72 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Jan. 



" But, Mr. Root, / was not guilty. There 

 was no assault and battery about it, and I 

 won't pay it, and tliat is the long and the 

 short of it." 



I looked at my Bible quickly and read the 

 following : 



If any man will sue thee at the law, and take 

 away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also; and 

 whosoever shall compel thee to go with him a mile, 

 g-o with him twain. 



Robert said, as before, that he did not pro- 

 pose to come down to any sucli course of 

 action. He fairly and squarely, when press- 

 ed, rejected the words of the Savior. This, 

 in fact, was exactly what I wished him to 

 do ; or, in other words, I wished to have 

 him confess that the reason why he was 

 brought to jail was because he rejected 

 Christ; and in rejecting Christ he had re- 

 jected and defied the laws of our land. 



In presenting the subject to others as I 

 have presented it to you, dear friends, I 

 have been pained and startled to hear so 

 many decide that Robert had done right — 

 that is, if the facts were exactly as he stated 

 them. 1 am afraid people are thoughtless, 

 many times, in deliberately deciding to re- 

 fuse to obey our laws. When I told the story 

 at the noon service, and submitted the ques- 

 tion to those gathered there, those who an- 

 swered first, every one of them, thought that 

 Robert did right in refusing to pay the fine 

 imposed upon him. After a little more 

 thought an-d reflection, finally several sug- 

 gested that it was better to pay the fine than 

 to go to jail, even though the fine was unjust, 

 and the party innocent. 



We now come to the point of considering 

 the laws of our land. No doubt they are im- 

 perfect, and, many times, through false rep- 

 resentations of evil men, the fines imposed 

 are unjust ; shall we therefore refuse to abide 

 by the decision of the law ? God forbid ! 

 Perhaps I have, at different times in my life, 

 counseled disobedience to the law; but I am 

 beginning to think I made a mistake. Are 

 we not, dear friends, in danger of arraying 

 ourselves with rebels and anarchists when 

 we thoughtlessly counsel disobedience to the 

 laws we have ? I told the boys 1 would have 

 paid the fine, even if I had had nothing to 

 do with the matter whatever, but that I 

 would have done it under protest, and so in- 

 formed the officers, and declare I would have 

 redress, if it were possible to do so ; but that, 

 for the sake of preserving the majesty of the 

 law, I would 'submit to whatever it might 

 decree. I think, dear friends, this is safe 

 and sound doctrine. 



I did not tell Robert at the time, that T felt 

 quite certain, if his life had been just what 

 it ought to be, he would not have been fined 

 nor taken to jail, but I asked him if he had 

 been in the habit of attending church while 

 here in America. He admitted that he had 

 not very much. I asked him if it was not 

 true that he was sometimes in the habit of 

 drinking intoxicants, as well as the man he 

 boarded with. He admitted that he was in 

 the habit of drinking beer ; and although I 

 may be mistaken, his face seemed to indicate 

 that he was given, at least somewhat, to such 

 habits. 



Now I want to say to the young friends 

 who may be reading this, that there is very 



little danger that any of them will ever get 

 into trouble such as I have described, if they 

 are in the habit of associating with Christian 

 people, attending church, Sunday-school, 

 and the yoimg people's prayer-meetings, 

 wherever they happen to be located, and de- 

 porting themselves in a decent and respecta- 

 ble way, such as young Christians are almost 

 sure to do. When 1 asked Robert if he could 

 not get $6.40 to save him from jail, he said 

 he had no friends at all. It seems to me a 

 young man is at fault in having no friends, 

 even if he has lived only one winter in a cer- 

 tain locality. In our town there are good 

 men and women — yes, young men and young 

 ladies, who make it their business to look up 

 strangers, and invite them to our meetings, 

 and who try to call them in wisdom's ways. 

 The trouble is, I fear, that those who com- 

 plain that they have iio friends are seeking 

 ways of darkness rather than light. 



Now a word to those who are not in jail 

 and not in trouble ; that is, not any such 

 trouble as Robert has found. Yes, and I 

 think I may ask for a word to professors of 

 religion, and those who are members of our 

 churches. Have you faithfully followed the 

 words the Savior gave us in our opening 

 text, in your own walks and life ':* If an en- 

 emy should undertake to sue us at the law, 

 and take away a coat, what would be our at- 

 titude':* How many of us are there who 

 would be willing to give the cloak also, for 

 the sake of peace, unless, indeed, our atten- 

 tion had been called to it by these words V 

 Of course, I do not refer, nor do I think our 

 Savior meant to have reference to highway 

 robbers, such as I spoke to you about in our 

 last issue ; but these w^ords were spoken to a 

 class of people who were for the most part, 

 at least, friends and neighbors — those who 

 had permanent places of abode, and were 

 considered respectable citizens. Why should 

 such go to law? Why should we have diffi- 

 culties and hard feelings with our friends 

 and neighbors ? Why s]iould we waste time 

 and money enough on some little unimpor- 

 tant matter to have bought a dozen coats, be- 

 fore the thought even occurred to us of let- 

 ting the cloak go too, for the sake of peace ? 

 If we are compelled to go a mile out of our 

 way to do somebody a service, are we not 

 more apt to grumble than we are to show a 

 readiness to go two miles '? The Sfivior's in- 

 junctions seem to be to the effect that, if we 

 are to be his followers, it is our duty to do a 

 little more than just what we agree to do, or 

 a little more than what we are in duty and 

 justice bound to do. Sometimes I am told 

 that a man would never get along in the 

 world if he should undertake to get a living 

 in that way; but such replies have always 

 made me feel sad. Those who have read 

 Gleanings a good many years, especially 

 those real good friends who have been send- 

 ing me such good kind cheering words dur- 

 ing the past few weeks, know that 1 have 

 tested these teachings just a little. Occa- 

 sionally, when the spirit seems to be on me, 

 I have done a little more than I was asked to 

 do. I have given smokers to those who have 

 stopped using tobacco, etc. Now, of course, 

 you know I do not say this boastingly ; but 

 I mention it because i wish to prove to you 



