1886 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



7ol 



0ui^ JiepE^. 



Have the g^ates of death been opened unto thee ? 

 or liast thou secMi the doors of the shadow of 

 death ?— Job 38: 17. 



T PRESUME most of tlie friends liave 

 M gone over the accounts of the events 

 l|r of the recent eaitliquake, and doul)tless 

 ■*■ quite a few of the readers of (J lean- 

 ings have had more or less personal ex- 

 perience of this event that has aroused the 

 attention of everv thinking man and woman 

 of our land. Perhaps more tlian one earnest 

 Christian has felt troubled, at times almost 

 lost, in the effort of trying to comprehend 

 why the loving heavenly Fatliei- should per- 

 mit such disasteis to occur; and [ may as 

 well (ionfess to you frankly, dear readers, 

 that I feel at the outset that it is a task far 

 beyond my capacity or capabilities, to even 

 ((Itonpt to handle the subject. May God in 

 his infinite love and wisdom bless ami direct 

 my feeble words. 



In considering the matter, and in reading 

 it up that I might be able to talk to you in 

 regard to it, I have felt my comparative in- 

 significance as I perhaj)s never felt it be- 

 fore. A few days ago Ilnber and I were 

 sitting hand in hand, watching the setting 

 sun. He turned to mo and asked in his 

 childish way : 



" Where does the sun <jo, papa ? '' 



Now, do you wonder that [ did not answer 

 him immediately V I do not know but that 

 he repeated his question two or three times 

 l)efore I felt able to give him any kind of a 

 rational or consistent answer. Sliould [ tell 

 him the sun didn't go at all, but that the 

 world on which we live turns around toward 

 it ? This would be the only really trutJiful 

 answer, in one sense ; l)ut it was beyond his 

 comprehension ; and, furthermore, do we 

 really knoir that the great sun is standing 

 still V The intelligence of the world made 

 a great stride when it decided that it is the 

 earth that is constantly moving, and not the 

 sun ; but who shall say what the next great 

 stride may unfold V The opportunity was 

 an excellent one for teaching my boy,' and I 

 would by no means pass by sucha query un- 

 answered ; but I felt as many a parent has 

 felt before, that my answer must be suited 

 to the capacity of my pupil. 



Did it ever strike you, my friend, how 

 many times Jesus, in teaching his disciples, 

 told them kindly and lovingly that they 

 were not yet able to understand the things 

 of which he spoke ? Toward his approach- 

 ing death he tried to teach them self-sacri- 

 Hce, and that it were better for them that 

 lie should die the death of a malefactor. 

 They seemed, however, so utterly incapable 

 of grasping the great thought of atonement, 

 that he stopped or decided not to go any fur- 

 ther just tlten. He says, " Ye can not bear 

 them now,'' giving them to understand, evi- 

 dently, that the time would come when they 

 could not only bear but understand these 

 great truths. How true it was in the case 

 of Peter ! Contrast the man as he was dur- 

 ing his evangelistic work, with wJiat he was 

 before he denied his Master, when he so 

 §!toijll^ insistpd, that, though all men should 



turn away, he woidd not. AV^ell, Huber will 

 doubtless be able, some time, to be taught 

 astronomy ; but it would be folly to think of 

 trying to explain much of it to him now. I 

 spoke to him something like this: "• My boy, 

 the sun goes dowii behind the trees, clear 

 out of sight ; then in the morning this same 

 old sun comes up back of the trees away 

 ovei' th.ere. Don't you remember ?" 



"Oh I yes, papa; I know how it is now." 

 And then he was full of childish prattle and 

 other things. By and by I can teach him 

 more of the movements of God's great limii- 

 naries, but not now. 



Is it not so, my friends, in regard to earth- 

 (luakesV God is teaching us l)y great les- 

 sons, sometimes by terrible lessons, and 

 oftentimes we come to the boundary of hu- 

 man capacity and intelligence. AVe not 

 only can not understand, but, what is of 

 much greater moment, we can not bmr to be 

 t(Ad the things he wotild tell us. W^e look 

 aghast at the thought of sudden death ; and 

 even some who profess to put their whole 

 trust in Him who has but to speak, and the 

 winds and the waves obey him, stand terri- 

 fied with trembling faith as they behold the 

 apparent confusion of the elements. Does 

 God really have any thing to do with earth- 

 (piakesV Most surely he do^s. They are 

 part of his plans from the beginning; and 

 before we reject the teachings of his holy 

 word, and rebel against the laws of the all- 

 wise Creator, suppose we consider a little 

 this matter of life and death— that is, so far 

 as we are able to consider it. 



In our opening text, Ciod reproves the 

 m.u'murings and complaints of Job and his 

 friends. '-Have the gates of death been 

 opened unto thee? or hast thou seen the 

 doors of the shadow of death?" It seems 

 hard to see men, women, and children, per- 

 ish by earth(iiuxkes. l)y storm, by cyclone, or 

 by flood. AVe have become somewhat ac- 

 customed to the storm and to the flood, so 

 that they do not strike its with the great 

 horror tliat we feel when the solid earth un- 

 der our feet seems to be solid earth no long- 

 er. I have been told, that it is impossible 

 for human tongue to describe the awful sen- 

 sations awakened when one realizes that the 

 very earth itself is rolling and shaking be- 

 neath our feet. Once when seasick on board 

 of a steamer, I so longed for the solid ground 

 that I made up my mind that I M'ould get 

 off at the first opportunity, no matter where 

 I was, nor what solid ground I found. With 

 pallid .cheeks, and tear-stains down my face, 

 I pushed my way along the plank. One of 

 the offlcei's of the boat called after me, and 

 told me that I was getting off at the wrong 

 point. I told him I cotdd not help it; I was 

 going to get oif, right or wrong. 



" But," said he, '" you can never get any- 

 where if you stop here. There are no rail- 

 roads nor any thing else." 



I told him in that case I should stay there 

 always, and be hapi)y ; and when I felt sta- 

 tionary ground under my feet it seemed to 

 metlien that I coidd ask for nothing more, 

 providing I could feel this solid ground al- 

 ways. Perhaps I can realize a little what it 

 would be to find even this old earth an un- 

 certain foothold; and may (yod help me to 



