144 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb, 



work also. Different sects and denomina- 

 tions were forgotten ; different political 

 convictions were either forgotten or dropped 

 for the time being. We worked for deliver- 

 ance from the common enemy, just as bees 

 work against an enemy that threatens them. 

 What was the result? Why, the saloon- 

 keepers w^ere routed by a tremendous ma- 

 jority. Now, 1 do not mean to say that the 

 churches of Medina have got to such a 

 height of Christian unity that they are free 

 from sins common to humanity. In one 

 sense they have got only a little way toward 

 perfection through Christ Jesus. But in 

 going even so far we have done a great 

 work ; and as I think of it I get glimpses of 

 the greater and mightier work that may be 

 done through a Christian unity that sliould 

 pervade our whole nation. May God speed 

 the day when not only denominations, but 

 all the" world, shall unite in saying, "Thy 

 kingdom come, thy will be done, even on 

 earth as it is in heaven.'' Well, now, if these 

 young Christians taught me a great and val- 

 uable lesson by their faith and their Scrip- 

 ture texts, oui- good pastor astonished me 

 still more at the close of the meeting by an- 

 other wonderful application of the text which 

 I had never before fully understood. I do 

 not thiok I fully understand in now, but I 

 do think I get a w^onderful glimpse of a 

 great, great truth. In the 17th chapter of 

 John, .Jesus says, " And now, Father, glori- 

 fy thon me with thine own self, with the 

 glory which I had with thee before the 

 world w^as." I have often wondered what 

 that glory meant, it was something bright 

 and grand. I feel sure. Just think of it, 

 dear friends — what a stupendous thought ! 

 My stenographer suggested, as 1 repeated 

 the verse, that " before the world "' was a 

 great while ago. Well, this matter of Christ's 

 glory — '"a glorified Savior,'" and "to the 

 honor and glory of Christ." and such like 

 expressions, are very frequent in the Bible. 

 What does it mean to glorify Christ V Every 

 young Christian knows what it is to honor 

 Christ. It is to so act and so do that the 

 cause which we profess to love may be 

 honored. You may use the word " glorified '" 

 in the same sense, if you choose. We 

 glorify Christ by our own lives, by our own 

 actions, and by our own behavior : not es- 

 pecially by living lives free from sin, for 

 this is a pretty hard matter for average men 

 and women, "and boys and girls. We are 

 sinful, and perhaps always will be ; but w^e 

 honor Christ and glorify him, by being truly 

 penitent when we find w^e have sinned. We 

 are told that David was a man after God's 

 own heart. Well, now% David, at least once 

 in his life, was a very bad and wicked man ; 

 in fact, he committed terrible crimen; but 

 after those crimes he glorified God by honest, 

 true penitence. lie bowed his head sub- 

 missively to the terrible punishments which 

 God saw fit to visit upon him. He glorified 

 the Savior when he said, "Create in me a 

 clean heart. O God, and renew a right spirit 

 within me." He glorified God l)y the con- 

 fession that his heart was all bad ; that it 

 needed Christ's renewing power before he 

 could ever again be tit for any thing. David 

 did not know Jesus then as we do now ; but 



I can readily believe that Jesus was the in- 

 teicessor for David even then, as he is for 

 us. 



Now. friends, if Christ is to be glorified 

 by our poor lives, think of the responsibili- 

 ties that rest upon us. If the glory he pray- 

 ed for in that wonderful prayer of his near 

 the close of his life was dependent on the 

 way those whom he came to seek and save 

 shall behave themselves, what a responsi- 

 bility rests upon us! Perhaps all we can do 

 is simply to accept him, to bow at his feet, 

 and confess him as the Christ, as the son of 

 the living God, as Peter did. He is glori- 

 fied, even by this act. Yes, even though 

 we be poor, weak, and sinful. Why, dear 

 brothers and sisters, the penitent thief, shut 

 in by the walls of our penitentiaries, may glo- 

 rify "him by honest, true penitence, by con- 

 fession and restitution, where the latter is 

 possible, for I believe there can be no hon- 

 est penitence without restitution, so far as 

 the latter may be possible. In that same 

 prayer, Jesus says, " I pray not that thou 

 shouldst take them out of the world, but 

 that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.'' 

 He is to be glorified through the faithful- 

 ness of these poor huml)le followers. And, 

 again, he says, "Neither pray I for these 

 alone, but for them also wiio shall believe 

 on me through their word." We glorify 

 Christ by accepting him when he has been 

 presented to us by our fellow-men. And, 

 again, " That they all may be one ; as thou. 

 Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they 

 also may be one in us." And. again, "And 

 the glory which thou gavest me 1 have giv- 

 en them." Why, dear friends, the glory is 

 not to be his alone, but it is to be ours too. 

 And now I have got down to my text—" I 

 in them and thou in me, that they may be 

 made perfect in one." The last half of the 

 verse reads as follows : "And that the world 

 may know that thou hast sent me, and hast 

 loved them, as thou hast loved me." Now, 

 I hope you will have patience with me, dear 

 friends, if I give you the whole of this chap- 

 ter ; but keeping in view wiiat I said in my 

 opening words about the bee-hive, and the 

 remark of the young sister at prayer-meet- 

 ing, see the following : " Father, I will that 

 they also, whom thou hast given me, be 

 with me where I am ; that they may behold 

 my glory which thou hast given me." You 

 see, even this glory which he speaks of we 

 are to share with him. And now comes a 

 w^ondrous thought that is almost too great 

 for the human mind to contemplate : " For 

 thou lovedst me before the foundation of 

 the world." It seems to me right here that 

 Jesus begins to get glimpses of things he 

 had not known before, just as we get 

 glimpses of heavenly things as we approach 

 the close of a life that has been given to 

 .Jesus. 



There is only one more verse at the close 

 of this w^onderful prayer. Some intidel writ- 

 er has said, in speaking of Christ, that he 

 was a poor disappointed and discouraged 

 man— disappointed at every turn ; and I do 

 not knoAv but that he uttered a greater truth 

 than he knew. Jesus was not disappointed 

 in himself, nor was he disappointed in any 

 ambitious thoughts he may have had. The 



