1887 



GLEA.Ni^GS IJN BEE CULTL Hh;. 



•2» 



kinds, as I met them in our county jail. In 

 all the cases that I remember, or nearly all, 

 thei'e were some extenuating- circnmstanccs. 

 A good many o! tiie crimes were committed 

 while under the inlliience of strong drink, 

 and sometimes 1 i'elt satisfied that the crime 

 in question was committed when the party 

 did not know what he was doing. Generally 

 the criminals have repented of the act about 

 the time 1 talked with them, or, at least, 

 claimed to be iienitent. 1 have never yet 

 talked with a man w ho was on the eve of 

 committing a ciime. I have sometimes 

 wished I could do so. in order to study more 

 perfectly the phases of the hiunan heart, es- 

 pecially of a human heart wholly given over 

 to Satan. 1 have met many men who re- 

 jected the Bible ; 1 have met some who re- 

 jected the golden rule, claiming that it is 

 every man's business to look out for Xo. 1. 

 I have talke(,l with tramps who very honest- 

 ly owned up that they did not propose to 

 work for a living; and I have found a few 

 who seemed so callous and hardened, that, 

 when I asked them if they were content 

 to have poor, weak, hard-working women 

 cook and prepare their food while they did 

 nothing, would, when pressed hard, saythey 

 did not care. Such individuals, however, 

 seem hardly human, and I have sometimes 

 been tempted to think they were about half 

 way between the brute creation and human- 

 ity, and right in the midst of civilization 

 too. It seems to me that Darwin might 

 have accepted these phases as his " connect- 

 ing link." These live men of whom I have 

 been speaking, however, without (piestion 

 deliberately and Avith premeditation not only 

 rejected God and the Bible, but they reject- 

 ed Christ and his teachings; they "rejected 

 the golden rule, and they declared by their 

 actions that they did not care whose money 

 it was, nor what "it cost to get it. They were 

 willing to sacrifice every thing— the chances 

 of being shot themselves, and the probability 

 of committing murder themselves, for a few 

 paltry dollars. These dollars M-ere the hard, 

 scraped-up earnings of the farmers of Me- 

 dina Comity. These five men were probably 

 aware of the fact that farmers have had "a 

 terribly hard row to hoe in raising wheat at 

 75 or so cents a bushel, corn for 20 or 25. and 

 other things in proportion. They recog- 

 nized how hard it has been for many of the 

 farmers to scrape up enough money to pay 

 their taxes; and yet they would, without 

 scruple, appropriate the hoarded earnings 

 of our county. In the language of our text, 

 •' There is no fear of God before their eyes." 

 They had sold themselves to the evil one ; 

 and when I w ant to be reminded that Satan 

 is actually at present finding a lodging-place 

 in the hearts of men in this nineteenth cen- 

 tury, I have only to think of the state of 

 these men's hearts. Some of us are begin- 

 ning to think that stories of highwaymen are 

 getting to be a thing of the past. Alas, my 

 friends, they are not a thing of the past. In 

 spite of our scliools and churches, and the 

 progress we as a nation are making in civili- 

 zation and Christianity, our papers contain 

 accounts like these continually. Woe be- 

 tide us if we sit down and fold our hands, 

 thinking the victory is won. If we banish 



saloons from our land, it may have the effect 

 of somewhat lessening this sort of work ; 

 but 1 am afraid that not all of these men 

 can plead the poor excuse of being hard 

 drinkers. I have been told there are men 

 of this class to be found who are never 

 intoxicated at all. Suppose it were jiossible 

 to sit down and have a talk with such as 

 they while the piu'pose was in their hearts 

 of committing these crimes, what sort of 

 defense would they make V Every rational 

 human being is, as a rule, prepared to de- 

 fend his course. A great many commit 

 crimes through revenge ; and I have heard 

 men admit that they would risk death itself 

 for the sake of indulging their passion to 

 pay back somebody who had wronged them. 

 Men sometimes connnit mni'der because of 

 dwelling on fancied or real injuries, and let 

 Satan into their heart in this way. These 

 robbers, however, of whom I speak, had no 

 revenge in their hearts; they had no ill will 

 toward the marshal, whom they threatened 

 to kill. When they started away, one of 

 them took the overcoat from off the mar- 

 shal's head and folded it up for a pillow for 

 him to lie on, indicating that there was a 

 .^pdik of humanity of one kind in their 

 hearts yet. They had no disposition to do 

 him harm, oidy so far as it was necessary to 

 get the money." In view of this, what, then, 

 is the remedy V Simply Christ Jesus. This 

 class of men are as far away from the Bible 

 and Bible teachings as it is possible for any 

 thing to be. The Bible is at one side, and 

 they are far away olf on the other side. A 

 great gulf lies between them and Christ's 

 spirit and his teachings. They were pre- 

 pared to commit deliberate murder— yes, 

 even to murder those who had never wrong- 

 ed them nor injured them. We call a man 

 heroic when he gives his life for his friends. 

 Christ gave his life to save his enemies. 

 Does it not seem almost hopeless to try to 

 put the ditfea'ence on paper, between Christ's 

 spirit, or even that of a Christian man in 

 whom Christ's spirit has found a lodging- 

 place, and these men in whose hearts Satan 

 has found a lodging-place '? I wonder if 

 they know any thing of the teachings of the 

 Bible ; I wonder if they have ever at any 

 time in their lives thought of becoming 

 Christians. My mind follows them, dear 

 readers, because they are my neighbors. It 

 is true, they do not live in Medina— at least, 

 I hope they do not ; V)ut the spirit that actu- 

 ates them"^ is finding a lodging-place, to a 

 greater ov lessei- extent, in the hearts of hu- 

 manity ail round about us. These events 

 have this effect upon myself : They make me 

 love the Bible more than I ever loved it be- 

 fore, and tiiey make me love good, lionest, 

 God-fearing inen more than I ever loved 

 them before ; and I turn with renewed joy 

 and thankfulness to that promise in the ser- 

 mon on the mount — '• Blessed are the meek, 

 for they shall iidierit the earth." Through 

 Christ this evil spirit is to be con(iuered and 

 driven out ; and upon Clnistian people rests 

 the burden and responsibility. It rests with 

 such as we are. sinful and imperfect, to 

 hasten the time when God's kingdom shall 

 come and ('hrist's will be done in earth as it 

 is in heaveii. 



