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GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



April 15. 



Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the king- 

 dom of henveii. 



Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be com- 

 forted. 



Blessed are. the meek, for they shall inherit the 

 earth. 



Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after 

 righteousness, for they shall be filled.— Matt. 5:3 — 6. 



In a recent sermon our good pastor in his 

 line of talk used an expression something like 

 this: "Jesus while here on earth never said, 

 ' Thcu shalt not drink intoxicating liquors ; ' 

 neither did he say, ' Thou shalt remember the 

 sabbath day to keep it holy.' But he did say, 

 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.'" 

 Jesus tatight principles. I can readily imag- 

 ine that, when he saw the scribes and Phari- 

 sees laying down laws that got to be innumer- 

 able, as to what man should not do, he became 

 disgusted with that sort of worship, and there- 

 fore he swept it all aside, giving some general 

 principles, and leaving man's good sense and 

 judgment to decide for himself what he must 

 not do. 



After the sermon was over, and I had got to 

 thinking of the matter, the question arose in 

 my mind, " What did Jesus put strongest em- 

 phasis on ? what did he say first in his minis- 

 try ? " And then my mind dwelt on Sheldon's 

 life work — what would Jesus do ? If Jesus 

 were pre.sent here just now, and should see 

 the iniquity, intemperance, and crime on every 

 hand, hoiv would he remonstrate ? what would 

 he exhort men to do ? Suppose great multi- 

 tudes should gather to hear him speak. He 

 would, without doubt, give some brief, practi- 

 cal general truths that would strike at the root 

 of the whole matter, for no one ever lived who 

 had the gift of putting as much in a few words 

 as Jesus did. 



Then the question arose in my mind, when 

 he commenced his ministry and began giving 

 general exhortations to humanity, what did he 

 say first ? Thank God, we have it. The beat- 

 itudes are so familiar to every man, woman, 

 and child that I fear they have almost become 

 meaningless. We read in the fifth chapter of 

 Matthew, that, when he sat down before the 

 multitudes on the side of the mountain, he 

 opened his mouth and taught them, and here 

 are the words. His first message was, " Bless- 

 ed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the king- 

 dom of heaven " The next is much like it ; 

 and then he declares the meek shall inherit 

 the earth, and that they which hunger and 

 thirst after righteousness shall be filled. 

 Dear friends, is it not possible this is what the 

 world needs to-day ? Is there any thing in 

 the world the people of the United States need 

 more than to beware of pride, arrogance, 

 wealth, and all the injustice that follows along 

 in the line of these things ? I think I am real- 

 ly disturbed more just now than I ever have 

 been before in my life, in regard to the state 

 of affairs, not only in our own nation, but all 

 nations. Things are different just now. The 



people of the whole wide world are getting in 

 touch as they never were before. Even the 

 small children know what is going on in Afri- 

 ca, that far-away land that nobody knew much 

 if any thing about when yoti and I were chil- 

 dren. The United States has invaded a for- 

 eign land, and demanded that cruelty and op- 

 pression shall cease. Wc became very patri- 

 otic when this thing started. We began to 

 point to the stars and stripes, and boasted 

 that America was going to straighten up and 

 purify — oh dear me ! I am afraid that word 

 " pvirify " was unfortunate; but after all, I 

 think that is the way people talked and many 

 of us felt. Uncle Samuel made some of those 

 foreigners stop cock-fighting. I do not know 

 but they were a good deal astonished when we 

 declared it was wicked. Then Uncle Samuel 

 wound up some other things that sounded big, 

 when we were in the business of sending arm- 

 ed soldiers to relieve oppression. But we soon 

 discovered — at least our good people did — that 

 the average American soldier, even in military 

 garb, was not a bona-ftde missionary. I just 

 saw it stated in the dailies that some military 

 man had, within a few days back, declared no 

 American soldier — that is, within his jurisdic- 

 tion — should go into any saloon and drink, 

 with his regii>ientals on. May the Lord be 

 praised for this little glimpse of good sense 

 and decency. But I am getting away from 

 ray text. You know about these things, even 

 if I do not tell you of them all just now. 



Jesus' first words were, "Blessed are the 

 poor in spirit "' — those who are not disposed 

 to become cranky and important, even if you 

 ptit them into office. There has been trouble 

 in Manilla and Porto Rico, and there has been 

 trouble in Washington, because those in office 

 have become proud, arrogant, and overbear- 

 ing. I have sometimes pictured in my mind 

 the attitude of Attorney-General Griggs when 

 he told the temperance people what their tem- 

 perance law meant. Then I have pictured 

 again and again in my own mind the Presi- 

 dent of the United States when he talked with 

 the women of the Women's Christian Temper- 

 ance Union, and told them the Griggs decision 

 had got to stand. I wonder if our President 

 ever thinks of these beatitudes. 



Well, our troubles are not all in the presi- 

 dential mansion. Every large city is distress- 

 ed and wearied because the chief of police, 

 judges, and other officials become important 

 and overbearing. But it is not the great cities 

 alone where a hard, bad, and wicked spirit 

 seems to have got in among public officials. 

 I told you a few months ago with what enthu- 

 siasm our people in this county were working 

 for good roads. During this good-roads move- 

 ment the commissioners had quite a little to 

 look after. They were responsible, not only 

 for the way in which the money furnished by 

 the tax payers was used to build good roads, 

 but, while our people were about it, it was 

 deemed best to put in good substantial iron 

 bridges. Well, the commissioners are now 

 accused of using the people's money more 

 freely than they have any legal right to do. 

 In fact, it has transpired that neither the com- 

 missioners nor the other officers at the court- 



