624 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 1. 



Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. — 

 Matt. 10:34. 



Friend Root : — If I may presume to call you so. It 

 is suppofced to be helpful to a man to be given an op- 

 portunity to see himself as others see him. "As oth- 

 ers see him." I take it, refers to the view or estimate 

 of the man by those of a different way of thinking, 

 rather than of those of his own especial class. I have 

 just now been reading Gleanings, July 1, page .SIO, 

 written professedly in the interests of Christianity. 

 The honesty of the profession i do not question. I do, 

 however, think the move a mistaken one. Chrii-t 

 never worked on that line. The spirit that pervades 

 the vvriling i.s not his — quite a different one indeed. 

 Can you quote a single instance in which Christ mani- 

 fested any such show of hostility toward a sinner, no 

 matter how vile? The one thing that excited his 

 righteous indignation and prompted him to make use 

 of severe language was the spiritual pride and intol- 

 erance of the Pharisees. L,ove, and not legal restraints 

 and penalties, was the force that he employed and ad- 

 vi.-.ea others to employ. He brought his influence to 

 bear, not against the acts of men, but upon their 

 hearts. You, and those with you, write and talk and 

 act as if liquor-drinkers and liquor dealers were whol- 

 ly beyond the pale of Christianity. Drunkenness was 

 not unkuov n in his da}-, and yet he had less to say 

 about it than some other sins that are not, as times go, 

 in such bad repute. Consider, for example, the an- 

 swer that he gave to the young man who went to him 

 and asked him, after having rehearsed all his good 

 points, what further might be required of him. It 

 never seems to occur to the so-called temperance peo- 

 ple to reflect upon what may be the effect of their at- 

 titude toward the intemperate class in advancing or 

 retarding the cause they profess to have so much at 

 heart. Why assume that liquor-dealers are not to be 

 regarded as amenable to Christ-like influences, but 

 only to be kept in order by fear of the law ? From no 

 one thing has the cause of Christianity so suffered as 

 from the intemperate zeal of its followers. What 

 else but that ought we to blame for the atrocities com- 

 mitted by the Spanish Inquisition and other like in- 

 fernalities perpetrated by the stronger sects of pro- 

 fessed Christians upon the weaker, with the honest 

 though awfully mistaken object of putting down er- 

 ror and aiding in the spread of the religion of Christ? 

 Is it not a dangerous spirit to arouse? Under its in- 

 fluence a so; t of insanity possesses the men who fos- 

 ter it — a variety of the disease that attacks men in the 

 mass as distinguished from the more common sort 

 that affects iiidividuals, and which latter is by much 

 the less dangerous of the two. After making due al- 

 lowance for the exaggerations of temperance orators it 

 must be conlessed that the evils arising from the ex- 

 cessive use of alcoholic liquors are very great ; but do 

 you think it is a less evil to set two large classes of the 

 community, the one again t the other in bitter hostil- 

 ity ? Christianity, or the name of it, more correctly 

 speaking, has been many times too often used as a 

 cloak in the furtherance of designs neither Christian 

 ii Ihcir essence or methods, and it has suff'ered ac- 

 cordingly, ;it least in reputation. This is so unfair to 

 Christianity that one ought to be very sure, after hav- 

 ing subjected himself to a severely critical examina- 

 tion, that he is so perfectly clean inside th t he will 

 not soil the cloak by putting it on before he ventuies 

 to do so. You, 1 fancy, friend Root, are an impress'- 

 ble man — cne who is apt to be led away by his feelings 

 before his naturally ^ound judgment has been allowed 

 a fair show in the i)reii.ises. 



What I have written may serve as a hint sufficient to 

 induce you to go back and examine the course you 

 have taken, to c'etermine whether it has been quite 

 straight, and on .solid ground, as your utterances have 

 been public. 



You will not, I hope, think I have taken any updue 

 liberty with you. You are, like myself, not a young 

 man, and so are able to take things coolly. This is 

 not, of course, in; ended to be used for publication, 

 neither is it designed to draw you into a discussion. 

 Discussions, as a rule, seem to result in making both 

 parties more set in their original positions. It is just 

 a suggestion for your own private consideration, and 

 nothing more. W. O. Eastwood. 



Whitby, Ont., Can , July 8. 



Our readers will note that the above letter 

 was not intended for publication ; yet I take 

 it, nevertheless, that our good friend E. will 

 not object to having it appear in print provid- 

 ing I desire to use it so ; and I would thank 

 the writer for having called attention in his 

 very kind yet forcible way of presenting one 

 side of this matter, and a side that we all need 

 to ponder and consider again and again. Je- 

 sus did, it is true, come from heaven to earth 

 to bring peace and good will to mankind. His 

 mission to earth, as I take it, was as a mediator 

 between God and man ; and I have sometimes 

 thought the great Father especially desired 

 that his work should be accomplished partic- 

 ularly along the line of non-resistance. You 

 will notice it shines forth in all his talk and 

 teachings ; and we can not wonder greatly 

 that a large religious body has made it a spe- 

 cial feature of their creed — non-resistance to 

 evil. They do not even go to law, and they 

 have accomplished wonders along that very 

 line. I confess that at one time in my life I 

 had great faith that righteousness might en- 

 tirely triumph over iniquity through love and 

 peace and good will. 



Some years ago I became pretty well ac- 

 quainted with an old gentleman, a bee-keeper, 

 who belonged to the sect that believes in non- 

 resistance. I asked him a great many ques- 

 tions. He said they never went to law, but 

 he believed that at times they got some friend 

 to transact such btisiness for them. Not very 

 long after this talk an unprincipled young 

 chap from a neighboring city began to pay 

 " attention " to a lovely sixteen year-old girl, 

 the daughter of my friend. The father ob- 

 jected, and ought to have ordered the young 

 man from his premises. But his religion pre- 

 vented him from getting into a quarrel. The 

 young scapegrace evidently presumed on the 

 parent's non resistance. He ruined the girl, 

 and then added another crime that sent her to 

 a premature grave. Had the young fellow 

 been told he wotild have to marry the girl or 

 take the penalty of the law, the two young 

 people might have been living honest and 

 consistent lives at the present time. The 

 father would not resort to law or any thing 

 else, so the young man had free swing, and 

 got away scot free. The event brought the 

 gray-haired father down to his grave. Of 

 course, there are times when it is right and 

 proper for one to die the death of a martyr — 

 to die that the world might be made better. 

 But this old friend of mine and his simple, 

 honest, innocent, childlike girl, died that this 

 vile chap might be made zvorse, and go right 

 on, hunting up another victim as soon as he 

 could find one. Will any father undertake to 

 say this is doing as Jesus would do? Does 

 not such an event make us feel glad that Jesus 

 once said, "Think not that I came to send 

 peace on earth : I came not to send peace but 

 a sword " ? 



Our good friend calls attention to page 540, 

 July 1. I presume he alludes to what I said 

 about wresting the reins of government from 

 the hands of wicked men ; and then he adds, 

 " Christ never worked on that line." He says 

 further, " Can you show a single instance in 



