 

 into the thousands — I do not know how 

 many. There were seats in the various ves- 

 tibules, where strangers waited until the 



ushers were ready to conduct them to the 

 proper pews. The ventilation and heating 

 were like a spring morning. I am glad to 

 know that wealth has succeeded in giving 

 us an atmosphere as pure and invigorating 

 as we get outdoors, or pretty nearly that. 

 The singing was equal to any, I think, I 

 ever heard in my life ; but I had just a little 

 bit of feeling that a part of it would have 

 been more appropriate — that is, letting 

 your humble servant judge — for some week- 

 day entertainment. 1 had quite a curiosity 

 to see what the pastor of such a great and 

 such a wealthy congregation looked like. 

 He was a rather spare man, not above 35 or 

 40 years of age ; but a very few words from 

 him gave one the impression that he was 

 able to command the attention of even that 

 vast audience. The question kept coming 

 up, " What does he possess above ministers 

 in common that should have induced the 

 people to call him to a place of such great 

 responsibility ? " Was it a fine and superi- 

 or education V was it wonderful natural 

 gifts V or was it the fullness of the Holy 

 Spirit that carried conviction to the hearts 

 of each one of his hearers almost in spite of 

 him? I soon decided that it was a good 

 deal of all together. Perhaps most of you 

 know already that I am a little inclined to 

 object to the ways and customs of the very 

 wealthy — not that I want to find fault with 

 them, but as a rule it is hard work for me 

 to feel at home where money is expended 

 lavishly. There is a sense of relief when I 

 exchange living in the great hotels for that 

 of my humble home. In the same way 

 there is a sense of relief when I step from 

 the palace cars into the companionship of 

 the more humble working people of our 

 land. I expected, or perhaps, rather, fear- 

 ed, that I should be a little homesick when 

 the exercises of this great church were con- 

 trasted with those in our little town of Me- 

 dina. Now, I believe there are extremes 

 both ways. We should be as careful about 

 being uncharitable toward the rich as we 

 are toward the poor. Although I did not 

 see people stepping out of the street-cars to 

 go into this great church, I did see great 

 droves of them stepping from magnificent 

 equipages (many of them having liveried 

 footmen) to open the carriage-doors, and to 

 hand out the different members of the fami- 

 ly. Great numbers of these footmen sat 

 holding the horses during the whole of the 

 services. I felt a little sad to see this ; for 

 at our church at home, nobody stays out of 

 doors. Nobody, so far as I know, waits on 

 his superiors while they worship God. This 

 matter, however, is not in my pixwince. 

 Very likely Moody has taken up this sub- 

 ject already. I expected to attend his meet- 

 ings while I was in Chicago, but he was 

 temporarily absent at the time. Now about 

 that sermon. 



I can not remember the text. I do re- 

 member, however, that the pastor spoke of 

 having read recent publications from the 

 pen of some of our modern scientists. He 

 mentioned that there is a species of philoso- 

 phy becoming prevalent, to the effect that 

 sin is not such an awful thing alter all — 

 that we are simply learning bj expeiknce. 



