1904 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



555 



Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they 

 toil not.neitherdo they spin; and yet I say unto you that 

 even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one 

 of these.— Matt. lj;28, 29. 



How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts!— 

 Psalm 84:1. 



It has often been remarked that we have no 

 record that the Savior when here on earth 

 ever smiled. I feel sure, however, that he did, 

 and that thej' must have been wtnning^&miles ; 

 and it has occurred to me that perhaps one 

 reason whj' so many were willing to "leave 

 all and follow " him was because of that 

 wondrous divine and winning smile, or per- 

 haps a pleasant kindly light from his eyes. 

 It is probably true, however, that he did 

 not give much attention to many things that 

 greatly interest us at the present day. One 

 of the infidel writers says Jesus was a sad- 

 faced, disappointed man. This writer ap- 

 paren ly never dreamed that the holy scrip- 

 tures tell us he was a "man of sorrows, and 

 acquainted with grief." And is it to be 

 wondered at, dear friends, that his life was 

 sad and sorrowful when he realized that the 

 sins of the world rested for the time on his 

 feeble human shoulders? Is it at all strange 

 that he had but little sympathy with the 

 frivolities, to say nothing of the sins, of hu- 

 manity? 



Before I leave this matter I wish to say 

 that, in my opinion, notwithstanding his 

 sadness and sorrow, there was what might 

 almost be called a vein of pleasant ry running 

 through his whole life. Early in his work 

 he attended a wedding. He believed in 

 weddings, and liked to see people get mar- 

 ried. I do not know but this is one reason 

 why I feel glad whenever I hear of two 

 young people of the proper age uniting their 

 fortunes. At this wedding, you may re- 

 member, his mother came to him mentioning 

 the predicament they were in, in the way 

 of refreshments. His reply would almost 

 seem rude — ^" Woman, what have I to do 

 with thee? Mine hour is not yet come " — 

 were it not for the fact that he immediately 

 performed that wonderful miracle. She d id 

 not take the remark as unkind, because she 

 turned to the servants right after, saying, 

 " Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it." 



Now, I think this rough speech of his 

 was more playfulness and pleasantry than 

 disrespect. I should not be surprised if he 

 gave his mother one of those wondrous 

 smiles when he said it, so that, instead of 

 feeling hurt, it may have made her mother- 

 ly heart bound with joy, for s/ie, at least, 

 knew of his divine mission. Once more, 

 when the Syro-Phenician woman came to 

 him, beseeching him to heal her daughter, 

 the disciples urged him to send her away; 

 and he himself finally replied to her impor- 

 tunities that he was " not sent but unto the 

 lost sheep of the house of Israel;" nd 



perhaps he turned away from her; but no 

 one can for a moment suppose he intended 

 to rebuke her and hurt her feelings in that 

 \v ay. My opinion is that this woman, by 

 her womanly intuition, and prompted by 

 the love for her child, saw through this as- 

 sumed unfriendliness, and read the kindly 

 thoughts and feelings that were beneath 

 the surface. Is it not possible the dear Sav- 

 ior, amid all his cares and burdens, some- 

 times dropped back into what we might al- 

 most call boyish playfulness? It seems to 

 me this woman, with a mother's love, guess- 

 ed at something of the kind; and I can im- 

 agine the eager smile of hope on her face 

 as she for the time falls in with this vein of 

 pleasantry. He takes up the same role 

 once more, and tells her "it is not meet to 

 take the children's breid and cast it to the 

 dogs." The Jews had been in the habit of 

 calling the people of her nation "dogs," 

 and therefore Jesus used the term; but she 

 was equal to the occasion. Notwithstand- 

 ing the second rebuff, she gained in hope 

 and faith. She falls in with his pleasant- 

 ry, and replies, " True, Lord; yet the dogs 

 eat of the crumbs which fall from the mas- 

 ter's table." 



Then came her reward. Then did he 

 throw ofT the veil, and come out with his 

 great love for sinful humanity, no matter 

 what nationality. I wonder what his dis- 

 ciples, who urged him to send the woman 

 away, thought as he uttered those wonder- 

 ful and gracious words, " O woman! great 

 is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou 

 wilt." 



On a third occasion (which I will just 

 notice), on the way to Emmaus, after his 

 crucifixion, he made believe he was going 

 on in order that his comrades might invite 

 him to stop with them. These glimpses of 

 this trait in the Master, of what I have 

 taken the liberty to call boyish playfulness 

 and pleasantry, are endearing glimpses, to 

 me, of the wonderful being who lived a hu- 

 man life here on earth, and " spake as nev- 

 er man spake " before or since. 



We can read his words and works again 

 and again, and continually get new and 

 precious glimpses of him who was both di- 

 vine and human ; and I have been wonder- 

 ing lately whether, like the rest of us, he 

 had peculiar likes, or, if I may so express 

 it, a fondness for or interest in any special 

 lines of the work of humanity. He did not 

 care much for great buildings; because 

 when the disciples pointed with Jewish 

 pride to the temple he scarcely noticed it; 

 and the only answer he gave was that there 

 should not be left one stone upon another 

 that should not be thrown down. 



Now, after this long preface I wish to 

 suggest that Jesus loved the country, the 

 fields of grain, and last but not least, he 

 loved floivers. We know he appreciated 

 them and admired them, from the words of 

 our text. We might gather, possibly, also 

 that he had not much more respect and ad- 

 miration for soft and expensive clothing 

 than he had for costly buildings. And then 



