1884 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



785 



having got out of the scrape so easily, lie 

 would take it up somewhere else. Bat even 

 if he did, would it not be far better— /(o- bet- 

 ter? I do not believe he would, however. 

 I have known, in my short experience, quite 

 a number who have taken to deliberate dis- 

 honesty, but who have been reclaimed and 

 brought back by kind words, and the world 

 never knew it. 



I hope the friends will not think 1 am un- 

 patriotic if I say a word in regard to the 

 noisy demonstrations we have in our politi- 

 cal campaigns. Of course, many who unite 

 in these bands, and carry torches, and help 

 form processions, are earnest Christians ; 

 but, do they always feel as if sucli work 

 were just in keeping with the spirit of our 

 text? A good many of these celebrations 

 are carried on far into the night. In getting 

 close to those wlio wear the uniforms, and 

 in looking under the fancy-colored caps, I 

 often see the faces of quite young boys. 

 S")m?tim3s th8S3 boys, along witli the older 

 ones, have cigars in their mouths. At one 

 celebration I attended, the saloons did a 

 terrible business, and many of these boyish 

 faces marched into the saloons with the 

 older ones. It is right to rejoice ; but, dear 

 friends, is it not possible tliat we may, even 

 in our rejoicing, do liarmV What is exactly 

 the right thing for a Christian to do? I pre- 

 sume, of course, the money expended in this 

 campaign work is supposed to b,; well ex- 

 pended ; for by means of these things we get 

 up an enthusiasm, and awaken people from 

 that sleepy state that is one of the greatest 

 obstacles in the way of bringing about Tieed- 

 ed reforms in our country. But, do we real- 

 ly accomplish the end we seek? The parties 

 that make the greatest parade are not al- 

 ways the victorious ones. Tiie spirit of our 

 text, of course, never intended that we 

 should sit down with folded hands and let 

 things take their own course ; and it is a sad 

 fact^tliat many good men and many earnest 

 Christians are guilty of the great sin of 

 omission in absenting themselves from pre- 

 liminary meetinss and caucuses, where a 

 word spoken in time might be the means of 

 checking or blocking great evils. Let us be 

 full of energy and zeal, wide awake and en- 

 thusiastic ; but let us, at the same time, 

 neither cry nor lift up, nor cause our voices 

 to be heard in the street. 



The papers, of course, are making quite a 

 point of that little abbreviation, " Rev." ^ It 

 was the Ecv. Mr. M. who shot at the boys."' 

 Every boy no the streets recognizes the in- 

 consistency here. Either the man who did 

 the shooting had no right to the prefix of 

 " Rev.," or he had most sadly wandered away 

 from his post. It is a solemn and sacred 

 thing to be known as a follower of Christ, 

 and it lias seemed to me, dear ftiends of the 

 clergy, it is still more solemn and sacred to 

 be known and recognized as one of God's 

 ministering servants— one who professes to 

 teach mankind godliness, and God's ways 

 of dealing with humanity and with sin. 

 Perhaps 1 am treading on delicate ground 

 here : if so, I hope to be excused and forgiv- 

 en. I only wish to suggest, in a neighborly 

 and friendly manner, that this prehx of 

 " Rev," should be handled by all parties who 



handle it, with reverence and care. It seems 

 to me we are approaching very near to God. 

 If I am correct, custom authorizes its use 

 only toward one who has been properly or- 

 dained as a minister of the gospel. (3f 

 course, it is very wrong and wicked to use it 

 in sport or in jest, and it is seldom that even 

 the most hardened do use it in this way, I 

 believe. It has just been suggested that 

 there are denominations that never use it at 

 all, because they consider it too sacred. One 

 thing is certain, we sometimes see it before 

 a man's name where it ought not to be. 

 Who is guilty in such cases ? Do ministers 

 usually attach it to their signatures V I have 

 not looked the matter up very much, but I 

 know some good friends among the clergy 

 who do not. I have just looked up a postal 

 card from my dear pastor, who first taught 

 ine God's ways, and I found his signature is 

 simply A. T. R.,with nothing before it. His 

 friends, in speaking of him, or the papers in 

 mentioning his name, of course use the pre- 

 fix, which, it seems to me, right and proper 

 to do. They feel that it belongs to him, and 

 accord it as a right, and a well-earned one. 

 In our business matters, very fitMiiiently a 

 friend, in asking for a little time on part Of 

 his purchases, mentions that he is i)residing 

 as a minister of the gospel over such-a par- 

 ish ; and sometimes adds, that if the fact 

 will be worth any thing in the way of a rec- 

 ommend. I ('an take it so. With our thou- 

 sands of customers, I believe I am right in 

 saying that no minister of the gospel has 

 ever so far dishonored his calling as to refuse 

 to pay his" just debts. In the above case it 

 may be that it is the newspapers or the 

 friends who placed the title of '' Rev.," as 

 we have it in the papers. But I have been 

 told that it does not properly belong there. 



Now, friends, a word in closing, in regard 

 to the bright side of a Christian character. 

 How much is it worth to go through life 

 holding such faithful rein and rule over our 

 spirits that we may be likened to the one de- 

 scribed in our text? Suppose you have a 

 fearful temper, and get so full you can not 

 contain yourself; that is, it seems as if you 

 could not. I hardly need say you know you 

 can. I have sometimes thought that "the 

 greatest rewards come to those who had the 

 hardest battles to tight. When they have, 

 by God's grace, become masters of them- 

 selves to such an extent that they are known 

 among men as those who never cry nor lift 

 up, nor cause their voices to be heard in the 

 street, then they are worth something— not 

 only to their fellow-men, but to God; for 

 then, and not until then, can Hod use them. 



In our last issue I told you something of 

 Mrs. Jennie Gulp's husband. Henry Gulp, of 

 Hilliards, Ohio. Although a minister of the 

 gospel, he was one of those like many of us 

 who had his ups and (k)wns, and sometimes 

 his " downs'' were grievous to bear. I shall 

 relate a little incident, told by his wife. A 

 picnic excursion was under way for the 

 children, and his own children were to fur- 

 nish horses, while those of a neighbor fur- 

 nished a vehicle. They were going all to- 

 gether. Tt hai)pened that the children of 

 said neighbor hadn't just the reputation in 

 all things they ought to have had. Perhaps 



