1900 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



626 



which Christ manifested any such show of 

 "hostility toward the sinner, no matter how 

 vile?" I honestly admit it is pretty hard to 

 find anywhere in our records of the life of 

 Jesus that he ever seemed very hostile or se- 

 vere to any penitent sinner. One might al- 

 tnost imagine they did not have any such 

 wholesale wickedness in his time as is to be 

 found just now. And it is also very likely 

 true that he was more severe on the hypocriti- 

 cal Pharisees than on any man who fairly and 

 squarely, by actions, if not in words, acknozvl- 

 edged\im\^?,€ii to be a sinner. 



I have talked a great deal about that new 

 phrase that has come to us — " What would Je- 

 sus do?" and our good friend E. seems to 

 think I have a wrong conception of what Jesus 

 did do or would do ; and if I have, I am glad 

 to be set right. Je us never performed any 

 miracle to damage or injure anybody. It is 

 true he caused the death of the swine, when 

 his casting out the devils as he did caused 

 them to plunge down into the sea. But no 

 human being ever suffered, so far as I know, 

 from any direct exhibition of his divine pow- 

 er. People were healed, and relieved of pain 

 right and left, and that seems to have been es- 

 pecially the dear Savior's mission. But, friend 

 E , have ^^'ou considered that, after he left 

 this earth, Peter invoked that same divine pow- 

 er, and struck with instant death both Ananias 

 and Sapphira ? Did Peter make a mistake or 

 lack in judgment ? If so, how can it be that God 

 honored his prayer, or his command, if you 

 choose? Again, Paul struck a man with 

 blindness by his command, and the Holy Spir- 

 it honored him too. There are, perhaps, other 

 instances of like nature that took place after 

 Jesus left this world. 



You say, " Love and not legal restraints and 

 penaltie."; was the force that Jesus employed 

 and told others to employ." Now, please 

 bear in mind, dear friend, we are not arguing 

 — we are certainly striving for the truth ; for 

 you truly say in your closing words, " Discus- 

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

 parties more set." May the Holy Spirit guide 

 me and help me to avoid any thing that 

 would have the effect of making either your- 

 self or myself the least bit contrary. Now to 

 go back. 



When Jesiis drove the money-changers out 

 of the temple he used force, even though it 

 was a gentle force. They gave way, and 

 obeyed ; but I have sometimes conjectured 

 that they did not even know themselves just 

 why they obeyed him so quickly. Dear 

 friend, I can not think you have read my 

 writings very long, or you would hardly sug- 

 gest that I talk and act as if those in the liquor- 

 trade were beyond the pale of Christianity. 

 May God be praised that we have hundreds if 

 not thousands of bright and shining lights in 

 the Christian church who were at one time in 

 the liquor-traffic or in the chains of the liquor 

 habit. John G. Woolley, the nominee of the 

 Prohibition party, is one of the brightest ex- 

 amples ; in fact, his history often makes me 

 think of Paul himself, especially when I hear 

 him speak, or read his stirring addresses. I 

 personally know that the members of the An- 



ti-saloon League, at least a great part of them, 

 are always ready to lend a helping hand to 

 any poor soul where it seems possible to get 

 him to make even a start from darkness to- 

 ward the light. I myself am largely responsi- 

 ble for advising the League to pay greater at- 

 tention to legislation than it did at one time. 

 It has certainly occurred to you that the great 

 Master himstlf said, " I came not to bring 

 peace on earth, but a sword ;" and then if you 

 read a little further in that tenth chapter of 

 Matthew you will notice he says, " I am come 

 to set a man at variance against bis father, 

 and the daughter against the mother." etc. 

 Mrs. Root asked me not very long ago if I did 

 not believe the fights we have had here in Me- 

 dina in endeavoring to enforce the law against 

 liquor-selling were doing almost as much 

 harm as good. She suggested that it was stir- 

 ring up hard bitter feelings, arraying one side 

 of the town against the other, making divi- 

 sions in families, and making the patrons and 

 venders of the stuff w^/zeraud more vi^idictive 

 than they had ever been before. While I was 

 forced to admit the truth of what she said, I 

 told her I could not see any other possible 

 way. We have tried again and again letting 

 things drift along in order to have peace and 

 good will. Yes, we have all tried it, not only 

 in our little towns but in our great cities. 

 Shall we permit law-breaking to go on unre- 

 buked just because it stirs up angry men and 

 provokes strife ? God forbid. Why, dear 

 friend E., the Master himself provoked hatred 

 and bitterness, even to calling up murderous 

 thoughts a'/^l?;r^'^r he went. Even with that 

 wonderful life of his, so pure and innocent, 

 and free from offense toward everybody, the 

 Jews sought to kill him at almost every turn. 

 Let me give you just one illustration. When 

 he brought Lazarus back to I'fe, and restored 

 him to his friends, one da- had scarcely gone 

 by before his enemies were planning to put 

 him to death. One of them, the high-priest, 

 Caiaphas, even went so far as to say, " It is 

 expedient for us that one man should die for 

 the people, and that the whole nation perish 

 not." Jesus' only fr/w^ was in giving back 

 to that beloved household the brother who 

 had passed the gates of death. Finally the 

 bitterness of his enemies was so great they did 

 put him to death on the cross. Yet he tried 

 as never man tried before to avoid offense and 

 to soften the hard hearts of his persecutors by 

 his lamblike meekness and humility. Are we 

 called on to do as he did in this matter ? Does 

 God desire or did Jesus himself expect his 

 followers to submit meekly to every indignity 

 and atrocity ? Dear friend E , somehow I have 

 a hope that you are honest enough and kind 

 enough to admit that you are not able to de- 

 cide just what Jesus would have us do in all 

 matters of human life. Let me digress a lit- 

 tle. 



Some years ago a neighbor of mine was in 

 the city of Columbus. He was near the great 

 depot, on the platform, a little waj' from other 

 people, when some ruffians proceeded to rob 

 him. They first knocked him down, but he 

 was still able to call for help. Now, this man 

 had done nothing to call forth bitterness and 



